Thundersley

The London (England), Tilbury & Southend Railway was for many years a ' foreign' tentacle extending into Great Eastern Railway territory and serving the important part of South Essex between the river Thames and the Great Eastern main line.

Much of the traffic was suburban in character, with a number of boat trains run in connection with ocean liner sailings from Tilbury, and to operate these trains the L.T.S.R. built a large number of 4-4-2 tank engines of various designs.

Twelve engines originally built by Dubs and Sharp Stewart in 1897 were rebuilt in 1908 with larger boilers and tanks and these engines, the ' Woodgrange' class, formed the basis of the ' 79 ' class, which was so successful that examples were built well after the Tilbury line became part of the Midland Railway in 1912. Indeed the last batch of the class was turned out by the L.M.S. in 1930, and the survivors were still running in 1960.

The ' 79 ' class engines had 6 ft. 6 in. driving wheels and in common with all Tilbury passenger engines were fitted with Westinghouse brakes; in L.M.S. days the Westinghouse brake was replaced by steam, worked through the medium of the small ejector as in standard Midland and L.M.S. practice.

The second of the ' 79 ' class locomotives, built in 1909 as No. 80 'Thundersley' and later running as British Railways No. 41966, was restored for preservation in its original condition.