London & South Western 4-4-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Radial Tanks (Locobase 3215)

William Adams produced these tank engines for the London and South Western. The design had long coal bunkers over the trailing radial axles and no side tanks, for suburban and branch line service. They were, says Glover (1967), "practically a smaller version of the same designer's outside-cylinder express engines." Glover also notes that Adams later adopted the 0-4-4T arrangement in preference to this tank Atlantic layout.

As production continued over a five-year period by Beyer, Peacock (12 in 1882 - works numbers were 2167-2178); Neilson (11 in 1883); Dubs (10 each in 1882 and 1884); and Robert Stephenson & Company (18 in 1882, 10 in 1884), the boiler pressure increased from 140 psi to 160 psi.

Large-scale retirements didn't begin until after World War I, but in 1921 alone, 38 engines were scrapped. 30 remained when the Southern Railway took over in 1923 and all but three of these had been retired by 1930. These survivors lasted until the late 1950s and one, suitably restored, continued to operated on the Bluebell Railway as of 2002.

Heating surface data from Dr Jonathan Smith's tables hosted on [] ...(10 Dec 2004)

Class unknown (Locobase 10558)

Data from "The History of the London & South Western Locomotives," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XII (15 June 1906), p.89. Works numbers were 1832-1843

When William Adams took over for Beattie in 1877, he made an immediate impact on the size of locomotives the railway would operate. These dozen tanks were delivered as 4-4-0Ts and weighed about 52 long tons (116,480 lb). But within 4 years, Adams was lengthening the bunker to carry more water and fitting a radial axle under it. Thus the 4-4-2T shown in the specifications.

They operated in the London service area both in local traffic and in suburban service. Although they were little altered over their span, except for new fireboxes, the railway would later say, "...they have in every way proved themselves most excellent locomotives."