GER Class N31

GER Class N31 LNER Class J14
Great Eastern Class N31 locomotive 998
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer James Holden Builder Stratford Works Build date 1893–1898 Total produced 81 (+1 rebuilt from Class 127)
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0  • UIC C n2 Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Driver dia. 4 ft 11 in (1.499 m) Wheelbase 35 ft 5 in (10.80 m) Length 47 ft 3 in (14.40 m) over buffers Loco weight 38 long tons 18.5 cwt (87,200 lb or 39.5 t) Fuel type Coal Firebox:  • Firegrate area 18.0 sq ft (1.67 m2) Boiler pressure 160 lbf/in2 (1.10 MPa) Heating surface 1,199.5 sq ft (111.44 m2) Cylinders Two, inside Cylinder size 17.5 in × 24 in (444 mm × 610 mm)
Performance figures Tractive effort 16,942 lbf (75.36 kN)
Career Operators GER » LNER Class GER: N31 LNER: J14 Nicknames Swifts Withdrawn 1908–1922

The GER Class N31 was a class of eighty-two 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by James Holden for the Great Eastern Railway. Eighteen passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at the 1923 grouping and received the LNER classification J14.

These goods locomotives had 17.5-by-24-inch (444 mm × 610 mm) cylinders, 4-foot-11-inch (1.499 m) driving wheels, and a 160-pound-force-per-square-inch (1,100 kPa) boiler. Eighty-one were built at Stratford Works between 1893 and 1898.

In addition, when the Class 127 locomotive was rebuilt from compound to simple in 1895, it was then included into Class N31.

They were not particularly successful locomotives. Although nicknamed Swifts, they were sluggish locomotives, due to the placement of the valve chests underneath the cylinders.

Withdrawals started in 1908, and by the end of 1922, only eighteen were left in service. The LNER allocated numbers 7000 higher than the locomotives' GER numbers, but withdrawals continued, and by 1925 the class was extinct.