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Locomotives Of The London, Midland And Scottish RailwayThe London, Midland and Scottish Railway had the largest stock of steam locomotives of any of the 'Big Four' pre-Nationalisation railway companies. Despite early troubles arising from factions within the new company, the LMS went on to build some very successful designs, that were to last until the end of steam traction on the mainline in 1968. For an explanation of numbering and classification, see British Locomotive and Multiple Unit Numbering and Classification. Background Various locomotives were inherited from pre-grouping companies. Those from the smaller railways, and hence non-standard, were withdrawn quite early, while ex-Midland, LNWR and L&YR types persisted. The Midland had long had a 'small engine policy', i.e. that it preferred small engines hauling frequent, fairly short trains, and employing a second locomotive (double-heading) where necessary. Unfortunately this practice, while emininently suitable for the route from Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham to London was not at all suited to the route from Euston to Glasgow via Crewe, Preston and Carlisle (the 'West Coast Main Line') and it took several years to convince the senior staff responsible for such matters that this was the case. The first sign of the change was the Royal Scot class 4-6-0s of 1927, officially designed by Fowler, but actually designed by the North British Locomotive Company with approval from Fowler. Even so, the majority of designs continued to be very much Midland in character. This changed when Stanier arrived. His large, streamlined 'Princess Coronation' class engines were iconic and flew the flag for the LMS against the competing 'A4 Class' of the London and North Eastern Railway. Locomotives acquired from constituent companies Ex-Midland Railway Ex-London and North Western Railway Ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Hughes was the ex-L&YR CME, and briefly became CME of the LMS. His one design was a class of mixed traffic moguls known as "crabs". Fowler continued to build Midland Railway designs, but also introduced Royal Scots. Stanier arrived in 1932 from the Great Western Railway and with the backing of Josiah Stamp, reversed the small engine policy and saved the LMS. Fairburn was somewhat restricted by the rules applied to the railway companies by the war situation (not to mention the fact that Stanier had left things in a state that required little or no new design). He was responsible for the construction of a number of locomotives to Stanier designs (mainly the 8F 2-8-0 and 5MT 4-6-0) and some detailed design variations on the latter. Post-Nationalisation LMS locomotive design did not end in 1948 at Nationalisation, but had enormous influence over the design of British Rail's 'Standard' steam locomotives. Some of the designs were little changed from the comparable designs by Ivatt. Withdrawal Pre-grouping types were withdrawn early for being non-standard, and locomotives were routinely withdrawn after their lives expired. Withdrawal of locomotives generally did not take place until the great locomotive cull of British Railways in the period 1962-1966. A pair of "Black Fives" were the last steam locomotives to be run on British Railways in 1968, although since then there have been almost weekly charter runs for the enthusiast and tourist markets and the occasional timetabled service (for instance at Dawlish and Stratford-upon-Avon). UK London, Midland & Scottish Railway locomotives
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