London, Brighton & South Coast 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 249 (Locobase 10085)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (March 1898), p. 34.

This was the last design from John Chester Craven, the LBSCR's locomotive superintendent. They served the line for about 30 years. 5 were scrapped in 1894-1896, the 6th retained as a pumper.

Class 84 (Locobase 10096)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (July 1898), p. 98.

"For ordinary traffic they were at that time the largest goods engines in this country," according to the author of this serial history. The particulars pointed up "...at a glance what powerful and up-to-date locomotives they were." They were the prototypes for a long-running production of goods engines by William Stroudley that are profiled in Locobase 3018.

They were later given the same arrangement of larger-diameter boiler tubes (248 of 1 3/4" outside diameter) and cylinders of 18 1/4" diameter.

Class Barcelona (Locobase 10116)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol IV (May 1899), p. 67. Works numbers 16204-16205.

This was a special-duty engine, so to speak, in that it was built exclusively to serve the Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells line, which, as the author noted, "...abound[ed] in severe gradients and sharp curves all the way from Hailsham to Eridge." Annoyingly, since the author didn't provide the wheelbase for the E class (Locobase 3217), we cannot do much with his comment that the Barcelona's wheelbase was identical.

A cheering side note for those whose long-time livelihood may feel threatened by "progress": In the mid-1890s, the Barcelona was retired to Brighton to make way for a brawnier eight-coupled locomotive. In the event, the tightness of the curves impeded the 0-8-0T's movement sufficiently to call the 157 back into service, at least for a while.

Class C (Locobase 3018)

Described by Ahrons (1927) as the prototype of the "more powerful modern 0-6-0, as in service today [sic])." Designed by Stroudley, the first two had 311 1 1/2" tubes (see Locobase 10096), the later ones getting the arrangement shown in the specifications.

The author of the "historical notes" presented at [] concedes:

"It has to be said that history records the issue of poor boiler circulation, and consequent poor steaming, as having dogged both this and the C1 class [Locobase 9988] all their lives. The problem is most graphically illustrated by stories of crews uncoupling their engines while waiting at signals for the road, after a spell of heavy work - trying to use up surplus steam for fear of a boiler explosion. Apparently there was ample steam while stationary, but insufficient when really needed under arduous working conditions. "

Brighton Works produced 2 in 1871 and 10 in 1873; Kitson supplied 8 more in 1873-1874. Having rendered three decades of indifferent service, the class was scrapped from August 1901 to December 1904.

Class C1/ Jumbos (Locobase 9988)

Data from [] , the E B Models site. See also "LBSCR C1 0-6-0" on the Southern Railway E-mail Group website at [], last accessed 2 April 2021.

Even though Stroudley's 1873-1874 C-class six-coupleds were such dogs (See Locobase 3018) especially as steamers, he stuck with the same boiler and increased cylinder volume. In addtion, the C class's outside frame had conferred a rough ride on the engine, which rendered it less suitable for passenger work.

Eight years after Kitson delivered the last C, Stroudley built 12 C1s that were, according to the author of the "Historical Notes" cited above, "...no real improvement on the Cs. The first six came out in 1882 with the second six following in 1884 (3 in May) and 1887 (3 in June). The SREmG's account notes the "oddity" of supplying just ten tenders for the dozen locomotives and sharing them among the class "as required."

In sum, "[T]hese locomotives were not as successful as Stroudley's other designs, claimed the SREmG, "with [their] inadequate feed arrangements, bad boiler circulation and poor braking and all bar two were withdrawn by 1911, without any re-building."

And their unsatisfactory qualities meant that all but two were retired in 1907-1911. 432 lasted until 1920.

The LB&SC sold the 428 to the Stratford & Midland Junction Railway in 1921 as their #7. Upon formation of the LMS, the 7 was found to be too light-footed and was scrapped in 1925.

Class C2 (Locobase 5175)

Data and information from [] (October 2002). Works numbers 1375-1378, 1412-1419.

RJ Billinton's "Vulcans" were a freight version of the D3-class 0-4-4Ts with identical running gear but a larger boiler. DE Marsh began rebuilding the C2s in 1908 with slightly smaller cylinders (17 1/2"), but slightly higher boiler pressure in a larger (1,300 sq ft) boiler.

