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 LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR) Improved Precedent Class or Renewed Precedent Class is a class of

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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s originally designed for express passenger work. They later gained the nickname of ''Jumbos''.

History

The locomotives were designed by F. W. Webb. A total of 158 were built in batches by

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 March 1843, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s ...

1887–1897 with two further additions in 1898 and 1901 respectively. They were officially "renewals" (i.e. replacements) of 96 Newton Class and 62 Precedent Class, so that, for accountancy purposes, they could be charged against the Revenue account rather than the Capital account of a "new" locomotive. On renewal, they kept the numbers and names of their predecessors, and as a result the numbering system continued to be completely haphazard. In addition, the eight Precedent class locomotives that were not renewed, were rebuilt to the Improved specification, but they retained their original thick frames, whereas the renewed locomotives had frames. On 22 August 1895, 790 ''Hardwicke'' took 2 hours and 6 minutes for the from to , with an average speed of , setting up a new speed record during the Race to the North. When George Whale (who succeeded Francis Webb in 1903) introduced his Precursor and Experiment Classes in March 1904 and April 1905 respectively, the Improved Precedents ultimately began seeing withdrawals, starting in December 1905. By the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in July 1914, only 112 Large Jumbos were in service. The

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 London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

acquired 76 upon the grouping of 1923, and gave them the power classification 1P. The LMS assigned these the numbers 5004–79, in order of build date, though not all received them as withdrawals continued apace. By the end of 1933, only 5001 ''Snowdon'' survived and in April 1934 it was renumbered 25001 to clear the number 5001 for an

LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 5 4-6-0, commonly known as the Black Five, is a class of steam locomotives. It was introduced by William Stanier and built between 1934 and 1951. A total of 842 were built, initially ...

, but was withdrawn in October that year.

Accidents and incidents

*On 15 August 1895, locomotive No. 275 ''Vulcan'' was one of two locomotives hauling an express passenger train that derailed at ,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

due to excessive speed on a curve. One person was killed. *On 27 October 1895, locomotive No. 790 ''Hardwicke'' was hauling an express passenger train that collided with a freight train at . The express was derailed and ''Hardwicke'' was severely damaged. The accident was caused by the driver of the freight misreading signals. * The

Ditton Junction rail crash Ditton railway station, Ditton Junction is near Widnes on the Liverpool spur of the former London and North Western Railway. This complex junction had eight running lines and associated signal gantries. On 17 September 1912 the 17:30 Chester to ...

: On 17 September 1912, a late afternoon express train, packed with holidaymakers returning to Liverpool from Chester, hauled by Precedent class "Cook" left the rails just to the east of Ditton Junction railway station and crashed into the brickwork of the bridge that carried Hale Road over the railway. Thirteen passengers were killed. * The Weedon rail crashes: On 14 August 1915, a locomotive hauling a passenger train suffered a mechanical defect which resulted in track being damaged at Weedon, Northamptonshire. Locomotive No. 1189 ''Stewart'' was one of two hauling a mail train that was derailed on the damaged track. Ten people were killed and 21 were injured.

Preservation

One, No. 790 ''Hardwicke'' (built 1892, LMS No. 5031, withdrawn 1932) has been preserved as part of the National Railway Collection. It was overhauled in 1976 and hauled some excursion trains on the main line, on one of which it double-headed with ''Flying Scotsman''. In the same year it made a special run on the Settle - Carlisle railway, double heading with Midland compound 1000, to celebrate the line's centenary. During this period it was allocated

TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), ...

number 98 190. It is currently a static exhibit in the

National Railway Museum Shildon Locomotion, previously known as Locomotion the National Railway Museum at Shildon, is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum was renamed in 2017 when it became part of the Science Museum Group. Overview The museum was ...

Fleet list

† LMS number allocated, but never applied

In fiction

No.790 “''Hardwicke''” has appeared in the episode 1 and OVA of “''

Unbreakable Machine-Doll is a Japanese light novel series written by Reiji Kaitō and illustrated by Ruroo. Media Factory has published seventeen volumes under their MF Bunko J imprint from November 2009 to July 2017. A manga adaptation by Hakaru Takagi began ser ...

''”, the 2013 Japanese animation. In the series, the nameplate spells “''Hardrock''”.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

Photo of 260 ''Duke of Connaught'' from 1900Photo of 1672 ''Talavera'' from 1900
{{LNWR Locomotives Precedent, improved 2-4-0 locomotives 1B n2 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1887 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives