SR L1 class

The Southern Railway L1 class was a class of 4-4-0 steam tender locomotives built for express passenger service on the South Eastern Main Line of the Southern Railway. Richard Maunsell designed them as a development of Harry Wainwright's L class. By 1918 Wainwright's D and E class 4-4-0s were beginning to struggle with the heaviest expresses. Maunsell did not rebuild the L class, because the locomotives were still relatively new, but amended Wainwright's drawings to form his own L1 class and supplied them to the North British Locomotive Company. They stayed on these duties until the mid-1930s, when the older King Arthur and newer Schools classes gradually took the heavier trains. Withdrawals began in 1959, the last in February 1962, and none was preserved.