Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era 1898 Drummond 4-4-0 London & South Western Railway

 

Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era

1898 Drummond 4-4-0

London & South Western Railway

No. 292 of the earlier class in 1934

Apart from the experimental 4-cylinder engine built in 1897, Drummond’s first express passenger engines for the LSWR consisted of a class of inside cylinder locomotives very similar to those ha had primarily introduced on both the North British and Caledonian Railways, whilst he had been the CME of those lines.  This class, known as C8, consisted of ten engines, No. 290-9, and the boilers were interchangeable with his M7 class 0-4-4Ts of 1896.  The new engines were moderately successful but suffered from too small a firebox which sometimes resulted in a shortage of steam.  This defect was remedied in the following year with a somewhat enlarged version of the same design, in which a longer wheelbase – ten feet between the coupled wheels – allowed the firebox to be lengthened from 6’ 4” to 7’ 4”   This made all the difference, and the new engines were an unqualified success from the start.  66 of the new class were built, Nos. 113-22 and 280-9 in 1899 and 1900, these being turned out from the Company’s works at Nine Elms, whilst Dubs and Co. of Glasgow built Nos. 702-19 and 721-32.  A further batch from Nine Elms appeared in 1900-1, Nos. 300-5-7, 310-14 and 336-8, whilst finally Dubs & Co. built one more in 1901 for displaying at the Glasgow Exhibition of that year, after which the engine was taken over by the LSWR and numbered 773.No. 773 in 1924 as first rebuilt

There were a few differences between these various batches.  The 702 series and the 300s were fitted with Drummond’s firebox water tubes, distinguished by a rectangular casing at the side of the smokebox.  The 300s were provided with wide splashers which could accommodate the coupling rods, and the separate coupling rod splashers of the earlier years consequently disappeared.  They also had the leading sandboxes below the running plate, these doing away with the angular sandbox attached to the face of the leading splasher.  All the engines of both T9 and C8 classes were eventually modified in this way.  Most of the class had the large 8-wheeled tenders as illustrated, but a few have had smaller 6-wheelers at various times (Class C8 was originally built thus).

The major rebuilding of the T9 class commenced in 1922 when No. 314 was provided with a superheater, extended smokebox and a modified design of chimney, and eventually the whole of the class was so treated.  Even before rebuilding they were fine engines indeed, fast and free running, and deservedly earned the nickname of ‘Greyhounds’.  For many years they bore the brunt of main line working over the LSWR heavily graded Salisbury – Exeter line, until the appearance of the ‘King Arthurs’ in 1925.  Although other much larger engines followed them, both 4-4-0s and 4-6-0s, none was found so satisfactory as the evergreen T9s, which were undoubtedly the best of all Drummond’s express engines.  The fact that a number of them still survived sixty years later, whereas all the later designs had gone to the scrap heap, is ample testimony to this fact.  Between 1924 and 1939 a number of them worked on the South Eastern section, where they did fine work on the Kent Coast line.  Between 1935 and 1946 No. 119 was kept in immaculate condition and frequently used for working Royal trains.

The smaller C8 engines were never rebuilt, and were broken up between 1933 and 1938, but all the T9s survived to be incorporated into BR stock in 1948, although in a few cases they never received their new 30000 numbers.  The odd engine, No. 773, had, by the way, been altered to 733 in 1924.

Withdrawal commenced in 1951, but at the close of 1959 there were still about a dozen in service, mostly on semi-main line duties in the West Country, the oldest express passenger engines in the country still in service.

Class C8 – Driving Wheels – 6’ 7”,  Bogie wheels – 3’ 7”,  Cylinders – 18½”x 26”,  Pressure – 175 lb.,  LSWR & SR power classification – I

Class T9 (Rebuilt) – Driving Wheels – 6’ 7”,  Bogie wheels – 3’ 7”,  Cylinders – 19”x 26”,  Pressure – 175 lb.,  Tractive effort – 17675 lb.,  Weight – 51 tons 16 cwt.,  LSWR & SR power classification – H,  BR power classification – 3P

 

Steam Locomotives of a Leisurely Era – Adams 4-4-2T LSWR

Steam Locomotives of a Leisurely Era

1882 – London & South Western Railway

 Adams 4-4-2Ts

30582 – P.B.Whitehouse

Seventy one of these engines were constructed by W.Adams between 1882 and 1885 for suburban work in the London area.  They were built by Beyer Peacock & Co., Robert Stephenson & Co., Dubs & Co., and Neilson & Co.

