(Above-Below) Coincident with the construction of a new 'hump' marshalling yard at Feltham, RW Urie, the LSWR's Locomotive Superintendant, produced two locomotive designs in 1921: the G16 Class 8F 4-8-0T to shunt transfer traffic at the new yard, and immediately after came the H16 Class 6F 4-6-2Ts to work the interchange freight traffic between Feltham and the yards of other railway companies at Brent and Willesden. During BR Southern Region days the G16s were numbered 30492-30495 (total 4) and the H16 class (total 5) numbered 30516-30520, the latter seen here at Clapham Junction during the 1950s. At this time the H16s were regularly employed on Clapham Junction-Waterloo empty stock duties and in their final years found regular employment on the Fawley branch oil trains. All five engines were withdrawn at the end of 1962 and none survived the cutters' torch. (Below) The location of this shot of N1 class (3 cylinder) 31822 is a mystery. I'm advised that it could be either Hither Green or maybe Bricklayers Arms - does anyone know please? My thanks to Tony Francis, Fleet Standards Engineer, Southern Railway, for solving the mystery. Tony writes: 'David, in your picture collection there is a query over the location of U1 Class 31822 and whether it is possibly Bricklayers Arms or Hither Green. I believe by nature of it being a 3-road shed it is Gillingham (73D). Regards, Tony Francis....'

 

 

 

(Above-Below) This photo of U Class 31618 is seen passing Hook station working a train to Bournemouth. An interesting point is that the semaphore signals in use before coloured light signals were introduced between Brookwood and Basingstoke were mainly lower quadrant (similar to the Western Region) and were worked pneumatically. (Below) This photo of Rebuilt West Country Class 34093 'Saunton' and Unrebuilt West Country Class 34033 'Chard' was probably taken at Nine Elms MPD. Both locomotives are receiving attention to their Valve Gear by the look of it...

 

(Below) The SR's N15X 'Remembrance' class 4-6-0 tender locomotive was derived from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's L class 4-6-4 tank locos (Brighton Baltics) designed by LB Billinton - the 'Baltic' term being the European name for the 4-6-4 wheel arrangement. Seven Brighton Baltics were built 1914-1922 for express passenger services on the London-Brighton line, but with impending 3rd-rail electrification of the Southern Railway's Central Section, Maunsell converted the redundant L class 4-6-4 tanks into the SR's N15X class 4-6-0 tender locomotives for service on the SR's Western Section alongside the earlier N15 'King Arthur' class - the SR's 'X's suffix corresponded to the old LBSCR designation for a rebuilt/modified locomotive. The N15X's gained a reputation for rough-riding and relatively poor efficiency, and since they were very similar in outline to the earlier N15 'King Arthurs' the new locos were wrongly perceived by some crews to be an improved version of this type. Despite this, the N15Xs' ability to accelerate well was put to good use on cross-country and inter-regional trains around Basingstoke rather than the heavy London to Exeter expresses for which they were intended. The class saw service into nationalisation on the Southern Region as Nos 32327-33, two of which retained their original names: Nos 32333 Remembrance and 32329 Stephenson, the latter seen here departing from Winchfield a Waterloo-Basingstoke stopping service on 1st September 1951. All N15X's had been withdrawn by 1957. The information was gleaned from the excellent Wikipedia page link here. Photo ER Morten

