The SER F class was a class of

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four pow ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s of the South Eastern Railway. The class was designed by James Stirling and introduced in 1883.Casserley, H.C. and Johnston, S.W., ''Locomotives at the Grouping 1, Southern Railway'', page 24, Ian Allan, 1974,

Rebuilding

The locomotives passed to the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...

in 1899 and 76 were rebuilt by

Harry Wainwright Harry Smith Wainwright (16 November 1864 – 19 September 1925) was an English railway engineer, and was the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1899 to 1913. He is best known for a se ...

to Class F1 between 1903 and 1919.

Numbering

Twelve unrebuilt locomotives survived into Southern Railway ownership on 1 January 1923 with random numbers between 22 and 241. All had been withdrawn by 1930.

Accidents and incidents

*On 21 March 1898, F class locomotive No. 205 was hauling a passenger train which was in a rear-end collision with another at .

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

due to a signalman's error. Three people were killed and twenty were injured.

References

{{SECR locomotives F 4-4-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1883 Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain