SR CLASS Q1

The 'SR Class Q1' is a type of austerity steam locomotive constructed during the Second World War. The class was designed by Oliver Bulleid for use on the intensive freight turns experienced during wartime on the Southern Railway network. A total of 40 locomotives were built. Bulleid incorporated many innovations and weight-saving concepts to produce a highly functional design. The class lasted in service until July 1966, and the doyen of the class, C1, has been preserved by the National Railway Museum.
The highly unusual and controversial design represents the ultimate development of the British 0-6-0 freight engine, capable of hauling trains that were usually allocated to much larger locomotives on other railways.

Contents

Background

Construction history

Design

Operational details and preservation

Livery and numbering

Southern Railway and Bulleid numbering system

Post-1948 (nationalisation)

The locomotive in fiction

Footnotes

External links

Background

In late 1939, the Southern Railway, until then primarily a high-density commuter railway serving London and South-East England, found itself on the British frontline of the Second World War with a severe lack of modern freight handling capability. Longworth, Hugh: ''British Railway Steam Locomotives: 1948–1968'' (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 2005) ISBN 0860935930 The newest freight design was the uninspiring Q Class 0-6-0 of 1938, the last locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell, built to essentially Victorian era principles.
The Southern Railway became an essential strategic war asset for its proximity to the continent, and desperately needed to equip itself with adequate freight handling capability to transport the vast quantities of supplies and troops required for the conflict.Whitehouse, Patrick & Thomas, David St.John: ''SR 150: A Century and a Half of the Southern Railway'' (Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 2002) The brief stipulated a high route availability and high tractive effort, so the design would encompass a six-coupled design, as an eight-coupled version (such as a 2-8-0) would have presented problems in terms of axle loadings. Page 10

Construction history

The answer to this problem came from the drawing board of the Southern Railway's innovative Chief Mechanical Engineer, Oliver Bulleid in the guise of the Q1. Using the minimum amount of raw materials, and with all superfluous features stripped away, he produced in 1942 the most powerful 0-6-0 steam locomotive ever to run on Britain's railways. Herring, Peter: ''Classic British Steam Locomotives'' (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "Q1 Class" ISBN 1861470576 The first twenty locomotives were constructed at Brighton works and the remaining twenty at Ashford. Prodigiously powerful and extremely light, the Q1s formed the backbone of the Southern's heavy freight capability. The engine weighed less than 52 tons, and could be used over more than 97% of the Southern Railway's route mileage.

Design

The class was one of several built under the wartime austerity regime, which stressed pure functionality above any considerations of style or decoration. This austere approach to the design explains its functional appearance. One aspect of their shape was that, like Bulleid's "West Country/Battle of Britain" and "Merchant Navy" classes, they could be simply driven through a coach-washer for cleaning at a time when manpower for this time-consuming chore could not be spared.
The unusual shape was also dictated by the use of materials; the lagging was made of a material known as 'idaglass', which although cheap and plentiful during the war years, could not support any weight, and therefore the boiler rings had to be adapted to lend the lagging the support needed. A copper, rather than steel firebox was utilised, unlike Bulleid's Pacific designs. The wheels were smaller, 5 ft. 1 in. adaptations of the Bulleid-Firth-Brown type utilised on the Pacifics. The locomotive had two cylinders with Stephenson link outside admission piston valves, and was provided with a five-nozzle blast-pipe. As a result of the weight savings implemented, the locomotive was 14 tons lighter than its nearest rival in terms of weight and power ratios.

Operational details and preservation

The Q1 represented the final development of the British 0-6-0 main line steam locomotive. Later designs of medium-powered freight locomotives, such as the LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 and LMS Ivatt Class 4 Moguls all had a 2-6-0 wheel arrangement, and the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement was not perpetuated in the BR Standard designs of locomotive.

33006 at Nine Elms MPD, 1965.

BR classified the Q1 class in the power classification 5F. This represented a rarity, as few other 0-6-0s exceeded the classification of 4F, with notable exceptions being the LNER Class J39 (4P5F) and LNER Class J38 (6F). Their route availability meant that although they were primarily freight locomotives, they also frequently deputised on secondary passenger services. However, the class gained a reputation of being poor braking locomotives on unfitted freight trains due to the light construction of the tender braking system.
The Q1s thrived on their intended duties during World War II, where the class had proved that they were an indispensable addition to the Southern locomotive fleet. This was achieved to such an extent that they all remained in service until the 1960s, long after they were intended to cease operation as an "austerity" design. Withdrawals began upon the implementation of the BR Modernisation Plan which saw the end of steam operations on Britain's railways, the last example of the class being withdrawn in 1966.
Only one locomotive of the class survived into preservation. The doyen of the class, 33001 (C1) has been preserved, and now resides at the National Railway Museum in York, where it carries its original SR livery and number. Prior to its return to York in 2004, the locomotive worked on the Bluebell Railway in East Sussex.

Livery and numbering

Southern Railway and Bulleid numbering system

Livery of the Q1 Class was plain freight black, with 'Sunshine Yellow' numbering on the cabside, and "Southern" lettering on the tender, shaded in green. Bulleid advocated a continental style of locomotive nomenclature, based upon his experiences at the French branch of Westinghouse Electric before the First World War, and those of his tenure in the rail operating department during that conflict. The SR number followed an adaptation of the UIC classification system where "C" refers to the coupled driving axles – in this case three. All these locomotives therefore carried numbers which started "C" followed by the individual identifier from C1 to C40.Burridge, Frank: ''Nameplates of the Big Four'' (Oxford Publishing Company: Oxford, 1975) ISBN 0902888439

33038 at Bricklayers Arms in London during BR era.

Post-1948 (nationalisation)

After nationalisation, the original Southern livery was in continued use, though with 'British Railways' on the tender in 'Sunshine Yellow.' From 1950 onwards, livery remained plain, though in the guise of BR Freight Black without lining of any description. The BR crest was located on the tender side. Given the BR power classification 5F, the locomotives were also renumbered to the British Railways' standard numbering system as 33001–33040.Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, winter 1958–59 edition

The locomotive in fiction

An engine of this prototype has featured in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV Series as Neville, who is introduced in Season 9.^[1]

Footnotes

1. ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' (HIT Entertainment, 2006), season 9, episode 11: "Thomas and the New Engine."

External links

★ SEMG 'Q1' pages

★ Preserved locomotive database for C1