LMS Stanier Class 5MT 4932, is a preserved British steam locomotive. It is one of 18 surviving members of the Black 5 class which had 842 members constructed by five manufacturers. 44932 is the sole remaining member of the class which was built at the LMS's

Horwich Works Horwich Works was a railway works built in 1886 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) in Horwich, near Bolton, in North West England when the company moved from its original works at Miles Platting, Manchester. Buildings Horwich Works ...

Overview

March with Clacton-on-Sea - Birmingham New Street express geograph-2717500-by-Ben-Brooksbank

4932 was built in 1945 by the LMS at their

– works no. 154. It was renumbered as 44932 by British Railways after the 1948 nationalisation of Britain's railways. After completion at Horwich Works it was allocated to Blackpool Central's 24E Shed where it remained for nearly six years until January 1952 when it was transferred to Accrington near

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

. Further shed transfers were to follow throughout its career with British Railways including Agecroft - Greater Manchester, Leicester,

Annesley Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west). Annesley Ha ...

and

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. Its final shed allocation was

Rose Grove Rose Grove railway station is a railway station serving the Rose Grove area and town of Padiham in Lancashire, England. It is served by both the Caldervale Line and the East Lancashire Line. It was once the terminus of the Great Harwood Loop b ...

's 10F shed where it was allocated to in both July 1965 and from March 1966 till its withdrawal in August 1968. Its service life was just under 23 years.

Allocations

The shed locations of 44932 on particular dates:

Preservation

After being bought from British Railways for preservation it was used on the mainline between overhauls. It in the early days of preservation wore lined brunswick green. Acquired in 2008 by David Smith it was based at West Coast Railway's

Carnforth MPD Carnforth MPD (Motive Power Depot) is a former London Midland and Scottish Railway railway depot located in the town of Carnforth, Lancashire, England. Completed in 1944 on the site of the former Furness Railway depot, its late construction in ...

base. The engine as of 2018 was undergoing another overhaul with plans to return to the mainline on completion. In August 2022 the engine returned to service following an overhaul at Carnforth MPD outshopped in British Railways lined black with British Railways lettering on its tender. The engine carried this livery from January 1948 until early 1949 before being changed to the cycling lion crest, in preservation the engine also wore this livery while mainline certified in the late 1980's/early 1990's. The engine undertook its first test run on 10 August running from Carnforth to

Hellifield Hellifield is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England (). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village was once an important railway junction on the Settle-Carlisle Railway between th ...

and back, and the engine worked its first revenue earning trip down the

Cumbrian Coast The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a mor ...

and

Furness Line The Furness line is a British railway between and , joining the West Coast Main Line at . A predominantly passenger line, it serves various towns along the Furness coast, including Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands. It runs th ...

while hauling the return leg of a "Cumbrian Coast Express" railtour from Carlisle to Carnforth on 24 September 2022. The

London Euston 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 rail ...

to Carlisle via

Shap Summit Shap is a linear village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England, in the historic county of Westmorland. The parish had a population of 1,221 in 2001, increasing slightly to 1,264 at the 2011 ...

Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 reco ...

to London Euston legs being worked by

British Rail Class 86 The British Rail Class 86 is a class of electric locomotives built during the 1960s. Developed as a 'standard' electric locomotive from earlier prototype models, one hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965 to 1966 to haul trains on t ...

No. 86259

Les Ross Les Ross MBE is a British disc jockey in the West Midlands. He was born as Leslie Meakin; 7 February 1949, in Birmingham. Early life and career Ross always wanted to become a DJ and, at the age of 11, wrote to the general manager of Radio Lu ...

. Following completion of the engines latest overhaul in 2022 the engine is planned to be trialed out with the fitment of

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...

(in-cab signalling) alongside LNER Peppercorn Class A1 4-6-2 No.

60163 Tornado LNER Peppercorn Class A1 No. 60163 ''Tornado'' is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn. It is the first new build British mainline steam locomotive since 1960, and the only Peppercorn Class A ...

as part of Network Rail's "Pathfinder Project" which is being undertook to assess the fitment of in-cab signalling to heritage locomotives.

Fame in Preservation

In 2013 during the 45th anniversary celebrations of the end of steam in August 1968, it took part in two special one off railtours, the first was on Wednesday 7 August working one of the Statesman Rail's Fellsman trains which was renamed for the occasion "The Fifteen Guinea Fellsman" which it ran in double headed form with 45231 ''The Sherwood Forester'' from Lancaster to Carlisle and back via The Settle and Carlisle line. For this trip 44932 acted as pilot to 45231 and it wore the 1T57 Headboard for the occasion alongside the regular Fellsman headboard. Four days later on Sunday 11 August it took part in the 45th anniversary run marking the end of steam on Sunday 11 August 1968. 44932 & 45231 were to once again double head with each other but this time 44932 was to act as train engine to 45231 which was acting as pilot engine.https://www.flickr.com/photos/42802953@N03/9490211204 45231 & 44932 at Ais Gill The two engines were in charge of the Carlisle to

Longsight Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west ...

, (

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

) leg of the tour. The two locos worked the special south down the Settle and Carlisle line to

and then down the Ribble Valley Line to

before taking the branch to

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...

and

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

before arriving at Longsight where the two engines were replaced by classmate 45305 which would return the train 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 populat ...

. Other locos to take part in the tour included 45305 which took the train from Liverpool to Longsight in the morning and then back in the evening and 70013 Oliver Cromwell which worked the train from Longsight to Carlisle.

References

{{reflist

External links

15 Guinea Special, Aug 11 2013
Preserved London, Midland and Scottish Railway steam locomotives 44932 Individual locomotives of Great Britain Railway locomotives introduced in 1945 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain