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photograph: Mike Morant collection.
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One of RJ Billinton's early tasks during his tenure
as Chief Locomotive Engineer was to finish the construction of Stroudley's
"E Class Special" West Brighton 0-6-2T Goods, the first of 134
Brighton Radial Tanks, which led to sixteen more similar locomotives, all
seventeen of which were designated Class E3. So
successful were these locomotives when assigned to passenger duties rather than
the goods duties for which they were intended that Billinton decided to build
another version expressly for passenger train work. These, the E4 Class,
started entering traffic in 1897 and were virtually the same as the earlier E3
Class but with driving wheels enlarged from 4' 6" to 5' and higher
pitched 160lb pressure boilers.
Initially named and painted in Stroudley Goods Green, from loco N°487 onwards they were turned out named and painted in Stroudley's Improved Engine Green, a yellow colour, with some of the older, green, locos subsequently being re-painted yellow, until 1906 when Marsh repainted them in dark umber and removed their names. Why they were at first painted in the Goods colour when they were expressly designed for passenger work is uncertain. One of the early locos, N°469, was named "Beachy Head" and was the only one not to be named after a village or small town. This name was, of course, to be made famous in later years when applied by the Southern Railway to one of Marsh's H2 Class Atlantics. As time progressed and the locos came in for heavy
overhaul they were fitted with 17½ in. cylinders in place of the
original 18 in one. Then, in 1909, Marsh rebuilt three locos with new
higher-pitched I2 pattern boilers of 170lb pressure, restored the 18 in
cylinders (though not for long) and replacement smokeboxes mounted on a new
saddle, to produce the E4x Class, with a fourth being so treated in 1911. Many
other E4s were reboilered, as well as having other modifications, during their
lives but not to the full E4x specification, which remained as a sub-class of
just four. A number of these locos travelled over the water, twelve saw service in France between 1917 and 1919 whilst one, N° 2510, was sent to the Isle of Wight in 1947 but was found to be too big for the island lines so was repatriated to the mainland. Then in August 1999 the Bluebell Railway's N°473, "Birch Grove", paid a summer visit to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. A very successful class (some members of which strayed away from the Brighton section to places such as Eastleigh, Waterloo and Tonbridge) of which all bar one (2483, scrapped in July 1944) survived into British Railways service. Under BR they were mainly painted plain black, although a few (such as all three BR-liveried locos on this page) received the lined black livery. One loco, 32473, continues to this day working on the Bluebell Railway as 473 "Birch Grove", wearing the Marsh umber livery and carrying her name on each side tank - a condition she was never seen in during her LBSC days when the umber liveried locos carried the letters 'L B S C' where previously there had been names. |
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Introduced:Driving Wheel: Weight: Cylinders (2): Boiler Pressure: Tractive Effort: BR Power Classification: |
E418975 ft 58 tons (Approx) * 18 (17½) in x 26 in 160 lb sq in * 19,090 (18,045) lbs 2-P/2-F |
E4x19095 ft 58 tons (Approx) * 18 (17½) in x 26 in 170 lb sq in * 20,285 (19,175) lbs 2-P/2-F |
* Initially 18 in x 26 in cylinders, later replaced with 17½ in x 26 in. |
LBSC N° | SR N° # | BR N° | Name (Until 1906) | Built | Rebuilt as E4x | Withdrawn |