(Above-Below) Designed by RW Urie for the London & South Western Railway in 1918, the 2-cylinder N15 class was named by the Southern Railway after characters and places from Arhurian legend. In 1925 REL Maunsell, then Southern Railway's CME 1923-1937, began updating the express passenger fleet, including 20 modified Urie 'Arthurs' No 30763-30792. Here, 30788 Sir Urre of the Mount (built 1925-withdrawn February 1962) slows for the Basingstoke stop in 1960. (Below) During the Fifties the Class N15 'King Arthur' 4-6-0s (power classification 5P) were being displaced by the Bulleid Pacifics and BR Standard Class 5s, and withdrawal of the class began in 1955, the last to go in November 1962. In 1959, BR's Southern Region decided on an imaginative policy by naming 20 of their BR Standard Class 5s after withdrawn members of the Class N15s, including BR Standard Class 5 No 73114 Etarre - named after a scheming, manipulative high-born maiden....or was she? Arthurian literature has been reworked for donkey's years, with lots of things left out and other things added...for example, here's three versions of what might have happened all those years ago. These stories are reworked by yours truly from information gleaned from Wikipedia...
      Sir Pelleas (30778) is a Knight of the Round Table, who seeks the love of a high-born maiden called Etarre (73114). He wins her a golden headband in a tournament, but she spurns him, holes up in her castle and sends her knights daily to humiliate him in the hope of driving him away. Meanwhile, Sir Gawain (30764) witnesses Pelleas's distress and vows to help him by going to see her, but instead of wooing her for Pelleas, the two-timing rat falls for her himself. A distraught Pelleas finds them in bed together, but he cannot bring himself to kill them, so he leaves his sword in the bed and returns home. The next morning, the brazen Etarre recognizes the sword and Gawain remembers his promise. He convinces her to love Pelleas and arranges for them to meet and they both live happily ever after. 
      However, in Thomas Malory's reworking of the story, after the scandalous romp in the bedroom Sir Gawain (30764) leaves Etarre (73114) to stew on her own. Meanwhile, back at the lake one of the Ladies of the Lake comes upon Sir Pelleas and falls madly in love with him herself. On hearing his story about the hussy Etarre, she takes vengeance on the maiden by casting a magic spell and enchanting her to fall in love with Pelleas as deeply as he loved her. Alas, by this time, Pelleas is thoroughly p.....d off! He spurns her and she dies of sorrow, which serves her right! But that's not the end of the story. In Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King' there is yet another version. Here we have a painfully shy Sir Pelleas (30778) being knighted by Arthur at a young age. Trouble is, although the handsome young knight is deeply in love with Ettarre (73114) she finds his youthful stammering irksome and doesn't return his affection. She induces him to give her a golden armband as a token of his love (he won it in a tournament, you know) but she demands to be left alone, which only makes Pelleas want her more. He defeats all knights sent by her, and after each victory intentionally gets captured and taken prisoner to her castle, which is the only way he can think of to see his only true love.
     But unsympathetic as ever, Etarre sends him on his way, only for him to return again and again. Meanwhile, riding to the rescue is that dastardly Sir Gawain (30764) who offers to persuade Etarre (73114) to love Sir Pelleas (30778) but he betrays him by sleeping with her himself. Pelleas finds the two together in bed and leaves his sword on their chests, revealing that he is alive and well, but also as a sign of forgiveness. In his view, he cannot kill a knight such as Gawain in his sleep. Very noble, indeed, but had it been me I'd have chopped his b...s off!
    Footnote: The Etarre name came off No 30751 after withdrawal in June 1957.

NEW PAGE: Click on link (above) to visit the fourth 'BR Southern Enginemen Remember' page featuring Denis Turner's memories of Weymouth Loco during the 1960s...

