European Railroad Discussion > LBSCR H2 Atlantic 32424 Beachy Head - reborn

It's an astonishing sight, 32424 Beachy Head, a London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Atlantic, being watered yesterday morning at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway. My first sight, in the flesh, so to speak of the reborn 32424.

H2 no 424 was built in 1912 at Brighton Works to a design by the LBSCR's mechanical engineer Douglas Earle-Marsh. It and its sister Atlantics were named after prominent South Coast headlands by the Southern Railway in the 1920s, at the same time 424 became 2424, and later 32424 when the Southern Railway became the Southern Region of British Railways. It was the last Atlantic type locomotive in service in Britain, being withdrawn and scrapped in 1958.

But that wasn't the end, for the past 40 years a group of enthusiasts based at the Bluebell Railway have been building a full sized replica of Beachy Head in its final BR condition. And this is the result.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/24 14:18 by 86235.

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Yesterday Beachy Head was rostered on three round trips on the Bluebell Railway from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead and back. I was intending to ride but because the weather was so good I decided I'd rather watch and photograph proceedings instead.

1: after watering Beachy Head set back onto its coaching stock.
2: on it's second round trip Beachy Head climbing Freshfield Bank
3: returning to Sheffield Park, drifting down towards Horsted Keynes, one of two intermediate stops, and passing a very impressive co-acting home signal.

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4: on it's final up working (towards East Grinstead) Beachy Head emerges from Sharpthorne Tunnel
5: a close up
6: finally a short video sequence of the climb up Freshfield Bank



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/24 12:01 by 86235.

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Nick, thanks for these great pictures.  Gerry

Nick - #2 looks like a Southern Railway publicity shot! Nice photo.

Posted from iPhone

Nice selection of angles. Looking good.

Can someone explain the significance of the two large white circles seen on front of the loco as well as on the tender in one of the shots?
jb

The position of the white discs displayed indicates the
class of the train. First class Passenger, Second class
Passenger, Third class freight etc. At night lamps would
be displayed in the same position as the discs. These
were important when trains were controlled by
signallers manning Interlocking towers without help
from a dispatcher and train orders and solely 
dependent on their block instruments.

Thanks for the explanation SOO6617