Mystery of the LNER J7

I have been doing some research for my forthcoming Gresley book (shameless plug over) and have come across a real historical oddity!

I have a document entitled Use of Engine Power. This covers 1942-1946 for the LNER's locomotive fleet. I have been organising a part of my spreadsheet version of this document into a whole-line average for the different classes, when I noticed this:



A quick check of the LNER encyclopaedia here reveals this is the only class J7 listed: https://www.lner.info/locos/J/j7.php



These were all gone by 1936 according to the LNER Encyclopaedia, RCTS Green Books, and pretty much any source I have that lists them. So I thought - okay, hands up - I've made an error in the spreadsheet when copying across.

Except, I haven't. Here's a snippet from 1946 where class J7 is clearly given:



One single locomotive of class J7 working in the SE part of the LNER.

So here's the thing. Knowing how these records were collated, I am forced into thinking that there are a range of potential "truths"

• A surviving loco has been put back into service. How likely is this? Not very given it would be 10 years since they were all supposedly scrapped
• Another loco has been mis-identified. This seems more likely, but if it's a one off locomotive, then to add it into the statistics specifically as J7 seems unlikely.
• J7 has been used to describe another class, possibly from another region. I can find no record of any 0-6-0s being loaned to the LNER, but they did loan the GWR some J25s

Have I missed an historical quirk of the LNER somewhere here? Where and what was class J7 in 1946?

Answers on a postcard...!

 

I am tempted to suggest a typo for J70 - the tram engines that were built in 1942 for service in East Anglian docks but 12 of these were built and presumably in service by 1946. Apart from that I cannot think of any alternative loco that served in the East Anglia division unless it was a USA 0-6-0 shunter on loan for local duties.

 

Does this J7 appear in a single record for a single year only, or is it in multiple years? If its just in a single year then I submit typo is the most likely explanation.

 

I notice that the single "J7" is shown as belonging to the Southern Area Eastern Section (i.e. ex-GER), whereas the actual ex-GNR J7s appear to have always worked in Yorkshire & Notts.

Have you got the right number of ex-GER J17s in the statistics? If one of those got mis-classified somewhere along the line ....

Alternatively, could the "J7" have survived in use as a stationary boiler or some other non-running function?

 

Departmental engine, accidentally or intentionally put back in?
(I discovered only recently that the departmental thing mattered for insurance purposes).
Or, more sinister IPoRCTS...
https://xkcd.com/190/
Are you communicating with other statisticians...?

 

Cock up before conspiracy? OK ..... I can happily go with that.

 

Is it worth having a look in Box tunnel see if its hiding there ;-)

Chris

 

If you look, it disappears. Schroedinger's locomotive