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 C class 592 after its latest overhaul, August 2007. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) C Class is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive, designed by Harry Wainwright and built between 1900 and 1908. They were designed for freight duties, although occasionally used for passenger trains. They operated over the lines of the railway in London and south-east England until the early 1960s. One example was rebuilt as an S Class saddle tank.
The SECR held trials in November 1898 to decide on a standard freight locomotive design. Two existing 0-6-0 locomotives were tested: former London, Chatham and Dover Railway B2 class No. 194 designed by William Kirtley; and former South Eastern Railway O class No. 436 designed by James Stirling. The Kirtley design proved superior and a new order for 40 locomotives based on it was placed. These new locomotives were designed by Harry Wainwright, the new Chief Mechanical Engineer of the railway, and formed the first of the C class. [1]
The first fifteen locomotives were constructed by Neilson, Reid and Company and delivered in June 1900, followed by a further fifteen from Sharp, Stewart and Company. The remainder were built by the SECR workshops at Ashford (70 examples 1900–1908) and Longhedge Works (9 examples 1903–4). [2]
The locomotives were used on freight services and occasional passenger excursion trains (such as hop-picking specials), throughout the SER between Reading railway station and the Kent Coast. The last twelve locomotives were fitted with steam carriage heating equipment to enable them to be used to haul and prepare empty stock for express trains. The remainder of the class were also so equipped by the Southern Railway after 1923. [3]
In 1917 one example, no. 685 was converted into an S class 0-6-0 ST for use as a heavy-duty shunter at Richborough port which was then being used to ship locomotives and armoured equipment to the Western Front. After the War it was used as a shunter at Bricklayers Arms until 1951. [8]
In common with other freight locomotives in Southern England, the class was very heavily used during the Second World War and repairs and maintenance deferred. As a result, one locomotive had to be withdrawn in December 1947, but the remaining 107 examples entered service with British Railways in 1948. Withdrawals of the remainder of the class began in 1953, but accelerated after the Kent Coast electrification in 1959–1960. However, three examples (31271, 31280, 31592) remained in Departmental stock as shunters at Ashford Works until 1966.
| Year | Quantity in service at start of year | Quantity withdrawn | Locomotive numbers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 | 109 | 1 | 685 | Rebuilt as 0-6-0ST, S class. Withdrawn 1951 |
| 1918–46 | 108 | 0 | – | |
| 1947 | 108 | 2 | 1262, 1499 | |
| 1948 | 106 | 0 | – | |
| 1949 | 106 | 2 | 31257, 31460 | |
| 1950–51 | 104 | 0 | – | |
| 1952 | 104 | 1 | 31038 | |
| 1953 | 103 | 6 | 31090, 31234/60/91, 31486, 31580 | |
| 1954 | 97 | 1 | 31572 | |
| 1955 | 96 | 7 | 31225/77/94, 31513, 31687, 31713/18 | |
| 1956 | 89 | 1 | 31063 | |
| 1957 | 88 | 3 | 31508, 31711–12 | |
| 1958 | 85 | 5 | 31018/59, 31461, 31582/93 | |
| 1959 | 80 | 16 | 31071, 31191, 31219/21/27/43/45/52–53/70/72/97, 31576/85, 31681/83 | 31272 to stationary boiler at Ashford Works as DS240. [9] |
| 1960 | 64 | 11 | 31033/54/86, 31102, 31223/87/98, 31581, 31688/92, 31725 | |
| 1961 | 53 | 0 | – | |
| 1962 | 53 | 53 | 31004/37/61/68, 31112–13/50, 31218/29/42/55–56/67–68/71/80/93, 31317, 31480–81/95/98, 31510/73/75/78–79/83–84/88–90/92, 31682/84/86/89–91/93–95, 31714–17/19–24 | 31592 to Ashford Works as DS239; withdrawn 1966. [9] |
One, No. 592 (Southern Railway 1592, BR 31592), has been preserved on the Bluebell Railway. It was featured in the train scene of The Wind in the Willows (1996). In 2016, the locomotive was featured in the film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. [10]
Bachmann Branchline produces several versions of the C class in OO gauge with the initial release in 2013, they include the preserved example, as well as liveries from the Southern Railway and British Railways. [11]
Bachmann announced on 8 January 2017 that an 'N' Gauge C Class would form part of their 2017 Graham Farish catalogue range. This is to be produced as SE&CR No. 271 in SE&CR plain green, as well as No. 1294 in Southern Railway Black and No. 31227 in British Railways Black with early British Railways emblem. [12]
The Southern Railway (SR), sometimes shortened to 'Southern', was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent. The railway was formed by the amalgamation of several smaller railway companies, the largest of which were the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR). The construction of what was to become the Southern Railway began in 1838 with the opening of the London and Southampton Railway, which was renamed the London & South Western Railway.
