‘No. 204 Class’ 0-6-0T, 0-6-0CT 1868

LNER Class Z-4, J-92

204-208

GERS Collection 700 0280

GERS Collection 798 0020

These five inside-cylinder 0-6-0Ts were purchased from Ruston, Proctor Ltd. of Lincoln in 1868 for shunting duties. Initially cab-less, half cabs were fitted during Adams's tenure as Locomotive Superintendent to all except No. 206.

No. 207 was withdrawn in 1889, but in 1891 No. 205 was rebuilt under James Holden as a crane engine for use at Stratford Works. A new boiler was fitted, larger in diameter, and with a longer firebox, of the type that was used to reboiler Bromley's E10 class 0-4-4Ts and other classes. The wheelbase and frames were lengthened at the rear, and a crane added in the bunker. No. 208 was scrapped in 1892, but in the following year the two remaining engines - 204 and 206 - were also rebuilt as crane tanks in the same manner as 205. All three engines then served at Stratford Works for the rest of their long careers. Here, they were used on stripping work, and moving components from one part of the works to another. The cranes themselves became redundant in the 1930s with the installation of a fixed overhead travelling crane for stripping work.

The three engines became Stratford Works property in 1894, when they were 'renumbered' as 'WORKS B', 'C' and 'D'. Under the LNER, they were initially reclassified as Z-4, but this was altered to J-92 in 1927. They continued to be identified as 'B', 'C' and 'D' until the 1946 renumbering scheme, when they became 8667-8669, and then 68667-68669 under British Railways in 1948. No. 68669 was withdrawn in 1950, and 68667 in May 1952. The remaining engine - 68668 - became 'Departmental No. 35' in September the same year, only to be withdrawn two months later.