T9 Class, No.120

Class Introduction

T9 No.120 was outshopped from Nine Elms locomotive works in August 1899. Resplendent in LSWR Drummond passenger green, 120 was built at a cost of £2271. The class were affectionately nicknamed ‘Greyhounds’ due to the quick turn of speed that they could achieve. This attribute was one of the main reasons why they were assigned to the Waterloo – Exeter route following their release into service. All T9’s were originally built as saturated engines as the development of superheating was not introduced to British steam until the early 1900’s. These boilers were known to be free steaming and the saturated boiler design gave 120 a very distinctive front-end look, not too dis-similar to that of 563. 120 was part of the first batch of T9’s released into traffic and carried a ‘conventional’ firebox/boiler design, unlike the T9’s built by Dubs & Co which incorporated cross water tubes in their fireboxes. An arrangement that was subsequently taken forward for all future Drummond designed engines until his death in 1912, although at extra expense and design complexity.

Being part of the original series of T9’s constructed, 120 carries the narrow cab and wheel splasher design with separate coupling rod splashers, one of the more unusual features of the class. Out of the sixty-six constructed, fifty-one carried this style. Only fifteen built at Nine Elms in 1901 carried the wider cab and wheel splasher designed which covered the wheels as well as the ‘throw’ of the coupling rods within.

120 was originally constructed with a six-wheel tender and it was not until the 1901 series of T9’s that the eight-wheel water-cart tender which 120 has today were introduced. 120 had to wait until May of 1907 to receive her own. Water cart tenders allowed for longer running which must have been of large benefit on the long runs to and from the west country.

Such was the success of the design that few changes were made to the class until the early 1920’s. The successor to Drummond, Robert Urie as the LWSR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer began the task of ‘rebuilding’ the T9’s to incorporate more ‘modern’ features such as superheaters, larger bore cylinders,
fitting of a stove pipe chimney and the removal of the cross-water tube firebox design. These changes began in 1922 and continued post grouping into the Southern Railway in 1923 when Richard Maunsell became the Chief Mechanical Engineer. Notably, 120 was one of twenty-six T9’s that were repainted into Maunsell green Southern Livery (Olive) before being modified. 120 was painted into this livery in June 1925, but had to wait until May of 1927 to receive her modifications. Additional changes included removal of the prominent sandboxes on the leading driving axle to a subtler arrangement between the frames. As 120 received superheaters at this time, it also received the larger smokebox in order to carry the superheater header thus vastly changing the original looks of the engine to a design that it almost identical to her appearance today.

These modifications almost certainly increased the life of the T9’s. This was evidenced by the class continuing to find work between Salisbury and the West country on express passenger services, despite new and larger designs being introduced that should have usurped them.

The final modification, pre-World War two was the removal of the ‘E’ prefix from the primrose yellow lettering/numbering on the tender. There were 3 different letters used and these denoted the region that the locomotive was based in. ‘E’ being Western section engines, ‘A’ for Eastern section engines and central section locomotives were branded with ‘B’. Post removal of this lettering, it is this livery that 120 is planned wear when she returns to service after the next overhaul.