Designed by Thomas Parker for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), a total of 55 locomotives were constructed up to 1892.

In 1892 the final fourteen locomotives were built with a larger coal bunker, increasing their weight to 61.95 long tons (62.94 t).

The GCR 9A locos were reclassified as N4 under the LNER locomotive numbering and classification system when the GCR was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway after the 1923 grouping.

[3] In 1925, shorter chimneys began to be fitted to bring the N4s within the LNER composite loading gauge, creating two further variants N4/2 (short bunker) – the existing N4/2s being recoded as N4/3s – and N4/4 (long bunker).

British Railways, formed on 1 January 1948, added 60000 to all LNER loco numbers.