The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Thompson Class L1 was a class of 2-6-4T steam locomotives designed by Edward Thompson. The prototype no. 9000 was built in 1945, but the remaining 99 were built under British Railways jurisdiction in the period 1948–1950. Overview The class, at least on paper, should have been very free steaming and powerful engines but, in practice, they were not suited to the work to which they were assigned. The engines had driving wheels, which would give them excellent power at low speed, such as that required for freight work, but these engines were intended for passenger use. The speeds required for suburban passenger work wore the engines out in a remarkably short time. Axleboxes, crosshead slides and crank bearings all suffered due to the high speeds. Accidents and incidents On 19 November 1958, a freight train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with another at Hitchin, Hertfordshire. A third freight train ran into the wreckage and was derailed. Locomotive No. 67785 was pushed over by the wagons from the third train. Modifications In an attempt to reduce wear, two experiments were tried. In May 1951, five locomotives had liners fitted to their cylinders to reduce the cylinder bore from . In March 1953, five locomotives had their boiler pressure reduced from . Neither experiment was a success. Numbering Withdrawal Withdrawals were between 1960 and 1962. None survived to preservation. Modelling Hornby produces the L1 class in 00 gauge with a number of different liveries, both green with LNER or BR running numbers, and black with BR running numbers. References L1 2-6-4T locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1945 Scrapped locomotives NBL locomotives Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain