Southern Railway (SR), 1923–1948 Nationalisation – British Rail Southern Region, 1948–1958 Nationalisation – British Rail Western Region (north of Templecombe) and Southern region (south of Templecombe), 1958–1966 The early locomotive fleet was bought in from suppliers, and as the company was always in financial difficulties, the stock was never to the highest specification. The company had its own Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon works at Highbridge.This closed in 1930 and the locomotives were transferred to the control of the LMS. Things improved considerably when the Joint ownership started, and the Midland Railway provided more powerful and reliable traction. Even so, the Midland Railway's policy of building small engines was spectacularly unsuitable for the heavy gradients and heavy loads of the S&D. For many years, right up to 1959, a Midland design of 4-4-0 Class 2P was the mainstay of the express passenger traffic, with variations of 3F 0-6-0 freight tender engine and 0-6-0T tank engines. A revolutionary change took place when the Midland built a small fleet of 2-8-0 tender engines to handle the heaviest freight trains—the unique S&DJR 7F 2-8-0 series—with Walschaerts valve gear and the greatest tractive effort ever delivered by a Derby locomotive, with the exception of the "Lickey Banker" 0-10-0. After nationalisation in 1948 the Southern Region Battle of Britain and West Country 4-6-2 locomotives were a common sight. The heavier Merchant Navy 4-6-2 was not used on the line. In the final few years, GWR Collett 0-6-0 tender locomotives in the 22XX class handled all of the Highbridge branch work, and LMS standard Jinty types dealt with the shunting duties. The LMS 4F 0-6-0 tender locomotives worked some trains down from Bath—they were commonplace on the Bath to Bristol services—and the Western Region drafted in green liveried Standard Class 5 4-6-0s in the 73XXX series, with Standard Class 4 4-6-0 75XXX 4-6-0 locomotives working from the Bournemouth end. The 7F 2-8-0s were pressed into passenger service in summer. Some standard tanks classes operated on the line, the most powerful being the Standard Class 4 2-6-4T in the 80XXX series; these had one disadvantage, in that the water tanks extended along the cabside and this prevented the fitting of the Whitaker tablet exchange mechanism there. In the early 1960s (1960 to 1963, to be exact) a small fleet of Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 locomotives were transferred to the line for the duration of the summer timetable period