The London and South Western Railway

London and South Western Railway

The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...

 700 class was a class of 30 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...

 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 for freight work. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond

Dugald Drummond

Dugald Drummond was a Scottish steam locomotive engineer. He had a career with the North British Railway, LB&SCR, Caledonian Railway and London and South Western Railway...

 in 1897 and built by Dübs and Company

Dûbs and Company

Dübs & Co. was a locomotive works in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it became part of the North British Locomotive Company.-Preserved locomotives:...

 at that company's Queen's Park works at Polmadie, Glasgow.

Overview

The class was originally numbered 687–716 but the year after delivery numbers 702–716 were given new numbers vacated by engines that had been withdrawn. The locomotives gained the nickname 'Black Motor' early in their career. They were well designed and had few major modifications during the existence of the fleet – the exception being fitted with superheating

Superheating

In physics, superheating is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling...

 from 1919 to 1929, which required the fitting of an extended smokebox

Smokebox

A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a Steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is exhausted to the atmosphere through the chimney .To assist...

. They shared many standard parts with Drummond's other designs (including sharing boilers with the M7 class

LSWR M7 Class

The LSWR M7 class is a class of 0-4-4 passenger tank locomotive built between 1897 and 1911. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond for use on the intensive London network of the London and South Western Railway , and performed well in such tasks. Because of their utility, 105 were built and the...

).

Year	Builder	Quantity	LSWR numbers	Notes
1897	Dübs & Co. Dûbs and Company Dübs & Co. was a locomotive works in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it became part of the North British Locomotive Company.-Preserved locomotives:... 3510–3539	30	687–716	702–716 renumbered 306, 308, 309, 315, 317, 325–327, 339, 346, 350, 352, 355, 368, 459 in 1898. 459 renumbered 316 in 1912.

Withdrawal

The 700s remained intact as a class through Southern Railway ownership from 1923 to 1947. The first to be withdrawn was No. 30688 in September 1957, with the second, No. 30352, following in June 1959 and then the 3rd, No. 30687, in September 1960. The final seven were all withdrawn by British Railways in December 1962.