The 1884 and 1885 series were slightly larger than the original thirty engines, their water capacity being increased from 1,000 gallons to 1,200 gallons.  The original series was completely devoid of side water tanks, the water being carried partly in a well tank and partly in the bunker below the coal.  Even in the later engines only very small side tanks were provided over the rear driving wheels.  Nearly all were gradually relegated to the duplicate list as 0415, etc., although a few of the last built, such as No.523, were scrapped before being duplicated.  Large numbers were taken out of service in 1916 when electrification of the LSWR suburban service began, but owing to war conditions they were not broken up and remained in Eastleigh yard in varying stages of decay for several years.  No.0424 went to the Government in 1916 for war service and No.0488 was also sold out of service, being later acquired by the East Kent Railway in 1919 as their No.5.30584 Ivo Peters

By 1928 only two remained in possession of the Southern railway, namely Nos. 0125 and 0520.  These were specially retained for working the Lyme Regis branch, which abounds in sharp curves, and for which, even till 1959, no other engines had been found as suitable as these old-timers, with their flexible wheelbases, although other types had been tried.  I course of time it was found that two engines were hardly adequate for maintaining the service, as if one was away in shops it left only one to carry on, with no spare in case of breakdown.  Fortunately the East Kent engine was still in existence and the Southern were able to buy it back in 1946, when it was restored to the fold under its original number increased by 3000, as 3488 (0125 and 0520 having in the meantime become 3125 and 1520).

One or two of the class were fitted with Drummond boilers in later LSWR days, and there are at present four boilers – two Drummond and two Adams – in use (1959), which are changed from time to time among the three surviving engines.

On Nationalisation in 1948 the three engines became BR 30582-4 and late in 1959 still continued to work the Lyme Regis branch turn about a week at a time, the other two being kept in Exmouth Junction shed.  Probably their days are numbered, as no doubt eventually diesel railcars will take on the working of the branch.No.0422, one of the earlier engines, as running in 1922, the only alteration being the provision of a Drummond chimney in place of the Adams stove-pipe. H.C.Casserley

Dimensions:  Driving wheels – 5’ 7”,  Bogie wheels – 3’ 0”,  Trailing wheels – 3’ 0” (3’ 6” on the later 1884-5 engines),  Cylinders – 17½”x 24”,  Pressure – 160 lbs.,  Tractive effort – 14920 lbs.,  LSWR and SR classification – K,  BR classification – 1P 30583 John Bradbeer semgonline.com

Steam Locos of a Leisurely Era – LSWR Drummond’s ‘Bug’

This is the way to go to work!

London & South Western Railway 4-2-4T Drummond’s ‘Bug’

The Bug at Eastleigh in 1927 H.C.Casserley

Dugald Drummond, Locomotive Superintendent of the London and South Western railway from 1895 to 1912, ordered himself the Victorian equivalent of a company car for conveyance between his home in Surbiton and the Works at Nine Elms, moved to Eastleigh in 1908-10, apart from regular inspections elsewhere over the system, which led to the engine being known by the men as ‘The Bug’. After Drummond’s retirement the locomotive, which had been averaging 30,000 miles a year, saw little use, but survived until 1940.  By August 1937 it was a permanent resident at Eastleigh Paint Shop where this photo was taken, now just ‘SR’ livery.

In Eastleigh Paint Shop – H.C.Casserley

After his death in 1912 it was little used, but remained in Eastleigh shed until 1932, when it had a short spell of duty taking small parties of visitors around the new extensions to Southampton Docks then under construction.  Thereafter it did little or no work until it was finally cut up in 1940.  At first numbered 733 in the capital list it was transferred in 1924 to the service stock as 58S.

Until its resuscitation in 1932 it was still painted in the old pre-1918 LSWR livery, the coach portion retaining the old characteristic salmon and chocolate colours of LSWR days.  Still bearing the initials ‘LSWR’ it was also probably at the time the last engine on any railway in nominal (if not actual) service to retain its pre-grouping identity in this manner.