LSWR C8 class


The LSWR C8 class was the first class of 4-4-0 express steam locomotives designed by Dugald Drummond for the London and South Western Railway and introduced in 1898. According to Marshall they "were of orthodox design, very much like engines which Drummond had put on the Caledonian". Marshall gives few other details, except to say that they were numbered 290-299 and had 18in x 26in cylinders. H.C. Casserley states that they were very similar to the Caledonian Railway 66 class.
They used a similar boiler to the Drummond M7 0-4-4T and 700 Class 0-6-0 engines built for the LSWR. They originally used a similar tender to the 700 class, but these were later replaced with Drummond's 8 wheeled bogie "watercart" tenders. They were not particularly good steamers, due to their firebox being too small. None was ever superheated, and they were withdrawn after lives of 35-40 years. In November 1898 No. 291 worked a train carrying the Grand Duke and Duchess Serge of Russia from Windsor through to Dover.

Withdrawal