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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Trent Valley Line
LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington
Nuneaton Station: lnwrns3815
Ex-LNWR 4-4-0 No 5281 'Erebus' waits at Nuneaton station at
the head of a Class 2 Ordinary passenger train circa 1930s. A member of Francis
Whales' Precursor class, the locomotive has been in the shops and has been
superheated together with being fitted with Ross pop safety valves, LMS
lampirons a LMS cab roof with the number painted on the cab side and LMS on
tender. Built as LNWR No 564 at Crewe works in June 1907, No 5281 was rebuilt
with piston valves and a superheated boiler in September 1913 and in this form
was to receive its LMS number in September 1927 which it carried until it was
withdrawn in September 1936.
The class was introduced in 1904 and one hundred and thirty
members were built by Crewe works up to 1907. Their introduction allowed Whale
to phase out the unreliable compound locomotives built under the direction of
his predecessor, Francis Webb. They were essentially a larger version of Webb's
LNWR Improved Precedent Class. As built, they were saturated, though some such
as No 5281 were later superheated. Withdrawals of the saturated engines started
in 1927 and the last locomotive in as built condition was withdrawn in 1935.
Four superheated engines which retained slide valves were withdrawn between
1931 and 1936 whilst withdrawals of the superheated engines with piston valves
began in 1935. Those not withdrawn had 20,000 added to their numbers over the
period 1934 to 1937 to make room for Stanier's 4-6-0 'Black Fives'. At the end
of 1939 only seven survived. Only a single example was inherited by British
Railways in 1948, 25297 Sirocco, which was withdrawn in 1949. Despite being
allocated the number 58010, that was never applied.
Photograph courtesy of the LNWR Society. To order a copy
of this photograph email photographs@lnwrs.org.uk and quote 'LNWR Society JMBCP
57'
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