Stroudley D1 class 0-4-2
| Various of the class were the subject of accidents over the
years, the most serious being on the 'Cuckoo Line' in 1897 when the
Driver was killed, which raised questions about the use of front coupled
locomotives. However, it was considered that the true cause of the accidents
was the state of the permanent way, which left a lot to be desired around the
turn of the century!
As time progressed virtually all were re-boilered by either RJ Billinton or, later, Marsh who raised the pressure to 170 lb. Coal rails were fitted to increase coal capacity to 2 tons 15 cwt. During Southern Railway days four of the class had their bunkers cut down and side tank capacity reduced so that they could work the Lyme Regis branch, though the SR quickly learned (as Dugald Drummond had many years earlier) that you couldn't run rigid framed engines on that line! During the early 1940s engines 2215, 2220 2239, 2244, 2252, 2253, 2255, 2260 and 2357 were equipped for use as fire engines at big depots, able to throw four jets of water at a rate of a ton a minute. Also during WWII several D1s were sent to Scotland for branchline and shunting work resulting in the Highland Railway line seeing Stroudley locomotives at work some seven decades after the man himself had left Inverness for the south. |
 |
NºB220, formerly "Balcombe", in early
Southern Days.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| Now as Nº2220, the same engine is seen at Bisley, on the branch from Brookwood which closed in
July 1952 for public services. In peacetime services were run for only a week each July for the National Rifle
Association's Annual Meeting. Nº2220 was used for the last meeting (July 1939) before WW2 and was allocated
to Guildford shed at the time. The train is a P&P set converted from half a LSWR bogie block set.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
 |
 |
Nº2253 seen on shed somewhere, sometime!
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| Nº2252, captured on the turntable outside a roundhouse.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
 |
 |
.....and at Brighton Station in August 1950. 19 of the class saw service in BR(S) days, although
none carried a 32xxx number. Nº2252 was withdrawn in September 1950 and the whole class had gone by the end
of 1951. Notice the condensing pipes have been removed. photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| Along with members of various other classes, some D1s were sold for service
elsewhere. One such case was County Mental Hospital Whittingham Nº1, an ex-LBSCR D1
Nº2357 which was bought directly from the SR for £750 in 1946 and was withdrawn
following boiler failure in 1955. There is mention in at least two places on the web that this loco
was at some time named but there is no evidence of that in this image. Neither of those references
states when the name was applied or for how long.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
 |
 |
A closer view of CMHW Nº1 with the cab of the railway's Nº2 in the
left of the shot. These shots were taken between 1946 when the loco arrived at Whittingham and 1952
when the other engine in the photo was withdrawn from service.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
All photographs are copyright
return to picture gallery page
This page was last updated 3 February 2012
