Southern railway W class tank

looking at these makes you think they would be a great new build project.

 

Apparently they were very rough-riding locomotives at speed, but with slight alterations to springing, I'm sure something could be done. Apart from the aforementioned issue, they were very good at what they did, and an acquaintance of mine remembers seeing a few of them lined up for scrap at Morriston, Swansea (I think it was Bird's, but not entirely sure). An excellent example of Maunsell's standardisation programme and recycling, the Ws used N class boilers, and reused bits left over from the K class tank rebuilding project.

 

And even alterations to the springing would hardly be necessary if it was only ever going to do 25.

 

I suppose, but if something is worth doing, its worth doing well...

 

The rough riding of the Ws was well known despite which BR insisted on trying one one a passenger train. 'Never again' seemed to be the conclusion. They were very quiet locos and hauling goods trains over the Norwood flyover had a woolly sounding exhaust.

 

Gav, I say if your going to build a new loco, make it a monster!

 

An L or J Class tank would be nice, perfect for a trot up to Victoria from Sheffield Park.

 

Nice. Looking locomotive 4 6 4 hmm

 

Apparently they cost more to build in 1922 that Staniers Coronation class did in 1937!

 

A nice looking loco and would make a great project along with the likes of the V4 & Brighton 'K' Class....

Is that Bulleid or a Q1 tender behind the W Class Tank?

 

I dunno, was there deflation in the depression then? 1937 was quite a long time after, as 1922 was quite a long time before.....

Wasn't there an abortive attempt to start a V4 newbuild and they were going to use one of those ex B1 tenders in a Doncaster scrappy?

 

Yes, Q1.

 

What's the difference in the tenders.

 

My initial thought was a Q1 tender. Thanks for the confirmation.
BTW - This type of tank looked a lovely engine. What was it's usual load? and could there/will there be a possibility of building one to the spec in the future? (And are there any parts available from the original locos?)

 

More about Bulleid tenders: http://www.southern-locomotives.co.uk/Class_Details/Bulleid_Light_Pacific_Tenders.html

I have a couple of photos of W's on my Fotopic site, but not much point in posting the link.

On the subject of W's: did they have conjugated valve gear, and were they used, late in their careers, to bank trains from Exeter St Davids to Central?

 

Yes. There was a good article on banking at Exeter in Steam World a few years ago, I'll see if I can dig out my collection to see exactly when it was.

 

Its the way it has a 'stepped' coal rave design akin to the first-batch MN tender designs, but smaller. The tell-tale difference is the lack of vacuum reservoirs immediately behind the coal bunker.

From my sources (Bradley, Boocock, Rowledge), the Ws appear to have had three separate sets of valve gear from the off. I say appear, as they don't expressly mention this detail, but presuming it would have had the Holcroft conjugated valve gear, then it is usually possible to tell from a photograph whether they are separate or not. The N1 prototype used levers to carry-forward the action of the combination lever assembly that controlled the fore and aft movement of the valve spindle to a pivot point connected to levers from the "inside" valve spindle. In photographs, this arrangement partially obscured the upper part of the outside cylinders, and was one of the reasons why Maunsell's three-cylinder locomotives featured GWR-style cylinders that pitched outwards at an angle towards the bottom. However, 822's Holcoft valve gear was removed during a rebuild in 1930-1931, so it is fairly safe to assume that the W class was not so-equipped.

 

Since these have standard 'Maunsell' parts, the construction of a new W tank might prove benfitical to the creation of new parts for other preseved engines. The construction of a clyinder block for the W could be usefull for construction of a brand new N1 and U1 moguls.

However I feel a U1 might prove more usefull, as they have less weight on their axles, and more water and coal space. Plus they were regulary used for passenger services, while the W's were always freight engines.

If you want a big Southern freight tank the ex. LSWR H16 4-6-2Ts or G16 4-8-0T has to be considered to...

 

I took a few photos of this class long long ago! Not masterpeices, but I am glad I still have them.

W and Z Class in circa 1962