Birmingham New Street Station

LNWR Locomotives: lnwrbns_pg1939

LNWR 4-4-2T Precursor Tank No 874 is seen standing light engine on the down middle road between Platforms 1 and 2 having just brought in its coaching stock into the station. Built at Crewe works in 1906 to a George Whale design known officially as '6ft Four-coupled Tanks' No 874 was one of the batch built with larger bogie wheels. The class were designed to provide motive power for suburban passenger work in the London, Birmingham and Manchester areas. The class did not get off to a good start as Ted Talbot recalls in his book An Illustrated History of LNWR Engines, as the first locomotive derailed twice between the erecting shop and the paintshop. Whale had insisted on a rigid rear axle instead of a radial axle as proposed by his Chief Draughtsman JN Jackson and this together with being too stiff in the wheelbase and having insufficient bogie clearance was the cause.

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