The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...

 (LB&SCR) C class was a type of 0-6-0

0-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

 freight steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 designed by William Stroudley

William Stroudley

William Stroudley was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers of the nineteenth century, working principally for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway...

.

Background

Four 0-6-0

0-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

 locomotives were on order from Brighton works

Brighton railway works

Brighton railway works was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-dating the more famous railway works at Crewe, Doncaster and Swindon...

 at the time that William Stroudley

William Stroudley

William Stroudley was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers of the nineteenth century, working principally for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway...

 took over from John Chester Craven

John Chester Craven

John Chester Craven was the locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1847 until his resignation in 1870....

 as Locomotive Superintendent in 1870. He cancelled this order and replaced it with another for two locomotives of his own design, Nos. 83 and 84 which appeared in December 1871. Eighteen further locomotives were constructed between March 1873 and November 1874, Nos. 77-82 by Brighton works

Brighton railway works

Brighton railway works was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-dating the more famous railway works at Crewe, Doncaster and Swindon...

 and the remainder by Messrs. Kitson & Co.

Kitson & Co.

Kitson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-Early history:The company started as James Kitson at the Airedale Foundry, off Pearson Street, Hunslet in 1835 with Charles Todd as a partner...

Use

The class were powerful locomotives for their time and the design was "an archetype for heavy goods engines in Scotland as well as Southern England," but in other respects were Stroudley's least successful design, suffering from poor steaming. Within a decade of their introduction the class was being replaced by his C1 class 0-6-0 design of 1882–87, on the heaviest trains. Nevertheless they proved to be reliable locomotives and survived for nearly thirty years on secondary freight duties. Members of the class were withdrawn between 1901 and 1904.

Locomotive summary

Original Number	Built	Re-number	Date re-numbered	Withdrawal
77		401
78		402
79		403
80		404
81		405
82		406
83		407
84		408
85		409
86		410
87		411
88		412
89		413
90		414
91		415
92		416
93		417
94		418
95		419
96		420