SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes
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| File:SR West Country Class 21C123 'Blackmore Vale' at York Railfest.JPG 21C123 Blackmore Vale as preserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(SR) West Country and Battle of Britain Classes, also known as Bulleid Light Pacifics, are classes of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid. Intended for express passenger and semi-fast work in South-East and South-West England, 110 of them were eventually built and incorporated many innovations previously used on the SR Merchant Navy Class.
The classes operated until the end of Southern steam in July 1967, after 60 had been rebuilt to a more standardised design. Many examples of the class have happily been saved from the cutter's torch, and can be seen on heritage railways throughout Britain.
Construction History
Based on the experience gained through working with the SR Merchant Navy Class locomotives, the Southern Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid designed a lighter pacific with a wider route availability in mind.[1] Incorporating his infamous chain-driven valve gear, located within a sealed oil bath and other refinements such as electric lighting and the Bulleid-Firth-Brown (BFB) wheel design, the resultant design closely resembled the larger Merchant Navy class.[5] As a result, the West Country and later, Battle of Britain classes came into existence with the outshopping of the prototype, 21C101 Exeter from Brighton works in May, 1945.
The classes were subject to modifications during the brief time they operated under the Southern Railway, the chief of which was the redesign of the footplate spectacle plates to the V-profile that all Bulleids depict post-Nationalisation. Originally, the spectacle plates were 90 degrees to the air-smoothed casing, offering limited vision ahead for the driver. [2]
Livery under the Southern
Livery was SR Malachite Green with "Sunshine Yellow" horizontal lining, with a circular brass plate painted red on smokebox door inscribed with "Southern" and the date of manufacture.
Names and Numbers
The two classes are identical; the class distinction being the subject of the names. 48 of the class as built by the SR were named after places in the West Country served by the Southern Railway, and the rest took their names from RAF squadrons, airfields, commanders and aircraft from the Battle of Britain.[3] Originally, the West Country locomotives were intended to work the lines in the south-west of England, whilst the Battle of Britain Class were to work the lines of Kent. In practice, this did not occur and both classes were to be found all over the network. [4] Along with the names, many locomotives sported the coats of arms of the towns/regions/aircraft/personalities/squadrons depicted by the classes. Others, especially in the West Country class, did not aspire to anything at all, and were issued with just the nameplate and a narrower gap between this and the "West Country Class" identification plate. [5]
The Bulleid Numbering System
Bulleid advocated a continental style of locomotive nomenclature, based upon his experiences at the French branch of Westinghouse Electric before the First World War, and those of his tenure in the rail operating department during that conflict. The SR number followed an adaptation of the UIC classification system where "2" and "1" refer to the number of unpowered leading and trailing axles respectively, and "C" refers to the number of driving axles – in this case three. However, since "21C" was the prefix already used by the Merchant Navy class, the suffix "1" was added; all these locomotives therefore carried numbers which started "21C1" followed by the individual two-digit identifier.
70 light pacifics were constructed by the Southern, the last being Battle of Britain Class 21C170 (later 34070) Manston, and happily she has been preserved and is about to return to steam under the auspices of Southern Locomotives Ltd.
Nationalisation
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| File:SR West Coutry Class 34045 'Ottery St. Mary' at Crewe Works.jpg Preserved Rebuilt West Country Class 34027 Taw Valley masquerading as 34045 Ottery St. Mary. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Livery Variations after 1948
Initial livery after Nationalisation in 1948 was modified Southern Malachite Green and "Sunshine Yellow" with "British Railways" on the tender, and the Bulleid numbering system was temporarily retained with an "S" prefix (ie. S21C101). The locomotives then carried BR Brunswick Green livery with orange and black lining. By this stage, the SR-built locomotives were renumbered under standard BR procedure, from 34001 to 34070.
