The Southern Railway E1/R is a class of

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 kno ...

T tank steam locomotive designed for light passenger and freight duties. They were rebuilt from earlier

LB&SCR The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

E1 class 0-6-0T locomotives originally built 1874–1883. The rebuilt locomotives were intended to be used in the West of England.

Construction

In 1927, there was a surplus of the Stroudley ‘E’ tanks in service on the Central Section of the Southern Railway, many of which were in good condition as they had been fitted with larger boilers by

D. E. Marsh Douglas Earle Marsh (1862–1933) was an English railway engineer, and was the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from November 1904 until his early retirement on health grounds in July 19 ...

after 1911. At the same time there was a need for additional

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 in the Western Section for use in shunting, station piloting and particularly for services on the North Cornwall line to

Padstow Padstow (; kw, Lannwedhenek) is a town, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately northwest of Wadebridge, northwest of Bodmin and ...

. Ten locomotives had their frames extended, bunkers and water tanks enlarged at Brighton works over the next two years. A

pony truck A Bissell or Bissel truck (also Bissel bogie or Pony truck) is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by and usually then known as a ''pony truck'' ...

of the same design as a ’N’ class locomotive was also added to create a

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A bearing f ...

trailing axle, making them

T. The rebuilt locomotives were dispatched to the Western section during 1928 and 1929 and found to be successful. Some complaints from passengers about rough riding on the meandering North Cornwall line were addressed by having the locomotives on this line re-balanced during 1936 while other locomotives that weren't balanced were restricted to local and shunting and banking duties.Bradley, (1972), 45-6. The new class performed well for nearly twenty years but withdrawal commenced in 1955 and they were finally all replaced by Ivatt's prairie tanks by 1959.

References

* * * The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway web site - www.lbscr.org.uk * ABC of British Locomotives 1948 * Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Great Britain 1958 {{DEFAULTSORT:SR E1R class E1 R 0-6-2T locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1927