The LCDR M1 class was a class of
4-4-0 steam locomotives of the
London, Chatham and Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and no ...
(LCDR), very similar to the earlier
M class but with steel frames, larger tenders and other detailed differences. The class was designed by
William Kirtley and introduced in 1880.
History
Kirtley had requested six more examples of his earlier
M class built by
Neilson and Company
Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland.
The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines. In 1837 the firm moved to Hyde Park ...
for the London-Dover
boat train
A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__
Notable named boat tr ...
s, but this request was turned down by the LCDR board, although he was given permission to build similar locomotives at the company's
Longhedge Works in
Battersea. Two locomotives were built during 1880 and a further two in 1881. However a fire in the machine shop seriously delayed work on the final two which eventually appeared as members of the
M2 class in 1885. The class proved to be successful and completed high mileages. on the heaviest semi-fast trains. The locomotives passed to the
South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899 and were considered to be sufficiently useful to be worth re-boilering between 1898 and 1904. The class began to be withdrawn and scrapped from 1912.
Only one example survived into
Southern Railway ownership in 1923, but was withdrawn almost immediately thereafter.
References
*
{{SECR locomotives
M1
4-4-0 locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1884
Scrapped locomotives
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain