#2843
SR Leader class
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Brighton Works· from 1946· Prototype dual cab steam locomotive
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Leader at Brighton: The original uploader was Bulleid Pacific at English Wikipedia .· Public domain
what is it?
The Leader was a class of experimental 0-6-0+0-6-0T steam locomotive, produced in the United Kingdom to the design of the innovative engineer Oliver Bulleid. The Leader was an attempt to extend the life of steam traction by eliminating many of the operational drawbacks associated with existing steam locomotives. It was intended as a replacement for the ageing fleet of M7 class tank engines still in operation on the Southern Railway (SR).
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 80 years ago, in 1946.
- Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- 20.4 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1946–1949
- retired
- 1951
- status
- retired
- number built
- 5
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Brighton Works
- designer
- Oliver Bulleid
- operators
- Southern Railway, British Rail, Southern Region of British Railways
- top speed
- 145 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 0-6-6-0
- length
- 20.4 m
- nicknames
- The Chinese Laundry
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q6126586, Wikipedia: SR Leader class (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.