4-4-0 Steam Locomotives in India

Class unknown (Locobase 13587)

Data from Charles Rous-Martens, "British Locomotives for Abroad", Page's Magazine, Volume III, No 2 (August 1903), p. 116.

This was another batch of Phipps' express mail design (see Locobase 20540) of 1899.

Class unknown (Locobase 20540)

Data from "Express Passenger Engines: Madras Railway", Railway Engineering, Volume XXII [22], No 2 (March 1901), pp. 69-71.

C E Phipps, Madras Railway's superintendent of locomotives, carriages, and wagons, designed the general outline of this class of express mail locomotives and included a few design details of his own. RE's report noted the "very heavy demand" placed on the locomotive by a line that featured 80 miles (129 km) of grades climbing at 1 in 100 (1%) and nearly 200 miles (322 km) of 0.5% grades. Train loads on this line averaged 180-200 tons.

Although the Singareni Mines' coal was free burning and created a very hot fire, it was very dirty with large quantities of ash and clinker. Phipps designed a rocking grate that shrug off the ash and dirt from below without interfering with the fire. It was a success, reported RE, which added that it had been fitted to "all coal burning engines on the Madras Railway, and ...found to be most effective."

Kitson's bogie design allowed sideways travel through swing links, each of which was carried on two pins.

Locobase 13587 shows a 1902 batch that had slightly more cylinder volume and more heating surface area.