Locomotives of the Southern Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Southern Railway took a key role in expanding the 660 V DC third rail electrified network begun by the London & South Western Railway. As a result of this, and its smaller operating area, its steam locomotive stock was the smallest of the 'Big Four' companies. Yet its locomotives were unique and of great interest. For an explanation of numbering and classification, see British Locomotive and Multiple Unit Numbering and Classification.

Contents

[edit] Background

[edit] Post-Nationalisation

British Railways completed construction of the 'West Country' and 'Merchant Navy' locomotive designs, but did not build any further orders. It abandoned the 'Leader' class experiments, and Bulleid left the UK to carry forward his unusual locomotive designs in Ireland.

[edit] Withdrawal

Withdrawal of ex-SR locomotives happened mainly towards the end of steam on the Southern Region (in 1967), the pre-Grouping designs having gone before then as electrification spread across the region.

[edit] Locomotives of SR Design

With the heavy emphasis on electrification for the London Suburban area and the Brighton main line there was little need for new steam locomotive designs. The main steam tasks were boat trains (Dover, Folkestone and Newhaven), West of England and Kent services and freight.

The designers had some interesting constraints.

Due to the hangover from SE&CR days most of the lines in Kent were of fairly light construction and would not take the weight of a modern express locomotive until well into the 1930s. Hence the extensive rebuilding (and new construction) of 4-4-0 designs at a time when other lines were busily building pacifics or heavy 4-6-0s.

The ex-SER lines also had the problem of the narrow Mountfield and Bo-Peep tunnels on the Hastings line, requiring locomotive and rolling stock rather narrower than permitted elsewhere. This problem persisted into BR days until eventually the tunnels were single tracked, giving clearance for normal stock.

Services for west of Southampton and Salisbury had a different set of problems as neither the Southern nor its constituents installed water troughs, thus leading to large tenders with greater water capacity than those fitted to similar locomotives on other railways.

New designs were:

[edit] Richard E. L. Maunsell (1923–1937)

Maunsell also rebuilt, modified or continued the new construction of earlier classes

[edit] O. V. S. Bulleid (1937–1949)

Bulleid was also responsible for the mechanical part of the three electric locomotives (CC1–CC3, later British Railways Class 70) built at Ashford Works in 1941 (CC1) and 1948 (CC2, CC3). The electrical part was the responsibility of the SR Chief Electrical Engineer, Raworth.

Bulleid was also responsible for the design of a 500hp 0-6-0 diesel mechanical shunter powered by a Davey Paxman power unit and built at Ashford Works. This was not introduced until 1950, when it emerged as BR no. 11001.

[edit] Locomotives of Constituent Companies

[edit] London and South Western Railway

See also North Devon Railway

[edit] Joseph Hamilton Beattie (1850–1871)

[edit] William George Beattie (1871–1878)

  • LSWR 282 class 0-6-0 "Ilfracombe Goods"

[edit] William Adams (1878–1895)

[edit] Dugald Drummond (1895–1912)

[edit] Robert W. Urie (1912–1922)

[edit] South Eastern and Chatham Railway

Before 1899, both the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway had some Crampton locomotives built by Robert Stephenson and Company. The SER also had some Cramptons built by Tulk and Ley.

[edit] H. S. Wainwright (1899–1913)

  • SECR B1 Class 4-4-0 introduced 1900 rebuild of SER B Class
  • SECR C Class 0-6-0 introduced 1900
  • SECR R1 Class 0-4-4T introduced 1900 rebuild of LCD R Class
  • SECR D Class 4-4-0 introduced 1901
  • SECR F1 Class 4-4-0 introduced 1903 rebuild of SER F Class
  • SECR O1 Class 0-6-0 introduced 1903 rebuild of SER O Class
  • SECR H Class 0-4-4T introduced 1904
  • SECR E Class 4-4-0 introduced 1905
  • SECR P Class 0-6-0T introduced 1909
  • SECR R1 Class 0-6-0T introduced 1910 rebuild of SER R Class
  • SECR J Class 0-6-4T introduced 1913
  • SECR K Class 2-6-4T introduced 1913, rebuilt into Southern Railway U Class
  • SECR L Class 4-4-0 introduced 1914

[edit] R.E.L.Maunsell (1913–1922)

  • SECR N Class 2-6-0 introduced 1917
  • SECR S Class 0-6-0ST introduced 1917 rebuild of C Class
  • SECR E1 Class 4-4-0 introduced 1919 rebuild of E Class
  • SECR D1 Class 4-4-0 introduced 1921 rebuild of D Class
  • SECR N1 Class 2-6-0 introduced 1922 3-cylinder version of N Class

[edit] London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

LBSCR 2-2-2WT, built by Sharp Brothers in 1849
LBSCR 2-2-2WT, built by Sharp Brothers in 1849

[edit] William Stroudley (1870–1889)

[edit] R. J. Billinton (1890–1904)

[edit] D. Earle Marsh (1905–1911)

  • LB&SCR H1 class 4-4-2 introduced 1905
  • LB&SCR I1 class 4-4-2T introduced 1906
  • LB&SCR C3 class 0-6-0 introduced 1906
  • LB&SCR I2 class 4-4-2T introduced 1907
  • LB&SCR B2X class 4-4-0 introduced 1907 rebuild of B2
  • LB&SCR I3 class 4-4-2T introduced 1907
  • LB&SCR I4 class 4-4-2T introduced 1908
  • LB&SCR C2X class 0-6-0 introduced 1908 rebuild of C2
  • LB&SCR E4X class 0-6-2T introduced 1909 rebuild of E4
  • LB&SCR J1 class 4-6-2T introduced 1910
  • LB&SCR A1X class 0-6-0T introduced 1911 rebuild of A1
  • LB&SCR E5X class 0-6-2T introduced 1911 rebuild of E5
  • LB&SCR E6X class 0-6-2T introduced 1911 rebuild of E6
  • LB&SCR H2 class 4-4-2 introduced 1911
  • LB&SCR J2 class 4-6-2T introduced 1912

[edit] L. B. Billinton (1911–1922)

  • LB&SCR E2 class 0-6-0T introduced 1913
  • LB&SCR K class 2-6-0 introduced 1913
  • LB&SCR L class 4-6-4T introduced 1914
  • LB&SCR B4X class 4-4-0 introduced 1922 rebuild of B4
  • LB&SCR I1X class 4-4-2T introduced 1923 rebuild of I1

[edit] Diesel Locomotives

The Southern Railway also built three diesel prototypes numbered 10201 to 10203 upon which the English Electric Type Four was heavily based.