The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway C3 class was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives, intended for heavy freight trains. Ten were built by Brighton railway works in 1906 to the design of Douglas Earle Marsh.

LB&SCR C3 Class
32303 at Three Bridges 1948
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
DesignerDouglas Earle Marsh
BuilderBrighton Works
Build date1906
Total produced10
Specifications
Configuration:
 • Whyte0-6-0
Gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Driver dia.5 ft 0 in (1.524 m)
Loco weight45 long tons 5 cwt (101,400 lb or 46.0 t)
Fuel typeCoal
Boiler pressure170 psi (1.17 MPa)
CylindersTwo, inside
Cylinder size17.5 in × 26 in (444 mm × 660 mm)
Performance figures
Tractive effort19,175 lbf (85.3 kN)
Career
OperatorsLBSCR · SR · BR
ClassC3
Power classBR: 2F
NumbersLBSC: 300–309;
SR: 2300–2309;
BR: 32300–303/306–32309
NicknamesHorsham Goods
Withdrawn1936–1952
DispositionAll scrapped

History

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This class was intended to replace the smaller Robert Billinton C2 class 0-6-0 on the heaviest freight services. However, although they had an effective boiler, their performance proved to be disappointing and the fuel consumption high. Rather than building any further examples Marsh preferred to rebuild the existing locomotives into the C2X class. The members of the C3 class therefore spent their days on secondary freight trains in mid Sussex. Seven of the class spent most of their lives at Horsham and as a result the class was nicknamed "Horsham Goods".

The boiler designed by Marsh for the C3 class was later used with considerably more success on the SR Z class 0-8-0 of 1929.[1]

Grouping and Nationalisation

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All of the class passed to the Southern Railway in 1923, but the trade recession of the 1930s caused a decline in freight traffic resulting in the withdrawal of two locomotives in 1936/7. However, the advent of the Second World War ensured that the remaining examples all survived until after the nationalisation of the railways to British Railways in 1948. The remaining locomotives in the class were all withdrawn between 1948 and 1952. No examples have been preserved.

Locomotive Summary

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C3 class locomotive fleet summary
LBSC
No.
SR
No.
BR
No.
Date
Built

Withdrawn
300 2300 32300 March 1906 July 1951
301 2301 32301 June 1906 February 1951
302 2302 32302 June 1906 January 1952
303 2303 32303 June 1906 September 1951
304 2304 - July 1906 July 1936
305 2305 - July 1906 September 1937
306 2306 - August 1906 October 1951
307 2307 - August 1906 May 1949
308 2308 - September 1906 January 1949
309 2309 - November 1906 December 1948

References

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  1. ^ Bradley, D.L. (1975). Locomotives of the Southern Railway Part 1. London: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. ISBN 0-901115-30-4. pp.43-7.

Sources

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  • Bradley, D.L. (1974) Locomotives of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, Part 3. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society.
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  • [1] SREmG image gallery
  • [2] Rail UK database C3