| LB&SCR I3 class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 I3 class 32078 at Brighton 19 March 1950 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The LB&SCR I3 class was a class of 4-4-2 steam tank locomotives designed by D. E. Marsh for suburban passenger service on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.
| LB&SCR I3 class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I3 class 32078 at Brighton 19 March 1950 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The LB&SCR I3 class was a class of 4-4-2 steam tank locomotives designed by D. E. Marsh for suburban passenger service on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.
After introducing two unsuccessful designs of 4-4-2 tank locomotive with the I1 and I2 classes, Douglas Earle Marsh learned a lesson and provided a new design with a far larger firebox. The new design was a tank version of Robert Billinton's successful B4 class tender locomotives. At the time of its introduction locomotive engineers were beginning to take an interest in superheating and Marsh therefore ordered two locomotives from Brighton railway works for comparative purposes, one with a traditional saturated boiler and one incorporating the Schmidt superheater. These were built in October 1907 and March 1908 respectively.
Several months of trials proved that both locomotives were performing well and reliably, but the LB&SCR Board of Directors were still not convinced that the extra building costs associated with superheating was matched by lower running costs. Marsh therefore built four more superheated locomotives and six without superheating, between February 1909 and March 1910. By mid 1910, there was sufficient operating data to convince the Directors and all after this date were superheated. Five more locomotives appeared in 1910.
Both varieties of the I3 class proved themselves to be excellent locomotives but the superheated versions were significantly cheaper to run on express trains, especially when compared with the B4 and H1 classes. [1] The class were also used experimentally on through express trains with the London and North Western Railway between Brighton and Rugby and convinced the LNWR directors of the value of superheating. [2] Ten more superheated I3s were constructed in 1912 under Lawson Billinton, with minor detail differences.
After World War I, Billinton wished to convert the remaining members of the class to superheating as their boilers came due for renewal, but only the prototype No. 21 was converted before the LB&SCR merged with other railways to form Southern Railway in January 1923. The remainder were converted by Richard Maunsell between 1925 and 1927 using his own design of superheater.
During 1925 and 1926, the I3 class were gradually replaced on the London-Brighton express trains by the "King Arthur" and "River" classes, and they were transferred on to semi-fast and other secondary services. [3] However, the electrification of the London to Brighton and London to Portsmouth lines during the 1930s meant that the class were transferred further afield on the Southern Railway including Salisbury and Dover. Between the Autumn of 1941 and the summer of 1943 two I3 locomotives were loaned to the Great Western Railway and performed well on services from Gloucester, and Worcester. [4]
The first worn-out member of the class was withdrawn by the Southern Railway in 1944, [6] but the remainder survived into British Railways (BR) ownership in 1948, although all were withdrawn between January 1950 and May 1952, having all completed very high mileages. No examples have been preserved. [7]
The first ten were numbered 21-30 and the remainder 75-91. The Southern Railway initially added a "B" prefix to these numbers and later renumbered them 2021-2030 and 2075-2091. BR added 30000 to the numbers. [8]
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, covering a large part of Surrey. It was bounded on its western side by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR), which provided an alternative route to Portsmouth. On its eastern side the LB&SCR was bounded by the South Eastern Railway (SER)—later one component of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR)—which provided an alternative route to Bexhill, St Leonards-on-Sea, and Hastings. The LB&SCR had the most direct routes from London to the south coast seaside resorts of Brighton, Eastbourne, Worthing, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis, and to the ports of Newhaven and Shoreham-by-Sea. It served the inland towns and cities of Chichester, Horsham, East Grinstead and Lewes, and jointly served Croydon, Tunbridge Wells, Dorking and Guildford. At the London end was a complicated suburban and outer-suburban network of lines emanating from London Bridge and Victoria, and shared interests in two cross-London lines.
A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are three types of superheaters: radiant, convection, and separately fired. A superheater can vary in size from a few tens of feet to several hundred feet.
Brighton railway works was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-dating the more famous railway works at Crewe, Doncaster and Swindon. The works grew steadily between 1841 and 1900 but efficient operation was always hampered by the restricted site, and there were several plans to close it and move the facility elsewhere. Nevertheless, between 1852 and 1957 more than 1200 steam locomotives as well as prototype diesel electric and electric locomotives were constructed there, before the eventual closure of the facility in 1962.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway B1 Class is a class of 0-4-2 express passenger steam locomotives, known from the name of the first, No. 214, as the "Gladstones".
