Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/Peer review/LB&SCR A1 class

LB&SCR A1 class
I'm nominating this article for peer review as I have been engaged in a considerable amount of work in bringing this article up to be far more detailed and encompassing of the history and current situation of the class than it was beforehand. I am of the belief that this article is now a higher quality than the B grade it currently has on the quality scale and would hope that this may lead to an improvement on that level, and also in the hope that someone will be able to suggest where the article could go from here to be further improved as a fresh set of eyes.Bluebellnutter (talk) 16:20, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Comments from Das48
Here are a few initial suggestions for you to consider.

Infobox
Add |designer       = William Stroudley Add |fuelcap        = 0 tons 10 cwt

Add |watercap       = 500 gallons

Amend |railroadclass  = LBSC: A1/A1X

Intro
Your article introduction is far too long and wordy for the article also introduces several items not mentioned in the main text. I suggest you keep it to the basic outline only. In particular I suggest you delete or move the following from the intro:

"A pub of this name on the island was briefly home to the engine which is now No.W8 Freshwater.

"out of London Bridge and London Victoria"

"With these new uses being found"

Other comments re Intro
The terriers were superseded from their original work during the late 1890s by the D1 and D3 classes, the elevated electrics were not used until after 1909.

"non-revenue earning work such as shunting" - shunting can either be revenue earning (yard shunting) or non-revenue earning (e.g. works shuninting). I think Departmental mught be a better description of non-revenue earning tasks.

There is far too much about Hayling Island in the intro, but you might add a subheading under History below to talk about their role in keeping the Hayling Branch going.

History
Perhaps this needs a little background - the LB&SCR was almost bankrupt in 1867, needed to increase revenues without building new lines, by developing new suburban traffic. First task given to Stroudley in 1870 was to develop a suitable locomotive, but funds not available to build until 1872.

"the heavily congested lines in South and South-East London" - the lines were certainly not "heavily congested" in 1870-72, but there was a need to develop new commuter traffic.

"the line from Victoria to London Bridge" suggest link to South London line

The LB&SCR Locomotive Committee decided in January 1899 to reduce the number of terriers to 15 through sales or scrapping((Bradley p.156). Fifteen were scrapped 1901-1903. The remaing members of the class began to be renumbered in the Duplicate list from January 1900.

Livery - suggest this has a separate subheading

I suggest you add a new A1X sub-heading to deal with reboilered locos seperately as these became the bulk of the survivors

I suggest you might add a subheading or a table to deal with the alienated locos as 25 were sold out of service. D.L. Bradley has all the details.

Assessment
I wonder whether you might add some assessment about the remarkable class - why were they so successful and long-lived? why have so many been preserved? Is it because they were reliable, versatile, strong but lightweight (the key factor in their use by Light Railways and on the Hayling Branch)? Bradley discusses the reasons for their success pp.152-3.

I will spend a bit more time later and add a few more comments:--Das48 (talk) 22:04, 10 June 2010 (UTC)