The LSWR O2 Class is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive designed for the London and South Western Railway by William Adams. Sixty were constructed during the late nineteenth century. They were also the last steam engines to work on the Isle of Wight, with the final two being withdrawn in 1967.
Adams was presented with the problem of a greatly increasing volume of commuter traffic experienced with the suburbanisation of London during the 1880s This was exacerbated by the fact that there were few locomotive classes in the LSWR stable that could undertake commuter traffic at the desired level of efficiency The LSWR therefore required a locomotive with attributes of power and compactness, with a small wheel size to gain acceleration on intensive timetables. Adams settled upon the 0-4-4T wheel arrangement to provide the basis of what was to become the O2 Class
The class is usually best associated with the Isle of Wight railway system, with the Isle of Wight Central Railway making enquires as to the possibility of purchasing some class members in the early twentieth century. This plan fell through, however, and it was not until after Grouping in 1923 that the newly formed Southern Railway was forced to resolve the desperate locomotive power situation on the Isle of Wight.
W35 ‘Freshwater’ was built as No, 181 by LSWR at Nine Elms Works in 1890 and was shipped to the Isle of Wight 1949 and was based at 71E Newport Shed, it remained there until 1967, it was scrapped on the Island.
Photographer unknown – seen on 70H Ryde St John’s Road Shed, IOW c1960.
