Drummond L12 class 4-4-0
| Dugald Drummond's twenty L12 class express passenger 4-4-0s,
built in 1904 and 5, were an adaptation of his S11 mixed traffic class for express work, principally on
the Bouremouth line -the main differences being 6' 7" driving wheels
and a higher-pitched boiler. As with the S11, the frames are those from the
earlier T9 class of 1899. They were not, however,
an improvement on these earlier locos. Initially rostered to Nine Elms,
Bournemouth and Salisbury, the class was later also shedded at Exmouth Junction
where they shared the Plymouth Ocean Liner special traffic with the S11 class.
The class achieved some notoriety when one of their number, Nº421, was the
locomotive involved in the Salisbury accident of 10 June 1906 that effectively put paid to the
competition between the GWR and the LSWR for the Ocean Liner traffic.
The four photographs of L12s on this page depict four of the different liveries the locomotives carried. |
 Nº425 in middle-years Southern livery, with a train consisting of Maunsell stock. photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| Once again built as saturated locomotives, they were subsequently superheated with "Eastleigh" superheaters and the accompanying larger smokebox that served to improve their somewhat "stubby" appearance. The first, Nº421, was so fitted in 1915 but the remainder of the class had to wait until after the end of the First World War. Some of the locomotives retained their tubular feed water heaters for several years after superheating with the boiler feed being by hot water injectors. These original superheaters were later replaced by ones of the Maunsell pattern. In 1926 three locos, numbers 421, 423 and 424, were used in an oil-burning experiment. |
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Nº429 in late Southern livery with a train consisting of
ex-LSWR stock.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| In early BR days Nº421, carrying the legend
"SOUTHERN" on the tender and her BR number on the cabside. The
malachite liveried Battle of Britain light pacific behind Nº421 has no
coupling nor connecting rods.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
 |
| The whole class survived to be taken into British Railways stock, but withdrawal began in April 1951, with only two still in service beyond the end of that year. |
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Nº30429 also in early BR livery, but with the legend
"BRITISH RAILWAYS" on the tender.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
All photographs are copyright
First | Data
This page was last updated 29 September 2007
