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The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway E6 class was a class of 0-6-2T side tank steam locomotive designed by Robert Billinton. They were introduced in 1904 and were a development of the E5 class with smaller driving wheels intended for heavy short and medium-distance freight trains.

History[]

The E3 class radial tanks were useful on all but the heaviest freight trains in the congested London area, which required rapid acceleration from signals in order to avoid holding up other traffic. Robert Billinton therefore produced a version of his successful E5 passenger tank class with smaller driving wheels for this purpose. Twelve locomotives were built by Brighton Works between December 1904 and December 1905. The last two locomotives were originally intended to be built as 0-8-0s for heavy shunting purposes but Billinton died in November 1904 before any were built and the order was subsequently changed by his successor D. E. Marsh.

The E6s were successful goods locomotives, but in 1911 two examples were rebuilt with the larger C3 class boiler and a C2X class smokebox and were re-classified E6X. These two locomotives proved to be very powerful, but used significantly more fuel and no more examples were rebuilt.


All of the class survived the transfer to Southern Railway ownership in 1923, and British Railways ownership in 1948. Withdrawal commenced in September 1957 and was completed by December 1962. No examples have been preserved.

Numbering[]

British Railways (BR) numbers were 32407-32418. The E6X locomotives were 32407 and 32411.

Rolling stock[]

Image LB&SCR No. Name 1st SR No. 2nd SR No. BR No. Build date Status Notes
407 Worplesdon B407 2407 32407 1904 rebuilt with a larger C3 class boiler and a C2X class smokebox.
408 Binderton B408 2408 32408 1904
409 Graffham B409 2409 32409 1904
410 Chilgrove B410 2410 32410 1905
411 Blackheath B411 2411 32411 1905 rebuilt with a larger C3 class boiler and a C2X class smokebox.
412 Tandridge B412 2412 32412 1905
413 Fenchurch B413 2413 32413 1905
414 Piccadilly B414 2414 32414 1905
LB&SCR E6 Class No. 32415 415 - B415 2415 32415 1905
416 - B416 2416 32416 1905
LB&SCR E6 Class Nos. 32418 & 32417, E4 Class No. 32479 and K Class No. 32342 417 - B417 2417 32417 1905
LB&SCR E6 Flass No. 32418 at Brighton shed in color 418 - B418 2418 32418 1905

Gallery[]

External links[]

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