The LSWR 395 class was a class of goods

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

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 for 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 ...

by William Adams as part of his modernisation programme. All 70 were constructed 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 ...

between 1881 and 1886. The last 34 locomotives differed in being slightly longer and heavier.

On the LSWR 1881-1923

Early members of the class were numbered in a continuous series of new numbers 395-406. Some later batches re-used numbers of withdrawn or duplicated locomotives. The 395 was a long-lived class, with several lasting for 70 years. Between 1908 and 1924, 54 locomotives were renumbered to the duplicate list by prefixing their existing number with a "0".

Outside the UK 1916-1945

Between 1916 and 1918, fifty locomotives were sold to the British Government for use by the

Railway Operating Division The Railway Operating Division (ROD) was a division of the Royal Engineers formed in 1915 to operate railways in the many theatres of the First World War. It was largely composed of railway employees and operated both standard gauge and narrow g ...

of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. These included all 16 not in the duplicate list. The ROD transferred 36 of the class to its Palestine Military Railway and nine for service in the

Mesopotamian campaign The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from British India, against the Central Powe ...

. In 1918, seven of those delivered to Palestine were transferred to Mesopotamia. In 1919, military-controlled railways and equipment in Mesopotamia were transferred to the civilian Mesopotamian Railways, including all 16 class 395's which the new company renumbered 423-438. In 1920 the civilian

Palestine Railways {{Infobox rail , railroad_name = Palestine Railway , logo_filename = , logo_size = , system_map = , map_caption = , map_size = , marks = , image = AwmB00283.Samakh.jpg , image_size ...

was formed and took over the remaining PMR lines and stock, including all 29 class 395's remaining in Palestine. In 1928 PR withdrew 22 of the class and sold them for scrap. The remaining seven (0166, 0395, 0398, 0405, 0444, 503 and 508) remained in PR service until 1936 and were not scrapped until 1944-45.Cotterell (1984) p. 127

In the UK 1923-1959

Feltham Locomotive Depot Adams 395 Class geograph-2979734-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Woking 395 shunting geograph-2979757-by-Ben-Brooksbank

After the First World War, twenty class 395's remained in Great Britain in L&SWR service: 029, 083, 0101, 0153–0155, 0163, 0167, 0397, 0400, 0433, 0436, 0439–0442, 0496, 0506, 0509, 0515. As per the

Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

, these passed to the Southern Railway (SR) on its formation in 1923. In 1933, the SR withdrew 0153 and 0515. In 1948 under the nationalisation of Britain's Railways, the remaining 18 locomotives entered

British Rail 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 ...

ways stock and were renumbered in a continuous series 30564–30581. Withdrawals resumed in 1950, with the last one, 30567 (originally 154) being withdrawn in September 1959 after 76 years of service. All were scrapped.

References

* * * {{LSWR Locomotives 395 0-6-0 locomotives Neilson locomotives Railway Operating Division locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1881 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain