London & North Western 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Cauliflower (Locobase 2167)

Enlargements of the DX series by FW Webb, these engines also had a different valve gear. Built between 1880-1902 and in service until 1955.

Glover (1967) says these had 100 sq ft more tube heating surface than did the 1873 Coal Engines. But Tuplin's table of North Western locomotives published in his 1963 history of the company's engines showed data very similar to that of the earlier locomotive. The L&NW Railway Society website of Goods Engines -- [] (9 May 2003) -- gives the data used in the specifications, which is very close to Glover. And the "Outdoor Man" of the L & NW published three editions of a book on British Locomotives (C J Bowen Cooke, British Locomotives: Their History, Construction, and Modern Developments (3rd rev and enlarged ed), (London: Whittaker and Co, 1900)), and his data agree.

Class Coal Engine (Locobase 2166)

Data from Ahrons (1927). See also "17in Coal Engine" on the Goods Engines of LNWR website [], last accessed 9 May 2021.

These are Francis William Webb's version of the famous DX goods locomotives built in great numbers in the 19th century. Note that the building rate wasn't demanding, but that this class was in production until 1892, by which time the boiler pressure had been boosted to 150 psi. Like most L&NWR engines, they had a long life, 230 enduring until the founding of British Railways in 1948 and the last not leaving service until 1953. 45 were converted to 0-6-0ST; see Locobase 10638.

To Ahrons (1927), they were "probably the simplest and cheapest locomotives ever made in this country." Earlier, C J Bowen Cooke (who would succeed Webb) noted in his Data "British Locomotives", (London: Whitaker & Co, 1894) that the engine could pull 35 loaded coal waggons massing a total of 541 long tons at 25 mph. When the rail was warm and dry, the tonnage rating increased to 640 tons in 45 cars, although speed dropped to 15 mph.

Tufnell (1986) provides a clue to their longevity: "...they were built to exacting tolerances with interchangeable components; one was assembled and steamed all within a period of a mere 25.5 hours."

Some data from [] (9 May 2003).

Class DX (Locobase 644)

Data from [] and William Frank Pettigrew, A Manual of Locomotive Engineering (London: Charles Griffin & Company, Ltd, 1899), p. 50.

The quintessential British goods locomotive of the 19th century. JE McConnell developed the basic design from his earlier Bloomer class of 2-2-2 express engines and built 107 locomotives at Wolverton with 150-psi boilers and 66" drivers from 1854-1863 (Locobase 3302).

John Ramsbottom settlled on a lower boiler pressure (140 psi) and smaller drivers and built 943 of these engines from 1855 to 1872 alone. The engine was the first one to use the screw reversing gear. Francis William Webb later added a driver's shelter to 500 of these engines and raised the boiler pressure to 150 psi.

Class Saddle Tank / 1F (Locobase 10638)

Data from "Tank Locomotives, L & N W R", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XIV (15 February 1908), p. 28.

The LM report explains that the Coal Engines that had been built in such great numbers from 1873-1892 (Locobase 2166) were increasingly overmatched by the long, heavy freight trains that were beginning to dominate traffic. Still, the basic proportions were balanced and some of the engines weren't even 20 years old. So George Whale converted a small bunch into saddle-tank shunters.

In the process, the locomotive remained unchanged except for the tank. Unlike most saddle tanks, which had the tank draped over the boiler in a curved shape, the rebuilt coal engines had square-sided and flat-topped tanks much like the pannier-tank designs the Great Western would come to prefer. Indeed, some later sources give them the Whyte classification of 0-6-0PT.

Class Special Tank (Locobase 2165)

Data from [] (9 May 2003) and W A Tuplin, The Steam Locomotive: Its Form and Function (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974),

Saddle-tank switcher built by John Ramsbottom between 1870-1898; the last endured until 1959.

According to Chris Northedge, author of the Society's account: "The first Special Tanks had frames of iron but when Webb introduced steel frames they were lighter yet stronger, so they could be less deep. Most retained the sloping Ramsbottom smokebox front until LMS days (after 1922), and unusually there was never any lining on the back of the bunker . Originally built only with weather boards , a few received cabs by the 1890's and many more by 1912-16."

Class Wolverton Express Goods (Locobase 3202)

Data from See also Clement Edwin Stretton, The Locomotive Engine and its Development (London: Crosby, Lockwood and Son, 1896), pp ;106-108. "Locomotives of the London and North Western Railway" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 11 July 2023.

JE McConnell developed this basic design from his earlier Bloomer class of 2-2-2 express engines (Locobase 661). Sporting rather tall 5 1/2 foot drivers, these engines served the L&NWR's Southern Division. Using the same patent boiler design performing successfully in the Bloomers, McConnell challenged the prevailing "low boiler" orthodoxy, according to Clement Stretton. He "maintained that a high boiler was no objection, and that engines having the highest boiler could run with the greatest steadiness." His contention "was simply laughed at", claimed Stretton, but he turned out to be correct "and only had the misfortune to be about thirty years in advance of his time."

Wikipedia states that the "Southern Division engines were bigger, heavier and more expensive than those of the Northern Division." L&NWR's chairman Richard Moon objected to McConnell's higher-cost philosophy and finally demanded, and received, McConnell's resignation.

Note that Ramsbottom's more famous DXs (Locobase 644) actually had less heating surface and smaller drivers.