Southern Railway King Arthur 4-6-0

Among the most advanced and efficient engines of their type in Great Britain, the London & South Western Railway ' N15 ' class 4-6-Os were designed by Robert Urie in 1917 as a development of his 'HI5' mixed traffic locomotives.

They were intended for hauling express passenger trains over the difficult South Western main line from Waterloo to Exeter; with two 22in x 28in cylinders and 6ft 7in driving wheels they proved both powerful and speedy, and by 1923 a total of twenty had been put into service.

When R. E. L. Maunsell took over as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the newly formed Southern Railway, he continued construction of the ‘N15s' with some detail modifications, such as lower cabs and cut-down boiler mountings to enable them to work on the Eastern Section routes to Dover and Ramsgate.

By 1927 over seventy were in use, all named after legendary figures in the stories of King Arthur, and until the coming of the 'Merchant Navy' Pacifics they formed the backbone of the Southern Railway's fleet of express locomotives.

After the war, with Bulleid's Pacifics handling the majority of main-line trains, the 'King Arthurs' could still be found doing good work on the lighter express services and in particular on the many excursion and special trains run to the South Coast resorts during the summer.

Our picture shows such a train leaving Salisbury behind No.30744 ‘Maid of Astolat' shortly before wholesale scrapping commenced. After this only 30777 remained. She was stored, scheduled for preservation.