LSWR 318 class

Last updated

LSWR 318 class
LSWR 318 Class, No.318.jpg
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
Builder Beyer, Peacock and Company
Build date1875
Total produced6
Specifications
Configuration:
   Whyte 4-4-0 T
Gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Leading dia. 3 ft (0.914 m)
Driver dia.5 ft 0.5 in (1.537 m)
Axle load 15.475 long tons (15.723 t; 17.332 short tons)
Loco weight42.1–45.2 long tons (42.8–45.9 t; 47.2–50.6 short tons)
Fuel typeCoal
Water cap.1,000 imp gal (4,500 L; 1,200 US gal)
Boiler pressure120–130 psi (8.3–9.0 bar; 830–900 kPa) (new)
150 psi (10 bar; 1,000 kPa) (modified)
Heating surface:
  Tubes912.6 sq ft (85 m2)
Cylinders Two, outside
Cylinder size 16 in × 20 in (406 mm × 508 mm)
Career
Operators LSWR
Class 318
Withdrawn1906–1913
DispositionAll scrapped

The LSWR 318 class (also known as 'Plymouth' or 'Metropolitan' tanks) was a class of six passenger 4-4-0 tank locomotives supplied by Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1875 for the newly completed Exeter-Plymouth line. They proved to be unsuited to the task for which they were purchased, but were found alternative employments elsewhere on the system.

Contents

Background

The completion of the London and South Western Railway line between Exeter and Plymouth was going to require the provision of new passenger locomotives. William George Beattie approached Beyer, Peacock and Company of Openshaw near Manchester for the costs of six 2-4-0 well tank locomotives in 1873. The locomotive builders were unhappy with the design submitted to them and suggested rather their existing design of 4-4-0 side tank locomotives, which had performed well on the Metropolitan Railway. [1] The proposal was accepted and the locomotives were delivered during January and February 1875.

Design differences

The LSWR locomotives did not have the condensing apparatus fitted to the original locomotives and they had metal awnings over the cabs. This created problems when coaling since the coal bunker was situated within the footplate area. [2]

Stability problems

Although the new locomotives performed adequately when used on a range of slower services, as soon as they were used on their intended route after May 1876 the railway received complaints from passengers and crews about their rough riding at speeds over 40 mph (64.37 km/h). [3] They proved to be unstable (even dangerous) at higher speeds, leading to testing on two locomotives in 1877, one fitted with a bogie designed by William Adams before he joined the LSWR and one with a Crewe-type Bissel truck. [4] The improvements achieved were insufficient to justify fitting new bogies on the remainder of the class.

Beattie was censured by the Board of Directors when it became known that he had been aware of the class's rough since 1875. Ultimately the class was transferred to the Epsom and Leatherhead services where they performed well at the lower speeds required of them. [5] Adams later made minor adjustments to the bogies, which enabled the class to have more than 30-year careers on a variety of different services. They were all withdrawn and scrapped between 1906 and 1913.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR N15 class</span> Class of 74 two-cylinder 4-6-0 locomotives

The LSWR N15 class was a British 2–cylinder 4-6-0 express passenger steam locomotive designed by Robert Urie. The class has a complex build history spanning three sub-classes and ten years of construction from 1918 to 1927. The first batch of the class was constructed for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), where they hauled heavy express passenger trains to the south coast ports and further west to Exeter. After the Lord Nelsons, they were the second biggest 4-6-0 passenger locomotives on the Southern Railway. They could reach speeds of up to 90 mph (145 km/h).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR 0298 Class</span> Class of British steam locomotive

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) 0298 Class or Beattie Well Tank is a class of British steam locomotive. They are 2-4-0WTs, originally built between 1863 and 1875 for use on passenger services in the suburbs of London, but later used on rural services in South West England. Out of a total production of 85, two locomotives have been preserved, both in operational condition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR M7 class</span> Class of 105 two-cylinder 0-4-4T locomotives

The LSWR M7 class is a class of 0-4-4T passenger tank locomotive built between 1897 and 1911. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond for use on the intensive London network of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), and performed well in such tasks. Because of their utility, 105 were built and the class went through several modifications over five production batches. For this reason there were detail variations such as frame length. Many of the class were fitted with push-pull operation gear that enabled efficient use on branch line duties without the need to change to the other end of its train at the end of a journey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR O2 class</span>

The LSWR O2 class is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive designed for the London and South Western Railway by William Adams. Sixty were constructed during the late nineteenth century. They were also the last steam engines to work on the Isle of Wight, with the final two being withdrawn in 1967. One has been preserved and is operational.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Adams (locomotive engineer)</span> English railway engineer

William Adams was an English railway engineer. He was the Locomotive Superintendent of the North London Railway from 1858 to 1873; the Great Eastern Railway from 1873 until 1878 and the London and South Western Railway from then until his retirement in 1895. He is best known for his locomotives featuring the Adams bogie, a device with lateral centring springs to improve high-speed stability. He should not be mistaken for William Bridges Adams (1797–1872) a locomotive engineer who, confusingly, invented the Adams axle – a radial axle that William Adams incorporated in designs for the London and South Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Hamilton Beattie</span>

