SR Q1 Class
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The SR Q1 class is a type of austerity steam locomotive constructed during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. The class was designed by
Oliver Bulleid Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid CBE (19 September 1882 – 25 April 1970) was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway between 1937 and the 1948 nationalisation, d ...
for use on the intensive freight turns experienced during wartime on the Southern Railway network. A total of 40 locomotives were built. Bulleid incorporated many innovations and weight-saving concepts to produce a highly functional design. The class lasted in service until July 1966, and the first member of the class, number C1, has been preserved by the
National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...
. The highly unusual and controversial design represents the ultimate development of the British freight engine, capable of hauling trains that were usually allocated to much larger locomotives on other railways. Nicknames for the class included "Ugly Ducklings", "Coffee Pots", "Charlies", "Biscuit Tins", "Biscuit Barrels", "Clockworks" and "Frankensteins".


Background

In late 1939, the Southern Railway, until then primarily a high-density commuter railway serving London and South-East England, much of it electrified with third-rail pick-up, found itself on the British front line of the Second World War, with a severe lack of modern freight-handling capability.Longworth, section "Q1 class" The newest freight design was the Q class 0-6-0 of 1938, the last locomotive designed by
Richard Maunsell Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell (pronounced "Mansell") (26 May 1868 – 7 March 1944) held the post of chief mechanical engineer (CME) of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1913 until the 1923 Grouping and then the post of CME of the ...
. Built to essentially
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
principles, these had been designed as replacements for many of the older 0-6-0s inherited by the Southern Railway in 1923, and entered service in January 1938. Maunsell, having retired at the end of October 1937, was replaced by Oliver Bulleid. The Southern Railway became an essential strategic war-asset because of its proximity to continental Europe, and needed to equip itself with adequate freight-handling capability to transport the vast quantities of supplies and troops required for the conflict. The brief stipulated high route availability and high tractive effort.


Construction history

The answer to this problem came from the drawing board of the Southern Railway's innovative
Chief Mechanical Engineer 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 ...
, Oliver Bulleid, in the shape of the Q1. Using the minimum amount of raw materials, and with all superfluous features stripped away, he produced in 1942 the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run on Britain's railways. The first twenty locomotives were constructed at
Brighton works Brighton railway works (also known as Brighton locomotive works, or just the Brighton works) was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-da ...
and the remaining twenty at Ashford. Powerful and light, the Q1s formed the backbone of the Southern's heavy freight capability. The engine weighed less than 90 tons (90.6 tonnes) and could be used on more than 97% of the Southern Railway's route mileage.


Design

The class was one of several built under the wartime ''austerity'' regime, which stressed pure functionality above any considerations of style or decoration. This austere approach to the design explains its functional appearance. One aspect of their shape was that, like Bulleid's SR Merchant Navy class and
SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as ''Light Pacifics'' or informally as ''Spam Cans'', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 ''Pacific'' steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engin ...
, they could be simply driven through a coach-washer for cleaning at a time when manpower for this time-consuming chore could not be spared. The unusual shape was also dictated by the use of materials; the lagging was made of a glass fibre insulation material known as 'Idaglass', which, although cheap and plentiful during the war years, could not support any weight, and therefore a separate casing was required which followed that seen in the Merchant Navy class locomotives, and the boiler rings were adapted to lend the lagging the support needed. A copper, rather than steel,
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 ...
was utilised, unlike Bulleid's
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
designs. The wheels were smaller, 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) adaptations of the Bulleid Firth Brown wheels utilised on the Pacifics. The locomotive had two cylinders with Stephenson link outside admission piston valves, having a travel in full gear of and a steam lap of . It was provided with a five-nozzle blast-pipe. The boiler design was based upon that of the ''Lord Nelson'' class, and the firebox used the same throatplate and backplate. The boiler barrel measured in length, with diameters of at the front and at the back. The grate area was , the heating surface of the 209 tubes and 21 flues was , that of the firebox was giving a total evaporative heating surface of ; the superheater heating surface was .