The BR Batch and Rebuilding
The final 40 engines were built after the Nationalisation of the railways in 1948 never carried SR numbers.[6] The first were Battle of Britains 34071 to 34090, and naming policy reverted back to West Country practice from 34091 to 34108. The last two were Battle of Britains,being 34109 Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory and 34110 66 Squadron. It is interesting to note that 34110 was intended to be modified before the decision to rebuild the locomotives had been taken, hence the 1951 build date, but objections from Bullied saw it outshopped as intended by the designer.[7]
The BR batch had detail differences to the SR built versions, as the footplates (cabs) were widened.[8] At the same time, the opportunity was taken to rebuild the tenders, entailing the cutting down of the raves and adjusting fuel and water capacity.
As a result of this lateness, coat of arms for 66 Squadron was never issued, as the manufacturer had gone out of business during that period.[9]
Between 1957 and 1961, British Railways rebuilt 60 of the class as more conventional engines, adopting many features from the BR Standard locomotives that had been introduced since 1950.[10] The streamlined casing was removed and replaced with conventional boiler cladding, and the chain-driven valve gear was replaced with modified Walschaerts valve gear. The rebuilt versions were similar to the rebuilt Merchant Navy Class design of R. G. Jarvis. As a result of the rebuilding and the implementation of Walschaerts valve gear, the rebuilts were slightly heavier than their unrebuilt counterparts, and were prone to hammerblow on the track, a complaint that was not evident with as-built locomotives.[11]
The onset of the BR Modernisation Plan meant that the final 50 locomotives were not rebuilt, and continued in as-built condition until eventual withdrawal from service.[12] Many rebuilt locomotives were scrapped soon after their rebuilding, an indication of the waste in resources made by BR, as some engines had only existed in this form for as little as three years (see list of locomotives link for 34109).
Operational Details and Preservation
The locomotives were largely successful. Their light driving axle loading meant that they were often prone to wheelslip, requiring very careful driving when starting a heavy train from rest, but once into their stride they were noted for their free running, excellent steam production and being remarkably fleet of foot..[13]
A perennial problem with the unrebuilt light pacifics lay with the leaks from the oil bath onto the wheels which in turn splashed oil onto the boiler lagging. Once saturated with oil, the lagging attracted coal dust and ash which provided a combustible material, and as a result of the heavy braking of the locomotives, sparks would set the lagging on fire underneath the air-smoothed casing..[14] The local fire brigade would invariably be called to put the fire out, with cold water coming into contact with the hot boiler, causing stress to the castings. Many photographs show an unrebuilt with 'cockled' (warped) casings, a result of a lagging fire. [15]
Another problem was experienced with the exhaust, which beat down onto the air-smoothed casing when the engine was on the move, obscuring the driver's vision from the cab.[16] There were many instances of experimentation in order to resolve this problem, to varying degrees of success, and photographic evidence shows the many guises of this project. The rebuilts were provided with LMS-style smoke deflectors and the lack of air-smoothed casing also helped reduce the problem. [17]
An unusual but frequent sight on the Southern Region's 'Withered Arm' (the railways west of Exeter) was of a light pacific hauling local stopping services with single carriages to destinations as diverse as Padstow and Wadebridge, the larger and heavier Merchant Navy Class being unable to use these restricted lines. This state of affairs also highlights the fact that there were more of these pacifics built than were actually needed, and so were able to undertake such mundane tasks that would befit a much smaller locomotive.[18]
One highly recorded event ocurred on 30 January 1965, when unrebuilt No.34051 Winston Churchill hauled the funeral train of its namesake from London's Waterloo station to his final resting place, close to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, where he was born. .[19]
No fewer than 20 of these useful locomotives escaped the cutting torch and still exist in varying states of preservation. 9 of those preserved are unrebuilts, whilst the remainder are rebuilts. Had it not been for Woodham's Scrapyard, no rebuilt light pacifics would have been preserved.
