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Description
'Twas the night before Christmas, Day 24 of my Sprite Advent Calendar.

The J83s were a reaction by Matthew Holmes in the 1890s when traffic increased exponentially. Before this, older tender engines were used for short haul goods and shunting. As a short term measure, Holmes rebuilt a number of E class (J31) 0-6-0 tender engines as saddle tanks, but a new design was needed in the form of the D class 0-6-0 side tanks. The first was delivered in 1901, and forty were built under contract by Sharp Stewart and Neilson, Reid, and Co. The class survived into LNER ownership without being rebuilt by the North British, though the LNER rebuilt them with new boilers. They continued on the same duties as they had done before the grouping and remained in Scotland for most of their lives, and it is worthy of note that the J83s held the distinction of having the lowest operating and maintenance costs for any LNER 0-6-0, as well as having recorded the highest mileages. Three out of the class failed to reach 1 million miles of service, and number 9830 reached two million miles. The first was with withdrawn in 1947, but it was forecast that they would have a much longer service life, with 10 new boilers being built in 1951, though with the influx of diesel shunters, the J83s were withdrawn by 1962 and none were preserved.

Description
'Twas the night before Christmas, Day 24 of my Sprite Advent Calendar.

The J83s were a reaction by Matthew Holmes in the 1890s when traffic increased exponentially. Before this, older tender engines were used for short haul goods and shunting. As a short term measure, Holmes rebuilt a number of E class (J31) 0-6-0 tender engines as saddle tanks, but a new design was needed in the form of the D class 0-6-0 side tanks. The first was delivered in 1901, and forty were built under contract by Sharp Stewart and Neilson, Reid, and Co. The class survived into LNER ownership without being rebuilt by the North British, though the LNER rebuilt them with new boilers. They continued on the same duties as they had done before the grouping and remained in Scotland for most of their lives, and it is worthy of note that the J83s held the distinction of having the lowest operating and maintenance costs for any LNER 0-6-0, as well as having recorded the highest mileages. Three out of the class failed to reach 1 million miles of service, and number 9830 reached two million miles. The first was with withdrawn in 1947, but it was forecast that they would have a much longer service life, with 10 new boilers being built in 1951, though with the influx of diesel shunters, the J83s were withdrawn by 1962 and none were preserved.