OO Gauge SR U Class 2-6-0.

The newly formed Southern Railway inherited locos from across the

Southeast, and due to their age, quite a few of the more dated 4-

4-0s needed replacing. Richard Maunsell, who had been the last

Chief Mechanical Engineer of the SE&CR, continued his position

upon the grouping of the railways in 1923. He led the Southern

Railway into a new era of design.

Building on his tried and tested ideas, Maunsell borrowed new

ideas from designers and previous colleagues at other railways. As

a designer, he was known for his skills in engineering management, hiring teams to create economical designs.

The U class is the perfect example of this type of practical composition and design evolution.

The initial batch of U Class locos was created due to a

combination of the operational requirements for a semi-fast and

cross-country capable loco, and as an immediate reaction by the

Southern Railway to the fatal Sevenoaks Railway accident. The

accident involved a SE&CR K Class ‘River’ 2-6-4 tank engine. These

engines were known for rocking so it was decided that the entire

class would be rebuilt as 2-6-0 tender locos.

Taking inspiration from his previous 2-6-0 design, the N Class,

Maunsell and his team developed the first ‘River Rebuilds’. They

also used new developments used on other Mogul locos, such as

the GWR 43xx.

Twenty locos were converted throughout 1928, and these were

redesignated as the U Class; but sadly, the ‘Rivers’ lost their

named identities in the process. The U Class did receive a rather

memorable nickname as an alternative. Built during the interwar

period, this quintessentially Southern loco was dubbed the U-Boat,

which is probably due to surprise encounters with German

submarines of the First World War being fresh in the memory of

those who lived adjacent to the English Channel.

Prior to the accident, an order had been placed for further K Class

locos, but instead of pursuing this unsuccessful design, the order

was amended to be 20 brand-new U Classes instead. The

construction was shared between Brighton and Ashford works. As

construction was drawing to an end, an order for a further 10

locos was placed; this order was completed in early 1931 by

Ashford works.

A total of 50 locos were classified as the U Class; however, the

rebuilds and new builds looked distinctly different. With a higher

running board on the newly built examples, they sported a much

smaller wheel splasher. The cabs were also different, as the rebuilt locos retained the 4 look-out windows of the K Class,

whereas the new builds had 2 large ones.

Maunsell used a straight-sided, smaller 3,500 gallon tender on the

Earlier rebuilt versions of the U. Later, newly built locos featured a

larger 4,000 gallon version; these had inward-sloping raves to

prevent coal spillage. Although they were built without them,

smoke deflectors were later added to the whole class by the

Southern Railway in the mid-1930s.

Working across most of the South, the U-Classes were reallocated

to a variety of sheds throughout their lives. Although Moguls were

generally used for freight duties, the U-boats were utilised as a

mixed traffic loco; this was due to their reliability as an all-around

performer.

Passing to British Railways, these busy locos continued dependably

right through to 1966 when the last of the class was finally

withdrawn. Four examples have since been preserved, and these

consist of a mix of one rebuilt ‘River’ and three newly built locos.

The Rapido Trains UK highly detailed OO Gauge rendition of the SR

U Class will represent the locomotives that were part of the newly

built batches. It will be available in a variety of guises, covering its

Southern Railway and British Railways.

The range features a selection of detailing variants, including flush

and riveted buffer beams, flat or rounded domes, flat-fronted

cylinders or cylinders with piston tail rods, Snifting valves on

Southern Liveried locos, and smoke deflectors on all models apart

from the earliest representation. All models feature the 4000-gallon

tenders.

You can look forward to a smooth-running mechanism, factory-

installed speakers, NEM coupler pockets, an ESU 21-pin decoder

socket, fitted MoPower stay-alive capacitor, tender pickups, and

firebox flicker with a dynamic fire draw effect.