Southern Steam - Victoria c1929

1. Lord Nelson (LN) Class 4-6-0 No.859 'Lord Hood' departs with the famed Golden Arrow.
2. King Arthur (N15) Class 4-6-0 No.796 'Sir Dodinas le Savage' departs with the Kentish Belle, a summer Sundays only all-Pullman service that ran non-stop to Margate West and then called at Broadstairs before terminating at Ramsgate Harbour. Note the two American style Pullman cars in the train - these were originally acquired by the South Eastern Railway for its 'American Car Train', introduced on the Charing Cross-Hastings service in the earlt 1890s.

Note also the equipment still in situ for the London Brighton & South Coast Railway electrification scheme. Third-rail direct current electrification systems were usually preferable for suburban schemes, but the LB&SCR board foresaw the future electrification of its main line, and ultimately its routes to Portsmouth and Hastings, and therefore decided on a high-tension overhead supply system at 6600 volts AC which came into use in late 1909. This system was of German origin and the main contractor was Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft of Berlin. For this reason, the Great War caused the LB&SCRs electrification scheme to stall whilst the London & South Western Railway third rail network continued to expand.

In 1926 the Southern Railway announced that, as part of a huge electrification project, all overhead lines were to be converted to London & South Western Railway style third rail operation, thus bringing all electrified lines into a common system. The last overhead electric train ran on 22 September 1929.

Understood to have been filmed by Wenman Bassett-Lowke.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• london
• victoria
• south
• brighton
• coast
• LBSC
• LB&SC
• LB&SCR
• LBSCR
• rail
• railway
• steam
• maunsell
• arthur
• lord
• nelson
• king
• 1929

[spiccybaby]

btw, N15, not N15X which were the unsuccessful rebuilds of the LBSC L class baltic tanks and still carried their "Remembrance" names.

[SouthernRailwayFilms]

@spiccybaby Wrong on so many levels. The N15 class were the 'King Arthurs' - these were introduced by the London & South Western Railway though most were built by the Southern. Of the L Class, only three carried names in that form - No.327 'Charles G Macrae' (name removed 1924) No.329 'Stephenson' and No.333 'Remembrance' herself. 329 and 333 retained their names when rebuilt as N15X tender locomotives, the other five were named when rebuilt (after famous locomotive engineers).

[spiccybaby]

I'm sorry, our wires were crossed. You are indeed correct about the N15X class. I was only pointing out that you originally had an 'X' in descriptor 2. Re. the L class; I believe that they had stability problems solved by installing a well tank and limiting the side tanks to half capacity. Why wasn't this lesson learned with the "River" tanks?

[spiccybaby]

Love the clerestory Pullmans (Pullmen?). Although the Nellies had a poor reputation for steaming, I was interested to read that Jim Evans (ex-fireman in the '50s and '60s) rated them top, because they were a challenge to fire properly but hugely rewarding if you got it right.

[JimTLonW6]

A most interesting video; people are often surprised when I tell them that part of the Southern system did have overhead wires. I wonder if they will ever come back???