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 ...

(LMS) Fowler Class 4F is a class of

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

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 ...

designed for medium freight work. They represent the ultimate development of

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

's six coupled tender engines. Many trainspotters knew them as "Duck Sixes", a nickname derived from their wheel arrangement.Platforms Souls (Chap.1), Whittaker, Nicholas, Gollancz, London, 1995

Background

The 4F was based on the 197-strong

Midland Railway 3835 Class The Midland Railway (MR) 3835 Class is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for freight work. The first two were introduced in 1911 by Henry Fowler. After the grouping in 1923 they continued to be built up to 1941 by the LMS as the LMS F ...

of 1911, with only a few modifications, primarily the adoption of left-hand drive instead of right-hand drive. They originally had been designed by Henry Fowler, who from 1925 became CME of the LMS. Midland Railway locomotives were notorious for their short axle-box bearings, which were prone to overheating. This design feature was perpetuated in the LMS 4F. The problem was eventually solved with the fitting of mechanical lubricators.

Construction

LMS 0-6-0 freight locomotive, 4129 (CJ Allen, Steel Highway, 1928)

The LMS constructed 530 of the locomotives between 1923 and 1928, numbered sequentially from where the Midland engines left off from 4027. A further 45 examples were reluctantly authorised by

William Stanier Sir William Arthur Stanier, (27 May 1876 – 27 September 1965) was a British railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Biography Sir William Stanier was born in Swindon, where his ...

in 1937 at the behest of the operating department. The missing numbers (4)4557–61 relate to five locomotives built for the

Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreec ...

to the

design in 1922, and taken into LMS stock in 1930. All entered British Railways stock in 1948. BR added 40000 to their numbers. They were all withdrawn between 1959 and 1966.

Accidents and incidents

*On 12 February 1929, locomotive No. 4491 was hauling a freight train that was in a head-on collision with an express passenger train at station,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

due to a signalman's error. Two people were killed. *On 4 September 1942, locomotive No. 4541 was hauling a freight train that overran the end of a loop in blackout conditions at ,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and was derailed. *On 6 June 1961, a locomotive of the class was running light when it was in a head-on collision with a freight train at station,

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

Withdrawal

Withdrawals from stock occurred between 1959 and 1966.

Preservation

Three LMS-built 4Fs survive, with the first-built LMS 4F, No. (4)4027, being part of the National Collection. In addition, one Midland 4F, No. (4)3924 has also survived.

Models

The 4F has been modelled by

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

(O, HO and N Gauge) and

Graham Farish {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Graham Farish is a company that produces large quantities of British outline model railway equipment in N gauge. History The Poole, Dorset based manufacturer of radio parts and kits entered the model railway busin ...

(N Gauge, still produced under the Bachmann label).

Airfix Airfix is a British brand and former manufacturing company which produced injection-moulded plastic scale model kits. In the U.K., the name 'Airfix' is synonymous with plastic models of this type, often simply referred to as "an airfix kit" even ...

produced a tender drive model of the 4F in OO Gauge in 1978. Production of this was continued by Dapol after it acquired Airfix models in 1985, and were subsequently sold to

Hornby Hornby may refer to: Places In England * Hornby, Lancashire * Hornby, Hambleton, village in North Yorkshire * Hornby, Richmondshire, village in North Yorkshire Elsewhere * Hornby, Ontario, community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canad ...

in the late 1990s. They upgraded the model to loco drive in 2012. Bachmann have produced a version of the Midland railway variant of the 4F since 2012.

References

;Sources * David Hunt, John Jennison Bob Essery & Fred James ''LMS Locomotive Profiles No.10: The Standard Class 4 Goods 0-6-0s'' (pictorial supplement ) *

External links

London Midland Society 4123

Class 4F-C Details
at ''Rail UK'' {{LMS Locomotives 0-6-0 locomotives 4F Andrew Barclay locomotives Kerr Stuart locomotives NBL locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1924 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives