The first of the Brighton's 0-6-2 "radial" tanks was designed by William Stroudley, and they eventually became a family of designs covering a wide range of traffic requirements. The small-wheeled E3 and E6 aimed at Goods traffic and the larger wheeled E5 suited to passenger work, but it was the E4 which was the most flexible and most numerous member of the family.
The "Radial" tank takes its name from the radial axle beneath the driver's cab. Rather than the more conventional pivoted pony truck, the radial axle is set in curved hornguides in the main frames.
"Birch Grove", as was the practice with such Brighton engines, was named after towns and villiages in the LBSCR's area, and Birch Grove is a small hamlet just north of Horsted Keynes, and its residents, including one-time Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, would have used Horsted Keynes as their local station.
Initially painted in Stroudley's famous "Improved Engine Green", which was actually a golden ocre, in 1912 it was reboilered by Marsh with an I1-type boiler, and re-painted in his dark umber livery, as in the photo below.
Arriving on the Bluebell straight out of BR service in 1962, it was quickly repainted into the Marsh umber, and ran until 1971, by which time its boiler was in need of major repairs. Its overhaul took many years, and the story is told on these web pages.
In early 2005 it was re-painted into BR Black livery (photo above). After being the star of our own Branch Line Weekend, it was off by low-loader to the SVR, for their similar event. It is planned to transform it into the SR olive green it carried in pre-war years at the end of its current overhaul, which started immediately on withdrawal in May 2008.
Class: LBSCR E4
Length: 35ft 3in
Weight: 57 Tons 10 cwt
Water capacity: 1,408 Gallons
Coal capacity: 3 Tons
Boiler Pressure: 160 lb/sq.in
Driving Wheels: 5ft diameter
Cylinders: (2, inside) 17.5" x 26"
Tractive Effort: 18,045 lbs
BR power classification: 2P2F
Engine brake: Westinghouse Air
Last major overhaul: 1998
Last operational: 5 May 2008
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Last update 10 June 2008 by Richard Salmon.