Oxford
'J27' lands
The North Eastern Railway’s rugged ‘J27 ’ 0-6-0 is the latest ready-to-run locomotive to arrive from Oxford Rail. With its wallet friendly price tag, MIKE WILD assesses what it has to offer.
THE Worsdell designed ‘J27’, or ‘P3’ in North Eastern Railway parlance, 0-6-0 was one of the staples of the North Eastern Region. The first was completed in 1906 with 115 locomotives being built across the next 16 years in batches.
They were built for the movement of goods, primarily mineral workings, initially covering long distance flows but later being moved to local work as new and more powerful motive power entered service. Nevertheless, the ‘J27’ continued to be an essential workhorse in the North East. They were seen outside of their native territory with 12 venturing south to the Great Eastern section in 1926 and two heading north to Edinburgh temporarily during the Second World War.
