Southern 2-6-4 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class K1-Three cylinder (Locobase 21191)

Data from "Southern Railway, Three-Cylinder Tank Locomotive", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXXII [32], No 401 (15 January 1926), pp. 1-2; and "SECR Maunsell K/K1 class 2-6-4T" on the Southern Railway E-Mail Group at [], last accessed 16 July 2024.

Locobase 2357 document the SE&CRy's/Southern's troubled K class 2-6-4Ts, which would roll "heavily and unpredictably when at speed on indifferent track". Richard Maunsell eyed the K's sizable boiler and created the River Frome (822), with two outside cylinders and the third inside. Holcroft conjugated gear coordinated the three 8" (203 mm) piston valves.

Alas, the K1 was even less stable than its two-cylinder stablemates. Two derailments followed service entry in rapid succession. SRemg describes the second as the more serious even though it wasn't up to speed. The River Frome "and seven of the eleven coaches behind it were derailed at Bearsted during 1927, , fortunately whilst travelling at only 35 m.p.h. and without any serious injuries being sustained."

Along with the rest of the Ks, the K1 was rebuilt in 1927 as a 2-6-0 and placed in its own U1 class.

Class W (Locobase 3159)

Data from Bryan Attewell ([] locomotive simulator (visited October 2002). The Southern E-Group's assessment, from [] (visited November 2002), was that this class "was another type which was unglamorous and unsung yet spent its entire life doing what it was designed to do reliably, efficiently, and effectively."

What that duty was the interchanging of freight from one line to another under tight time constraints. The requirement, says Southern E-Group, was for a locomotive that was "reasonably fast, powerful (not only in terms of haulage but also of braking power) [and] sure-footed." Even though the earlier Ks (Locobase 2357) were such a failure, Maunsell reused the tanks and bogies from those engines, but fitted them with Mogul-sized drivers and three cylinders to enhance starting power. Eastleigh also retained the Belpaire firebox

The Ws came in two batches -- five in 1932 at the Eastleigh shops, ten more in 1935-1936 at Ashford. They were retired in 1963-1964.