LMS 0-8-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Class 7F (Locobase 3762)

Data from Bryan Attewell ([] Steam locomotive simulator (April 2000 edition), corrected and supplemented by [], last accessed 10 May 2008. Glover (1967) says this is Sir Henry Fowler's update of a London & North Western mineral engine that used a Belpaire boiler like its predecessor. It was that engine, he says, that was the last inside-cylinder 0-8-0s produced in Great Britain.

A photograph (seen at [], visited Nov 2002) shows a stolid, straight-barrelled, high-pitched boiler with a tiny stack and dome, heavy plate frame, and 6-wheeled tender with outside springs. Heating surface area later was reduced by 32 sq ft (2.9 sq m) to 1,402 sq ft with a commensurate reduction in superheater area of 15 sq ft (1.4 sq m) to 338 sq ft.

Steamindex's compilation -- [] (seen 20 Oct 2004) -- reveals to Locobase that this class was called the "Austin Sevens". Moreover, steamindex cites Bill Aves's article "The LMS 7F 0-8-0s - 'Austin Sevens': unnecessary and Perverse? Br. Rlys ill, 1995, 4, 358-67. and summarizes: "Despite having long travel valves and inside Walschaerts valve gear and a boiler based on that of the LNWR 0-8-0s the design was unsatisfactory due to a long wheel base coupled with inferior Derby axleboxes and bearings which were always running hot. Aves argues that the LMS should have made better use of the ROD 2-8-0s which it had purchased."

WG Thorley's book A Breath of Steam is quoted about the mechanical breakdowns this class suffered: "connecting rod little end bush wear was very heavy, it was impossible to keep gudgeon pin nuts tight for more than a few days, and longitudinal fractures developed in the gudgeon pins themselves." Thorley added, however: "It redeemed itself only by good steaming qualities and efficient use of the steam when in service."

According to [] (Nov 2002, data from []), the production batches ran as follows:

Lot Year Engine #s

57 1928 49500-49599

71 1930 49600-49619

81 1931 49620-49659

84 1932 49660-49674

First withdrawals came in 1949 and continued until the last two retired in 1961.