Collections close-up: Metropolitan Railway steam locomotive, 1866

The Metropolitan Railway steam locomotive in our collection, dating from 1866, is the only surviving steam locomotive from the early years of the world’s first Underground, the Metropolitan Railway. 

It was one of a batch of 66 built in Manchester by Beyer, Peacock & Company between 1864 and 1869. It cost £2,675, the equivalent of about £2m today. It operated for more than 80 years and was overhauled three times, in 1899, 1903 and 1918.
 

When the world’s first underground railway was being planned, its Chief Engineer, John Fowler, promised a locomotive that would not fill the tunnels with smoke, steam and fumes. His experiments failed, and the Metropolitan Railway opened in 1863 using standard broad-gauge locomotives supplied by the Great Western Railway. 

The Met ordered its own locomotives, designated ‘A’ class, in 1864. These were conventional steam engines fitted with condensers to reduce steam in the tunnels. A pipe on each side of the boiler fed exhaust steam from the cylinders into large tanks, where it was condensed into water. This system only dealt with the steam, not the smoke.

They were used to haul Metropolitan and District Railway trains below ground for over 40 years. They were very reliable, but the atmospheric pollution was terrible.

The steam underground system was convenient but unpleasant to use. The ‘A’ class were large and powerful locomotives for their time, specially designed to give rapid acceleration from the frequent station stops. But working as condensing engines reduced their power. To go faster and keep to schedule, they sometimes worked non-condensed, fouling the tunnels with even more steam and smoke.  
 

When the Circle line opened in 1884, The Times commented: ‘A journey from King’s Cross to Baker Street is a form of mild torture which no person would undergo if he could conveniently help it.’ Another journalist described the fumes as being like the gas inhaled before having a tooth extracted.

Sixty-six locos were ordered for the Metropolitan and fifty-four for the District Railway. They were used on all passenger services of both underground railway companies until electrification of the sub-surface lines in 1905.

Locomotive number 23 worked throughout the Metropolitan Railway network but spent most of its time hauling trains on the sub-surface lines that now form the Circle line

Most of the other ‘A’ class locomotives were scrapped or sold after the electrification of the Circle in 1905. But a few, including number 23, were kept working on the Met’s suburban lines and the far-flung Brill branch. A cab was fitted to give the crew some weather protection. It was renumbered L45 after the Metropolitan became part of London Transport in 1933. It was assigned to engineering duties before its final withdrawal in 1948.

The locomotive was later restored to its 1903 appearance for the Underground centenary celebrations held at Neasden in 1963. It was then displayed at the Museum of British Transport in Clapham. It has been here at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden since 1980.

See the train - and a larger selection of this content - on display at the Museum in our World’s first Underground gallery.