S&DJR 7F 2-8-0

The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway 7F 2-8-0 was a class of eleven heavy goods and coal steam locomotives built in two batches, six in 1914 and five in 1925. The Midland Railway, which controlled locomotive policy on the heavily graded line, made a special exception to its small-engine policy, and James Clayton, a draughtsman at Derby, was given a free hand to design an engine unlike any other Derby design of the time. It used the boiler of the Midland Compounds with a Belpaire firebox and Walschaerts valve gear, a leading Bissell truck to spread the weight, and high sloped cylinders to clear platforms. The five locomotives of 1925 were ordered from Robert Stephenson and Company at Darlington and carried larger boilers. All were withdrawn by 1964, and two of the 1925 engines survive in preservation.