British Railways
What was the operator of LSWR O2 class from 1948 to 1967?
LSWR O2 class The LSWR O2 Class is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive designed for the London and South Western Railway by William Adams . Sixty were constructed during the late nineteenth century . They were also the last steam engines to work on the Isle of Wight , with the final two being withdrawn in 1967 . Background . Adams was presented with the problem of a greatly increasing volume of commuter traffic experienced with the suburbanisation of London during the 1880s . This was exacerbated by the fact that there were few locomotive classes in the LSWR stable that could undertake commuter traffic at the desired level of efficiency . The LSWR therefore required a locomotive with attributes of power and compactness , with a small wheel size to gain acceleration on intensive timetables . Adams settled upon the 0-4-4T wheel arrangement to provide the basis of what was to become the O2 Class . Construction history . The second of William Adams 0-4-4 designs , the O2 Class was a development of his previous T1 class of 1888 . The brief behind the design was to create a locomotive capable of mixed-traffic operations , a characteristic dictated by the relatively small wheel diameter and smaller cylinders , effectively to replace the obsolete Beattie Well Tank . As a result , a compact locomotive with high route availability was produced , a factor that would be essential during the later career of the class . Production began in 1889 , with the first 20 being constructed at the LSWRs Nine Elms works . The success of the locomotive ensured that a second batch of 30 locomotives was ordered the next year . A final batch of ten was constructed by 1895 . Operational History ( Mainland ) . 1889–1922 : LSWR . The class was initially used intensively on London suburban services , but began to be replaced on these as early as 1897 by the introduction of the more powerful Drummond M7 and T1 classes . As a result , the O2s were cascaded to lighter services , and became distributed throughout the LSWR system , being of particular use on restricted branch lines due to their relatively low weight and short wheelbase . 1923–1948 : Southern Railway . All of the O2s survived to be taken into Southern Railway ownership after the Grouping in 1923 . They continued to be used across the former LSWR network , however , electrification and the introduction of more modern types started to make them redundant . This allowed the Southern Railway to send the first 2 spare examples across to the Isle of Wight ( see below ) . Other redundant mainland locomotives were withdrawn , with eight going in the 1930s , and four more in the 1940s . 1948–1967 : British Railways . Despite the early withdrawals , a number of O2s lasted well into BR days , working various branch lines until closure began to take place in the late 1950s and early 1960s . As a result , the mainland O2s became redundant and the last to go was number 30225 in 1962 . Isle of Wight . The class is usually best associated with the Isle of Wight railway system , with the Isle of Wight Central Railway making enquires as to the possibility of purchasing some class members in the early twentieth century . This plan fell through , however , and it was not until after Grouping in 1923 that the newly formed Southern Railway was forced to resolve the desperate locomotive power situation on the Isle of Wight . The solution to this problem presented itself when electrification of the LSWRs suburban network resulted in a cascade of newer , more powerful designs such as the M7s and T1s into the rural strongholds of the O2 class . As a result several O2s became surplus to mainland requirements . Two of these spare engines were modified at Eastleigh works with the addition of a Westinghouse air brakes to allow compatibility with the Isle of Wight coaching stock . These two O2s were shipped across the Solent in 1923 and trialled extensively on services across the island , but particularly the intensive Ryde–Ventnor services , on which they proved highly successful . Further engines were then shipped across in small batches during the 1920s and 1930s . The final two O2s were sent to the island in 1949 , after Nationalisation , resulting in a total of 23 locomotives on the island . Due to tunnel restrictions at Ventnor none of the final series of ten with the higher cab roofs were sent . Thanks to their compact nature , low weight and relatively high power they proved ideal for island duties , although the lack of adequate coal bunker space initially hampered the class . Thus from 1932 a much larger extended bunker was fitted to W19 ( formerly 206 ) , and this design subsequently became the standard for all the island locomotives . They handled trains of up to six bogie coaches on all the Island lines , including the 1-in-70 Apse bank from Shanklin to Wroxall . After the withdrawal of the last LB&SCR E1 class in 1960 , the O2 became the only locomotive class on the island . They survived in service until the end of steam services on the Island , with an O2 operating the final train on 31 December 1966 . Two , numbers W24 Calbourne and W31 Chale , were retained to work engineers trains during the electrification of the surviving Ryde–Shanklin line . Both were withdrawn on completion of the electrification project in March 1967 . Livery , names and numbering . LSWR . Initially outshopped in early LSWR passenger Yellow Ochre/Brown livery with the initials LSW on the water tank sides . This was eventually superseded by the later LSWR Passenger Sage Green livery , with black edging and black and white lining . Numbering was in gilt , as was the LSWR lettering on the water tank side . Only a solitary mainland locomotive ever carried a name in service : Number 185 Alexandra for a short period between 1890 and 1896 . Southern Railway . In Southern Railway days the O2s were painted in Maunsell lined Olive Green and then subsequently Bulleid Malachite Green with Sunshine lettering . The LSWR numbers were retained by the Southern Railway , with mainland locomotives allocated numbers in the series between 177 and 236 . Locomotives on the Isle of Wight were renumbered in a separate sequence with the prefix W and taking the next available number , or the number of the withdrawn locomotive they were sent over to replace . Eventually those on the island occupied the entire sequence between W14 and W36 . All the O2s allocated to the Isle of Wight were named after places on the island . British Railways . The class was given the Power Classification of 0P , and initially carried the Southern livery with the addition of British Railways on the water tank sides , though this was promptly changed to the BR Standard Mixed-Traffic Black livery with red and white lining . The Isle of Wights unique numbering system was retained on the BR examples on the island , along with the names . The mainland complement were renumbered by the addition of 30000 to their existing Southern Railway numbers to give a new number in the 30177 to 30236 sequence . Preservation . The two Isle of Wight locomotives used on engineering trains survived long enough for preservation attempts to be made . The attempt to preserve W31 Chale failed , and it was scrapped in 1967 . W24 Calbourne was bought by the Wight Locomotive Society , which in 1971 moved its headquarters to Havenstreet and became the Isle of Wight Steam Railway . Calbourne was restored to operating condition , re-entering service in 1992 , and had a further overhaul in 2010 , hauling tourist trains over the line between Smallbrook Junction and Wootton . A further overhaul began in 2019 and was completed in 2021 for the locomotives 130th anniversary and the railways 50th . Calbourne is the sole survivor of the O2 locomotives ; the rest of the class were scrapped . Models . DJmodels has produced models of the O2 class in both mainland and IOW variants . External links . - Adams O2 class 0-4-4T Southern E-Group