2-6-4T Class W SR Profile and Models

The SR Class W were 3-cylinder 2-6-4T tank engines designed in 1929 by Richard Maunsell for use on the Southern Railway. They were introduced in 1932 and constructed at Eastleigh and Ashford. The class was intended for short distance, inter-company/regional freight traffic transfer in London, and were standardised with parts from the N, N1, U and U1 classes. From the 1920s, London was surrounded by a number of large freight Marshalling yards, where long-distance freight trains were brought and re-organised into new trains for onward transmission to their destinations. The requirement for a fast freight transfer locomotive between the Southern Railway's yards, and across London to other railway yards, provided a challenge for Richard Maunsell, resulting in the creation of the W Class. The class began to be withdrawn from service in 1963, with the last removed from the books in 1964. No examples of this class of locomotive survived into preservation.

(Information provided via Wikipedia)

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