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

Class B2X (Locobase 10643)

Data from "Rebuilt Express Locomotives, London, Brighton & South Coast Railway," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XIV (15 February 1908), p. 37.

This entry provides a good illustration of how it is that specifications don't necessarily tell everything. Douglas Earle Marsh took the indifferently performing B2 Grasshoppers (Locobase 10125) and replaced their boilers with that of the C3 (Locobase 10560). The 1908 LM report claimed that this was part of Marsh's standardization plan.

In making the exchange, he reduced both the heating surface area (tubes and firebox) as well as the grate area; moreover, the locomotives were heavier. And yet they were better performers. Locobase wonders if at least part of the problem lay in the number and diameter of tubes. In the Grasshoppers, the boiler was of smaller diameter, yet held more tubes of smaller diameter than the rebuilds. Possibly the system simply choked on the gas flow.

Once rebuilt, they gave good service for another 20 years and all were taken into the Southern Railway upon the 1923 Grouping. Withdrawals began in 1929 when the Brighton Line was electrified and all were gone by 1933.

Class B3 / Bessemer (Locobase 8972)

Data from "Four-Coupled Bogie Express Engine,LB &SCR," The Locomotive & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review, Vol III (April 1898), p. 57.

These followed the poor-performing B2 Grasshoppers (Locobase 10125). The LRCWR described the locomotive as "very handsome" and reported "This engine has so far given great satisfaction, working the heaviest trains with ease." Its satisfactory qualities led to production as the B4; see Locobase 2260.

Class B4/Siemens (Locobase 2260)

Data from C J Bowen Cooke, British Locomotives: Their History, Construction, and Modern Developments (3rd rev and enlarged ed), (London: Whittaker and Co, 1900), supplemented by A T Taylor, Modern British Locomotives (London: E & FN Spon, Ltd, 1907), p. 5; and J N Maskelyne, "The Express Locomotives of the London, Brighton and South Coast", Locomotive News and Railway Notes, Volume I [1], No. 4 (25 April 1919), p. 28.

Designed by Robert Billinton, these had a much better reputation than the larger B2 Grasshoppers (Locobase 10125) and built on Bessemer, the engine that preceded them by two years (Locobase 8972). Maskelyne claimed they were popularly known as "Busters" and "Scotchmen" His succinct estimate of their value: "It is curious to note the great change which took place between Mr Billinton's first and last designs. His first were weak and disappointing; his last were exactly the reverse."

Brighton produced the first three and Sharp, Stewart supplied 25 more carrying boilers with two rings instead of Brighton's three. Brighton then finished the class with five more in 1902.

According to a Sussex County Magazine account on the web of the Pullman service - H C P Smail, "By Pullman to Brighton", ( vol 29, 1955) By H C P Smail. [], accessed 20 December 2007]:

"With his next design Mr. Billinton amply retrieved his reputation, and produced in the B4 class of 1899 a really fine engine. At this period the L.B. & S.C.R. was anxious to clear itself of its long-standing reputation for dilatoriness, caused partly by traffic congestion on the main line north of Redhill, and some very fast runs were made with the lightly loaded Pullman Limited on Sundays, when the track was relatively clear."

Smail relates one such event blow by blow: "...on July 26th, 1903, a specially light version of the Pullman Limited was prepared, consisting of three eight-wheeled cars and a brake van, making up a total weight of about 130 tons, the track was cleared, and Driver Tompsett, in charge of No. 70, Holyrood, was given the freedom of the road with instructions to get to Brighton as quickly as he could. The run down was made in the amazing time of 48 minutes 41 seconds, at an average speed of 63.4 miles an hour and a maximum speed of 90 miles an hour near Horley. The return trip was made in 50 minutes 21 seconds, an average of 60.8 miles an hour and a maximum of 85 miles an hour."

They were later superheated and enlarged by his son Lawson Billinton.

Class B4x (Locobase 20901)

Data from "Rebuilt Express Locomotive, London Brighton and South Coast Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVIII [28], No 362 (14 October 1922), pp. 287-288.

See also "LBSCR B4 / B4x Class 4-4-0" on Southern E-Group's website at [], last accessed 8 June 2021.

The 2-6-0 was "an entirely new type" for the LB&SC that was developed by Colonel Lawson B Billinton just before World War I to handle fast freight service from the Continent, this design was built in several batches (See Locobase 2745).

The Moguls were so successful in part because of their boiler design, which Billinton adopted for several other designs. In the early 20s, the Colonel "rebuilt" a dozen of the 1899 B4 Eight-wheeler design described in Locobase 2260. At its core was the new boiler, firebox, and grate; in fact, offers the Southern E-Group, "little of the "donor" B4 was left other than the wheel centres and bogies." They kept their all-inside motion layout.

The modified engines rolled on an adhesion wheelbase 28" (711 mm) longer than the original design. One figure of note is the relatively high supeheater/combined heating surface ratio.

Only the first two were built as LB&SC engines. The other ten were completed as Southern Railway locomotives after the 1923 Grouping. Other than the Tasmania (#50), which was withdrawn in 1936, all of the modified B4s remained in service until 1951.

Class F/B2 / Grasshopper (Locobase 10125)

Data from John Christopher, Locomotives of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway 1839-1903 (The Hill, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing Limited, 2014), pp. 41-43. See also Clement E Stretton, CE, "New Express Engines on the Brighton Railway," Railway World, Volume 4, No 11 (November 1895), p. 339; and J N Maskelyne, "The Express Locomotives of the London, Brighton and South Coast", Locomotive News and Railway Notes, Volume I [1], No. 4 (25 April 1919), p. 28.

Their nickname "Grasshopper" stems from any one of a number of sources. Some say they were so weak they couldn't pull any more than a grasshopper could, other state that the nickname came from their rough riding. Whatever the reason, this first essay of Robert Billinton in express bogie design underwhelmed driver and spectator alike. So when the boilers began wearing out in the mid-19aughts, Douglas Marsh took the opportunity to try to improve the qualities; see Locobase 10643.