(Above-Below) Richard Maunsell's V Class 'Schools' 4-4-0 for the Southern Railway was a masterpiece! It was the most powerful (and heaviest) 4-4-0 in Europe! The tractive effort of the Class V 4-4-0 'Schools' class (introduced in 1930) even exceeded that of the earlier 'King Arthur' 4-6-0s introduced in 1925. In all, 40 locomotives were built up to July 1935, and the naming of the class was a masterstroke by the SR's publicity department. The SR's network of lines embraced a large number of private and public schools in southern England. As a consequence, the SR carried many passengers to and from these seats of learning; the decision to name the locomotives after these schools proved to be a major marketing success, continuing in the tradition of the names endowed on the N15 'King Arthur' and 'Lord Nelson' classes before them. Here, No 30913 Christs Hospital slows for the Basingstoke stop with an 'up' train in 1960. (Below) Where possible, the Southern sent the newly constructed locomotive to a station near the school after which it was named for its official naming ceremony, giving pupils a chance to view the cab of the engine. Rod Beavon comments on his website link here - 'A nameplate from 908, Westminster, is now displayed in the science block of Westminster School. One of the pleasures that I have each day as I come into Westminster School's science building is to see the nameplate of the Southern Railway's 'Schools' Class No 908 'Westminster. There should be both of them, but the second disappeared in transit to the School - so if you know who has it, it would be interesting information. There is a quantity of other material relevant to 908, including the picture which was given to each of the Westminster pupils who went to Charing Cross in 1933 to see 908 on her first turn, and a fine 'O' gauge model given to the school by the widow of Dr Stephen Hughes OW...' This shot of No 30908 Westminster (below) was taken at Basingstoke on the same day as above. The Schools class was regarded by locomotive crews as the finest constructed by the Southern Railway up to 1930, and the locos regularly turned in highly spectacular performances for their size. The fastest recorded speed was 95 mph in 1938 by 928 Stowe pulling a four coach train from Dorchester to Wareham. However there was a drawback with such high power and relatively low weight; when starting the locomotive from a standstill, wheelslips frequently occurred, calling for skilled handling by the footplate crew.

(Above-Below) Exter Bankers. Introduced in 1929 for heavy shunting duties, Maunsell's eight Class Z 0-8-0Ts were fitted with Walschaerts valve gear; this interesting rear view shot shows Nos 30955-56 on banking duties at Exeter St Davids in 1960. (Below) Having assisted a train up the bank on 14th July 1953, this pair of old timers: Class E1/R No 32135 (a Maunsell rebuild of Stroudley's E1) and Drummond's LSW Class M7 No 30025 run down the steep 1 in 37 gradient from Exeter Central into St Davids in readiness for the next banking task.

(Above-Below) The SR's Chief Mechanical Engineer, OV Bulleid, had plenty of experience with small-wheel multiple unit motor bogies, but was looking at diesel-electric traction as an alternative to costly third-rail electrification on some west of England routes. The result was the SR/EE Co diesel electric No 10201, built at Ashford works in 1950. The power unit was the same 16-cylinder 16SVT engine as fitted to the LMS Co-Co s Nos 10000/1 (see 'Pioneer Main Line Diesels' Page 8) but equipped with the EE Co's Napier 75100 Turbocharger producing a 1,750hp prototype. The SR locomotives had flat ends with rounded corners, giving them a rather distinctive box-like appearance. However, the subtle body-side contours followed that of traditional Bulleid coaching stock, which was a subtle design touch. Still in workshop grey livery, the first of the SR's main line diesels, No 10201, was photographed at Ashford works prior to completion in November 1950. (Below) The third of Bulleid's diesels No 10203 - with its output raised to 2,000hp - emerged from Brighton Works on March 7th 1954. Here the driver awaits the right away from Waterloo with a West of England express. Photos © GEC-Alstom

 

In 1948, six new BR Regions were formed, their new boundaries corresponding closely to the lines of the former 'Big Four' railway companies. Britain's railways was now made up of the Western Region, Southern Region, Scottish Region, Eastern Region, North Eastern Region and London Midland Region - the old LNER being divided amongst the two newly-formed Regions - Eastern and North Eastern, whilst the Scottish Region was composed partly of the former LMS and LNER. Over the years, the Regional boundaries diminished significantly as many locomotives (from an operational standpoint) worked beyond their arbitrary Regions, so in many ways it is meaningless to classify any particular class of locomotive as belonging to any one of the six Regions during the transition from steam. For example, it was not unusual for the LMR's Stanier 'Black 5' or Ivatt 2MT tanks to be found working hundreds of miles from the Region they were initially allocated. 

