LB&SCR D3 class

LB&SCR D3 class was a 0-4-4T tank locomotive design, by Robert J. Billinton, built for the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) between 1892 and 1896. They were built for working passenger trains along country and main lines.

Construction and working

Before working for the LB&SCR, Billinton worked for the Midland Railway's locomotive department, hence he had got used to 0-4-4T designs which that company used for similar work which the D3's were built for. The design centred on the idea of being a 'improved' version of William Stroudley's D1 tanks, the D3 intending to be replace the D1s on certain duties. The design shared spare parts with Billinton's other designs, the cylinder's design being shared with the C2 goods engines, the boilers with the E4 radial tanks.

Their first employment was services radiating around Tunbridge Wells and outer-suburban work into London. One locomotive, number 363, was named after the company's chairman, Sir Julian Goldsmid, who was so fond of the engine he had an image of the locomotive used on the railway's cap badges. Another locomotive, No. 375 Glynde, was used to haul an armoured train for the 1st Sussex Volunteers for two years from 1896.

The class, along with other Billinton and Stroudley engines, were reboilered. Two were rebuilt as class D3x with larger boilers, but this proved to be ineffective, and smaller boilers were used on the rest, which remained as class D3. After the First World War, the class were increasing more at the countryside end of the system in their operating scope.

Southern Railway

The locomotives passed to the Southern Railway (SR) in 1923. They were soon seeing new changes, as 10 members of the class were moved to Londbridge to act as carriage shunters, while from 1931 the repairs and overhauls of the class were undertaken at Ashford works rather than at Brighton, after the latter works was mothballed.

Electrification and the transfer of locomotives from other areas were the first real threats towards the class's survival, some spending time in store, and the first withdrawals taking place from 1933. However, they were fitted for working motor trains (otherwise known as Push-pull trains) by the SR during the 1930s to replace D1 tanks, although the D3 were considered rougher riding.

World War Two: Luftwaffe versus D3

During World War II, one engine, number 2365, was working through the Romney Marshes when she was attacked by a German enemy plane. The plane attacked the engine, causing the boiler to burst, but no railway staff or passengers were hurt. Either the sudden rush of steam from the boiler, or the plane coming into contact with the dome, supposedly caused the plane to crash, killing the airman. The engine was repaired after a new boiler was fitted and survived the war.

Other members of the class which had been stored before the war found themselves being pressed back into service; when fears for an invasion were at their worst, this led to some being moved away to other places, including Salisbury.

British Railways

Twenty-eight locomotives passed to British Railways in 1948, and they were numbered 32364-32398 (with gaps). Although still working motor trains successfully, the class in general were becoming worn out. The D3s were replaced by former South Eastern H class and London & South Western M7 class tanks engines during the early 1950s. Most were withdrawn by 1953, but one, 32390, remained in traffic for two more years until being cut up at Brighton Works in 1955. During those two years she was used to cover for failing M7s from Tunbridge Wells, or for special railtours.^[1] Her last days were spent working from Brighton on services to Horsham. None of the engines has survived into preservation.

References

• Smail, H.C.P. (1956) "Last of the Brighton "D3" Tanks", Railway Magazine, 102 (March), p. 157–160 & 196

• Marx, K. The Brighton four-couple tank engines Locomotives Illustrated No 84 July–August 1992

External links

• Rail UK database entry