London, Brighton & South Coast 2-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 109 (Locobase 10091)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (June 1898), p. 82. Boiler pressure is an estimate. Grate area wasn't provided.

The last of J C Craven's one-off designs for the East London line (see also Locobase 10090), this engine was virtually identical except for 4" shorter wheelbase and commensurately stubbier firebox. In 1877, it was renumbered 352 and in May 1885, all but the boiler, which supplied steam at Deptford Wharf, was scrapped.

Class 51 (Locobase 10090)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (June 1898), p. 82. Boiler pressure is an estimate. Grate area wasn't provided.

One-off for the East London line. Its small size did not encourage a long career and by January 1885 after a career that included 2 renumbersings (132, 379) and a stint as a pumping engine.

Class 53 (Locobase 10100)

Data from "Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (September 1898), p. 136.

This little tank came into LB & SCR hands by a somewhat shady route. When he was still Locomotive Superindent, J C Craven had an interest in the Tunis Railway and one on the Isle of Jersey. Tunis's engine was not ready when required, so Craven had Sharp, Stewart ship the one intended for the Jersey Railway. Then the Jersey Railway decided it didn't want its engine after all, which put Craven on the hook. So he persuaded the LB & SCR board to buy it for a 3-coach train on the W L Extension Railway.

After only a few years at best, the traffic demands overwhelmed the little engine and it was shifted to a series of shunting jobs and named Bishopstone and later Fratton. Its numbering moved around too, from 53 to 270 (November 1875) and 497 (April 1886). It was sold by the railway in December 1890.

Class Belgravia (Locobase 3513)

Glover (1967) and Ahrons (1927) for data.

Before William Stroudley settled on the 0-4-2 arrangement, he built a couple of classes of 2-4-0s. The data above relate to the earlier engines. Later engines had slightly less total heating surface (1,123 sq ft) and included 206 1 3/4" tubes. The boiler pressure is an estimate based on the slightly later 0-4-2s.

For a short time these were the engines for the heavy expresses between Brighton and London. They were fitted with new tenders in 1876 that had among other features a feedwater-heating system that led half of the exhaust steam through 12 copper pipes, up the exhaust dome, and into the tender tank.

Class Carisbrook (Locobase 10105)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (November 1898), p. 167

The Carisbrook and Freshwater worked the 8:45 AM Brighton-London expresses for five years until 1880.

Class Hove (Locobase 10083)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (January 1898), p. 9. Works numbers were 1448-1449 (delivered in September-October 1895) and 1455-1456 (February 1896).

This was a one-of-a-kind 4-coupled passenger engine (Kitson works number 1423) that was awarded a gold medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition. The author notes that it had some curious features such as a large cab of "decidedly foreign appearance", a low-pitched boiler, and "...the throw of the outside coupling rods was 10 1/4-in." The "throw" in question refers to how far from the hub center was the mounting for the coupling rod on each wheel and Locobase does not know if this was a tight throw or an expansive one. the author also notes that the engine had the reverser on the right-hand side of the cab when delivered and this was the one engine to come under Stroudley's supervision that was not converted to left-hand side reverser control

Bask in the color scheme as delivered for a moment: Light green lined with red and chocolate framing, polished brass casings for the dome, safety-valve column, and hand rails.

Hove was renumbered 463 in October 1881 and scrapped in November 1893.

Class Kemp Town (Locobase 10087)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (May 1898), p. 66-67. Sharp, Stewart works number 1924. Boiler pressure is an estimate.

This locomotive had a number of names, numbers, and looks throughout its career, which was typical of such humble work engines that were too small to scrap at any given moment. Operating in the Brighton Central-Kemp Town service gave rise to its first name, a shift to Havant in June 1874 earned the new name "Hayling Island". Under that name, the locomotive received the standard copper-topped stack and a dome just ahead of a true cab; adhesion weight was now 27,776 lb and total engine weight came to 43,456 lb. Renumberings during this period began with 115, then 359, later 499.

In 1889, Stroudley added a second cab behind the now-roofed cab and a trailing axle (Whyte 2-4-2T) to adapt the engine to its new role as inspection engine. It was then dubbed Inspector, renumbered 481and remained in service for at least a decade.