BJR River Class

The Birkenhead Junction Railway 'River' Class locomotives were a class of 4-4-0 locomotive built for the Birkenhead Junction Railway between 1908 and 1909. The class were named after rivers on the Wirral, which gave the class their name.

Locomotives
The locomotives were built by Sharp, Stewart of Glasgow as 'kits', with the boilers being Beyer, Peacock products and the frames and the rest of the engines being Stewart made. All locomotives were delivered in one cavalcade down the West Coast Main Line to Warrington, then over the Birkenhead and Chester line to Birkenhead.

Names
The locomotives were all named after rivers that run through the Wirral peninsula: River Fender

River Dibbin

River Clatter

River Birket

River Mersey

River Dee

The second batch, of two locomotives delivered in 1909, were named after the brooks that run into the River Birket

Arrowe Brook

Greasby Brook

All locomotives were put to work on fast and semi-fast trains on the BJR Network, and occasionally ran trains over the Central Wirral and Wirral Railway lines to Hoylake, then over the Dee Bridge Railway to Wales. In 1935 River Mersey was repainted in a red, white and blue livery to mark King George V's silver jubilee. The Brook locomotives were withdrawn in 1939 and blown up at Oystercatcher Island to create an artificial bank.