LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton
LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Coventry Station: lnwrcov645a

Close up view of image 'lnwrcov645' showing LNWR Class 7'-0" 2-2-2 'Large Bloomer' No 851 'Apollo' standing at Coventry station taking on water. A Southern Division locomotive built by Sharp in 1851 and numbered No 251, it was renumbered in 1862 as No 851, rebuilt in 1868 with a Crewe boiler, named 'Apollo' in 1872 with the cab and Webb chimney probably added at the same time. The nickname "Bloomer" was given to this class of locomotive by engine men because the splashers to the driving wheel were open in construction and were said to be reminiscent of the then latest fashion craze in ladies bloomers. Harry Jack writes "Incidentally I don't think the derivation of the name 'Bloomer' was anything more than mere topicality - the first of the class appeared just as the Bloomer girls first appeared on British streets. They created a wild sensation with their trouser-suits, and 'Bloomerism' was THE topic in the autumn of 1851. It's hard to credit it now."

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