Southern Railway

About

The Southern Railway (SR) was the smallest by mileage of the British Big Four railways and arguably the most coherent, its three constituents at the 1923 Grouping (LSWR, LBSCR and SECR) all served the populous and lucrative London commuter belt, the Channel ports and the south-coast resorts. Its territory ran from London southward to Portsmouth, Southampton, Brighton, Dover and Plymouth.

The Southern's defining engineering policy was electrification. Building on the LSWR and LBSCR's pre-Grouping schemes, the company adopted the LSWR's 660 V (later 750 V) dc third-rail system as its standard and progressively electrified its dense suburban network and the principal main lines south of London. By 1939 the SR had the largest electrified suburban network in the world. The 1932 Brighton Line and 1937 Portsmouth Direct main-line electrifications produced the all-electric 'Brighton Belle' and Portsmouth services that survived through to 1972 and beyond.

Locomotive engineering was led by Richard Maunsell (1923–1937) and Oliver Bulleid (1937–1948). Maunsell produced the King Arthur, Lord Nelson and Schools express classes; Bulleid the air-smoothed Merchant Navy (1941), West Country (1945) and Battle of Britain Pacifics, and the austere Q1 0-6-0 of 1942.

At nationalisation on 1 January 1948 the SR became the Southern Region of British Railways. The Region continued to favour third-rail dc electrification long after BR's national policy had moved to 25 kV AC, and operated Merchant Navy Pacifics on the Bournemouth Belle and other premier expresses to 1967.

Locomotives owned

SR CC1/CC2 — Bulleid's 1941 SR Co-Co electric locomotives CC1 and CC2 (later 20001/20002) — third-rail electric locomotives for SR mainline freight and parcel work. Two built. Subsequently joined by 20003 of similar but uprated design. None preserved.
SR E1/R — Stroudley's LBSCR E1 class 0-6-0T rebuilt by Maunsell / Bulleid in 1927 onwards as 0-6-2T "E1/R" with radial trailing axle for branch passenger work, particularly in North Devon. None preserved in E1/R form.
SR King Arthur — Robert Urie's LSWR N15 Class 4-6-0 of 1918, extended and improved by Richard Maunsell after the Grouping to become the Southern Railway's standard heavy express engine through the 1920s and 1930s. Seventy-four engines in total: 20 LSWR-built (1918–1923), 10 Maunsell rebuilds known as the "Scotch Arthurs" built at Eastleigh in 1925, 30 built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1925, and 14 final engines built at Eastleigh in 1926–1927. Maunsell named the class after King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, a Southern publicity coup. One is preserved.
SR Leader Class — Bulleid's 1947–49 SR "Leader" class — Bulleid's last and most controversial design, a six-axle articulated double-bogie 0-6-6-0T with a sleeve-valve-engined boiler housed in an enclosed body. Five ordered; only the prototype completed; testing was abandoned in 1950 and the engines were scrapped. The Leader was a remarkable but commercially unsuccessful attempt to create a steam locomotive with the convenience of a diesel. Not preserved.
SR Lord Nelson Class — Richard Maunsell's four-cylinder express 4-6-0 for the Southern Railway. Sixteen were built at Eastleigh between 1926 and 1929 to handle the heavy Continental boat trains. On introduction the Lord Nelson was the most powerful express locomotive in Britain, a record held until the GWR King appeared in 1927. The class became distinguished by its 135° crank setting, giving eight exhaust beats per revolution, and from 1938 by Oliver Bulleid's Lemaître multiple-jet blastpipe modifications. One survives, No. 850 Lord Nelson itself.
SR Merchant Navy — Oliver Bulleid's three-cylinder air-smoothed Pacific for the Southern Railway, the most experimental British express steam locomotive ever to enter regular service. Thirty engines were built at Eastleigh Works between 1941 and 1949, originally with chain-driven valve gear in an oil bath, welded steel firebox, thermic siphons, and a distinctive air-smoothed casing. The Bulleid design was technically advanced but mechanically temperamental; British Railways rebuilt all thirty engines between 1956 and 1959 to conventional form with three independent Walschaerts gears and a removed casing. Eleven Merchant Navies are preserved.
SR N1 Class — Maunsell's 1922 SECR/SR N1 class 2-6-0 — three-cylinder development of the N class. 6 built. None preserved.
SR N15X Class — Maunsell's 1934 SR N15X class 4-6-0 — rebuilds of the LBSCR L class 4-6-4Ts ("Brighton Tanks") into 4-6-0 tender engines, broadly to N15 "King Arthur" pattern. 7 built. None preserved.
SR Q1 — Oliver Bulleid's wartime austerity 0-6-0 for the Southern Railway, the most distinctive (and to many eyes the ugliest) British steam locomotive design. Forty engines were built at Eastleigh and Brighton in 1942 to a brief that demanded maximum power, minimum weight, and the use of unconventional materials to economise on wartime steel and copper. The class was nicknamed "Charlies" or simply "the Q1s", the name reflecting their unconventional appearance. One is preserved.
SR River Class — Reference to SECR K class "River class" 2-6-4T — see that entry.
SR Schools Class — Richard Maunsell's three-cylinder 4-4-0 of 1930, the most powerful 4-4-0 ever built in Britain and one of the last new express 4-4-0 designs in any country. Forty engines were built at Eastleigh Works between 1930 and 1935 specifically for the Hastings line restricted loading gauge, a route on which the King Arthurs and other 4-6-0s could not run. Each engine was named after a famous British public school. Three are preserved.
SR W Class — Maunsell's 1932 SR W class 2-6-4T — heavy goods tank for cross-London transfer freight. 15 built. None preserved.
SR Z Class — Maunsell's 1929 SR Z class 0-8-0T — heavy hump shunter for Feltham. 8 built. None preserved.

Founded	1 January 1923
Dissolved	1 January 1948
Country	England
Headquarters	Waterloo Station, London