(Left) Following the launch of his book 'Ramblings of a Railwayman', SR engineman Geoff Burch has created a new page under the same heading, describing his life as an Engine Cleaner and Fireman at Guildford Motive Power Depot (70C) from April 1961 to July 1967.  Lots of anecdotes and characters, with contributions by many of his colleagues at Guildford. The success of this page has led to an additional three pages featuring Southern Region enginemen's memories of life on the footplate (currently under construction). Click on lnk left to visit Geoff's first page.

                                                         PHOTO GALLERY - A DAY AT BASINGSTOKE 1960.
                                                                       Captions courtesy Geoff Burch

 

(Above-Below) The first photo shows E4 Class 32505 outside Basingstoke shed next to a lifting device - I'm not sure what it was used for, but after meeting a colleague who worked at Basingstoke during that period I'm told that the contraption shown is a hand operated crane (mounted on rails either side of the four foot) used to lift a loco framing from its bogie etc. (Below) Another view of the lifting device as 34007 Wadebridge slows for the Basingstoke stop with a Bournemouth-Waterloo service. 

(Above-Below) The headcode on Unrebuilt West Country Class  34043 'Coombe Martin' denotes that she is working 'The Pines Express' (which ran from Manchester to Bournemouth) seen here at Basingstoke on its Southward journey. (Below) Rebuilt 'Merchant Navy' class 35020 'Bibby Line' shown hurtling through Basingstoke with 'The Atlantic Coast Express' - known to spotters as the 'ACE' - which departed Waterloo at 11am and reached Exeter Central in 2 hours 56 minutes.

(Above-Below) LN Class 30861 Lord Anson shown here on the down local platform at Basingstoke working a Waterloo - Bournemouth stopping service (headboards left smokebox and right bufferbeam). When I was a young 16 year-old fireman, I was 'on loan' to Nine Elms and was preparing a LN Class locomotive which was booked to work a summer excursion from Waterloo to Brockenhurst.  The fireman who was booked the turn didn't appear and I nearly went the turn.  However, they found someone else (who was probably far more experienced than me) which was a good job as I'd never heard of the place let alone been there!  Unfortunately, the LN Class all disappeared before I became a more experienced fireman. (Below) Class S15 30515 (this one built by Rober Urie) shown outside Basingstoke shed) were typical freight locomotives of the Southern. There were more of this class of loco built by Richard Maunsell between 1927-28 and again in 1936.

(Above-Below) Classic Southern Region steam: the V Class 'Schools' class, this one being 30907 'Dulwich' seen taking water at Basingstoke at the end of the down Local platform;  the headboards top of smokebox and middle of bufferbeam designates a run to Salisbury (and maybe even further west to Exeter). We had three 'Schools' class at Guildford in 1961 when I started work as a cleaner - 30903 Charterhouse, 30906 Sherbourne and 30909 St Paul's (which incidentally was the first engine that I cleaned on my first day at work).They were fantastic locomotives to work on, extremely powerful, automatic injectors and as I was left handed (and not been taught how to fire right handed as required on N & U Class locos) I was in my element! Sadly, all three of them were scrapped in my first year as a fireman. (Below) BR Standard Class  5MT 73085 Melisande (previously the nameplate belonged to Urie King Arthur Class 30753) shown here leaving Basingstoke with a 'down' local with a stopping service from Waterloo to Bournemouth. Excellent locomotives to work on, with bucket seats, free steaming and easy disposal duties (with rocker grates).

(Above-Below) The Southern Region's BR Standard Class 4MT Moguls became concentrated around Eastleigh, Southampton and Bournemouth for cross-country services between Portsmouth, Salisbury and Cardiff, Reading to Redhill, Brighton to Bournemouth and the Swanage branch. Perhaps their most famous turns was the London Waterloo-Lymington boat trains, though this had little to do with their capabilities, rather their ability to fit the the turntable at Brockenhurst. Here 76058 rests at Basingstoke shed (&0D). (Below) S15 Class 30501 simmers gently between Basingstoke Loco and the station awaiting her next turn of duty....

