These twelve six and a half foot singles were designed by Beattie for the LSWR and built from 1856 onwards. After the name of the first machine, the locomotives were referred to as the “Canute class”. Many parts made of polished brass and the highly ornamental wheel arches were visually striking. Technically noteworthy was the firebox with combustion chamber. The service life of the locomotives ended between 1875 and 1885.

To pull the most important express trains, the LSWR had three two-coupled locomotives built in Nine Elms in 1859, which were the first four-coupled standard-gauge engines in Great Britain with a driver diameter of seven feet. They bore the numbers 157 to 159 and were designated the Clyde class after the number 157 “Clyde”. Sometimes the class is called Lacy class after number 158. In the same year number 169 was built, which only had a dome on the firebox and none on the boiler barrel. The numbers 73 to 75 followed in 1864 and the numbers 95 to 100 in 1868. The last delivery is also known as the Centaur class, since it differed slightly from the older machines.

Schematic drawing of No. 157 “Clyde”

Locomotive Magazine, August 1903

According to Locomotive Magazine, they were Beattie's "favorite locos" and were therefore always kept in pristine condition. By the late 1870s, they pulled the heaviest express trains with ease. While the older machines disappeared from the scene as early as 1883, four of the six examples from the last delivery received new boilers between 1887 and 1890. They were also subject to multiple rebuilds, so that ultimately each locomotive was a one-off. These last ones were only phased out in 1899 and most of these had achieved a mileage of one million miles. 

For the operation of their London suburban lines, the LSWR planned to purchase small, three-axle tank locomotives. Between 1852 and 1859, Joseph Hamilton Beattie had a total of 26 tank locomotives of different designs built in order to determine the optimal design. Although some of the locomotives also had the 2-2-2T wheel arrangement, the choice fell on the 2-4-0T wheel arrangement and a driving wheel diameter of 66 inches. This ensured good acceleration, but also sufficient speed on sections with larger distances between stations.

Between 1863 and 1875 Beyer, Peacock & Co. built 82 locomotives. By 1872 the LSWR had built three more in their own workshops at Nine Elms. The cylinder diameter of the first copies was 15 inches, this was later increased to 15.5 and then to 16.5 inches. The last twelve locomotives again had cylinders with a diameter of 15.5 inches, but a stroke of 22 instead of 21 inches. The two water tanks were located above the leading axle and under the driver's cab floor. Since this design is referred to as “well tanks” in the English-speaking world, they were given their well-known nickname.

From 1890 they were pushed out of their original area of operation because more powerful tank locomotives were now available on the London suburban lines. Outside the metropolitan area, their water capacity soon proved inadequate. A total of 31 had been rebuilt into tender locomotives from 1883 onwards. The largest part of the fleet was retired by 1899, of which only the three with the numbers 298, 314 and 329 from the construction years 1874 and 1875 were spared.

Preserved No. 0314 at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre

Oxyman

These three came to the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway in Cornwall, which carried kaolinite or “China Clay” to the main line. They underwent extensive modernization, including the addition of a cab. All three came to British Railways, where they were considered the oldest locomotive type still in use, if not the oldest locomotives at all. Two of them were preserved after they were retired in 1962 and are still operational today.

One part in William Adams' modernization program for the London & South Western Railway was the class 395 as a standard goods locomotive. Like most British goods locomotives of the late 19th century, it was a relatively simple 0-6-0 with inside cylinders. 70 were built by Neilson between 1881 and 1886.

In World War I, 50 were sold to the ROD for use in Palestine and Mesopotamia. After the war they were used by civil operators until 1928 and 1936, respectively. In the UK, the 20 remaining locomotives came to the Southern Railway in 1923 and only two of these didn't make it to British Railways in 1948. They were withdrawn between 1950 and 1959, so some lasted for more than 70 years.

For the suburban lines in London, William Adams provided his class 46, which had outside cylinders, with an additional trailing axle in order to be able to accommodate larger coal supplies. Since this axle was in a radial axle box, the locomotive was nicknamed the “Radial Tank”. Four manufacturers delivered a total of 71 locomotives, the last of which had a boiler pressure of 160 instead of 140 psi. As early as 1895, the locomotives were replaced by other locomotives in their original area of operation, after which they were relocated to branch lines in rural areas. After the first were retired in 1916, the largest number only disappeared between 1923 and 1928 under the Southern Railway. Three locomotives even survived on the Lyme Regis branch until 1961, because initially no other suitable locomotives were found for the tight curves. One of these today belongs to the Bluebell Railway but is not operational.

Drummond had 30 freight locomotives built in 1897, which he had designed while still with the Caledonian. Construction eventually took place at Dübs in Scotland and they were nicknamed “Black Motors”. From 1919 all locomotives were fitted with a superheater, with the smoke box being lengthened. This process was continued under the Southern Railway and lasted until 1929. The superheater was partly of the Eastleigh works design and partly of the Maunsell design. Most machines were retired in 1961 and 1962.

