page_title: LB&SCR A1 class
section_title: London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (1872-1923)
hierarchical_section_title: LB&SCR A1 class / History / London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (1872-1923)
caption_attribution_description: English: Bluebell Railway train at Horsted Keynes in 1964. View southward, towards Sheffield Park: ex-LB&amp;SC East Grinstead - Lewes line, restored by Bluebell Railway Preservation Society in 1960 - see TQ4023&#160;: Bluebell Railway train at Sheffield Park in 1961. Ex-LB&amp;SC A1X 0-6-0T No. 55 'Stepney' with two vintage coaches [what are they?] heads the train from Sheffield Park in 1964
context_page_description: The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway A1 Class is an English class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive. Designed by William Stroudley, 50 members of the class were built in 1872 and between 1874 and 1880, all at Brighton Works. The class has received several nicknames, initially being known as "Rooters" by their south London crews. However, the engines were more famously known as "Terriers" on account of the distinctive 'bark' of the exhaust beat. Later in their careers, some engines were known as "Hayling Billy" on account of their work on the Hayling Island branch line. A pub of this name on the island was briefly home to the engine which is now No.W8 Freshwater.
  After displacement from their original workings out of London Bridge and London Victoria by more powerful locomotives from the D class and the early stages of the LB&SCR overhead electrification scheme, some representatives of the class were sold to other operators, while the majority of the remainder were put to work on branch lines in Sussex and on non-revenue earning work such as shunting.
context_section_description: Originally known as 'A' class, these diminutive tank locomotives were designed in 1870 to haul commuter trains on the heavily congested lines in South and South-East London. These included routes from London Bridge to both East and West Croydon, London Victoria to Sutton and the line from Victoria to London Bridge via Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill, as well as operating on the East London Railway under the Thames through the Thames Tunnel designed by Marc Isambard Brunel. Six locomotives were built for these services during 1872, and were successful thanks to their high acceleration between the closely spaced station stops and the use of lightweight trains. A further 44 were built between June 1874 and September 1880 to complement the original six.
  The locomotives were finished in the livery known as "Stroudley's Improved Engine Green", which was actually an ochre colour, not green. This is historically attributed to colour-blindness, an affliction from which Stroudley reportedly suffered. The actual shade of the livery has been much disputed, with opinions ranging from a more yellow type of livery to a livery closer to brown, as worn by the model named Como in the Brighton Toy and Model Museum.
  Shortly after construction, No.40 Brighton was chosen by William Stroudley to represent the LB&SCR at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, and won a gold medal for workmanship. On a run from Dieppe to Paris, arranged to persuade the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest that the company's boat trains that met the LB&SCR ferries from Newhaven could make better time to the capital, Brighton maintained a speed of nearly 50 mph, previously unheard of on that line.
  During the last two decades of the 19th century, London was expanding outwards as suburbs became more built up and were absorbed into the built-up area of London itself. Towns such as Croydon, Sutton and Norwood, which had previously been commuter towns separate from London, grew to form one large area of housing. Much of this was because of the success of the 'Terriers' themselves, as they had speeded up suburban passenger services, encouraging people to move out of the centre of London. Trains became progressively heavier while the need for shorter journey times remained the same. As a result, the engines gradually became largely unsuited for their original purpose, and they were replaced by the larger D class tank engines. However the 'Terriers' were so reliable that they were put on other work, often finding use on branch line passenger and freight workings and as shunting engines.
  Twenty-three members of the class were withdrawn between 1898 and 1905, but the majority of these were sold in working order rather than scrapped. Purchasers of these locomotives included the Newhaven Harbour Company, the Isle of Wight Central Railway (four locomotives), Pauling & Co. (five locomotives), the Kent and East Sussex Railway (two locomotives), the London and South Western Railway (two locomotives), and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Others were transferred from capital to departmental (non-revenue earning) stock as pilots at Brighton locomotive works and Lancing carriage works. It is likely that the remainder of the class would have been withdrawn over the subsequent few years if the railway had not adopted push-pull or 'motor-train' working on many lightly used branch line services.  The 'A1' class (as the locomotives were designated after 1905) were found ideally suited for conversion to this form of working.
  Between 1911 and 1913 twelve survivors were re-boilered under the instruction of Douglas Earle Marsh, Stroudley's successor as CME of the LB&SCR, with another four so treated after the Great War; these engines formed the A1X Class with an increased weight of 28.2 long tons (28.7 t). Other changes made during the rebuilding were the extension of the smokebox (removing the smokebox 'wings', and moving the sandboxes from this same area (where they formed a forward extension of the leading driving wheel splasher) to below the running plate (although some locos rebuilt later retained the ori
caption: No.55 Stepney carrying the early LB&SCR 'Improved Engine Green' livery.
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