South Eastern & Chatham 2-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class N (Locobase 2341)

See Ahrons (1927) for data. See also "New Locomotives: South East and Chatham Ry", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXIII [23], No 304 (15 December 1917), pp. 240-241; and "New Standard Boilers and Cylinders for South East & Chatham Railway Locomotives", Railway Engineer, Volume 41, No 8 (August 1920), pp. 342.

RE Maunsell freight hauler sporting a Belpaire firebox and coned boiler whose design they shared with the contemporaneous K class 2-6-4Ts. Glover (1967) comments that these engines, of a design "reminiscent of Great Western practice" were "at the time of their appearance ...outstanding examples of advanced practice."

RE's August 1920 report benefited from Maunsell's elaboration on the reasons for adopting a coned boiler, which boiled down to "an attempt to produce maximum capacity for minimum weight of material." To achieve this, the maximum dimensions were set at the firebox throat, "the most effective part of the boiler". Moreover, the need for thicker plate (5/8"/15.875 mm vs 9/16"/14.3 mm for the parallel front course) was confined to a much smaller area. Sloping the firebox casing plate allowed a smaller back plate, which increased visibility through the footplate's "lookout windows".

The cylinders lay outside and were supplied through 10" (254 mm) inside-admission piston valves with ports "as short and straight as possible." Clearance volume was 10% of cylinder volume.

See [] for details about the SE&CR as well as the Southern Ns.