LMS 2-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Crabs (Locobase 3048)

Data from Tufnell (1986) and Glover (1967) and Bryan Attewell ([] Steam Locomotive simulator. See also steamindex's "Hughes locomotives (L&YR/LMS)" page at [], last accessed 7 August 2017.

They were nicknamed "Crabs" apparently for the image conveyed by outside Walschaerts gear working cylinders that were inclined 6 deg off the horizontal to accommodate their large dimensions. Their imposing profiles included the relatively sizable Belpaire firebox and its square shoulders, the raked cylinders, small stack, and North American style cab.

George Hughes's design, says Glover, "bore unmistakeable signs of their place of origin [the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway] in characteristics differing widely from Midland practice." These elements included the boiler, cab, and valve motion. Like most good steam locomotive design, these engines had spacious dimension including a boiler measuring 65" in diameter and a firebox providing 160 sq ft of heating surface.

Steamindex's summary quotes at length from E S Cox, Locomotive panorama, v. 1, (London: Ian Allen, 1965). p. 37 on several other key contributions to their success. Cox asserted that "The cylinders and valve gear were entirely new ....owing nothing to former L&Y practice." Fowler's study of recent American practice led him to adopt the hollow-stem piston valve and he set the size at 11" (279 mm), a relatively high diameter, a lap set at 1 1/2" (38 mm) and maximum travel at 6 3/8" (162 mm). He also adopted lighter, more flexible piston rings of smaller cross-section. Valve gear layout and many details were based on the the Pennsylvania Railroad's installations.

Cox's summary is too succinct to summarize: "The whole of the foregoing ...gave effective, accurate, and readily maintainable steam distribution. For the first time on the LMS, a modern standard of performance and efficiency was maintained." Cox adds that "substantial" coupled axleboxes "greatly strengthened" the achievement.

These were durable engines and were withdrawn only in the 1960s.

Class Stanier 4F /5MT (Locobase 3114)

Data from [] (27 December 2004), the Stanier Mogul Fund; and "New Two-Cylinder 2-6-0 Superheater Tender Engines", LMS Magazine (March 1934), archived on the LMS Society's website at [], last accessed 21 May 2023.

Stanier's Mogul design reflected Great Western design practice that was exported to the LMS when he joined the railway. Like other GW engines, these 2-6-0s had a Belpaire firebox with radially sloped sides at the top, a coned top-feed boiler under higher pressure than earlier practice but less superheater area. Raising boiler pressure allowed Stanier to smaller cylinders than earlier Midland 2-6-0s which in turn made room to lay them horizontally.

The Mogul Fund site says of this design: "Introduced in October 1933 as mixed traffic engines, they found their niche in fast fitted freight traffic, local passenger and excursion work and largely left the express passenger duties, so beloved by the enthusiast fraternity, to Stanier's Black Fives introduced the following year ....[they] served the LMS and BR faithfully for 30 years."

Originally numbered 13268, the engine took 2968 by 1934 and added a four upon the 1948 nationalization to become 49268. First withdrawal came on 20 July 1963, the last on 31 December 1966.The Stanier Mogul Fund rescued 4F 42968 from the Barry scrapyard on 31 August 1973 after a four-year negotiation. After a 14-hour move to the Severn Valley Railway in December 1973 and began restoration at Bridgnorth in July 1974. A great deal of effort over the next 16 years (much of it spent finding replacements for the numerous brass and copper fittings stolen during the Barry years) led to steaming up on 11 November 1990 and hauling tourist traffic in April 1991.

Or as the SMF website puts it: the 2968 "mmediately found favour with footplate crews as a strong, sure footed, powerful and free steaming engine, more than capable of handling any train the SVR was likely to put behind her." But, as every operator of historic steam locomotives knows, parts continue to wear and the 2968 went through several sidelinings for repairs to major overhauls. 1998-2003 was consumed rerplacing worn stays.

The expiration of her boiler certificate in 2013 started the clock on a long restoration that took more than ten years. Confidence that the end was in sight in 2023 grew when the boiler stood ready for its steam test before being placed on its frames.