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) E2 class was a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotives designed by Lawson Billinton, intended for shunting and short distance goods trains. Ten examples were built between 1913 and 1916. Some of these tank engines were trialled on push-pull passenger trains in which they were proven to be unworthy due to their roughness at speed and inadequate coal bunker capacity. All were withdrawn from service and scrapped between 1961 and 1963.
The B4 class were 4-4-0 steam locomotives for express passenger work on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. They were designed by R. J. Billinton and were either built at Brighton works 1899–1902 or else by Messrs Sharp, Stewart and Company in 1901. Twelve members of the class were rebuilt from 1922 to 1924 by L. B. Billinton with a larger boiler, cylinders and a superheater. The rebuilt locomotives were classified B4X.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway E3 class were 0-6-2T side tank steam locomotives. One prototype was designed by William Stroudley shortly before his death, but was completed by R. J. Billinton, who later built sixteen further locomotives.
The LB&SCR K class were powerful 2-6-0 mixed traffic locomotives designed by L. B. Billinton for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) in 1913. They appeared shortly before the First World War and the first ten examples of the class did prodigious work during that conflict on munitions, supply and troop trains. Further examples were built after the war, and the class was used as a test bed for various items of specialised equipment. However, after the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923 the remaining three locomotives on order were not completed and the seventeen members of the class led relatively quiet yet reliable lives over their traditional lines. The locomotives proved their usefulness once again during the Second World War, and continued to provide reliable service until the 1960s. The entire class was eventually withdrawn in 1962 for 'bookkeeping' rather than 'operational' reasons.
Robert John Billinton was the Locomotive, Carriage, Wagon and Marine Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1890 until his death.
Douglas Earle Marsh (1862–1933) was an English railway engineer, and was the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from November 1904 until his early retirement on health grounds in July 1911.
Lawson ButzkopfskiBillinton was the Locomotive Engineer of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1912 until the company became part of the Southern Railway in 1923. He joined the LBSCR in 1900 as an apprentice. By the end of 1907 he was a district locomotive superintendent at the railway works at New Cross. From February 1911 Billinton was locum tenens, or caretaker, for Locomotive Engineer D. E. (Earle) Marsh at Brighton works whilst Marsh was on leave of absence due to ill health. Earle Marsh resigned in July 1911. Billinton was promoted to Locomotive Engineer at the beginning of 1912.
The LB&SCR L Class was a class of 4-6-4 steam tank locomotives designed by L. B. Billinton for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. They were known as the "Brighton Baltics", Baltic being the European name for the 4-6-4 wheel arrangement. Seven examples were built between April 1914 and April 1922 and they were used for express passenger services.
The LB&SCR D1 class were powerful 0-4-2 suburban passenger tank locomotives, designed by William Stroudley of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1873. They were originally known as "D-tanks" but later reclassified as class D1. Members of this very successful class survived in service until 1951.
The LBSCR I2 class was a class of 4-4-2 steam tank locomotives designed by D. E. Marsh for suburban passenger service on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The I4 class were of the same design but incorporated a superheated boiler.
The LB&SCR I1 class was a class of 4-4-2 steam tank locomotives designed by D. E. Marsh for suburban passenger service on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) B2 class was a class of small 4-4-0 steam locomotives intended for express passenger work on the LB&SCR London to Portsmouth line. They were designed by R. J. Billinton and built at Brighton works from 1895 to 1897. They proved to be reliable locomotives but barely adequate for the heaviest trains and acquired the nickname Grasshoppers. As a result the B3 class was developed from the B2, and the B2X class was later rebuilt from these locomotives with larger boilers.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway E6 class was a class of 0-6-2T side tank steam locomotive designed by Robert Billinton. They were introduced in 1904 and were a development of the E5 class with smaller driving wheels intended for heavy short and medium-distance freight trains.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) H1 class was a class of 4-4-2 steam locomotives for express passenger work. They were designed by D. E. Marsh and were built by Messrs Kitson and Company in 1905 and 1906.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway H2 class was a class of 4-4-2 steam locomotives for express passenger work. They were designed when D. E. Marsh was officially Locomotive Superintendent, and were built at Brighton Works in 1911 and 1912. As Marsh had worked on the Great Northern Railway as Chief Assistant to Henry Ivatt, the design closely followed that of the GNR Class C1. The entire class was scrapped by British Railways, but a replica entered service on the Bluebell Railway in 2024.
The LB&SCR J1 and J2 classes were 4-6-2 steam tank locomotives designed by D. E. Marsh for express passenger services on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.