Dugald Drummond's first design for the LSWR was the class M7 0-4-4T tank locomotive, which was the larger successor to Adams' T1. While the driver diameter remained the same, over all the grate was enlarged, resulting in the heaviest British machine with this wheel arrangement. It was intended not only for suburban lines in London, but also for semi-fast trains. After a derailment at higher speeds, they were only used on suburban lines.

Between 1897 and 1911, 105 locomotives were built, differing in several details. These included different frame lengths, different arrangements of individual components such as the sandboxes and the reverser, which was initially a lever and later steam-operated. To reduce wear and tear, boiler pressure was reduced from 175 to 150 psi after high speed running on main lines was no longer necessary.

With the introduction of new locomotives on suburban lines, the M7 was increasingly used on branch lines. For this purpose, a larger number were equipped with push-pull controls, which initially worked using cables and pulleys. Later, a more reliable system that worked with air pressure was used. The retirements took place in greater numbers from 1958 onwards and were completed in 1964 after the M7 was replaced by modern standard steam locomotives, diesel locomotives and diesel multiple units. Two still exist today, of which 30053 is operational. It was based in Steamtown in the USA between 1967 and 1987 and is now stationed on the Swanage Railway.

The ten engines of class C8 saw the light of day in 1898 as ordinary 4-4-0 locomotives. They were developed by Dugald Drummond and were initially considered not very successful because they did not achieve sufficient steaming capacity at high speeds due to a firebox that was too small. They could only show better performances after they had received a new boiler.

The new boilers used a patent of WS. Smith of the Midland Railway. They had an elongated firebox pierced by a total of 61 tubes that were exposed to the direct radiation of the fire. This more than doubled the direct heating surface, which significantly increased the output of the boiler.

Despite the increased power, the water-tubed firebox was not considered a success because the extra tubes made maintenance complicated. The fact that these pipes were exposed to very high temperatures meant greater effort. On later locomotives, precautions such as fire bricks or thermosiphons were used instead to increase the heating surface of the firebox. However, the ten locomotives remained in service and were only retired between 1933 and 1938 without having been converted to superheated steam. 

The GWR and the LNWR were in direct competition for boat trains, i.e. the heavy non-stop express trains between London and the ports on the Channel coast. In light of the new GWR 4-4-0 locos such as the City Class, Dugald Drummond developed the L12 as a successor to the T9 “Greyhound”. Both were similar in many respects, including the diameter of the driving wheels, cylinder dimensions, boiler pressure and the water tubes in the firebox. 

With the boiler being shorter and thicker than that of the T9, they earned the nickname “Bulldogs”. Since the changes compared to the previous class were limited, they did not represent any particular improvement. The L12 also had a four-axle tender again in order to be able to run the line without stopping. Later, under Urie, they received a new boiler with a superheater that no longer had water pipes in the firebox. 

The class made negative headlines as early as 1906 when number 421 derailed with a boat train in Salisbury, killing 28 and injuring 11 others. The accident is generally attributed to the L12's higher center of gravity, although other locos would also probably have derailed at 70 mph while negotiating a 30 mph curve. From this point on, the competition between the two companies became less intense. However, the 421 was refurbished and all 20 examples survived until the formation of British Railways. 18 were retired in 1951 and the last two in 1953 and 1955 respectively.

The London and South Western Railway made the jump from the 4-4-0 locomotive to the 4-6-0 in 1905 with the F13 class. The trigger for this were the so-called “boat trains”, which had to bring a constantly growing number of passengers with ever faster schedules to the ships on the English Channel coast. Since use was only to be expected on main lines, the designer Dugald Drummond hardly had to comply with any axle load restrictions. Due to the increased number of axles and the greater overall length, a significantly more powerful boiler than on previous locomotives was possible. In order to exploit its capacity, a simple four-cylinder engine was used. Since the LSWR did not use water troughs to fill up during the journey, four-axle tenders with a correspondingly large capacity were used.

Schematic drawing with dimensions

Locomotive Magazine, March 1921

Only five examples were built in 1905 in the LSWR workshops in London's Nine Elms. Although these locomotives looked very simple on the outside, the running gear was overly complex. The outside cylinders had Walschaerts-type valve gear, while the inside ones were controlled by their own Stephenson-type valve gear. The service with the boat trains between Salisbury and Exeter lasted only one year and was then discontinued. They were now repurposed as freight locomotives and henceforth had to haul coal trains between Salisbury and Southampton. One locomotive was fitted with the Eastleigh superheater introduced on the H15 in 1920, but this did not quite make up for the general weaknesses of the class. Eventually, all five F13s were rebuilt to H15s starting in 1924.