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC), known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway (SER) and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR), which operated between London and south-east England. Between 1899 and 1923, the SE&CR had a monopoly of railway services in Kent and to the main Channel ports for ferries to France and Belgium.
The Southern Railway took a key role in expanding the 660 V DC third rail electrified network begun by the London & South Western Railway. As a result of this, and its smaller operating area, its steam locomotive stock was the smallest of the 'Big Four' companies.
The SR Z class was an 0-8-0T 3-cylinder tank engine designed by Richard Maunsell and intended for heavy shunting on the Southern Railway, the first eight entering into service in 1929. It was a successful design and would have been built in greater numbers, but an order for a further ten was cancelled in 1930 due to the reduction in freight traffic as a result of the Great Depression.
Paddock Wood railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line and Medway Valley Line in south-east England, serving the town of Paddock Wood, Kent. The station also serves the villages of Matfield, Brenchley and Horsmonden, which have do not have stations of their own. It is 34 miles 67 chains (56.1 km) down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains calling there are operated by Southeastern.
Ashford railway works was in the town of Ashford in the county of Kent in England.
The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the Chatham Main Line which runs along the north Kent coast to Ramsgate or Dover via Chatham and High Speed 1 which runs through the centre of Kent to the coast at Folkestone where it joins the Channel Tunnel.
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) H Class is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive originally designed for suburban passenger work, designed by Harry Wainwright in 1904. Most of the sixty-six members of the class were later equipped for push-pull working for use on rural branch lines.
Harry Smith Wainwright was an English railway engineer, and was the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1899 to 1913. He is best known for a series of simple but competent locomotives produced under his direction at the company's Ashford railway works in the early years of the twentieth century. Many of these survived in service until the end of steam traction in Britain in 1968, and are regarded as some of the most elegant designs of the period.
The South Eastern Railway (SER) O Class was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for freight work, and were the main freight engines of the SER, and later the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) for a number of years. However, they were displaced by the more powerful C class locomotives following the amalgamation of the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in 1899. This relegated the class to working on the numerous branch lines in Kent, on both passenger and freight work. They worked most notably on the Kent & East Sussex Railway and East Kent Railway, operating coal trains from the Kent coal fields to London, as well as shunting work at such locations as Shepherds Well, Hoo Junction and Ashford. The majority were withdrawn before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, and those that remained were slowly withdrawn from nationalisation onwards.
The SECR N class was a type of 2-6-0 ("mogul") steam locomotive designed in 1914 by Richard Maunsell for mixed-traffic duties on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). Built between 1917 and 1934, it was the first non-Great Western Railway (GWR) type to use and improve upon the basic design principles established by GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward. The N class was based on the GWR 4300 Class design, improved with Midland Railway concepts.
Longhedge Railway Works was a locomotive and carriage works built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in the borough of Battersea, South London to serve their new London terminus at Victoria. The facility existed between 1862 until the mid-1950s.
The SECR D class is a class of 4-4-0 tender locomotives designed by Harry Wainwright for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.
The SECR N1 class was a type of 3-cylinder 2-6-0 ('mogul') steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell for mixed traffic duties, initially on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR), and later operated for the Southern Railway (SR). The N1 was a development of the basic principles established by the Great Western Railway's (GWR) Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) George Jackson Churchward and by Maunsell's previous N class design.
The SECR L class was a class of 4-4-0 steam tender locomotive built for express passenger service on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Although designed by Harry Wainwright, they were built during the Maunsell era.
The SECR B1 class was a class of 4-4-0 steam tender locomotive for express passenger service on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. These engines were originally designed by James Stirling for the South Eastern Railway (SER) in 1898 and designated B class. The SER was merged into the SECR in 1899 and, between 1910 and 1927 the B class engines were rebuilt with new boilers by Harry Wainwright to become B1 class.
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.
The SECR E class was a class of 4-4-0 tender locomotives designed by Harry Wainwright for express passenger trains on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. It was a larger version of the D class incorporating a Belpaire firebox
The SECR J class was a class of 0-6-4T steam tank locomotive built for heavy freight service on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, by Harry Wainwright.
The SER F class was a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotives of the South Eastern Railway. The class was designed by James Stirling and introduced in 1883.
