- Class: H2
- Designer: Marsh/Billinton
- Wheels: 4-4-2
- Type: Atlantic
- Built: Sept 1911
- Numbers Carried: 424, B424, 2424, 32424
- Withdrawn: April 1958
- Returned To Service: Reconstruction completed and entered service 18 August 2024
- Current Status: Available for service
- Owned By: Bluebell Railway
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This magnificent locomotive is the result of our project to reconstruct a Brighton H2 Atlantic based on SR/BR period “Beachy Head”. It is based around a suitable boiler, and includes various other original H2 components have been given to the project, including the locomotive’s original regulator handle and whistle, and a class identification plate. The locomotive was launched into service on the Bluebell on 18 August 2024, the culmination of 24 years work by a dedicated team of engineers, fundraisers and supporters.
The decision to recreate this locomotive, enabled by the discovery of an ex-GNR Atlantic boiler (essentially identical to that used on the H2) in superb condition in a factory in Essex in 1986, is due to the significance of this particular locomotive to the Bluebell itself. It was:
* an iconic Brighton express locomotive;
* the very last Atlantic running in BR service;
* used on many railtours in the 1950s, including several over the Bluebell line;
* this loco’s scrapping in 1958 which led Brighton enthusiasts to realise that action was required to save something of the history of the LB&SCR before it was too late, and led to the first meeting of what became the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society in 1959.
