The SR Q1 class is a type of
austerity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spendi ...
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 ...
constructed during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The class was designed by
Oliver Bulleid
Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid CBE (19 September 1882 – 25 April 1970) was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway between 1937 and the 1948 nationalisation, ...
for use on the intensive freight turns experienced during wartime on the
Southern Railway network. A total of 40 locomotives were built. Bulleid incorporated many innovations and weight-saving concepts to produce a highly functional design. The class lasted in service until July 1966, and the first member of the class, number C1, has been preserved by the
National Railway Museum.
The highly unusual and controversial design represents the ultimate development of the British freight engine, capable of hauling trains that were usually allocated to much larger locomotives on other railways. Nicknames for the class included "Ugly Ducklings", "Coffee Pots", "Charlies", "Biscuit Tins", "Biscuit Barrels", "Clockworks" and "Frankensteins".
Background
In late 1939, the Southern Railway, until then primarily a high-density commuter railway serving London and South-East England, much of it electrified with third-rail pick-up, found itself on the British
front line of the Second World War, with a severe lack of modern freight-handling capability.
[Longworth, section "Q1 class"] The newest freight design was the
Q class 0-6-0 of 1938, the last locomotive designed by
Richard Maunsell. Built to essentially
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...
principles,
these had been designed as replacements for many of the older 0-6-0s inherited by the Southern Railway in 1923, and entered service in January 1938. Maunsell, having retired at the end of October 1937, was replaced by Oliver Bulleid.
The Southern Railway became an essential strategic war-asset because of its proximity to continental Europe, and needed to equip itself with adequate freight-handling capability to transport the vast quantities of supplies and troops required for the conflict.
The brief stipulated high route availability and high tractive effort.
Construction history
The answer to this problem came from the drawing board of the Southern Railway's innovative
Chief Mechanical Engineer, Oliver Bulleid, in the shape of the Q1. Using the minimum amount of raw materials, and with all superfluous features stripped away, he produced in 1942 the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run on Britain's railways.
The first twenty locomotives were constructed at
Brighton works and the remaining twenty at
Ashford Ashford may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Ashford, New South Wales
*Ashford, South Australia
*Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia
Ireland
*Ashford, County Wicklow
*Ashford Castle, County Galway
United Kingdom
* Ashford, Kent, a town
** ...
. Powerful and light, the Q1s formed the backbone of the Southern's heavy freight capability. The engine weighed less than 90 tons (90.6 tonnes) and could be used on more than 97% of the Southern Railway's route mileage.
Design

The class was one of several built under the wartime ''austerity'' regime, which stressed pure functionality above any considerations of style or decoration.
This austere approach to the design explains its functional appearance. One aspect of their shape was that, like Bulleid's
SR Merchant Navy class and
SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, they could be simply driven through a coach-washer for cleaning at a time when manpower for this time-consuming chore could not be spared.
The unusual shape was also dictated by the use of materials; the lagging was made of a
glass fibre insulation material known as 'Idaglass', which, although cheap and plentiful during the war years, could not support any weight, and therefore a separate casing was required which followed that seen in the
Merchant Navy class locomotives, and the boiler rings were adapted to lend the lagging the support needed.
A copper, rather than steel,
firebox was utilised, unlike Bulleid's
Pacific designs.
The wheels were smaller, 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) adaptations of the
Bulleid Firth Brown wheels utilised on the Pacifics. The locomotive had two cylinders with
Stephenson link outside admission piston valves, having a travel in full gear of and a steam lap of . It was provided with a five-nozzle blast-pipe.
The boiler design was based upon that of the
''Lord Nelson'' class, and the firebox used the same throatplate and backplate. The boiler barrel measured in length, with diameters of at the front and at the back. The grate area was , the heating surface of the 209 tubes and 21 flues was , that of the firebox was giving a total evaporative heating surface of ; the superheater heating surface was .
Operational details
The Q1 was the final development of the British main line steam locomotive. Later designs of medium-powered freight locomotives, such as the
LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for light mixed traffic.
Design
Elderly 0-6-0s formed the backbone of the low-powered locomotives within the LMS fleet. William Stanier h ...
and
LMS Ivatt Class 4 Moguls, had a wheel arrangement: the wheel arrangement was not used in the BR Standard designs of locomotive.
BR classified the Q1 class in the
power classification 5F. This was unusual: few other s exceeded the classification of 4F. Notable exceptions were the
LNER Class J20 (5F),
LNER Class J39 (4P5F) and
LNER Class J38 (6F).
The Q1's route availability meant that although they were primarily freight locomotives they also frequently deputised on secondary passenger services. However, the class gained a reputation for poor braking on unfitted freight trains due to the light construction of the tender braking system.
The Q1s thrived on their intended duties during World War II, and were an indispensable addition to the Southern locomotive fleet,
to such an extent that they all remained in service until the 1960s, long after they were intended to cease operation as an "austerity" design.
Withdrawals began in 1963, when one had a broken cylinder that was deemed not worthy of repairing. The last example of the class was withdrawn in 1966.
Livery and numbering
Southern Railway and Bulleid numbering system
Livery of the Q1 Class was plain freight black, with Sunshine Yellow numbering on the cabside, and "Southern" lettering on the tender, shaded in green.
Bulleid advocated a continental style of locomotive nomenclature, based upon his experiences at the French branch of
Westinghouse Electric before the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
, and those of his tenure in the rail operating department during that conflict. The Southern Railway number followed an adaptation of the
UIC classification system where "C" refers to the number of coupled driving axles – in this case three. All these locomotives therefore carried numbers which started "C" followed by the individual identifier from C1 to C40.
[''Bulleids in Retrospect'']
Post-1948 (nationalisation)
After nationalisation, the original Southern livery was in continued use, although with "
British Railways" on the tender in Sunshine Yellow. From 1950 onwards, livery remained plain, although in the guise of British Railways Freight Black without lining of any description. The British Railways crest was located on the tender side.
Given the British Railways
power classification 5F, the locomotives were also renumbered to the British Railways' standard numbering system as 33001–33040.
[''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways'' 1958–59
]
Preservation

Only one locomotive of the class survived into preservation. First-of-class 33001 (C1) has been preserved, and now resides at the
National Railway Museum in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...
, where it carries its original SR livery and number. Before it moved to York in 2004, the locomotive worked on the
Bluebell Railway in East Sussex: it ran from 14 September 1980 to Spring 1983. Its second period of running was from 9 September 1992 to Summer 2000 and that is the last time it ran.
[
]
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*''Bulleids in Retrospect'', Transport Video Publishing, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
*
*
*
*
*''Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives'', winter 1958–59 edition
*
*
*''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' (HIT Entertainment, 2006), season 9, episode 11: "Thomas and the New Engine."
*
External links
SEMG 'Q1' pages
{{good article
Q1
0-6-0 locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1942
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Freight locomotives