Bluebell Railway Atlantic Group 4-4-2 No. 32424 'Beachy Head'
Sheffield Park, Sussex, UK 		Location: Bluebell Railway
Status: Operational
Posted: Aug 11, 2024 @ 05:08:23 by Russell Newman
As part of the launch of new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway (Marsh Designed) H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head", into service the Bluebell Railway is having a special Brighton Works themed Gala event over the Bank Holiday weekend on the 24th and 26th of August 2024.
Posted: Jun 16, 2024 @ 11:06:21 by Russell Newman
Here some interesting details about new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway (Marsh Designed) H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head", here. The length of the locomotive is 59ft 9in and the Weight of the locomotive is 68 Tons 5cwt, the weight of the Tender is 39 Tons 5cwt, the Boiler Pressure is rated at 170 lb/sq.in as built, and as reconstructed,and the size of the Driving Wheels are 6ft 7.5in diameter, the cylinder size (2, outside) are 21? x 26? and its Tractive Effort is at 20,841 lbs. which under the BR power classification is 4P.
Posted: Jun 12, 2024 @ 14:06:21 by Russell Newman
The new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway (Marsh Designed) H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head", is set to be launched into service at the Bluebell Railway this summer as the new-build Atlantic 4-4-2 will be hauling her first public passenger trains over the Bank holiday from the 23rd of August to the 1st of September 2024.
Posted: Jun 6, 2024 @ 09:06:28 by Russell Newman
The new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway (Marsh Designed) H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head", built in 2024 is now an operational steam locomotive, as she was steamed and moved for the very first time. This makes No. 32424 the 5th new-build steam locomotive to enter service and the only operational standard gauge 4-4-2 Atlantic steam locomotive in the world. No. 32424 "Beachy Head", will now begin a series of testing and running in trials before entering service at the Bluebell Railway later in the year.
Posted: Mar 6, 2024 @ 15:03:03 by Russell Newman
History was made as new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head", was successfully moved out of the Sheffield Park’s Atlantic House where it has been built and placed onto the rails of the Bluebell Railway for the very first time. The move was done using two heavy haulage road low loaders to move both locomotive and tender and both were joined up for the first time and it was also the first time No. 32424 had turned a wheel on Bluebell Railway metals for the first time. This was an incredible achievement by the Atlantic House team and everyone involved with this fantastic project. The reality of seeing an LBSCR Marsh Atlantic 4-4-2 is very much reaching the final stages. The locomotive has now been moved into the maintenance shed at Sheffield Park where the commissioning work will now commence to bring "Beachy Head" into service.
Posted: Dec 11, 2023 @ 11:12:59 by Russell Newman
The new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head" will be moved out of Sheffield Park’s Atlantic House where it has been built in February 2024, which will involve a large crane to lift the locomotive and its tender onto the tracks of the Bluebell Railway for the very first time, for it to be moved into the main workshop at Sheffield Park for work to start on its commissioning and testing, with the aim of having the brand new No. 32424 to be launched into service at the Bluebell Railway, during August 2024.
Posted: Oct 17, 2023 @ 11:10:47 by Russell Newman
The new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head" is now in the final stages of construction and will be moved out of Sheffield Park’s Atlantic House where it has been built from scratch using the ex LNER built Great Northern Railway C1 Atlantic type boiler since 2007, into the main workshop at Sheffield Park for final pipework to be fitted over the winter in early 2024. No. 32424 will be steamed for the very first time in 2024.