List of Preserved lights pacifics
- 34007 Wadebridge - Spam Can
- 34010 Sidmouth - Rebuilt
- 34016 Bodin - Rebuilt
- 34023 Blackmoor Vale - Spam Can
- 34027 Taw Valley - Rebuilt
- 34028 Eddystone - Rebuilt
- 34039 Boscastle - Rebuilt
- 34046 Braunton - Rebuilt
- 34051 Winston Churchill - Spam Can
- 34053 Sir Keith Park - Rebuilt
- 34058 Sir Frederick Pile - Rebuilt
- 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair - Rebuilt
- 34067 Tangmere - Spam Can
- 34070 Manston - Spam Can
- 34072 257 Squadron - Spam Can
- 34073 249 Squadron - Spam Can
- 34081 92 Squadron - Spam Can
- 34092 City of Wells - Spam Can
- 34101 Hartland - Rebuilt
- 34105 Swanage - Spam Can
Locomotive List
See List of SR West Country Class locomotives.
Gallery
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Rebuilt 34050 Royal Observor Corps at Exeter St Davids, 1962. -
Rebuilt 34056 Croydon at Exeter St Davids, 1962. -
Rebuilt 34108 Wincanton at Exeter, 1962.
![[5]](http://www.watercressline.co.uk/tw/pics/wc-valve.jpg){kind=link}
References
- ^ Herring, Peter: Classic British Steam Locomotives (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "WC/BB Class" ISBN 1-86147-057-6
- ^ Creer,S & Morrison,B: The Power of the Bulleid Pacifics (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 2001) ISBN 0-86093-082-3 Page 21
- ^ Burridge, Frank: Nameplates of the Big Four (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 1975) ISBN 0-90288-843-9
- ^ Bulleids in Retrospect, Transport Video Publishing, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
- ^ Burridge, Frank: Nameplates of the Big Four (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 1975) ISBN 0-90288-843-9
- ^ Herring, Peter: Classic British Steam Locomotives (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "WC/BB Class" ISBN 1-86147-057-6
- ^ Bulleids in Retrospect, Transport Video Publidhing, Wheathampsted
- ^ Southern E-Group (2004)[1], Retrieved April. 13, 2007. For information on footplate sizes.
- ^ Burridge, Frank: Nameplates of the Big Four (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 1975) ISBN 0-90288-843-9
- ^ Creer, S & Morrison, B: The Power of the Bulleid Pacifics (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 2001) ISBN 0-86093-082-3 Page 86 to 87
- ^ Herring, Peter: Classic British Steam Locomotives (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "WC/BB Class" ISBN 1-86147-057-6
- ^ Southern E-Group (2004)[2], Retrieved April. 13, 2007. For economics behind the decision of BR not to continue the rebuilding programme.
- ^ Bulleids in Retrospect, Transport Video Publidhing, Wheathampsted
- ^ Southern E-Group (2004)[3], Retrieved April. 13, 2007. For details on the lagging fires.
- ^ Herring, Peter, Classic British Steam Locomotives (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "WC/BB Class" ISBN 1-86147-057-6
- ^ Creer,S & Morrison,B: The Power of the Bulleid Pacifics (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 2001) ISBN 0-86093-082-3 Pages 40-41
- ^ Creer,S & Morrison,B: The Power of the Bulleid Pacifics (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 2001) ISBN 0-86093-082-3 Pages 74-75
- ^ Bulleids in Retrospect, Transport Video Publishing, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
- ^ Southern E-Group (2004)[4], Retrieved April. 13, 2007. For a photograph of 34051 preparing for this duty.
External links
- Southern e-group unrebuilt locomotives...
- ...and rebuilt locomotives
- For an insight into the chain driven valve gear
- Southern Locomotives Ltd., owners of 34010, 34028, 34053, 34070 and 34072
- Bluebell Railway based Bulleid Society, owners of 21C123 and 34059
- The Battle of Britain Locomotive Society, owners of 34081
- The 34058 Restoration Group