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) George the Fifth Class was a class of

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

passenger

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 ...

History

The locomotives were introduced during July 1910 by Charles Bowen-Cooke following the succession of

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

, construction continued until 1915. They were essentially

superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are ...

versions of the

LNWR Whale Precursor Class The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) "Precursor" Class was a type of 4-4-0 ("Atlantic") steam locomotive designed by the company's Chief Mechanical Engineer, George Whale. Introduced in 1904, it should not be confused with the LNWR 2-4-0 ...

. At the same time, similar non-superheated ''Queen Mary'' Class engines were also built but all of these acquired

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...

s as the advantages of superheating became clear and were absorbed into the ''George the Fifth'' Class. A total of 90 Georges were built, and all were named. The LNWR reused names and numbers from withdrawn locomotives, with the result that the numbering system was completely haphazard. All of the Georges passed into

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS) ownership on the grouping in 1923. The LMS gave them the

power classification A number of different numbering and classification schemes were used for the locomotives owned by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and its constituent companies; this page explains the principal systems that were used. The followi ...

3P. The LMS renumbered them into a more logical series of 5320–5409, and later in 1936/37 those had not been then withdrawn were again renumbered by the addition of 20000 into the 25320–25409 series to make room for

Black Fives Black Fives is a trademarked term, federally registered in the United States Patent & Trademark Office, that refers to the all-Black basketball teams that existed in the United States between 1904, when the game was first introduced to African Ame ...

. It was also at this time that a few of the names were removed so that they could be applied to new

LMS Jubilee Class The London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Jubilee Class is a class of steam locomotive designed for main line passenger work. 191 locomotives were built between 1934 and 1936. They were built concurrently with the similar looking LMS Stanie ...

engines. Withdrawals started in 1935, and by 1939 only nine remained.

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

(BR) inherited three in 1948: 25321, which was withdrawn in February that year, and 25350 and 25373, which were allocated the BR numbers 58011/2 in March but never carried them as both were withdrawn in May that year. None have been preserved.

Accidents and incidents

: *On 14 August 1915, locomotive No. 1489 ''Wolfhound'' was hauling a passenger train when it suffered a mechanical failure in its motion, with the result that the opposite track was damaged. A mail train was derailed on the damaged track at

Weedon, Northamptonshire Weedon Bec, usually just Weedon, is a village and parish in West Northamptonshire, England. It is close to the source of the River Nene. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,706. Geography Weedon is around southeast of ...

. Ten people were killed and 21 were injured.

New Build Locomotive

The George the Fifth Steam Trust is building a ''George the Fifth'' class locomotive named after Prince George.

List of Locomotives

Notes

References

"LNWR George the Fifth Trust- Homepage"
* * * *

External links

LNWR George the Fifth Steam Locomotive Trust
George the Fifth Class ''

Coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

'' name plate showing the locomotive was the 5000th engine built at

Crewe Works Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lot ...

LNWR Society
Photographs of the Bowen-Cooke 4-4-0 ''George the Fifth'' class steam locomotives {{DEFAULTSORT:Lnwr George The Fifth Class George the Fifth 4-4-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1910 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives