SR CLASS N15X

The 'SR Class N15X' 4-6-0 steam locomotives were a relatively unsuccessful rebuild of the L Class undertaken by Richard Maunsell for use on the Southern Railway.

Contents

Construction history

Naming the locomotives

Livery and numbering

Southern

Post-1948 (nationalisation)

Operational details

References

Further Reading

External links

Construction history

With the impending electrification of the Southern Railway's Eastern Section, the need to create powerful express types to cope with intensive timetables on the Western Section presented itself. Maunsell looked at the possibility of converting the LBSCR 'Remembrance' or Class L 4-6-4 tanks built by L. B. Billinton between 1914 and 1922. These Baltics were capable machines, though the pressing need for standardisation and the lack of adequate work for Baltic types meant that they were ripe for rebuilding.
They entered Eastleigh works in 1934 and were rebuilt to a more standard two-cylinder design that was dimensionally similar to the Class N15 "King Arthur" locomotives. The trailing bogie and sidetanks were removed, and the bunker cut off, resulting in the same wheel layout as the King Arthur Class.Haresnape, Brian: ''Maunsell Locomotives - a pictorial history'' (Ian Allan Ltd, 1977), ISBN 0711007438
A Lord Nelson Class cab and the Urie bogied tender from the S15 stable was utilised in the rebuild, whilst a King Arthur blast pipe and chimney was placed on a revised front end. As a result, a hybrid locomotive was created, colloquially named the N15x 'Remembrance' Class, the suffix 'x' being Brighton parlance for a rebuilt/modified locomotive.Haresnape, Brian: ''Maunsell Locomotives - a pictorial history'' (Ian Allan Ltd, 1977), ISBN 0-7110-0743-8

Naming the locomotives

Two of the locomotives retained their original names: number 2333 ''Remembrance'' and 2329 ''Stephenson,'' whilst the other members of the L Class, which had not previously carried names, were named. The rebuilt locomotives were named after famous railway engineers.Burridge, Frank: ''Nameplates of the Big Four'' (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 1975) ISBN 0902888439

Livery and numbering

Southern

Under Southern ownership, the 'Remembrances' were outshopped in Olive Green livery, with 'Southern' and the locomotive's number on the tender tank. Wartime service under the Southern saw the locomotives outshopped in black livery with 'Sunshine Yellow' lettering. Swift, Peter: ''Maunsell 4-6-0 King Arthur Class'' (Ian Allan Publishing: Hinckley, 2006) (Locomotives in Detail series volume 4) (Hinckley: Ian Allan Publishing, 2006), ISBN 0711030863
Numbers allocated to the locomotives were 2327 to 2333, and the names were distributed as thus:
2327 ''Trevithick'',
2328 ''Hackworth'',
2329 ''Stephenson'',
2330 ''Cudworth'',
2331 ''Beattie'',
2332 ''Stroudley'',
2333 ''Remembrance''.

Post-1948 (nationalisation)

After a period in transitional BR Black livery, the class was outshopped with BR Brunswick Green livery with orange and black lining, with the BR crest on the tender. Numbering was in line with the BR standard numbering system, in the series 32327 to 32333.Banks, Chris: ''BR Locomotives 1955'' (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 2001), ISBN 0860935604

Operational details

The rebuilding caused a certain amount of controversy among footplate crews, with some maintaining that one could not make so many changes and have a reliable locomotive at the end of the process.Haresnape, Brian: ''Maunsell Locomotives - a pictorial history'' (Ian Allan Ltd, 1977), ISBN 0-7110-0743-8 Certainly the rebuilds gained a reputation for rough riding and relatively poor efficiency, a far cry from their L Class donors. They were therefore unpopular with crews, and were used on secondary duties and cross-country trains rather than the heavy London to Exeter expresses they were intended for.Russell, J. H.: ''A Pictorial Record of Southern Locomotives'' (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford), (no ISBN given)
Several of the class were loaned to the Great Western Railway during the period 1942 to 1944 to make up for a desperate need for freight power as part of the war effort on that railway.
They soldiered on after Nationalisation, though with the increasing numbers of Bulleid Pacifics able to take over their duties, they began to be withdrawn from the mid-50s, with ''Hackworth'' in 1955, and finally ''Beattie'' in 1957. None were preserved.Haresnape, Brian: ''Maunsell Locomotives - a pictorial history'' (Ian Allan Ltd, 1977), ISBN 0-7110-0743-8

References

Further Reading

★ Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1954-55 edition

External links

★ SEMG gallery