(Above-Below) V Class 'Schools' 30904 Lancing at Basingstoke station. Hard to tell whether it's the 'up' local (to commence a stopping service to Woking then Waterloo or whether it's on the 'down' local platform and has just completed a stopping service from Waterloo). Whichever, from the position of the loco, he probably only has four coaches. (Below) Class H15 No 30523 pauses for water on the Down Local line at Basingstoke before heading off to Salisbury (and then possibly Meldon Quarry) with a  train made up of  stone empties.

(Above-Below)  The handsome lines of rebuilt 'Merchant Navy' class 35002 Union Castle with the 'bag in' at Basingstoke.  She is heading a Bournemouth Service. (Below) The now-preserved Rebuilt 'Merchant Navy' Class 35005 'Canadian Pacific' with a Waterloo bound service from Bournemouth. In the left forgrouind is an interesting ground signal for modellers to note...

(Above-Below) Rebuilt 'Merchant Navy' class 35012 'United States Lines' is replenishing her tender before departing for Waterloo with a service from Exeter. (Below) BR Standard Class 4 No 75077.

(Above-Below) Class N15 'King Arthur' class 30781 'Sir Aglovale' running into the Down Through platform at Basingstoke.  I'm not sure where the train is heading with the headcode shown. (Below) This was one of many Western locomotives seen at Basingstoke.  The WR Main Line was only a few miles away at Reading. Here, 'Hall' Class No 6975 Capesthorne Hall adds to the loco variety.

The above photos are reproduced courtesy of Jim Payne's CD from  'www.throughtheireyes2.co.uk' I am not affiliated with the sale of CDs in any way, merely reproducing what I think are interesting images of Southern Region steam. A word should be added about Photoshopping - the above images, excellent though the originals are, have been digitally enhanced with sky tones for suitable reproduction on the web. The subject of Photoshopping can be found on the 'Rail Photo Workshop' Page 46 of this site.

(Below) The Adams Class '0415' 1P 4-4-2Ts were used on suburban work in the London area, but following 3rd-rail electrification a large number were taken out of service and stored at Eastleigh. Three examples were retained by the Southern Railway for working the Lyme Regis branch where the 4-4-2T's flexible wheel base was found ideal for the many curves on the branch. Upon nationalisation, the three engines became Nos 30582-30584 and continued to work the Lyme Regis branch until 1961. The line closed after being taken over by the Western Region and the three engines were subsequently withdrawn. One example, No 30583, was secured for preservation and restored to its old livery as LSWR 488. Photo © D Pritchard

(Above) Introduced to traffic in 1946, Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2T No 41210 was the first of fifty engines (Nos 41210-29/41270-89 and 41320-29) to be fitted with vacuum control gear for push-pull operation. The driver operated th e vacuum controlled auxiliary regulator valves (fitted in each steampipe leading from the header to the cylinders) from a compartment at the head of the train. The fireman remained on the locomotive and communication between the two crewmen was made via a system of bell codes. No 41210 was transferred from the LMR at Warrington to the Southern Region at Eastleigh in December 1962. From there it went to Barnstaple Junction in April 1963, then to Exmouth Junction in February 1964, ending its days at Salisbury before withdrawal on 10th May 1964. The last of the class was withdrawn in 1967, but four have survived in preservation. Photo © British Railways

(Below) Back in the 1950s, BR trains were predominantly in the hands of steam, even on the Southern Region where third-rail electrification was well to the fore, particularly on London's commuter lines. Constructed at Eastleigh and Nine Elms works between 1897 and 1911, the Drummond Class M7 0-4-4Ts became a popular choice for London's suburban commuter traffic. A total of 105 M7s were built, but by the end of 1963 they were down to just 14, the majority being used on branch line duties in the Bournemouth area. The class was retired in May 1964. Photo © PR Batty.