Operational details

The Q1 was the final development of the British main line steam locomotive. Later designs of medium-powered freight locomotives, such as the
LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for light mixed traffic. Design Elderly 0-6-0s formed the backbone of the low-powered locomotives within the LMS fleet. William Stanier h ...
and
LMS Ivatt Class 4 The LMS Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive primarily designed for medium freight work but also widely used on secondary passenger services. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) ordered 162 of this type between 1947 an ...
Moguls, had a wheel arrangement: the wheel arrangement was not used in the BR Standard designs of locomotive. BR classified the Q1 class in the
power classification A number of different numbering and classification schemes were used for the locomotives owned by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and its constituent companies; this page explains the principal systems that were used. The followi ...
5F. This was unusual: few other s exceeded the classification of 4F. Notable exceptions were the
LNER Class J20 The GER Class D81 was a class of twenty-five 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed by A. J. Hill for the Great Eastern Railway. The all passed to the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping and received the classification J20. Histo ...
(5F),
LNER Class J39 The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Class J39 was a class of medium powered 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for mixed-traffic work throughout the former LNER system between London and the north of Scotland. History The class was in ...
(4P5F) and LNER Class J38 (6F). The Q1's route availability meant that although they were primarily freight locomotives they also frequently deputised on secondary passenger services. However, the class gained a reputation for poor braking on unfitted freight trains due to the light construction of the tender braking system. The Q1s thrived on their intended duties during World War II, and were an indispensable addition to the Southern locomotive fleet, to such an extent that they all remained in service until the 1960s, long after they were intended to cease operation as an "austerity" design. Withdrawals began in 1963, when one had a broken cylinder that was deemed not worthy of repairing. The last example of the class was withdrawn in 1966.


Livery and numbering


Southern Railway and Bulleid numbering system

Livery of the Q1 Class was plain freight black, with Sunshine Yellow numbering on the cabside, and "Southern" lettering on the tender, shaded in green. Bulleid advocated a continental style of locomotive nomenclature, based upon his experiences at the French branch of
Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
before 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 ...
, and those of his tenure in the rail operating department during that conflict. The Southern Railway number followed an adaptation of the
UIC classification The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements, sometimes known as the German classification''The Railway Data File''. Leicester: Silverdale, 2000. p. 52. . or German system,Kalla-Bishop P.M. & Greggio, Luciano, ''Steam Locomotives'', Cre ...
system where "C" refers to the number of coupled driving axles – in this case three. All these locomotives therefore carried numbers which started "C" followed by the individual identifier from C1 to C40.''Bulleids in Retrospect''


Post-1948 (nationalisation)

After nationalisation, the original Southern livery was in continued use, although with " British Railways" on the tender in Sunshine Yellow. From 1950 onwards, livery remained plain, although in the guise of British Railways Freight Black without lining of any description. The British Railways crest was located on the tender side. Given the British Railways
power classification A number of different numbering and classification schemes were used for the locomotives owned by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and its constituent companies; this page explains the principal systems that were used. The followi ...
5F, the locomotives were also renumbered to the British Railways' standard numbering system as 33001–33040.''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways'' 1958–59


Preservation

Only one locomotive of the class survived into preservation. First-of-class 33001 (C1) has been preserved, and now resides at the
National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...
in
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, where it carries its original SR livery and number. Before it moved to York in 2004, the locomotive worked on the
Bluebell Railway The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between an ...
in East Sussex: it ran from 14 September 1980 to Spring 1983. Its second period of running was from 9 September 1992 to Summer 2000 and that is the last time it ran.


References


Notes


Bibliography

* *''Bulleids in Retrospect'', Transport Video Publishing, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire * * * * *''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives'', winter 1958–59 edition * * *''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' (HIT Entertainment, 2006), season 9, episode 11: "Thomas and the New Engine." *


External links


SEMG 'Q1' pages


{{good article Q1 0-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1942 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives