Train Simulator 2019: How To Annoy The Purists (1) 7F to Brockenhurst

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DC 4260 Productions

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14,300

Published on January 31, 2019 9:54:38 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpmOrMTGsiY

Game:

Train Simulator Classic (2009)

Duration: 22:58

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6

This is the LMS 7F class 0-8-0, an engine I haven't looked at in quite a while. The engine was made by - and is available from - Digital Traction.

The 7F 0-8-0 was designed by Henry Fowler, and built at Crewe Works between 1929 and 1932. A staggering 175 members of this class were built, and were nicknamed Austin 7's. They were described as a 'Midland-ised' version of the LNWR G2 and G2A classes - otherwise known as the Super D's.

The former Midland Railway workshops was in Derby, yet - for some reason - the 7F 0-8-0's were built in Crewe. Despite this, the drawing office staff insisted on using Midland practices. As such, the 7F's ended up being fitted with the notorious Midland axleboxes. The reason these were notorious is because they had a high tendency to run hot, and - in the case of the 7F 0-8-0's - were too small for the sort of work they were intended to do - haul freight trains.

When built, the engines were numbered 9500 to 9674. The last four members of the class were initially fitted with ACFI feedwater heaters, although these were removed shortly after 1945. The engines all had 40,000 added to their numbers after January 1st, 1948.

Fortunately, all 175 members of the class passed into British Railways ownership on the 1st of January 1948. Unfortunately withdrawals began as soon as 1949, when 61 engines were taken out of service. The 7F to be withdrawn was 49508, going in 1962. Despite the huge number of 7F 0-8-0's that were built, not one of them survived into preservation.

Sadly there have been two crashes involved 7F's. The first was on the 13th of March, 1935. This took place at King's Langley in Hertfordshire. And it went like this - a milk train was in a rear-end collision with an express freight train. Another freight train ended up colliding with the wreckage. The accident was caused by signalman's error. 7F 0-8-0 No. 9598 was hauling a coal train that ran into the wreckage. Sadly one person was taken from us in the crash.

The second accident involving a 7F took place at Battyeford, Yorkshire on the 14th of May, 1948. An unidentified 7F was hauling an empty freight train when it became a runaway and crashed into a stationary train.

In this video, I thought - why not take a 7F 0-8-0 on a line they never ran on in real life. This is the branch line from Lymington to Brockenhurst, which is included on the Southampton to Weymouth route, available from Steam Sounds Supreme. The branch is 5.6 miles long, and has just one intermediate station - Lymington Town - which is not even half a mile from Lymington Pier.

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