(Below) Designed by RW Urie for the London & South Western Railway in 1918, the 44 members of the 2-cylinder N15 class were named by the Southern Railway after characters and places from Arthurian legend. It was an imaginative naming policy as the Knights of the Round Table are associated with the south-west of England through which the company's London-Salisbury-Exeter line ran. In 1925, REL Maunsell, the SR's CME 1923-1937, began updating the express passenger fleet with some fine locomotives, among them the 'Arthurs' made up of 20 modified Urie N15s Nos 30736-30755. A further 30 locomotives, Nos 30763-30792, followed in 1926, built with modified cabs to meet the Eastern section's loading gauge and most were coupled to 6-wheel bogie tenders. No 30776 Sir Galagars awaits its next turn of duty at Bricklayers Arms in April 1953. Photo © P R Batty.

(Above-Below) This ex-works USA 0-6-0 tank engine No 30067 is a typical American 'Switcher' type for use in heavy dock shunting. The class was built in 1942 for the US Army Transportation Corps and 14 of these e ngines were purchased by the Southern Railway in 1946 for use in Southampton Docks to replace the Adams B4 class 0-4-0Ts. Subsequently numbered 30061-30074 in the BR fleet, the somewhat brutish-looking engines had a stove-pipe chimney, three domes - the centre one carrying the whistle - plus outside cylinders, valve gear, and connecting rods driving the rear axle. The 'USA' tanks did sterling work until the last of the class was replaced by Ruston & Hornsby diesels in July 1967. In the background, the graceful lines of an ex-LSWR 'Greyhound' complete with separate splashers over the wheels and coupling rods makes the USA 0-6-0 look even uglier. The photograph was taken at Eastleigh in September 1957. Worse still is the typical worklike appearance of No 30071's paintwork below...

(Above) From 1948, steam locomotives were carrying their new BR numbers with the exception of the Great Western engines which retained their brass and cast iron cabside number plates below 10,000. The Southern engines were numbered in the 30,000s, the LMSR in the 40,000s and 50,000s, and the LNER engines appeared in the 60,000s. The new renumbering scheme also embraced a small number of diesel locomotives (mostly 0-6-0 shunters belonging to the former LMSR and LNER) which were allocated the numbered series in the 10,000s, while a small quantity of electric and gas turbine locomotives appeared in the 20,000s. Finally, the batch of WD 'Austerity' freight locomotives, built to Ministry of Supply design, and working on loan at the time of nationalisation, were purchased by BR in early 1949 and renumbered in the 90,000s.  Fresh from the workshops, BR's recently acquired WD 'Austerity' 2-10-0 No 90766 (one of the original batch of 100 locos built by the North British Locomotive Co, Glasgow, in 1943) has yet to receive British Railways lettering on the tender side at Brighton in 1949. These 'Austerity' 2-10-0s were a development of the earlier WD 2-8-0 locomotives designed by Riddles at the Ministry of Supply for use by the British Army overseas during World War 2. Among the first batch of 100 was No 600 Gordon, which was allocated to the Longmoor Military Railway. The loco was withdrawn in October 1969 following closure of the military establishment

(Below) I'm afraid the Southern Railway's engines were all foreign to me, and the 'Spam Cans' in their original form (with air-smooth casing) did little to change that view. Odder still, under the Southern Railway's numbering scheme the Pacifics carried a 21C prefix that represented the continental system of wheel arrangement - the number of axles on the bogie was denoted by a '2', followed by a '1' for the pony truck, and the six driving wheels were represented by the letter 'C'. The first Bulleid Pacifics were named in honour of the Merchant seamen and shipping lines involved in the U-Boat war in the Atlantic, and became known as the 'Merchant Navy' class. Here, No 35020 Bibby Line is endowed with the 'Devon Belle' chevrons at its home shed of Nine Elms.Photo © D Pritchard collection