Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 28, 2007

The Leader Class of Great Britain's Southern Railway was a class of experimental 0-6-6-0 articulated locomotive, produced to the design of Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid. The "Leader" project was a combination of Bulleid's desire to totally modernise the steam locomotive with principles based upon experience with the electric locomotives that were already plying their trade on the Southern Railway's Eastern Section. The design, initially based upon his Q1 class design, represents an attempt to extend the life of steam traction on Britain's railways by eliminating many of the drawbacks associated with such operation. In consequence, the class incorporated many novel and untried features that were innovative, but would ultimately provide an excuse to discontinue the project. The firebox was located at the centre of the locomotive, fed by the fireman in a third cab. The boiler and tender were placed on a common frame but off-centre to enable the provision of a corridor connecting the fireman's cab with the two driving cabs (one at each end). Only one locomotive of this class was ever completed, though several others were in varying stages of completion. The solitary example was subjected to trial on the ex-Southern Railway network around Brighton. Due to indifferent reports on performance during the trials, all had been scrapped by 1951.