NER E Class 0-6-0

The North Etorean Railway E Class was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive built between 1887 and 1915.
  The class was designed by George Humphrey Frye to replace older 0-6-0 locomotives that the NER had either inherited from their predecessor companies or built in the years prior to the E Class' introduction. Although initially allocated to goods work, the class also occaionally pulled passenger trains over some of the longer branchlines where water towers were more infrequent. Frye had intended to build a class of "go anywhere, to anything" locomotives for mixed traffic duties but scrapped the idea in favour of building more E Class locomotives.
  Background & Service:
The first of the class entered service on the 23rd July 1887 being numbered NER №101, taking the number from a recently withdrawn B1 Class 2-4-0T. By 1900, over one-hundred were in service on the North Etorean Railway's network. They were most commonly seen on the coal trains operated by the NER, mostly being based around Milford due to the towns proximity with many colleries that were served by the company.
  All locomotives passed into Etorean National Railways ownership in 1919, they were numbered in the 40166 - 40362 series. This made them the largest of any one class of locomotive built by an Etorean company. Withdrawals started in 1925 when three of the older engines were sold off to the Redwick Docks & Harbour Board and the Astcroft Coal Company. From 1930, the locomotives began to be withdrawn intermittently with many being outright scrapped whereas others found new use as departmental locomotives or were sold to willing buyers.
  By 1950, less than 30 locomotives remained. Of this 17 were withdrawn by the end of the decade and by 1967 the class had been officially retired by the ENR with most being cut up at Sandford Locomotive Works and Kilclare Locomotive Works. Fortunately, three locomotives survived into preservation:

40244 "Prydwen"

40310

40327

  Differences in Design:
While all locomotives were of the same class, some differences were apparent through out the ranks depending on who built them. Mostly this came down to smaller things such as whistles, left or right hand drive, spectacle plate designs and builders plate locations. The most noticable difference was with the tenders, those built by St. Ceolwen Locomotive Works (NER) and Foster, Gardener all used the "Old Pattern Standard" 6 wheelded tender of the NER even though it was at the earliest 19 years old at the time of the first locomotives built. Those built by Blanc Misseron had 6 wheeled tenders with toolboxes and pre-fitted lamps (wich were quickly swapped with lamp irons on arrival) and Kerr, Stuart used 4 wheeled tenders similar to those used on various indurstrial railways in the UK, whereas Chapman & Furneaux used a design similar to that of the Caledonian Railway.   Some locomotives, including №245 (№40310) were fitted with tenders from ex - ROD 2-8-0s that were purchased as a source of spare parts for the ENR GC Class 2-8-0s. Several other classes also had this modification that was intended to increase the fuel capacity for use on longer routes.   War Service:
In 1916, eighteen locomotives were loaned to the Railway Operating Division for use on the Western Front with thirty more being loaned to various other companies in Etorea. These included the South Western, Great Eastern and Eastern Counties railways.