463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 * 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481* 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498* 499 500 501 502 503 504* 505 506* 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516* 517 518* 519 520 556 557 558 559 560 561 562* 563* 564* 565* 566 577 578 579 580* 581 582 |
2463 2464 2465 2466 2467 2468 2469 2470 2471 2472 2473 2474 2475 2476 2477 2478 2479 2480 2481 2482 2483 2484 2485 2486 2487 2488 2489 2490 2491 2492 2493 2494 2495 2496 2497 2498 2499 2500 2501 2502 2503 2504 2505 2506 2507 2508 2509 2510 * 2511 2512 2513 2514 2515 2516 2517 2518 2519 2520 2556 2557 2558 2559 2560 2561 2562 2563 2564 2565 2566 2577 2578 2579 2580 2581 2582 |
32463 32464 32465 32466 32467 32468 32469 32470 32471 32472 32473 32474 32475 32476 32477 32478 32479 32480 32481 32482 - 32484 32485 32486 32487 32488 32489 32490 32491 32492 32493 32494 32495 32496 32497 32498 32499 32500 32501 32502 32503 32504 32505 32506 32507 32508 32509 32510 32511 32512 32513 32514 32515 32516 32517 32518 32519 32520 32556 32557 32558 32559 32560 32561 32562 32563 32564 32565 32566 32577 32578 32579 32580 32581 32582 |
Wivelsfield Woodmancote Hurst Green Honor Oak Berwick Midhurst Beachy Head East Hoathly Forest Hill Fay Gate Birch Grove Bletchingly Partridge Green Beeding Poynings Newick Bevendean Fletching Itchingfold Newtimber Hellingly Hackbridge Ashington Godalming Fishergate Oakwood Boxgrove Bohemia Hangleton Jevington Telscombe Woodgate Chessington Chiddingfold Dennington * Strettington Woodendean Puttenham Stoat's Nest Ridgewood Buckland Chilworth Annington Catherington Horley Bognor Southover Twineham Lingfield Kingswood Densworth Barcombe Swanmore Rustington Limpsfield Porchester Portfield Westbourne Tadworth Northlands Chiltington Framfield Pembury Walberton Laughton Wineham Nettlestone Littleton Durrington Blackstone Horsebridge Roehampton Shermanbury Warningcamp Horndean |
Dec 1897 Dec 1897 Apr 1898 Apr 1898 May 1898 May 1898 Jun 1898 Jun 1898 Jun 1898 Jun 1898 Jun 1898 Aug 1898 Oct 1898 Oct 1898 Oct 1898 Nov 1898 Dec 1898 Dec 1898 Dec 1898 Dec 1898 Mar 1899 Apr 1899 May 1899 May 1899 Jun 1899 Jun 1899 Jun 1899 Jun 1899 Sep 1899 Oct 1899 Nov 1899 Nov 1899 Nov 1899 Dec 1899 May 1900 May 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 Aug 1900 Sep 1900 Oct 1900 Oct 1900 Dec 1900 Dec 1900 Dec 1900 Dec 1900 Feb 1901 Feb 1901 Mar 1901 Mar 1901 Apr 1901 Apr 1901 Jun 1901 Jun 1901 Jun 1901 Jun 1901 Aug 1901 Sep 1901 Oct 1901 Oct 1901 Nov 1901 Nov 1901 Dec 1901 Dec 1901 Dec 1901 May 1902 Jun 1902 Jun 1903 Jun 1903 Jul 1903 Jul 1903 Sep 1903 Sep 1903 |
Feb 1909 Apr 1911 May 1909 May 1909 |
Oct 1959 Jun 1956 Mar 1955 Dec 1958 Apr 1958 Jan 1963 Oct 1961 Jun 1962 Sep 1959 Jun 1962 Oct 1962 * May 1963 Jun 1961 Apr 1957 Jan 1959 Jun 1956 Jun 1963 Apr 1959 Apr 1958 Oct 1955 Jul 1944 Sep 1960 Dec 1957 Jan 1959 Dec 1962 Jun 1957 May 1955 Dec 1955 Jan 1961 May 1957 Feb 1948 Sep 1959 Sep 1960 Oct 1955 Nov 1959 Nov 1961 Jun 1957 Jan 1962 Jul 1955 Feb 1958 Apr 1963 Nov 1961 Mar 1961 Jun 1961 May 1959 Jan 1960 Mar 1962 Sep 1962 Sep 1956 May 1961 Jan 1956 Sep 1956 May 1961 Oct 1955 Jun 1959 Jun 1955 Sep 1959 Jan 1957 Oct 1961 Dec 1962 Dec 1956 Jun 1960 Aug 1958 Apr 1956 Aug 1960 Jun 1961 Sep 1961 Jun 1961 Apr 1959 Oct 1959 Apr 1961 Nov 1959 Apr 1962 Apr 1962 Sep 1956 |
# Between 1923 and 1928 SR numbers were the LBSC
numbers with the added prefix 'B' * Incorrectly spelled! Name corrected to Donnington in February 1905. * Preserved on the Bluebell Railway. Worked LE from Nine Elms shed to Horsted Keynes 16 October 1962. * Operated with ROD in France between 1917 and 1919. * Sent to the Isle of Wight for brief period during 1947. |
This page was created 26 May 2003