LBSCR Atlantics

The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway had a varied locomotive stock, from a number of well known CME's, notably Stroudley but this book dwells on the major locomotives introduced Douglas Earl Marsh, who became CME on the 1st January 1905.

Marsh had come from Doncaster where he had played a large part in the design of the Ivatt 'Atlantics' and with an urgent need for a bigger locomotive Marsh turned to Ivatt. The result was a series of Atlantics all with a strong family resemblance to the GNR design, although they were not identical, visually or mechanically. The last class were more powerful than their Northern cousins, and also lasted much longer in service.

Also covered in this book are the three classes of 4-4-2 tank locomotive introduced by Marsh of which only the last was very successful on express passenger trains.

The LB&SC was unusual in that its Main line (to Brighton) was only 51 miles in length, its longest route, to Portsmouth, was only 88 miles long, and most of its routes were just over 30 miles. This led to a somewhat different approach to locomotive requirements, all being explained in this interesting book. 128 pages.Numerous B&W photos, and a number of line drawings. Hardbound.