After 3 (545, 547, and 553) proved satisfactory, the shops delivered 551 in 1909 and 27 more before 1922. Ultimately, 45 were rebuilt. In addition to being substantially heavier (45 t 5 cwt or 101,360 lb), the C2x engines had an extended smokebox and a higher-pitched boiler.

Class C3 (Locobase 10560)

Data from "New Goods Locomotives", The Locomotive Magazine, (15 June 1906), p.91 and Steamindex's coverage of L B & SC Rwy at [] . See also Wikipedia's "LB&SCR C3 class", [], last accessed 23 June 2009.

Steamindex says that Douglas Earle Marsh's design was "... an indifferent performer and the Locomotive Running Department much preferred the C2x." The C2X was the rebuilt C3.

Wikipedia explains that most were shedded at Horsham and as a result the class was dubbed the Horsham Goods. They were coal gobblers and "from the outset ... proved to be disappointing." So rather than pull the heavy main-line freight trains they were intended to master, the C3s instead worked in secondary line service in Sussex.

Class E (Locobase 3217)

Data from "Description of a Goods Engine, London and Brighton Railway", Engineer, Volume 43 (20 April 1877), p. 276.

Two years after the Terriers, designed by Stroudley to handle suburban traffic south of London, the designer introduced these larger tanks with inside frames. Engineer's detailed description includes discussion of a feed water heating system that sent steam back to the tender through "large pipes".

Later engines had 231 1 1/2" tubes, which increased the cross-section ratio to 18.9% and had 952 sq ft of heating surface and 87 sq ft of firebox heating surface.

A further six (159-164) were built in 1891.

Class E2 (Locobase 20176)

Data from "London, Brighton and South Coast Railway: New 0-6-0 Tank Engine for Local Goods and Shunting Traffic," Railway Magazine, Volume 33, p. 195. See also "LB&SCR E2 Class"in the Southern E-Group's website at [], last accessed 9 April 2017.

These replaced some of the decades-old Stroudley E1 goods locomotives (Locobase 3217). The E2s had larger dimensions in every respect and included such updates as exhaust steam fed into the side tanks to preheat the water. Still, the design lacked sufficient coal or water bunkerage. The latter was addressed by extending the side tanks forward in the last five locomotive, increasing water capacity to about 1,500 US gallons ( 5,705 litres). Loaded weight increased to 53 tons 10 cwt (119,840 lb/54,359 kg).

The coal capacity deficiency showed itself when two of the class were tested in 1914 as push-pull motive power spliced into six-carriage trains between London Bridge northwest to Crystal Palace. The experiment ended soon after it began.

In their designed roles, however, the E2s soldiered on for close to five decades in LB&SC, Southern Railway, and British Railways liveries before their withdrawals between February 1961 (32108) and April 1963 (32104 and 32109).

Class Terrier (Class A) (Locobase 2146)

Data from Titre Exposition universelle internationale de 1878 a Paris. Rapports du jury internationale..Volume Groupe VI - Classe 64. Rapport sur le materiel des chemins de fer. p. 50 (cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/fpage.cgi?8XAE277-11.1/54/100/312/0/0 (accessed 1 September 2005) table. See also "Locomotives on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway", Railway Gazette, Volume 14 (3 February 1882), pp. 55-57, 67; "The Colonels Terriers" in the Colonel Stephens Society website at [], last accessed 25 May 2019; and "Stroudley Locomotives: A1 Terriers" in the The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway at [], also last accessed 25 May 2019.. One of them was later displayed at the 1878 Paris Exposition and was awarded a Gold Medal.

Designed by Stroudley to handle suburban traffic south of London. Stroudley tailored his response to the light axle loadings by crafting both light engines and "a complete setof rolling stock in which dead weight was kept down very effectively." Trains of eight carriages began the service, but increased demand raised the average train to eleven carriages on the main line and ten on the lighter branch lines.

They were considered to have been very successful. Known to the drivers as "Rooters". "With their bright yellow Stroudley livery they continued to dominate the lines for which they were built," reports the Colonel Stephens Society account,"enlivening both the murky working class depths of the tunnels of the East London line and the then middle class suburbs of Peckham, Brixton and Clapham with their snap and sparkle."

Many of these later had 14 x 20" cylinders fitted, but growth in traffic relegated them to lighter service after about 20 years.