NER 66 Aerolite


No. 66 Aerolite is a preserved British steam locomotive. It was classified X1 by the LNER.

History

Aerolite was built in 1869 as a replacement for an engine of the same name built by Kitson's for the Great Exhibition in 1851 and which was destroyed in a collision in 1868. The engine, like its predecessor, was used to haul the Mechanical Engineer's saloon. Originally a 2-2-2WT well tank, side tanks were added 1886, and around this time it received the number 66.
In 1892 Aerolite was rebuilt into a 4-2-2T, destroying much of the original engine. The well tank was removed, the side tanks expanded, and the two-cylinder Worsdell-von Borries compounding system applied. In 1902 it was again rebuilt into a 2-2-4T.
Aerolite was withdrawn in 1933 and preserved in 1934 at the LNER's York museum. It can be seen as a static exhibit at the National Railway Museum in York.

In fiction

An engine of this type is seen in the TV Series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, as the character Whiff. The character carries the number 66 just like the engine he is based on.