Maunsell Q Class 0-6-0

The Q Class, is a type of 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell of the Southern Railway and constructed immediately prior to the Second World War, for use on medium-distance freight trains throughout the network. Twenty locomotives were built by Maunsell's successor, Oliver Bulleid, in 1938. The design was relatively old-fashioned and the class was soon afterwards eclipsed by Bulleid's own more powerful Q1 class. Nevertheless, the locomotives performed adequately and reliably on the tasks for which they had been designed, until their withdrawal in 1965.

he Southern Railway was primarily a passenger-carrying railway which used most of its resources to extend its electrified lines. There was a continuing need for steam freight locomotives however, although the Traffic Department preferred mixed traffic designs which could also haul passenger trains on the remaining non-electrified lines at peak periods. By the late 1930s the Southern Railway was adequately served with powerful mixed traffic locomotives of the S15 and N and N1 classes, but there was a need for a smaller freight locomotive with high route availability that could also undertake light passenger duties. This role had been performed by the ex-LSWR 'Jubilee' A12 0-4-2, which were approaching the end of their useful lives. During his last year as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway Richard Maunsell decided on an inside-cylinder 0-6-0 tender locomotive to undertake this role, in what was to become the Q Class of 1938. This was a relatively ‘old-fashioned’ design for the late 1930s, although each of Britain’s major railways built locomotives of this pattern until the 1940s. The class nevertheless contained several ‘modern’ features such as a Belpaire firebox, superheater, and a side-window cab.[5] It was the last Southern steam locomotive design before the Second World War, and represented the final design of Maunsell's career, as he retired due to ill-health in 1937

Maunsell’'s successor, Oliver Bulleid, oversaw the building of twenty members of the class at Eastleigh railway works between January 1938 and September 1939. Bulleid is reported to have found the Q Class uninspiring, having been manufactured to traditional Victorian principles of locomotive design, and is said to have stated that the order for the Q Class would have been cancelled if he had been appointed CME earlier. However, Bulleid had ample opportunity either to cancel the order or to build and test a single prototype, without incurring the expense of building twenty members of the class, if this was the case.

The class performed adequately and reliably on the tasks for which they were designed, but were less versatile than might have been hoped. When the requirement for modern freight locomotives on the Southern increased during the Second World War, Bulleid was faced with the options of continuing the production of the Q Class, or to design a completely new locomotive. Taking the latter option, Bulleid designed what was to become the highly utilitarian SR Class Q1 0-6-0 locomotives


Collection of 79 photos starts in the S.R. era


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Neil

 

Hi neil,

A few thoughts on locations
16,18,19,20/79 30530 Brighton Kemp Town
17/79 30530 Littlehampton The houses are still there parallel with the station
32/79 30534 Redhill South SB in background
68/79 30548 passing Salisbury East SB
70/79 30548 Eastleigh Depot
78/79 30549 Redhill Yard.

Cheers, Neil

 

Thanks Neil

Neil