North Eastern Railway designed Raven '4-6-2' (LNER 'A2') class 4-6-2 No. 2404 'City of Ripon'. Built at Darlington in March 1924 and withdrawn in February 1937.

The formation of the LNER effectively sealed the fate of Sir Vincent Raven's imposing '4-6-2' class of Pacifics. They were fine if flawed locomotives but Nigel (later Sir Nigel) Gresley's 'A1/A3' class for the GNR/LNER were not only their equal, but in most respects superior. In any case Gresley was the 'boss' as the newly appointed CME of the LNER! A fair series of comparative trials were carried out but only confirmed that only five '4-6-2s' were ever going to be built compared with seventy eight 'A1/A3s'.

In the 1930s 'City of Ripon' stands proudly in York Station with an up express. Like her sisters, she will last less than 15 years before withdrawal. 2404 was uniquely fitted with an 'A1' style of boiler and cab in 1929 (seen here) but the 'tweaking' was not deemed to have been worth the effort for the other four. Note that Darlington still defiantly painted the class as being '4-6-2' on the bufferbeam.

© Stephen Barrett Archive-SA Collection