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) Prince of Wales Class was a class of express passenger locomotive. It was in effect, a

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 ...

version of the Experiment 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 ...

History

They were introduced in 1911 by Charles Bowen-Cooke. A total of 245 were built for the LNWR, of which 135 were built at Crewe between 1911 and 1919, and unusually for the LNWR, 110 were contracted out: 20 were 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 ...

in 1915–1916, and ninety were built by William Beardmore & Co. in 1921–1922. The LNWR reused names and numbers from withdrawn locomotives, with the result that the numbering system was completely haphazard. All 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 ...

(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 5600–5844. A final locomotive was built by Beardmore in February 1924, which was displayed at the

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibit ...

that year; the LMS bought it in November 1924, and numbered it 5845. Later most of the class were again renumbered by the addition of 20000 into the 25600–25844 series in 1934–1935 to make room for Jubilee class locomotives. The arrival of Stanier 4-6-0s also displaced them from their work so withdrawals which had started in 1933 meant that by 1939 only 22 remained. Withdrawals were suspended during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but recommenced in 1944, and just six were inherited by

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 ...

in 1948. In March 1948, the four then remaining (25648 ''Queen of the Belgians'', 25673 ''Lusitania'', 25752 and 25787) were allocated the numbers 58000–3, but were all withdrawn before renumbering could be applied. (The majority of LMS engines had 40000 added to their numbers but doing so would have intruded on the 6xxxx ex-LNER series). The LNWR also built a suburban pacific tank engine version - the LNWR Prince of Wales Tank Class. Variations included

Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and squa ...

es from 1924, and outside

Walschaerts valve gear The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The gear is sometimes name ...

was fitted to four engines in 1923–4 and also to no. 5845 from new, to drive the inside cylinders and valves. None has been preserved.

Accidents and incidents

: *On 1 January 1946, locomotive No. 25802 was hauling a passenger train that was crashed into by a fish train at station,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

due to that train being derailed by defective points. Twenty people were killed and 21 were injured.

Named locomotives

* See Named LNWR "Prince of Wales" Class locomotives

Notes

References

* * * * * {{LNWR Locomotives

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

4-6-0 locomotives NBL locomotives William Beardmore and Company locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1911 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives