Class A (Metropolitan tank) (Locobase 8441)

Data from "Tank Locomotives of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway", Scientific American Supplement, No 23 (3 June 1876), pp. 364- . See also Wikipedia's "LCDR A class" at [], last accessed 28 March 2019. J. Pearson Pattison, British Railways: Their Passenger Services, ... (London: Cassell & Co, 1893), p 48, and from Graham Glover, British Locomotive Design 1825-1960 (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1967), p.36. Works numbers included Vulcan's (747-755), which were numbered 110-112 and 65-70, and Neilson's 1988-1996, road numbers 101-109.

Glover pronounces this design "excellent" and certainly its appearance was purposeful and nicely proportioned. Wikipedia's A class entry covers three variants--the A class here and a second entry for the A1/A2 with taller drivers and slightly smaller boilers in Locobase 20528.

Of this class, all were absorbed by the LCDR's successor South Eastern and Chatham in 1899 and only one failed to take a Southern Railway number in 1923. But all were withdrawn in 1926.

Class A (Metropolitan tank) (Locobase 20528)

Data from Wikipedia's "LCDR A class" at [], last accessed 28 March 2019. See also the Southern Railway E-Group's "Kirtley A1/A2 class 0-4-4T" entry at [], last accessed 28 March 2019. In addition, see J. Pearson Pattison, British Railways: Their Passenger Services, ... (London: Cassell & Co, 1893), p 48. Works numbers included Kitson's 2300-2311 in 1880 and Robert Stephenson & Company's 2491-2496 in 1883-1884.

Wikipedia's A class entry covers three variants--the A1/A2 class here and a second entry for the earlier A class in Locobase 8441. Five years after the As entered service, Kitson supplied a dozen updated A1s. The most obvious change was the merging of the sandboxes, which were relocated to the running board, with the lead axle's splasher. Other changes included he adoption of taller drivers (4"/102 mm) and provision of five fewer tubes shortened by 3" (76.2 mm), which slightly reduced the heating surface by 61 sq ft (5.67 sq m).

Stephenson's sextet added two tubes to the boiler and increased firebox heating surface area to 100 sq ft (9.33 sq m), which was the most of any of the three versions. These tweaks by a new builder were sufficient to earn the A2 designation.

Like the As, the A1s and A2s survived to be taken into the Southern Railway in 1923, but were withdrawn by 1926.

Class R (Locobase 10534)

Data from "Locomotive History of the London, Chatham & Dover Ry," The Locomotive Magazine, Volume XI (16 October 1905), p. 171. See also "LC&DR R and R1 0-4-4T classes", Southern Railway E-Group website at [], last accessed 28 March 2019.

William Kirtley obviously felt he'd found the right proportions for the boiler design he applied to three different wheel arrangements in 1891. This set of commuter tank engines had the shortest boiler and least heating surface area as a result. But the differences were not great between these Rs, the 0-6-0 B2 goods locomotives shown in Locobase 10533, and the M3 bogie express (4-4-0) engines described in Locobase 8969. And the Southern E-Group entry emphasizes their "marked similarities" of the 1875 A class, the main differences being squared off tanks and bunkers and higher-mounting condensing pipes conveying water from exhaust in to the tanks.