Metropolitan Railway steam locomotives
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The first Metropolitan Railway steam locomotives were ordered in 1864 for the
Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
, to replace the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
locomotive that had opened their first line the previous year. A total of 116 locomotives were built, of which two survive in preservation.


History

Concern about smoke and steam in the tunnels led to new designs of
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 ...
. Before the line opened in 1861 trials were made with the experimental "hot brick" locomotive nicknamed
Fowler's Ghost "Fowler's Ghost" is the nickname given to an experimental Fireless locomotive, fireless steam locomotive designed by Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, John Fowler and built in 1861 for use on the Metropolitan Railway, London's first London Undergrou ...
. This was unsuccessful and the first public trains were hauled by broad gauge GWR Metropolitan Class condensing 2-4-0 tank locomotives designed by Daniel Gooch. They were followed by standard gauge GNR locomotives until the Met received its own
4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...
tank locomotives. The locomotives were built by
Beyer Peacock Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, a ...
of Manchester. Their design is frequently attributed to the Met's Engineer John Fowler, but the locomotive was a development of one Beyers had built for the Spanish
Tudela to Bilbao Railway Tudela may refer to: *Tudela, Navarre, a town and municipality in northern Spain ** Benjamin of Tudela Medieval Jewish traveller ** William of Tudela, Medieval troubadour who wrote the first part of the ''Song of the Albigensian Crusade'' ** Battl ...
, Fowler only specifying the driving wheel diameter, axle weight and the ability to navigate sharp curves. Eighteen were ordered in 1864, initially carrying names, and by 1870 a total of forty had been built. To reduce smoke underground, at first coke was burnt, changed in 1869 to smokeless Welsh coal. From 1879, more locomotives were needed, and the design was updated and a total of twenty-four of these later locomotives were delivered between 1879 and 1885. Originally the locomotives were painted bright olive green lined in black and yellow, chimneys were copper capped with the locomotive number in brass figures at the front and domes were polished brass. In 1885, the colour changed to a dark red known as Midcared, and this was to remain the standard colour and taken up as the colour for the Metropolitan line by London Transport in 1933. When in 1925 the Met classified its locomotives by letters of the alphabet, these were assigned A Class and B Class. When the M&SJWR was being built, it was considered that the Class A and B tanks would struggle on the gradients and five Worcester Engine
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 ...
tank locomotives were delivered in 1868. However, it was soon found that the Class A and B locomotives could manage trains without difficulty and the 0-6-0Ts were sold to the Taff Vale Railway in 1873 and 1875. From 1891, more locomotives were needed for work on the extension line from Baker Street into the country. Four C Class (
0-4-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-4 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles. This type was only used ...
) locomotives, a development of South Eastern Railway's 'Q' Class, were received in 1891. In 1894, two D Class locomotives were bought to run between Aylesbury and Verney Junction. These were not fitted with the condensing equipment needed to work south of Finchley Road. Four more were delivered in 1895 with condensing equipment, although these were prohibited working south of Finchley Road. In 1896, two E Class (
0-4-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-4 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles. This type was only used ...
) locomotives were built by the Met at Neasden works, followed by one in 1898 to replace the original Class A No. 1, damaged in an accident. Four more were built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co in 1900 and 1901. To cope with the growing freight traffic on the extension line, the Met received four F Class (
0-6-2 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 two trailing wheels on one axle. The type is sometimes known a ...
) locomotives in 1901, similar to the E Class except for the wheel formula and without steam heat. In 1897 and 1899, the Met received two
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 ...
saddle tank locomotives to a standard Peckett design. Unclassified by the Met, these were generally used for shunting at Neasden and Harrow. Many locomotives were made redundant by the electrification of the inner London lines in 1905–06. By 1907, forty of the older class A and B had been sold or scrapped and by 1914 only thirteen locomotives of these classes had been retained for shunting, departmental work and working trains over the Brill Tramway. The need for more powerful locomotives for both passenger and freight services meant that, in 1915, four G Class (
0-6-4 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 four trailing wheels on two axles. Overview The 0-6-4 wheel ...
) locomotives arrived from Yorkshire Engine Co. Eight capable H Class (
4-4-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles. In ...
) locomotives were built in 1920 and 1921 and used mainly on express passenger services. To run longer, faster and less frequent freight services in 1925 six freight K Class (
2-6-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a locomotive has two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called Adriatic. Overview With only a few known except ...
) locomotives arrived, rebuilt from 2-6-0 locomotives manufactured at Woolwich Arsenal after World War I. These were not permitted south of Finchley Road. In 1933 the Metropolitan Railway was absorbed into the newly created London Passenger Transport Board and on 1 November 1937 the later G, H and K Class steam locomotives were transferred to the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
(LNER) who took over all freight workings and became responsible for hauling passenger trains with steam locomotives north of Rickmansworth. From the early 1940s these were replaced by ex Great Central Railway locomotives, now classified
LNER Class A5 The Great Central Railway Class 9N, classified A5 by the LNER, was a class of 4-6-2 tank locomotives designed by John G. Robinson for suburban passenger services. They were fitted with superheaters, piston valves and Stephenson valve gear. Co ...
. These were replaced by LNER L1s after 1948 and ten years later in 1958 when the joint line was transferred to British Railway's London Midland Region former
LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Lenz ...
locomotives replaced the L1s. Steam working ended on passenger trains after the introduction of the A Stock in 1961. LT kept nine ex-Metropolitan steam locomotives for use on departmental work - one of the A Class, four of the E Class, and four of the F Class. From 1956 these were replaced by ex-GWR 5700 Class pannier tanks, which in turn were replaced by Sentinel diesel-hydraulic shunters in 1971.


Preserved units

Two locomotives survive, one A Class No. 23 (LT L45) at the London Transport Museum, and E Class No. 1 (LT L44) is preserved at the
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a railway museum operated by the Quainton Railway Society Ltd. at Quainton Road railway station, about west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The site is divided into two halves which are joined by two ...
.


List


See also

* District Railway steam locomotives


References


Notes


Sources

* * * * * {{London Underground rolling stock Metropolitan Railway locomotives