Longhedge Works

About

Longhedge Works was the principal locomotive works of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway from 1862 until 1911. The works occupied a constrained site at Longhedge in Battersea, south London, a difficult location for serious locomotive construction and one of the reasons for the LCDR's perpetual financial difficulties.

Locomotive engineering at Longhedge was conducted under successive Locomotive Superintendents, William Martley (1860–1874), William Kirtley (1874–1898) and Robert Surtees-influenced operations from 1899 under the joint SECR regime. Kirtley's M3 Class 4-4-0 of 1891 was the most successful Longhedge product and worked the LCDR's Continental boat trains.

Under the SECR working union from 1899, locomotive construction was progressively concentrated at Ashford, and Longhedge closed for new construction in 1911. The site was used as a goods yard until the 1960s and is now occupied by railway-related industrial premises in Battersea.

Locomotives built here

LCDR M3 — William Kirtley's 1891 London, Chatham & Dover Railway M3 class 4-4-0 — LCDR's standard express type before the 1899 amalgamation with the SER to form the SECR.
SECR Canterbury Class — Cudworth's 1862 South Eastern Railway 2-4-0 express class, built at Ashford for SER expresses on the London–Dover Continental boat trains. Notable for Cudworth's distinctive divided-firebox arrangement.
SECR Europa Class — Cudworth's 1873 South Eastern Railway 2-4-0 express class, built at Ashford for SER Continental boat-train services. The last Cudworth design before he was succeeded by Watkin's appointee in 1876.
SECR Folkestone Class — James Cudworth's 1849 South Eastern Railway 2-2-2 express class, built at Ashford for the London–Folkestone–Dover Continental boat trains. Notable for Cudworth's distinctive divided-firebox arrangement, designed to burn small coal cleanly.
SECR Tiger Class — Cudworth's 1859 South Eastern Railway 2-4-0 passenger class, built at Ashford with Cudworth's distinctive divided firebox.

Location	Longhedge, Battersea, London
Founded	1 January 1862
Closed	31 December 1911
Parent railway company	London, Chatham and Dover Railway