Metropolitan Railway A Class

Metropolitan Railway A Class
Preserved A Class No. 23 at the London Transport Museum
Power type	Steam
Builder	Beyer, Peacock and Company
Build date	1864
Configuration	4-4-0T
Fuel type	Coal
Career	Metropolitan Railway

The Metropolitan Railway A Class were 4-4-0T steam locomotives built to work the first of the London Underground lines. They were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company from 1864.

The A Class, together with the later and similar B Class, eventually numbered 66 locomotives. All were equipped with condensing apparatus for operating in the inner London tunnels of the Circle Line, Hammersmith and City Line and the southern end of the Metropolitan Mainline. Part of this equipment was a vent from the water tanks that resembled a second chimney in front of the cab.

As built, the locomotives did not have cabs, just a simple spectacle plate. Once the railway was extended to include substantial lengths of surface running, the locomotives were fitted with cabs.

The first 18 locomotives originally carried names, but as the class was superseded, these were removed.

These locomotives were made redundant by the electrification of the inner London lines in 1905/1906 when many were sold or scrapped. Around 13 locomotives were retained for shunting, Departmental work and working trains over the Brill Tramway. The purchase of other locomotives, the closure of the Brill tramway (in 1935) and the transfer of freight duties to the LNER saw all but one of these remaining locomotives sold or scrapped around 1936.

MetR No. 23 (LT No.45) survived and is now preserved at the London Transport Museum.