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 London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

(LMS) Fairburn Tank

2-6-4T Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a locomotive has two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels. Overview With only a few known exceptions, the Adriatic wheel arrangement was usual ...

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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

. They were designed by Charles E. Fairburn for the LMS. 277 of these locomotives were built between 1945 and 1951, numbered in the range 42050–42186, (4)2187–(4)2299, (4)2673–(4)2699.

Overview

This design was based on the earlier Stanier LMS Stanier 2-6-4T, which was derived from Henry Fowler's

LMS Fowler 2-6-4T The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Fowler 2-6-4T was a class of steam locomotive passenger tank engine designed by Henry Fowler (engineer), Henry Fowler. Construction 125 examples of the class were built. The last 30 numbered 2395 ...

engine. Fairburn modified the design to have a shorter coupled wheelbase, reduced from to allowing curves of 5 chains to be negotiated; to reduce the locomotives mass per unit length the overall weight was reduced by . It was also the basis for the later

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways Standard Class 4 tank. They were used mainly for suburban passenger trains. Forty-one examples of the class were constructed by

Brighton railway works Brighton railway works (also known as Brighton locomotive works, or just the Brighton works) was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-d ...

for service on the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the south ...

in 1950 and 1951, replacing earlier designs. Of these, seven were transferred to the North Eastern Region between Spring 1952 and the end of 1954; the other 34 were exchanged for a like number of

London Midland Region The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4T locomotives at the end of 1959.

Accidents and incidents

*On 19 April 1955, locomotive No. 42073 was in collision with V2 No. 60968 at station,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. Both locomotives were derailed.

Withdrawal

The class was withdrawn between 1961 and 1967.

Preservation

Two of the Brighton-built locomotives have survived in preservation. In its early days, 2085 carried

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was formed in 1845 with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively ex ...

blue livery, complete with an oval brass Caledonian number plate. This attractive livery was popular with the public, but strongly divided opinions in the preservation movement for its inaccuracy. At the same time, 2073 was painted in LNWR blackberry black, which was comparably anachronistic but generated less hostility as it did at least resemble the original livery.

Models

Bachmann produces a 00 Gauge model of the Fairburn 4MT in LMS Black as well as early and late BR, numbered as 42073. Bachmann (Graham Farish) also produces several N gauge variants: 2691 in LMS black, 42096 (early BR black), and 42073 (late BR black).

ACE Trains An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

have produced an O-gauge model of 2085 in its early-preservation Caledonian Railway blue livery, although the model is actually of a Stanier designed 2-6-4T.

Images

References

Sources

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External links

{{commons category, LMS Fairburn Class 4 2-6-4T,
LMS Fairburn Class 4 2-6-4T 4 Fairburn 2-6-4T 2-6-4T locomotives 1′C2′ h2t locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1945 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives