The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Peppercorn Class A2 is a class of steam locomotive designed for express passenger work by Arthur Peppercorn, the chief designer of the LNER after Edward Thompson.

The first London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class A2 was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Vincent Raven for the North Eastern Railway (as NER class 4.6.2). [1] Two were built by the NER in 1922 before the grouping and another three by the LNER in 1924.

The A2 class was an express passenger locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1907 to 1963.

The A2 class actually consisted of four distinct sub-classes of mixed traffic locomotives built by Thompson and Peppercorn. Thompson’s pacifics were designed on quite different plan from Sir Nigel Gresley’s.

The Peppercorn A2 Pacifics. With the retirement of Thompson and his succession by Peppercorn, it was decided that the remaining fifteen A2/3 locomotives which had been ordered, should be built to a modified design. In fact, the Chief Draughtsman had already started to design a modified A2/3 in 1946, without the authorisation of Thompson.

The Raven A2 Pacifics. The North Eastern Railway's (NER) development of express passenger locomotives was held up by World War 1, but resumed in 1921 with development of the very successful Raven Atlantic C7.

The LNER Class A2 locomotives were introduced in the 1940s to designs by LNER Chief Mechanical Engineer Edward Thompson and his successor Arthur Peppercorn. Forty of these steam locos were built to the 4-6-2 'Pacific' wheel arrangement with 6'2" driving wheels for express passenger and fast freight services.

The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Peppercorn Class A2 is a class of steam locomotive designed for express passenger work by Arthur Peppercorn, the chief designer of the LNER after Edward Thompson.

A2 986 was the fourth locomotive built in this second batch with the modified design. Built at the Newport Railway Workshops, it entered service on the 18th of November 1915. A2 986 was converted to oil firing in 1946 and thus represented the pinnacle of development of the A2 class.

The London and North Eastern Railway Class A2/2 was a class of six 4-6-2 steam locomotives rebuilt by Edward Thompson in 1943 and 1944 from his predecessor Sir Nigel Gresley's P2 Class of 2-8-2 express passenger locomotives.