P 0-6-0T SECR Wainwright Various between 31027 & 31558

P

 

 

Power Classification 0F
Introduced 1909 – 1910
Designer Wainwright
Company SECR
Weight 28t 10cwt
Driving Wheels 3ft 9ins
Boiler Pressure 160psi
Cylinders Inside – 12in x 18in
Tractive Effort 7,835lbf
Valve Gear Stephenson (slide valve)

Wainwright designed these eight small 0-6-0Ts for working light branch and push-pull services, replacing the underpowered steam railmotors that had been purchased in 1905 & 1906 for lightly loaded branch. They were built at Ashford in 1909 and 1910 and could be described as a modernised version of Stroudley’s London Brighton & South Coast Railway Terrier (A1 and A1X classes).

Wainwright had been impressed by the LBSCR A1x class Terriers, then being transferred from London suburban service to branchline use. Unfortunately in an effort to keep building costs down, several dimensions were scaled down (e.g. cylinder stroke and bore both reduced by 2 inches) and these economies resulted in a locomotive with only 73% of a Terrier’s tractive effort.

 a1x A1X class

P

 P class

They were found to be too small for push pull trains for which they were designed and by 1913 they could be seen all over the system on light shunting work and as a shed pilot. The Southern Raileway made unsuccessful attempts to find work for these engines on the Lyme Regis and Wenford Bridge branches. From time to time they were hired out to private companies and the Kent and East Sussex Light Railway. Some were also used in the docks at Dover. Towards the end Southern Railway days two of the class, 178 and 555, were located at Brighton, though were still considered to be Eastern Section stock.

Maunsell had the original working pressure of 180 psi reduced to 160 as he considered it needlessly high for a shunter. The class carried Souther Railway passenger green but by 1936 any repaints were in black. All eight engines passed to BR in 1948 where they were unclassified in power rating and painted black eventually with 1558 being the last Southern Railway locomotive to be renumbered in July 1953.

All eight passed to the Southern Railway upon its formation in 1923, and were given an ‘A’ prefix to their SECR numbers to denote Ashford. In 1925, A753 and A754 were renumbered A556 and A557. In 1923, the Southern abolished the number prefixes, and increased the P class numbers by 1000. Upon Nationalisation in 1948, British Railways added 30000 to their SR number.

27 and 753 were shipped to France during the First World War and spent a year and a half shunting at Boulogne from April 1915.

Number in Service.

Built Withdrawals No. in Service
BR Numbers Quantity
1909 31556, 31557

2

2
1910 31027, 31178, 31323, 31325,

31555, 31558

  

6

8
1911-54

8
1955 31555

    1

7
1956

7
1957 31557

    1

6
1958 31178

    1

5
1959

5
1960 31323, 31325, 31558

    3

2
1961 31027, 31556

    2

0
  • 31027 was withdrawn in March 1961 from Dover Marine and 31556 in June 1961 from Brighton.

Allocation of locomotives in service as at 1st of January.

Depot

 1950 1955

1960
Brighton

2

 3

 2
Dover Marine

2

 3

 2
Eastleigh

1
Folkestone Junction

2
Stewarts Lane

1

 2

 1

8

 8

 5

Preservation

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