Masterclass: LT Steam

In the 50th anniversary of their withdrawal, Model Rail presents a guide to the steam locomotives that once belonged to one of the most iconic urban transport operators in the world.

A guide to the steam locomotives of the Metropolitan Railway and London Transport.

Clearly, operating old fashioned steam locomotives in hip and swinging central London was not sustainable

If you compared British Railways with London Transport in the summer of 1960, the former had recently built its last steam locomotive, steam still ruled supreme on most of its network and the first stretch of electrification on the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and

“Manchester was weeks away from completion. London Transport, meanwhile, had an electrified railway system that BR management could only dream of and its last few steam locomotives were there to haul works trains and the occasional goods service into central London.

Shift forward a decade and, by 1970, the tables had turned. Aside from three narrow gauge locomotives in deepest Wales, BR had rid itself of steam traction and had even banned privately owned steam from its tracks. LT, meanwhile, still used steam, for pretty much the same duties as it had in 1960.

Clearly, operating old fashioned steam locomotives in hip and swinging central London was not sustainable for London Transport. Steam-free BR could no longer guarantee overhauling LT’S few remaining steam locomotives and the standards of maintenance at LT’S Neasden and Lillie Bridge depots continued to slide. After negotiations with BR to obtain good-quality yet redundant 350hp diesel shunters failed, London Transport management finally loosened the purse strings enough to buy three former British Steel Rolls-royce-powered Sentinel 0-6-0DHS. The first arrived in March 1971 and, despite the initial ” thought that its last steam locomotives might continue into 1972, London Transport decreed that its last steam-hauled train would run on June 6 1971.

Unlike BR’S ‘15 Guinea Special’ of 1968, LT’S last steam-hauled train didn’t carry passengers. Instead, No. L94 hauled a typical engineer’s train, comprising two brake vans, flat wagons, ballast wagon and a diesel crane, from Moorgate station to Neasden where a special exhibition took place. No. L94’s classmate No. L90 was also in steam there. The crowds that flocked to the stations to view the train were there to witness the end of an era.

Steam had been a feature on this stretch of railway for 108 years, and London Transport’s pannier tanks were the last steam locomotives to run on a public main line in Britain. As 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of this significant event in railway history, Model Rail presents a guide to the steam locomotives that were once the property of one of the most famous and iconic urban transport operators in the world.

HUGH BALLANTYNE/RAIL PHOTOPRINTS London Transport’s ‘E’ Class 0-4-4T L48 (formerly No.81) was built by Hawthorn Leslie in 1901 and is seen outside Neasden shed in September 1961.

No. L94 pauses at Barbican station for a photo-call with London Transport’s last steam-hauled train – and the last steam-hauled train on a British public main line – on June 6 1971. The train comprises Hurst Nelson brake van No. B557, rail wagon No. RW473, flat wagon No. F348, diesel crane No. C617, jib carrier No. J688, ballast hopper No. HW428 and Ashford brake van No. B582. GORDON EDGAR/ RAIL PHOTOPRINTS