The LSWR 348 class was a class of passenger
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s 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 London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
. The class proved to be an abject failure, resulting in W.G. Beattie's early retirement in December 1877.
Design and construction
This was the only original design by William G. Beattie, as the other locomotives delivered during his period as locomotive superintendent were either built to his father's designs or else from the drawing boards of the manufacturers. The design incoproated several new features including Beattie's own design of divided
firebox
Firebox may refer to:
*Firebox (steam engine), the area where the fuel is burned in a steam engine
*Firebox (architecture), the part of a fireplace where fuel is combusted
*Firebox Records
Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in S ...
and
piston valves
Piston valves are one form of valve used to control the flow of steam within a steam engine or locomotive. They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power ...
. They were also built with continuous
splashers on each side similar to a side tank, thereby creating a rather ungainly appearance.
William Beattie was required to supply a larger locomotive type when it became clear to the Directors of the railway that the existing 2-4-0 designs were no longer able to keep time on the difficult main line route between Salisbury and Exeter. Five locomotive builders were approached, but of these one refused to tender and two others suggested major modifications to the design. No prototype of the design was constructed, but twenty examples were ordered from
Sharp, Stewart and Company
Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wit ...
in June 1876, directly from the drawing board. These were numbered 348 to 367.
Performance issues
As soon as the locomotives were delivered between March and June 1877, they were found to lack the capacity to raise sufficient steam, were unsteady at speed, and suffered from frequent mechanical failures. Beattie claimed that these were due to poor standards of workmanship and materials used in their construction, but the manufacturers reported to the directors that the problems were rather due to design flaws. These included: a badly designed
firebox
Firebox may refer to:
*Firebox (steam engine), the area where the fuel is burned in a steam engine
*Firebox (architecture), the part of a fireplace where fuel is combusted
*Firebox Records
Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in S ...
providing an inadequate heating surface for the
cylinder size; poor
smokebox
A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is e ...
design creating an inadequate draft; badly designed and inadequately lubricated
piston valves
Piston valves are one form of valve used to control the flow of steam within a steam engine or locomotive. They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power ...
; and insufficient cushioning of the
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s. According to
C. Hamilton Ellis, the class were ‘unfortunate engines; they were over-cylindered and the piston valves with which they were originally fitted gave constant trouble’, also that they ‘were bad steamers.’ Beattie attempted to rectify these defects at
Nine Elms works but by December 1877 only four of the twenty new locomotives were serviceable. The directors therefore accepted William Beattie's resignation on health grounds.
Adams Improvements
William Adams, William Beattie's successor as
Locomotive Superintendent
Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...
, attempted to improve the performance of the class in 1878, . He did this by substituting smaller cylinders,
Slide valves, a smaller chimney, a conventional firebox and a modified smokebox. The opportunity was also taken to divide the splashers on each side to improve their appearance. Four locomotives were thus treated which performed a lot better, ‘but the vagaries of the new express engines were such that they did very little main-line work and a number of them were afterwards sent down to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
for use on the slower trains.’
Despite their use of lighter and slower trains, the repair bills for the class continued to be unacceptably high and so Adams decided to rebuild the entire class using new cylinders and his
’Jubilee class’ boiler. Eight of the class were so treated during 1888 and 1889 but this programme ceased when it was found to be more cost-effective to build new Jubilee locomotives. The un-rebuilt locomotives were withdrawn and scrapped between 1889 and 1898, and those that had been rebuilt between 1890 and 1905. The boilers from the latter group were salvaged and re-used on
’Jubilee class’, and
T1 class locomotives.
References
*
{{LSWR Locomotives
348
4-4-0 locomotives
Sharp Stewart locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1877
Scrapped locomotives
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain