In Celebration of the 'Q' Class

The recent welcome return of 30541 to the Bluebell and the lovely shots of her on the Bluebell Motive Power thread have prompted me to pen this short note in celebration of the class.

For me, they were a rather elusive locomotive as they tended not to work passenger services but were always about, in the Sussex area in particular, and came across as capable work horses and rather attractive ones as well. Imagine my surprise when one day I was at Bournemouth Central and 30535 backed onto the Bournemouth West portion of the 1.30 ex Waterloo. It was only a ten minute ride but my first run behind a 'Q'. First and last, I thought.

At the time, and with branch lines closing in the south of England like there was no tomorrow, the Locomotive Club of Great Britain (LCGB) ran many trips to travel these routes before they disappeared. If at all possible they tried to use motive power 'local' to the area. And so the 'Q' suddenly became the locomotive of choice in Sussex. Two occasions come to mind.

In November 1963, the LCGB ran a Hayling Farewell tour. We left Waterloo with S15 No. 30512 that took us down to Portsmouth via the Watercress Line and Eastleigh. We transferred at Havant to 32636 and 32670 who ran 'top and tail' onto the Island. On our return, and much to my delight, 30531 and 30543 were waiting to take us onwards to Chichester before reversing up the remains of the Midhurst branch as far as Lavant. The train then retraced its steps to Chichester before running along the coastal route and turning northwards to Horsham. After taking water, we then turned eastwards towards Crawley and Three Bridges before heading for Victoria up the Brighton main line. So this was a two and a half hour journey from Lavant to Victoria with double headed 'Q's. And there I was, a few months earlier thinking that I'd never get a run behind a 'Q' again, never mind into a London terminus. Throughout the day, the locos managed their eight coach train effortlessly, keeping to time, and with some moments when their characteristic bark echoed across Sussex.

A year later, the appropriately named Midhurst Belle Rail Tour returned to Sussex to this time succeed in reaching Midhurst but from a different direction. (It is hard to imagine that this little place was once a significant junction on a cross county route between Pulborough and Petersfield.)

Starting out of Waterloo, we were once again treated to something unusual -30839 to Woking via Staines, but then, more remarkably, 30064 coupled on and ran solo with its eight coaches all the way through Guildford and via the now closed Cranleigh line to Christ's Hospital, where we reversed. Waiting for us was 30530. She did the honours to Pulborough and onwards to Midhurst. The right loco in the right place, in my view. After reversing back to Pulborough, the 'Q' then ran down to Littlehampton where she gave us another opportunity to show that a 4F can be wound up if necessary. We shot through Arundel at just on 50 mph.

But this was not the end of our day with 30530 because she joined us again at Brighton to take us down the Kemp Town branch after 35007 had run us across from Littlehampton. The day ended with a fantastic non stop dash to Victoria behind Merchant 7 in only 56 minutes. But honours of the day really went to 30530 and I am looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with the class on my next trip to The Bluebell Railway.

 

This is the story told by Jim Evans of firing to 30548 from Bournemouth to Waterloo on a return excursion in 1958 after the rostered loco failed with a brick arch problem and the Q was the largest engine in steam on shed. They kept time to Soton but as you say, things were more difficult when running at speed beyond Worting as the fire was shaken down not to mention the coal that progressed from tender to footplate. They lost just ten minutes from Soton and (just) made it to Wloo on a tender of water. Remarkable.