Posted: Feb 27, 2023 @ 06:02:34 by Russell Newman
This is the inside history of the new-build London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head" being built from scratch by the Bluebell Atlantic Project to fill in a missing gap in steam locomotives missing from the London Brighton & South Coast Railway. The H2 Class 4-4-2 Atlantic was one of the last steam locomotive design of 4-4-2 in the UK. They were designed and built by the London Brighton & South Coast Railway’s last cheif locomotive engineer Douglas Earle Marsh and was his final design for the London Brighton & South Coast Railway. The H2 Atlantic was introduced and entered service in 1911 to 1912 which six memebers of the Class were built, they were an upated version of the early H1 Class 4-4-2 from 1905. All six members of the H2 Class were built at Brighton works and were the last express steam passenger locomotives built for the London Brighton & South Coast Railway. They shared the same boiler design as used on the Ivatt built Great Northern Railway C1 Class Atlantic’s as Marsh had been trained up at the Great Northern Railway’s works at Doncaster under Patrick Sterling and Herny Ivatt. The H2’s worked the mainline out of London, Victoria around the South Coast and to East Grinstead and they could also be seen at the head of trains like the Brighton Limited and the Southern Belle Pullman. All six memebers worked right through into the days of the Southern Railway and British Railways until the late 1950s. The original No. 32424 was the last H2 Atlantic in service with British Railways until being withrawn from service and scrapped in 1958. But the story did not end there, in her last years of service the original No. 32424 was well known and a popular railtour locomotive to some of the early memebers of the Bluebell Railway. However in the late 1980s the Bluebell Railway rescued a Great Northern Railway C1 Atlantic type boiler that was a later LNER built version in the early 1930s from Maldon in Essex where it had been used as a stationary boiler dry heating wood timber for the timber company Brooks Brothers set up in the old station yard in Maldon and was brought to the Bluebell Railway. In 2000 the Bluebell Railway annouced under the Bluebell Atlantic Project to build and reconstruct No. 32424 "Beachy Head" from srcatch using the GNR C1 boiler and along with a tender from a long lost London Brighton & South Coast Railway C2X Class. The building of No. 32424 is not stated as a replica but a recreation of the locomotive as an original part from the original No. 32424 has survived, the regulator handel is being used in the construction of the locomotive. No. 32424 is now in the final stages of construction and when completed she will be the only operational 4-4-2 Atlantic running in the UK, if not the world and will be a popular addion to the Bluebell Railway’s running fleet. As well as operating at the Bluebell Railway No. 32424 will also visit other preserved railways around the UK at times as well.
Posted: Aug 17, 2022 @ 07:08:44 by Russell Newman
A big milestone was reached in the construction of New build London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head" as the boiler for the locomotive was craned onto the mainframes for the very first time. With the boiler now on the locomotive is in the final stages of construction.
Posted: Nov 16, 2019 @ 09:11:18 by Russell Newman
Construction work on New build London Brighton & South Coast Railway H2 Class Atlantic 4-4-2 No. 32424 "Beachy Head" has reached its final stages as the boiler had successfully passed its hydraulic test on the 29th of October 2019 and final preparations are now being made to fit its superheater header and elements, boiler cladding and insulation. The tender is now completed with the tank bolted to the chassis. It is hoped a steam test will happen in the New Year.
Posted: May 5, 2016 @ 17:05:45 by Russell Newman
Construction work on the frames of 32424 are now completed and work has now moved on to the boiler.
Posted: Sep 11, 2008 @ 15:09:51 by Steve Frost
The components for the cylinders have been delivered to Sheffield Park. These will be fabricated rather than cast as in the original design. Also, the original castings were in two parts, each containing the valve chest and cylinder for one side of the loco. Since they had outside cylinders but inside valve gear, these castings passed through large holes cut in the plate frames, so that they could be bolted together, back to back.

The new design has the two cylinders in separate fabrications and the valve chests as a single fabrication between the frames. As a result, the openings in the loco frames will be much smaller, only big enough for the steam ports to the outside cylinders. Should make for stronger frames.

Posted: Dec 12, 2007 @ 13:12:20 by Steve Frost
This interesting reincarnation is progressing and the loco's frames have been assembled at Sheffield Park. The driving wheels have been sent north to Bury to be pressed onto their axles and have tyres fitted. meanwhile design work is proceeding on the cylinders.
Posted: Apr 25, 2007 @ 14:04:29 by Steve Frost
No Brighton Atlantics survived to be preserved. The resemblance to the Great Northern's Atlantics was immediately obvious, but no one could have forseen that a Great Northern Atlantic boiler would survive into the late 1980's. The boiler concerned had been in use at a timber drying plant in Essex and its discovery prompted the project to use it to re-create this lost type. All that's left of the original 'Beachy Head' is the regulator handle and an identity plate from the cab. An appropriate set of tender wheels also survived having been used in an exhibition where it they were part of a tender meant to represent a GWR tender. Sadly the tender chassis was scrapped, but another chassis has been bought from another group. The new frames have been cut and driving wheels have been cast, so eventually a 'Brighton Atlantic' will run again.