LB&SCR D3 class

LB&SCR D3 class
D3 0-4-4T 2380 at Ashford Locomotive Depot in 1946
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer R. J. Billinton Builder Brighton Works Build date 1892–1896 Total produced 36
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-4-4T Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 5 ft 6 in (1.676 m) Loco weight 52 long tons 0 cwt (116,500 lb or 52.8 t) (58.2 short tons) Fuel type Coal Boiler pressure 170 psi (11.72 bar; 1.17 MPa) Cylinders Two, inside Cylinder size 17.5 in × 26 in (444 mm × 660 mm)
Performance figures Tractive effort 17,435 lbf (77.6 kN)
Career Class D3 Power class BR: 1P Withdrawn 1933–1955 Disposition All scrapped

LB&SCR D3 class was a 0-4-4T tank locomotive design, by Robert J. Billinton, built for the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) between 1892 and 1896. They were built for working passenger trains along country and main lines.

Before working for the LB&SCR, Billinton worked for the Midland Railway's locomotive department, hence he had got used to 0-4-4T designs which that company used for similar work which the D3's were built for. The design centred on the idea of being an improved version of William Stroudley's D1 tanks, the D3 intending to be replace the D1s on certain duties. The design shared spare parts with Billinton's other designs, the cylinder's design being shared with the C2 goods engines, the boilers with the E4 radial tanks.

Their first employment was services radiating around Tunbridge Wells and outer-suburban work into London. One locomotive, number 363, was named after the company's chairman, Sir Julian Goldsmid, who was so fond of the engine he had an image of the locomotive used on the railway's cap badges. Another locomotive, No. 375 Glynde, was used to haul an armoured train for the 1st Sussex Volunteers for two years from 1896.

The class, along with other Billinton and Stroudley engines, were reboilered. Two were rebuilt as class D3x with larger boilers, but this proved to be ineffective, and smaller boilers were used on the rest, which remained as class D3. After the First World War, the class were increasing more at the countryside end of the system in their operating scope.

The locomotives passed to the Southern Railway (SR) in 1923. They were soon seeing new changes, as 10 members of the class were moved to London Bridge to act as carriage shunters, while from 1931 the repairs and overhauls of the class were undertaken at Ashford works rather than at Brighton, after the latter works was mothballed.

Electrification and the transfer of locomotives from other areas were the first real threats towards the class's survival, some spending time in store, and the first withdrawals taking place from 1933. However, they were fitted for working motor trains (otherwise known as Push-pull trains) by the Southern during the 1930s to replace D1 tanks, although the D3 were considered rougher riding.