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Metropolitan Railway A Class
The Metropolitan Railway A Class and B Class are 4-4-0T condensing steam locomotives built for the Metropolitan Railway by Beyer Peacock, first used in 1864. A total of 40 A Class and 26 of the slightly different B Class were delivered by 1885. Used underground, the locomotives condensed their steam, and coke or smokeless coal was burnt to reduce the smoke.
Most locomotives were withdrawn after electrification in the early 20th century, forty having been sold by 1907. The last one was withdrawn in 1948, and is now preserved at the London Transport Museum.
When the Metropolitan Railway (Met) opened in 1863, the Great Western Railway (GWR) provided the services with their Metropolitan Class locomotives. However, the GWR withdrew their services in August 1863, and the Met bought their own locomotives, which needed to condense as the line from Paddingdon to Farringdon was underground. A tender was received from Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester for building eighteen locomotives at £2,600 each that would be available in six months. The design of the locomotives is frequently attributed to the Metropolitan Engineer John Fowler, but the design was a development of a locomotive Beyers had built for the Spanish Tudela-Bilbao railway, Fowler only specifying the driving wheel diameter, axle weight and the ability to navigate sharp curves.
The 4-4-0T locomotives delivered in 1864 had 16 in × 20 in (406 mm × 508 mm) cylinders, 5 feet 0+1⁄2 inch (1.537 m) diameter driving wheels and weighed 42 ton 3 cwt in working order. The boiler pressure was 120 psi (830 kPa), the front wheels were on a Bissel truck and fitted with 40 cubic feet (1.1 m3) bunker. As they were intended for an underground railway, the locomotives did not have cabs, just a simple spectacle plate. To reduce smoke underground, at first coke was burnt, changed in 1869 to smokeless Welsh coal.
The first 18 locomotives originally carried names, although the nameplates were withdrawn during overhaul.
These were followed by five more each year from 1866 to 1868, and six in 1869. These were supplied with a tender capacity of 67 cubic feet (1.9 m3); after 1868 the boiler pressure had been increased to 130 psi (900 kPa). From 1879 more locomotives were needed, and these were a modified design, with Adams bogies, and the wheelbase was 8 feet 1 inch (2.46 m), shorter than the previous locomotives at 8 feet 10 inches (2.69 m). A total of 24 of these later locomotives were delivered between 1879 and 1885.
The locomotives were numbered in sequence as they arrived, and in 1925 the examples built before 1870 were classified as A Class and those built after 1879 as B Class.[citation needed] When five Burnett 0-6-0 tank locomotives were received in 1868 for the St John's Wood Railway, they took the numbers 34-38, so the A Class consisted of Nos. 1-33 and 39-44. After the 0-6-0Ts were sold, the B Class reused the earlier numbers, becoming Nos. 34-38 and 50-66.
Between 1880 and 1885, seventeen locomotives were reboilered at Edgware Road, and after 1886 this was done at Neasden Depot. At Neasden boiler pressure was increased to 150 pounds per square inch (1,000 kPa), and after 1894 the wheel diameter was increased to 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and the cylinders increased to 17+1⁄2 inches (440 mm). Cabs were fitted after 1895, although these became too hot when working in tunnels and were not popular with crews.
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Metropolitan Railway A Class
The Metropolitan Railway A Class and B Class are 4-4-0T condensing steam locomotives built for the Metropolitan Railway by Beyer Peacock, first used in 1864. A total of 40 A Class and 26 of the slightly different B Class were delivered by 1885. Used underground, the locomotives condensed their steam, and coke or smokeless coal was burnt to reduce the smoke.
Most locomotives were withdrawn after electrification in the early 20th century, forty having been sold by 1907. The last one was withdrawn in 1948, and is now preserved at the London Transport Museum.
When the Metropolitan Railway (Met) opened in 1863, the Great Western Railway (GWR) provided the services with their Metropolitan Class locomotives. However, the GWR withdrew their services in August 1863, and the Met bought their own locomotives, which needed to condense as the line from Paddingdon to Farringdon was underground. A tender was received from Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester for building eighteen locomotives at £2,600 each that would be available in six months. The design of the locomotives is frequently attributed to the Metropolitan Engineer John Fowler, but the design was a development of a locomotive Beyers had built for the Spanish Tudela-Bilbao railway, Fowler only specifying the driving wheel diameter, axle weight and the ability to navigate sharp curves.
The 4-4-0T locomotives delivered in 1864 had 16 in × 20 in (406 mm × 508 mm) cylinders, 5 feet 0+1⁄2 inch (1.537 m) diameter driving wheels and weighed 42 ton 3 cwt in working order. The boiler pressure was 120 psi (830 kPa), the front wheels were on a Bissel truck and fitted with 40 cubic feet (1.1 m3) bunker. As they were intended for an underground railway, the locomotives did not have cabs, just a simple spectacle plate. To reduce smoke underground, at first coke was burnt, changed in 1869 to smokeless Welsh coal.
The first 18 locomotives originally carried names, although the nameplates were withdrawn during overhaul.
These were followed by five more each year from 1866 to 1868, and six in 1869. These were supplied with a tender capacity of 67 cubic feet (1.9 m3); after 1868 the boiler pressure had been increased to 130 psi (900 kPa). From 1879 more locomotives were needed, and these were a modified design, with Adams bogies, and the wheelbase was 8 feet 1 inch (2.46 m), shorter than the previous locomotives at 8 feet 10 inches (2.69 m). A total of 24 of these later locomotives were delivered between 1879 and 1885.
The locomotives were numbered in sequence as they arrived, and in 1925 the examples built before 1870 were classified as A Class and those built after 1879 as B Class.[citation needed] When five Burnett 0-6-0 tank locomotives were received in 1868 for the St John's Wood Railway, they took the numbers 34-38, so the A Class consisted of Nos. 1-33 and 39-44. After the 0-6-0Ts were sold, the B Class reused the earlier numbers, becoming Nos. 34-38 and 50-66.
Between 1880 and 1885, seventeen locomotives were reboilered at Edgware Road, and after 1886 this was done at Neasden Depot. At Neasden boiler pressure was increased to 150 pounds per square inch (1,000 kPa), and after 1894 the wheel diameter was increased to 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and the cylinders increased to 17+1⁄2 inches (440 mm). Cabs were fitted after 1895, although these became too hot when working in tunnels and were not popular with crews.