The London and South Western Railway C14 class was a class of ten

2-2-0 Under Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and no trailing wheels. This configuration, which became very p ...

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

s intended to work

push–pull train Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not. A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via ...

s on lightly used lines in 1907. The S14 class was an

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

version of the same basic design. Both classes proved to be underpowered in this role and many examples were sold as light shunters during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Three C14 remained with the LSWR and were rebuilt as

Ts. They lasted until the late 1950s.

History

C14 class

During the first few years of the twentieth century 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 ...

became concerned about losses incurred on several branch and short-distance passenger services, and began to experiment with the use of steam-powered

railmotor Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it. Steam railcars Overview In th ...

s. The resulting units proved to be under-powered during the summer months when traffic was higher, and also inflexible, as the power unit was permanently connected to the coach. As an alternative

Dugald Drummond Dugald Drummond (1 January 1840 – 8 November 1912) was a Scottish steam locomotive engineer. He had a career with the North British Railway, LB&SCR, Caledonian Railway and London and South Western Railway. He was the older brother of the eng ...

designed a class of small

s, based on the railmotor power units, which could be coupled to one or more carriages to cater for different levels of load . These were specifically equipped for push-pull working. As built, the outside cylinders were situated between the leading and driving wheels. The C14 class were tried out on a number of services during 1907. They were found to be more flexible than the railmotors but suffered from the same lack of power, as a result no further examples were built and the existing examples were gradually transferred to light shunting tasks or else were put into store.Bradley (1967), p.124.

S14 class

Drummond persevered with a

S14 version of the design, with the cylinders moved forward in front of the coupled wheels, larger boiler, cylinders and wheels. However, only two of these were ever built in 1910 before the order was cancelled. In 1913,

Robert Urie Robert Wallace Urie (22 October 1854 – 6 January 1937) was a Scotland, Scottish locomotive engineer who was the last chief mechanical engineer of the London and South Western Railway. Career After serving an apprenticeship with and working fo ...

ordered that four examples of the C14 class should be rebuilt as

tanks and the remainder withdrawn as they became in need of heavy repairs. Two examples were rebuilt in 1913, but the onset of the

brought an end to this programme.

World War I

In 1916, the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

bought seven members of the C14 class (including one of the rebuilds) for use in various munitions facilities and dockyards. The two members of the S14 class were likewise sold to the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis of ...

in 1917. After the war these were, sold for scrap, as stationary

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

s or else exported.

Post-war

The last two

examples of the three locomotives remaining with LSWR were rebuilt in 1922 and 1923. The three survivors worked as

dock shunter :''This article describes UK usage. United States usage may be different.'' A dock shunter, or "dock tank", is a locomotive (formerly steam but now usually diesel) used for shunting wagons in the vicinity of docks. It is usually of 0-4-0 or 0 ...

s, or on departmental (non-revenue earning) duties under the Southern Railway and

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

and were withdrawn between 1957 and 1959.

Summary table

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lswr C14 Class C14 2-2-0T locomotives 0-4-0T locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1906 Railway locomotives introduced in 1910 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain