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) 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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

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 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lot ...

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. Withdrawals started in December 1905. 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 LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

acquired 76 upon the grouping of 1923, and 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 ...

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, of which 842 were built and were numbe ...

, 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 the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

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. : *On 14 August 1915, a locomotive hauling a passenger train suffered a mechanical defect which resulted in track being damaged 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 ...

. 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

Rth Rly LNWR 790 Hardwicke Carnforth to Grange 09

One, No. 790 ''Hardwicke'' (built 1892, LMS No. 5031, withdrawn 1932) has been preserved as part of the

National Railway Collection The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rolling stock, rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums: * National Railway Museum, York * National Railwa ...

. 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), S ...

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

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 Railway locomotives introduced in 1887 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives