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) 4ft Shunter was a class of 0-4-0ST steam locomotives. Introduced in 1863 by Ramsbottom, 26 were built in 1863–1865, 10 in 1870, 10 in 1872, and 10 in 1892. The last three of the latter batch were soon rebuilt as 0-4-2ST

crane tank A crane tank (CT) is a steam locomotive fitted with a crane for working in railway workshops, docksides, or other industrial environments. The crane may be fitted at the front, centre or rear. The 'tank' in its name refers to water tanks mount ...

s. They survived into LMS ownership in 1923 and the last one was withdrawn in 1933. LNWR engine No

Unusually they were fitted with

launch-type boiler A launch-type, gunboat or horizontal multitubular boiler is a form of small steam boiler. It consists of a cylindrical horizontal shell with a cylindrical furnace and fire-tubes within this. Their name derives from the boiler's popular use at ...

s. These have a cylindrical furnace, rather than a conventional locomotive firebox. This limits the grate area and ashpan size, although this is not a limitation for short-ranged shunters. One advantage is that the ashpan does not project downwards, making it possible to place the rear axle further back. For a dock shunter operating on tight radius curves this is useful, as it reduces the rear overhang and so the amount by which the coupling and buffers swing sideways on curves.

Preservation

One example survives in the NRM collection, kept at the

Ribble Steam Railway The Ribble Steam Railway is a standard gauge Heritage railway, preserved railway in Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public on 17 September 2005, running along Preston, Lancashire, Preston Docks. The railway began by h ...

. 1439 was built at Crewe in 1865. Re-numbered as 3042, it worked on the

Liverpool Docks The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the ...

railway system, with oil fuel apparatus and a warning bell for use on the roadway lines. After the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914, it was loaned to the

Kynoch Kynoch was a manufacturer of ammunition, later incorporated into ICI but remaining as a brand name for sporting cartridges. History The firm of Pursall and Phillips operated a 'percussion cap manufactory' at Whittall Street, in Birmingham, i ...

shell factory at

Witton, Birmingham Witton is an inner city area in Birmingham, England, in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands. It was within the ancient parish of Aston in the Hemlingford hundred of the historic county of Warwickshire. It is known as the home of Aston V ...

and re-numbered 4. The larger round buffers, typical for small shunters, were fitted at this time. After the war, Kynoch purchased the locomotive and kept it in service. In 1935, it was given a new boiler by

W. G. Bagnall W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England which was founded in 1875 and operated until it was taken over in 1962 by English Electric. History The company was founded in 1875 by William Gordon Bagnall. The majority ...

, a noted maker of small launch-type boilers, with an increased working pressure of 160 psi and the original Ramsbottom safety valve replaced by two Pop safety valves. It became surplus in 1953, and was given to the BTC in 1954 for the beginnings of the National Railway Museum collection as the only surviving example of an original Ramsbottom locomotive (As ''Cornwall'' was one he rebuilt). Since January 2009, it has been displayed at the Ribble Steam Railway.

References

* * * {{LNWR Locomotives 4ft shunter 0-4-0ST locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Railway locomotives introduced in 1863