Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox locomotive The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Fowler Class 7F was a class of Template:Whyte steam locomotives. They were a Midlandised version of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Class G2 and Class G2A Template:Whyte s. They were also classified as Class G3 under the former LNWR system. The class were sometimes known as Baby Austins, or Austin 7s, after a motor car that was becoming popular at the time.

OverviewEdit

It featured a Belpaire firebox and increased boiler pressure over its predecessor but had the same power rating of 7F. Because the design had been done at the old Midland Railway's Derby Works, the drawing office staff insisted on using Midland practice. Among other things this meant that the axle bearings were too small for the loads they had to carry. E.S. Cox, writing in a series of articles in Trains Illustrated c. 1957, suggests that they had a sufficiently modern and effective front end that, for steady slogging, some drivers preferred them to an LMS Stanier Class 8F. However, this also meant that, with bearings comparable to an LMS Fowler Class 4F and already inadequate for the lower powered engine, the bearings broke up rapidly.

NumberingEdit

Number Lot
Number
Date
built
Crewe Works
serial Nos.
LMS BR
9500–99 49500–99 57 1929 5872–5971
9600–02 49600–02 71 1930 6047–49
9603–19 49603–19 71 1931 6050–66
9620–32 49620–32 81 1931 1–13
9633 49633 81 1932 14
9634–35 49634–35 81 1931 15–16
9636–59 49636–59 81 1932 17–40
9660–74 49660–74 84 1932 41–55

EquipmentEdit

Numbers 9672–74 were fitted with ACFI feedwater heaters when built but these were removed during the Second World War. After the war, five were briefly converted to oil burning.

British RailwaysEdit

All members of the class entered British Railways ownership in 1948, but 122 had been withdrawn by the end of 1951; fifty were withdrawn without receiving their BR number. They had a fairly short life, and all were withdrawn and scrapped between 1949 and 1962, some time before the final G2s were withdrawn in 1964.

Accidents and incidentsEdit

WithdrawalEdit

All engines were withdrawn between 1949 and 1962.

Table of withdrawals
Year Quantity in
service at
start of year
Quantity
withdrawn
Locomotive numbers
1949 175 61 9504/07/12/17–18/21–22/27–28/30/33–34/42/46/49–50/59/65/73/75–77/84/97/99,
9601/04/06/13–14/16/26/29/32–33/39/42/44–46/52/54/56/58/69–70,
49513/25–26/39/51–52/64/81/84, 49607/11/22/30/43/47.
1950 114 37 9514/29, 9619/21,
49500–01/16/19–20/31/35/37/41/43/53/56/61/67/69/74–75/79/83/96,
49605/09/15/28/34–36/41/49/51/53/55/65.
1951 77 24 49502/10/23/40/58/68/71/80/85/87/89–90/93–95,
49610/17/23/25/31/50/60/63/73.
1952 53 6 49506/48/63/91, 49661/71.
1953 47 4 49524, 49600/08/12.
1954 43 2 49503, 49602.
1955 41 3 49554/57/70.
1956 38 6 49532/52, 49603/20/38/66.
1957 32 12 49536/38/45/47/55/60/66, 49648/57/59/64/72.
1958 20 0
1959 20 11 49509/11/15/78/82/86/92/98, 49640/62/67.
1960 9 4 49505/44, 49624/74.
1961 5 4 49618/27/37/68.
1962 1 1 49508.

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:LMS Locomotives