The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (LMR) 57 ''Lion'' is an early

0-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. While the first locomotiv ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

, which had a top speed of and could pull up to 200 tons (203 tonnes). One of a pair designed for hauling freight (the other, number 58, was called ''Tiger''), ''Lion'' was built by Todd, Kitson & Laird of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 1838. It featured in the 1953 Ealing comedy, '' The Titfield Thunderbolt''.

History

19th century

''Lion'' was ordered by the LMR in October 1837 as one of an order of six locomotives from Todd, Kitson & Laird of Leeds. They were built according to the patents of Robert Stephenson for a 6-wheeled locomotive and that of LMR Locomotive Superintendent John Melling, and included several of his patent ideas: hollow water filled firebars, a pre-heating tank beneath the firebox into which waste steam from the safety valve could be directed, Melling's patent radial valve gear, and a coupling wheel to aid adhesion. ''Lion'' and her sister ''Tiger'' were 0-4-2 'luggage' engines for working goods trains. They had 11 x 20 inch cylinders, 5 ft driving wheels, 3 ft 1 in diameter carrying wheels, and 50 psi boilers that were 7 ft 4 in long and slightly oval in cross section. ''Lion'' was rebuilt at Edge Hill by the LMR in 1841 with a new boiler 8 ft 6 in long, which necessitated the building of longer frames, new 12 x 18 inch cylinders, new valves and valve chests, and a new valve gear as designed by William Barber Buddicom in 1840-1841. ''Lion''s present cylinders measure 14 1/8th inches x 18 inches, indicating that they were changed at a later date. In 1845, the LMR was absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway (GJR), which in turn was one of the constituents of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

(LNWR) a year later. ''Lion'' was re-numbered 116 on the LNWR Northern Division. It was used in traffic until 1857, when it was transferred to the Stores Department as Ballast Engine No. 14. ''Lion'' was sold to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in May 1859 for £400 to work the internal system of the Docks & Harbour Board in Liverpool. A new boiler (that was probably the present boiler carried by the engine) was fitted by the Harbour Board in 1865.

Rediscovery and restoration

Around 1874, ''Lion'' was retired to work as a pumping engine at the Graving Dock facility at Prince's Dock which came into use in January 1875. It was "rediscovered" in 1923 and then rescued by members of the Liverpool Engineering Society in 1928 when it was replaced by an electric pump, and then renovated by Crewe Works. Lion's tender had long since been scrapped, so a new one was built by Crewe using parts from a scrapped Furness Railway tender, originally built by Sharp, Stewart of Manchester. Other work included a new chimney, new smokebox doors, wheel splashers, foot plate and cab guard rails, boiler lagging and boiler tubes, the fitting of a mechanical lubricator and new boiler fittings. The cylinders were also probably re-bored. A controversial copper cover was fitted over the high-crowned wagon-top firebox to simulate an arc de cloitre firebox of the 1840s period. Following restoration, ''Lion'' took part in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Centenary exhibition during September 1930 in

Wavertree Playground Wavertree Playground, also known locally as The Mystery, was one of the first purpose-built public playgrounds in the United Kingdom. It is based in the Wavertree area of Liverpool, England. History In May 1895, a stately home called the Gran ...

, where it ran round a circular track pulling specially-constructed replica carriages which are now preserved in the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

. The locomotive was then moved to a pedestal at Liverpool Lime Street station where it stood until 1937. It was then reactivated to appear in the film ''

Victoria the Great ''Victoria the Great'' is a 1937 British historical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Anton Walbrook and Walter Rilla. When Laurence Housman's play ''Victoria Regina'' was banned by the Lord Chamberlain (in 1935 the royal ...

'' at Denham Studios and participate in a publicity stunt on the line between Llandudno Junction and Colwyn Bay, where it ran at slow speed side-by-side with ex-

LNWR George the Fifth Class The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) George the Fifth Class was a class of 4-4-0 passenger steam locomotive. History The locomotives were introduced during July 1910 by Charles Bowen-Cooke following the succession of George V, construct ...

No. 5348 ''Coronation'' and the newly-introduced ''

Coronation Scot The ''Coronation Scot'' was a named express passenger train of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway inaugurated in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth which ran until the start of the war in 1939. It ran on the ...

'' service. ''Lion'' also featured in the London and Birmingham Railway centenary at

Euston station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

in 1938. It was moved back to Crewe Works for storage during the war years.