Joseph Hamilton Beattie (1808-1871) was a locomotive engineer with the London and South Western Railway. Joseph Beattie was born in Ireland on 12 May 1808. He was educated in Belfast and initially apprenticed to his father, a Derry architect. He moved to England in 1835 to serve as an assistant to Joseph Locke on the Grand Junction Railway and from 1837 on the London and Southampton Railway. After the line opened he became the carriage and wagon superintendent at Nine Elms and succeeded John Viret Gooch as locomotive engineer on 1 July 1850.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR 415 class</span>

The LSWR 415 class is a 4-4-2T steam tank locomotive, with the trailing wheels forming the basis of its "Radial Tank" moniker. It was designed by William Adams and introduced in 1882 for service on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR 46 class</span> Class of 4-4-0 passenger tank locomotive

The LSWR 46 Class was a class of 4-4-0 passenger tank locomotive designed by William Adams for the London and South Western Railway. Later rebuilt to 4-4-2T, no examples have been preserved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR G6 class</span>

The LSWR G6 class was an 0-6-0T tank locomotive designed by William Adams for the London and South Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR S11 class</span>

The LSWR Class S11 was a class of 10 4-4-0 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work by Dugald Drummond. They were introduced to services on the London and South Western Railway in 1903. None of the class survived into preservation after their brief career in British Railways ownership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR F13 class</span>

The London and South Western Railway F13 class was a class of 4-6-0 locomotives designed by Dugald Drummond for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR D15 class</span>

The LSWR D15 class 4-4-0 was the last steam locomotive design by Dugald Drummond for the London and South Western Railway in 1912. By 1912, Dugald Drummond had built several classes of unsuccessful 4-6-0 express passenger locomotives. The result of these failures was that when he designed what was to be his last class in 1911, a new 4-4-0 design emerged from Eastleigh Works in February 1912, with what was to be the first of his D15 class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SECR K and SR K1 classes</span> Two classes of 20 two-cylinder (K) and 1 three-cylinder (K1) 2-6-4T locomotives

The SECR K class was a type of 2-6-4 tank locomotive designed in 1914 by Richard Maunsell for express passenger duties on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), which operated between London and south-east England. The Southern Railway (SR) K1 class was a three-cylinder variant of the K class, designed in 1925 to suit a narrower loading gauge. They were among the first non-Great Western Railway (GWR) types to use and improve upon the basic design principles of power and standardisation established by GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward. The locomotives were based on the GWR 4300 class, improved by the Midland Railway's ideals of simplicity and ease of maintenance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New South Wales AD60 class locomotive</span>

The New South Wales AD60 class were Beyer-Garratt patent articulated four-cylinder, simple, non-condensing, coal-fired superheated, 4-8-4+4-8-4 heavy goods steam locomotives built by Beyer, Peacock & Company for the New South Wales Government Railways in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR 330 class</span> Class of British steam locomotive

The LSWR 330 class or Saddlebacks was a class of goods 0-6-0ST steam locomotives designed for the London and South Western Railway. Twenty were constructed by Beyer, Peacock and Company between 1876 and 1882.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR 302 class</span> Class of British steam locomotives

The LSWR 302 class was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by William George Beattie for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). Thirty-six locomotives were built between 1874 and 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British steam railcars</span> A self-propelled railcar powered by a steam engine

A steam railcar is a rail vehicle that does not require a locomotive as it contains its own steam engine. The first steam railcar was an experimental unit designed and built in 1847 by James Samuel and William Bridges Adams. In 1848, they made the Fairfield steam carriage that they sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway, who used it for two years on a branch line.

The LSWR 348 class was a class of passenger 4-4-0 steam locomotives designed by W. G. Beattie to replace his father's 2-4-0 classes on the Salisbury-Exeter expresses of the London and South Western Railway. The class proved to be an abject failure, resulting in W.G. Beattie's early retirement in December 1877.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSWR 282 class</span>

The LSWR 282 class was a class of eight mixed traffic 0-6-0 locomotives supplied by Beyer, Peacock and Company to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) between 1873 and 1880. They were of a standard design of the company and supplied to several other railways overseas.

The Beattie well tanks were a series of 111 steam locomotives of seven different designs produced for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) between 1852 and 1875. All carried the water supply in well tanks, set low down between the frames. All had six wheels; the first three designs were of the 2-2-2WT wheel arrangement, the last four being 2-4-0WT. Most were designed by Joseph Hamilton Beattie, the LSWR Mechanical Engineer, but the last few locomotives built to the seventh design incorporated modifications made by his son and successor, William George Beattie. Most were intended for the LSWR's suburban services, but were later used elsewhere on the LSWR system before withdrawal. Apart from three locomotives which lasted until 1962, withdrawal occurred between 1871 and 1899.

References

  1. Bradley, D.L. (1965). Locomotives of the London and South Western Railway. Vol. 1. Solihull: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. p. 115.
  2. Ahrons, E.L. (1953). Locomotive and train working in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Heffer and Sons. p. 86.
  3. Bradley (1965), p120.
  4. Curl, Barry (2004). The LSWR at Nine Elms. Southampton: KRB Publications. p. 107. ISBN   0954203577.
  5. Bradley (1965), p120.