South Eastern & Chatham Railway P-class 323

Mike Esau

The photo shows No.323 operating a push-pull train on the first section of the extension to be opened, which ran for about three-quarters of a mile from Horsted Keynes Station to Horsted House Farm.

The P-class tank locomotives were, in design terms, an updated copy of the LBSCR Terriers, but, with only eight of them built, made rather less of a name for themselves. However, with four of the eight surviving into preservation, they have blossomed, and are now much more favourably regarded as highly capable little locomotives. Their greater water capacity and larger cabs give them a slight advantage over the considerably older Terriers.

Long the flagship of the Bluebell's fleet, painted blue and named "Bluebell" between 1961 and 1998, this loco was repainted into SE&CR wartime plain green livery, for the 1999 centenary of the SE&CR - see photos of 323 in Green livery.

There is a web page for the P-Class Fund:an appeal to raise the funds to overhaul "Bluebell", and news of the overhaul aiming to return the loco to service in time for the 50th Anniversary of the reopening in August 1960.