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). Design work began in 1946 and development continued after the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, under the auspices of British Railways (BR).
Leader locomotive 36001 with test train at Oxted
Works diagram of the Leader
The Leader boiler and firebox, showing the offset firehole door position (dotted). Also visible are two of the four thermic siphons.
The Leader being lifted onto its power bogies at Brighton, May 1949. The casing allowed the locomotive to be put through a carriage-washing plant.
Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid CBE was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway between 1937 and the 1948 nationalisation, developing many well-known locomotives.
Bulleid in 1947