Wainwright H class 0-4-4T
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| Nº1305 seen in Southern Railway days. Despite its grubby
condition, a remnant of the SECR livery can be seen on the splasher.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| With the continual growth in traffic around the beginning of
the 20th century, particularly in the London suburban area, the newly
amalgamated South Eastern and London, Chatham & Dover Railways had an
urgent need for medium sized passenger tank locomotives. Although the drawing
office at Ashford prepared drawings for both large sized and medium sized tank
locomotives, Wainwright decided to build only the smaller machines. Between
November 1904 and the end of 1915, 66 of these locomotives were constructed at
Ashford Works, being designated Class 'H'. Somewhat uniquely, only 64
of the class were initially constructed out of 66 authorised, but on taking
over as CME Maunsell discovered that the works had not erected the missing two,
presumably keeping the components as spares. Maunsell ordered construction of
the remaining two immediately in 1915, a gap of 6 years since the original 64
had been completed.
Some of the components of the locomotives as designed were common with the 'C' class goods locomotives. Whereas the SE&CR was primarily a line with vacuum braked stock, 16 of the class were fitted with Westinghouse brakes. All had the very unique pagoda-style cab roofs, and of course, the initial 64 appeared in Wainwright's elaborate, but very attractive, lined dark green livery. In due course they all appeared in Maunsell's initial plain dark green livery, to be followed by the wartime dull grey livery up until 1923. As the class was completed, at least the initial 64, they appeared at most former South Eastern depots and some of the former Chatham depots. |
| Nº31263, the sole remaining member of the class, is seen
here on 15th April 1963 - there being less than a year before the Three Bridges
to East Grinstead line, on which it spent its last days, was closed.
photograph by Alan Robinson |
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Nº31522 arriving at Oxted from Tunbridge Wells West with
Maunsell Push Pull set Nº605. Note the tandem point in the foreground.
photograph by Keith Harwood |
| Upon formation of the Southern Railway, the locomotives of
the class received the standard Southern passenger locomotive livery of a shade
of olive green with lining, and had 1000 added to their numbers. With the
spread of suburban electrification during the 1920s and 1930s, many of the
usual duties for 'H' class tanks disappeared, but many were assigned to
more rural routes on the South Eastern section of the SR and also drafted on to
the former Brighton section. During WWII two of the class were drafted to the
South Western section and even the LMS borrowed three for use in Scotland.
Two of the class were withdrawn during WWII as a result of badly cracked frames, when it was more useful to use the components as spares for the rest of the class, rather than repair them. However the remaining 64 of the class were taken into British Railway stock, once again renumbered with 30000 added to their numbers. All but four of them received the BR standard lined black livery, used for light passenger locomotives. With the electrification of Kent Coast lines in the 1959 and 1962, together with the loss of most of the branch lines both on the South Eastern and Central sections of BR(S) in the 1950s and 1960s, the need for these tank locomotives disappeared, especially as the area was well served by now with numbers of LMS designed and BR standard tank locomotives. A few withdrawals had taken place in 1951 and 1953 but mass withdrawals started in 1959 and within a few years all had gone. But not quite. Nº31263, formerly Nº263, built in 1905, had been working the Three Bridges to East Grinstead line right up to its closure in January 1964. A group of preservationists formed the H Class Trust and purchased the locomotive from British Railways. The locomotive was located at Robertsbridge, initially, then moved to the SE Steam Centre at Ashford. But in 1975 it was relocated to the Bluebell Railway - click here for a picture - where it has continued in use over the years, although at the time of writing it is out of use awaiting overhaul. |
| Nº31551, carrying one lamp and one headcode disc near Hurst
Green with set Nº605.
photograph by Keith Harwood |
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Nº31193 is seen here at Gillingham at an unknown date
before 1961. This page's compiler has deliberately not cropped this
photograph closer to the engine to allow the atmospheric period clutter to be
enjoyed by all!
photograph by Alan Robinson |
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This page was last updated 5 April 2008
