Current state of SR U and N moguls

I hope it is ok to group these five locos on one thread, but I am keen to know the current situation of them all.

Firstly 31806, that did so very well at the Spa Valley Railway Gala and following weekend, and I guess it is on its way back, or already back at Swanage after its use at the Mid Norfolk Gala last weekend.

I believe it had a boiler swap with 31874 to keep it in service, so does anyone know how much longer 31806 is expected to be operational under its current ticket etc please - usual caveats apply of course!

It will be great to see it out visiting near Kent again, but I do appreciate the very high cost of moving a tender loco around. Of course for me it is truly wonderful to see it as BR Southern Region 31806!

Then any updates on 31618, 31625, 31638 and 31874 if possible please. I have been to what I think are the relevant websites, but I wonder if there is any more recent news.

Many thanks in advance.

Bryan

 

31618 and 1638 are both in storage at Sheffield Park waiting for their overhauls.

31618 is planned to begin once the overhauls of Q 30541 and Schools 928 Stowe is complete

31806 has an active ticket (subject to usual caveats and annual inspections) till late 2030/early 2031

 

Was the three-cylinder U1´s timed faster than the two-cylindered?

 

31625 is/was tucked into a safe siding at Furzebrook on the Swanage Railway beyond Norden and just about visible if travelling onto River Frome and Wareham.
I remember seeing it when first arrived at Mid Hants around 1980 and travelled down to see a first steaming - around 96??

 

31618 is in storage in the Sheffield Park Carriage Shed. As mentioned above it is the intention of the Maunsell Society to overhaul this engine after the overhaul of Stowe has been completed in the late 2020s.

31625 is in storage. The engine is in the Imerys Siding at Furzebrook (opposite the oil sidings) and a potential tender tank is in storage at Arne Road RRI.

1638 is also in storage in the Sheffield Park Carriage Shed. Perhaps a candidate for overhaul after 1618 or 847.

31806 is the only locomotive in service, with the ticket due to expire in early 2031. As mentioned above, it was given a ‘speed overhaul’ in 2020/2021 after the N fell behind schedule. It has the boiler and tender from the N, giving it a slightly strange look with a narrow tender.

31874 is an interesting one. The frames and wheels are complete at Herston, and there is (unless it’s moved recently) a tender originally from 31806 in Swanage No 2 Siding. I don’t seem to remember hearing anything about the boiler from 31806 going for overhaul either.

 

Thanks one and all, some very interesting information. Nice that, all being well, 31806 has a decent ticket length ahead.

Bryan

 

Available sources suggest there was little difference between the 2-cylinder U and 3-cylinder U1 classes in performance - either speed or fuel efficiency. Both types could be rough riders at speed and were officially limited to 70 mph (112 km/hr), although sometimes recorded up to 80 mph. The 2-cylinder engines suffered much from frame cracking; some were fitted with new frames in the 1950s, but this was not found necessary for the 3-cylinder U1s.

These locos were not top-tier express engines but were sometimes used on fast trains, particularly in the 1930s - prior to more lines being electrified and prior to the arrival of Bulleid Pacifics. In the book "Southern Steam" by O S Nock, some fast run logs are included, mostly for the 3-cylinder engines and mostly on the line from London Victoria to Chatham. The book also has a photo of a U1 on an Eastbourne express - copy attached.

None of the 3-cylinder U1 engines has been preserved. Perhaps some forum members encountered them in their final days on BR?

 

I'm not sure what the future will be for 31874, and 31625, Whilst the mechanical overhaul of the N has been done, and finished for some time, the work on any of the boilers for it, has yet to commence, and of course, the big question is Money, money that the Swanage railway does not have,
All the other engines, are owned by trusts, or SLL, who of course fund the overhauls, Whereas the railway itself has to fund the boiler overhauls for the two U's and the N,
and on the face of it, donations appear to have dried up,
When the Railway took on the three engines, it was thought to be a good deal, but circumstances have changed, I suspect that 31806, will remain on the railway, until its ticket is up, but, the deal, if its like the one the MHR had, requires at least one engine to be operational, at the end of the loan arrangement so that means that one of the boilers, probably the one off 31806, will have to be overhauled, The one currently fitted to 31625 has issues with the barrel to tubeplate, join, either at the smokebox end, or firebox end, its clearly not right as the boiler when fitted to 31625 never fitted in the frames right, this originally being fitted to the N class, the original boiler that was on 31625, had a plate on the firebox side, that meant it would never be accepted for mainline certification.

 

Many thanks for your post.

I came across the various SR Mogul classes with some regularity on the Redhill Guildford Line when using the wonderful area 2 rovers, that covered London-Redhill-Guildford-Waterloo. On the Redhill-Guildford (Reading) route it was Ns and Us, and on all station trains the maximums I recorded were up to 60 mph. Annoyingly I missed a footplate ride one day as I only spoke to the crew after I left the train (an early one from Redhill) at Guildford, where they said they would have let me join them for most of the journey if I had chatted at Redhill.

I did have a very good run behind U class 31790 on a train I've never been able to identify - a 3 car train I joined at Woking that presumably had been an all stations from Basingstoke. I suspect a Basingstoke crew who grabbed the chance of getting out onto the up fast at Woking. A dreadful shame that we were not far behind another train as we got badly checked after a rip-roaring start I can still clearly remember, and checked again I think as we approached Surbiton - our stop there may have been a signal stop.

I photographed 31806 on an up Lymington Pier Express on a summer Saturday just after it had passed MP 31. I saw U1s occasionally, including once on a pick up goods on the Oxted line. Plus the N classes I saw on the Eastbourne to Tonbridge via Eridge and Groombridge trains. They were permitted to run from Grove Junction through Somerhill Tunnel to Tonbridge, but at a maximum speed of 40 mph; the Us were banned over that section: a good friend gave me that information a few days ago from his 1962 Route Availability Book!

Photos below: timing log of the 31790 run; 31806 on the up Lymington Express; 31900 up Pick-up-goods, Hurst Green Junction, April 1962: 31852 entering Groombridge, April 1962. That last photo shows why I was so very pleased to see a SR Mogul (31806) back on the Spa Valley Railway for the superb Cuckoo Line Gala a few weeks back.

Bryan