LB&SCR E4 class

The E4 class of "radial tanks" were powerful for their size and were stalwarts of local passenger, freight, and branch work for more than fifty years. They very similar to the E3 tank engines from 1891, but the key differences were that their driving wheels were enlarged from 4 foot 6 inches to 5 foot and they had their boiler pressure increased to 160 lb. Some of these engines were named after towns and villages in the LB&SCR area, No. 469 Beachy Head was an example of this. Some of their names would later be used for H2 Atlantics a few years later.[1] They were so successful at their jobs that they were more commonly signed to passenger work as opposed to freight work, which is what they were originally intended for. Their work was primarily focused around the Southern Region with some going away from their traditional stomping grounds to places like Waterloo, Eastleigh, and Tonbridge.[2] During World War I, the Railway Operating Division borrowed several members of the class include No. 470, No. 481, No. 498, No. 504, No. 506, No. 518, No. 519, No. 562, No. 563, No. 564, No. 565, No. 577, and No. 580 to work in France. They first worked at an ammunition dump in Audruicq, France in November of 1917 and were later sent to the Arras in February of 1918.[3] [4]All of them were returned to their homeland in 1919.

Seventy-five members of the class were built by Brighton Works between December 1897 and September 1903. All of the class survived the transfer to Southern Railway ownership in 1923. One example No. 2483 Hellingly was however destroyed as a result of enemy action against Eastbourne motive power depot in 1942 during a Luftwaffe air raid event known as the Baedeker Blitz.[5][6] No. 2483 Hellingly was scrapped in July 1944. [7][8] The remainder continued in regular use following the nationalization of the Southern Railway, one member No. 2510 was tested on the Isle of Wright's railway in 1947 albeit unsuccessfully, to become a part of British Railways in 1948. However, with the arrival of Diesel Multiple Units and the reduction in the number of branch lines after The Reshaping of British Railways in 1963, the locomotives gradually became surplus to operational requirements, and withdrawals commenced in 1955. Most of the class were withdrawn between 1958 and 1964.

• Locomotive No. 32468 ran into the buffers at Kemp Town station, Brighton, East Sussex - date unknown.[9]

No. 32473 (formerly named Birch Grove), at Stewart's Lane in 1960 before withdrawal and subsequent preservation.

The E4 class were initially used on local passenger and freight services, and on branch lines.

Later in British Railways days, several examples were found new jobs as station pilots, most famously at London Waterloo, where they brought empty carriage rakes into the station from the yards at Clapham Junction. They were also used on services such as the locally famous Lancing Belle, which ran from Brighton to the Lancing Carriage Works of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, often double-headed with members of the same class or the larger E6 class.

British Railways (BR) numbers were 32463-32520, 32556-32566 and 32577-32582.

In 1909, four locomotives were rebuilt by D. E. Marsh with larger boilers and designated E4X. These became BR numbers 32466, 32477, 32478 and 32489.

B473 in preservation at the Bluebell Railway.

One of the last survivors in 1963 was No. 32473. This was purchased by a group of preservationists and brought to the Bluebell Railway in East Sussex, where it has remained ever since, except for visits to other lines such as the Severn Valley Railway and Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The engine was withdrawn from traffic in 1971 and dismantled. Work however did not start in earnest until the 1980s and following a long overhaul, she returned to traffic in 1997 to celebrate her centenary in 1998. After a short period running in the genuine LB&SCR livery it carried after 1912, with the company's initials painted on the side tanks,[10] these were re-lettered with its earlier LB&SCR name of Birch Grove. In 2005 she was repainted into British Railways lined black mixed traffic livery. Following withdrawal from service in May 2008, the locomotive was soon brought into the Bluebell workshops for a fast track overhaul, including a repaint into 1920s Southern Railway green to match much of the line's coaching stock. This was completed during January 2010, with the engine relaunched into traffic on 30 January 2010. 32473 is the only ex LB&SCR preserved locomotive not to be designed by William Stroudley.

Bachmann branchlines produce several models of the E4 tank including examples in SR olive green, BR black and LBSCR umber livery.[11]

Sources

• Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1949, part 2, page 35
• Bradley, D.L. (1974) Locomotives of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, Part 3. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LB&SCR E4 class.

• E4 Class (SEMG gallery)
• Railuk database, E4
• Railuk database, E4X
• Bluebell Railway page on Birch Grove
• Bluebell Railway "Villa Team" page covering 1983-1998 overhaul