Present your case
If there’s a locomotive that you think needs to be offered ready-to-run, here’s the place to voice your opinion…
Locomotive: LSWR/SR Adams ‘A12’ 0-4-2 ‘Jubilee’ Gauge: ‘OO’ Proposed by: Tony Farries, France
What is it?
William Adams’ Class A12 0-4-2, built for the LSWR, was a successful design of 90 tender locomotives, introduced from 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Intended for mixed traffic duties, they boasted a wide route availability, leading to ‘A12s’ working freight, excursion, local passenger, military, parcels and goods duties for nearly 60 years.
Built at the LSWR’S Nine Elms Works and Neilson & Co., they were eventually displaced from the LSWR’S London-south West freight services and cascaded to lesser duties, at which they excelled. Six were fitted with Westinghouse gear to pull inter-regional coaching stock, such as troop trains off the Great Eastern lines. ‘A12s’ returned to heavier duties during the First World War, when the LSWR’S 0-6-0s were conscripted, with a fleet of 25 ‘A12s’ being based at Guildford to handle traffic towards the south eastern ports.
While numerous 4-4-0s were later built by the LSWR for the same duties, they never wholly displaced the ‘Jubilees’, and many footplate crews preferred them.
Withdrawals began in 1928, but 30 remained in service with the Southern Railway and a number of those awaiting disposal at Eastleigh were put back into service during Second World War, with examples serving on the Longmoor Military Railway, at Oxford/bicester and at Stratford-upon-avon. The last few examples continued in service until withdrawal in 1947/8.
Initially seen all over the LSWR system, from Wadebridge and Plymouth in the west, to Strawberry Hill and Fratton, in 1932 they were working from Feltham, Guildford, Basingstoke, Eastleigh, Fratton, Bournemouth, Salisbury, Yeovil and Exmouth. They shunted, worked excursions (10 coaches at Eastleigh in 1932 off the Andover line), local passenger and goods services on lines in Hampshire and, until 1937, ran into Waterloo from Alton.
They were seen at Petersfield on the Portsmouth Direct, on the Longparish to Fullerton branch, at Bulford, on fruit trains at Swanage, at Woking and Alton, on Gosport goods trains and on the Watercress and Meon Valley lines and Midhurst and Lymington branches. After the Second World War, the last few worked van trains from Woking into Waterloo as well as local freights.
Would it be viable?
Who could resist the Southern’s ‘missing’ engine? The ‘A12’ was a large class which is visually different – not another 4-6-0 or 0-6-0T. Indeed, they were the last of their kind. They had long careers and would be ideal for smaller layouts. There’s also a good choice of liveries, tender differences and various detail modifications. The tooling may also be useful for a LSWR ‘T1’ 0-4-4T.
Can I see a real one?
Unfortunately none survive. …STOP PRESS!
See page 11 for news of an upcoming ‘OO’ gauge release from OO Works.