The LN (Lord Nelson) Class was a 4-cylinder 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Richard Maunsell in 1926. They were intended for Continental boat trains between London (Victoria) and Dover harbour, but were also later used for express passenger work to the South-West of England. Sixteen of them were constructed, being at the time the most powerful steam locos in Britain. There were two unusual features to the design: firstly the setting of the crank axles was at 135°, instead of the usual 90°. This necessitated four sets of valve gear, and gave rise to eight beats per revolution, rather than the usual four, intended to give a more even draw on the fire and less chance of wheelslip. The drive was divided between the front coupled axle for the inside cylinders and the middle coupled axle for the outside cylinders giving better weight distribution and reduced hammer blow. The second difference was that fire grate was in two sections, the rear portion was horizontal and the front sloped away sharply, which caused some problems for inexperienced firemen.
The design specification had been the ability to haul 500 ton trains at an average of 55mph. In practice the performance of the new locomotives was mixed, depending upon the experience of the crew and the circumstances under which they were operating. At times it was no better than their smaller predecessors. Maunsell therefore undertook a number of experiments to try to improve the performance of the new locomotives and his successor Bulleid continued to look for ways to achieve their full potential.
The class continued to operate with British Railways until withdrawn during 1961 and 1962. In their latter years they were all based at Eastleigh and dominated haulage of the Southampton Docks boat trains.
To view Lord Nelson Class in Southern Railway days (pre-1948) click here
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