Postwar

In early 1951, the locomotive was removed from storage and reconditioned to appear in the film ''

The Lady with a Lamp ''The Lady with a Lamp'' is a 1951 British historical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Felix Aylmer. The film depicts the life of Florence Nightingale and her work with wounded British soldiers durin ...

'', which retold the story of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

. It was used for a train station scene filmed at

Cole Green railway station Cole Green railway station was a station at Cole Green, Hertfordshire, England, on the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway. It was a passenger station from 1858 until 18 June 1951, also serving the hamlet of Letty Green. It is now a picnic sp ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Not long after, ''Lion'' was selected to feature in the role it is most known for, the title subject of the 1953 film '' The Titfield Thunderbolt'', for which it featured prominently during filming on the Limpley Stoke-Camerton branch line. Due to the extensive nature of the film shoot, it was discovered that ''Lion'' would often blow off steam between takes, so a damper and a steam pressure gauge were fitted in order to help control the flow in the boiler. The locomotive was accidentally jolted in the scene where its separated inspection train did not slow down sufficiently when pushed by a banking engine and it forced the tender to strike the footplate, the damage of which is still visible today. ''Lion'' was the second oldest locomotive to be steamed in this period, the oldest being the British-built American locomotive ''John Bull''. In 1967, ''Lion'' was loaned to the then-Liverpool Museum and presented outright to them in 1970. In 1979-1980 it was removed from display again to be restored by Rustons Diesels Ltd. for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway 150th Anniversary Celebrations. New boiler tubes were fitted; the original main steam pipe was replaced; because the original plug regulator was cracked, a new one was cast and fitted; new boiler fittings, including bourdon-type pressure gauge, gauge glass and try-cocks were fitted. New wash out plugs were also provided. The front buffer beam (not original) was reinforced with channel section. Safety chains were fitted and the tender equipped with air brakes taken from a commercial HGV. The boiler certificate issued by BR was for four years. Lion last operated at the

Birmingham Railway Museum Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 1 ...

at Tyseley on an open day in 1988 before returning to static display status permanently. Between 1999 and 2007, ''Lion'' was on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester alongside replica LMR locomotive ''Planet'' whilst the new Museum of Liverpool was being built. It underwent a cosmetic restoration by Liverpool Museums in 2008 before going on display in the new museum. On 27 February 2007, ''Lion'' was moved by road from Manchester to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

for conservation work prior to it becoming an exhibit in the new Museum of Liverpool.

Identity

In March 2019, railway historian Anthony Dawson, who was working on a book about the locomotive, suggested that there was no clear evidence that the locomotive discovered in 1923 and now preserved as ''Lion'' is in fact LMR locomotive 57 ''Lion'', and raised the possibility that it might be one of a number of other locomotives acquired by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board at around the same time. However, it is very likely that the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board were simply never aware that the engine was called ''Lion'', as it would have already lost its name by the time the London and North Western Railway made the negotiations to sell the engine to them, and the name would only have been deduced when interest in its preservation was raised.

Other locomotives

LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Lenz ...

Royal Scot Class

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...

No. 6142 was originally named ''Lion''. This loco was built by the

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wor ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in November 1927 and withdrawn in January 1964 as 46142 ''

The York and Lancaster Regiment The York and Lancaster Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was created in the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment o ...

''. D0260, a prototype

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

built by

Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W) was a railway locomotive and carriage builder, founded in Birmingham, England and, for most of its existence, located at nearby Smethwick, with the factory divided by the boundary betwe ...

in 1962 was named ''Lion''.

British Rail Class 08 The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotive built by British Railways (BR). As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, the class became a familiar sight at major stations and freight yards. Since their ...

diesel shunter 13030 (later D3030 then 08022) was sold to

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

at Park Royal in 1985 where it was given the name ''Lion''. It and its sister locomotive ''Unicorn'' now reside on the

Cholsey and Wallingford Railway The Cholsey and Wallingford Railway is a long standard gauge heritage railway in the English county of Oxfordshire. It operates along most of the length of the former Wallingford branch of the Great Western Railway (GWR), from Cholsey stat ...

References

External links

* http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/alion.htm (see subpages) * http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/GoodsLocos/ex001P.php photograph * http://hex.oucs.ox.ac.uk/~rejs/photos/A40/Manchester/MSIM/ more photos (scroll down) * http://www.lionlocomotive.org.uk/ The website of The Old Locomotive Committee (OLCO) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lmr 57 Lion 0-4-2 locomotives Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotives Kitson locomotives Individual locomotives of Great Britain Early steam locomotives Preserved steam locomotives of Great Britain 1838 works