LMS Hughes Crab
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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) Hughes Crab or Horwich Mogul is a class of mixed-traffic
2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. T ...
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 ...
built between 1926 and 1932. They are noted for their appearance with large steeply-angled cylinders to accommodate a restricted
loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...
.


Overview

Designed by George Hughes,
chief mechanical engineer Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...
of the LMS, and built at the ex- L&YR works at Horwich and the ex-
LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...
works at
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
. The inspiration came from a
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 ...
design at the grouping, however the cylinders were too large for the LMS's English section's loading gauge, resulting in Hughes having to adapt the concept. They were put into service by his successor, Henry Fowler. The design incorporated a number of advanced features for the time such as long travel valves, compensated brake gear, a new design of tender and a new boiler, the latter based on the one fitted to Hughes's four-cylinder Baltic tank locomotives built at Horwich. Fowler tried to have the design altered to use standard Derby components. However the design process and pre-production were sufficiently advanced to prevent the fitting of a smaller Derby pattern boiler, and the cylinders and motion also remained as designed by Hughes. The tender was replaced by a Derby standard type, which was narrower than the cab. Standard Midland Railway boiler fittings and brake equipment were also substituted, and the class became something of a hybrid design. Nevertheless they performed rather well in most circumstances and gained a strong reputation in some areas, especially in Scotland, where they became the preferred locomotive for heavy unfitted mineral work on difficult routes, even after the introduction of the Stanier mixed traffic 4-6-0s.


Experiments

In 1931, five engines, 13118, 13122, 13124, 13125 and 13129 were fitted with Lentz
valve gear The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing ...
. They were renumbered as 42818, 42822, 42824, 42825 and 42829 after nationalisation. In 1953, the Lentz valve gear on these engines was replaced with Reidinger valve gear. Tests at Rugby Locomotive Testing Station in 1954 indicated the design had a maximum steaming rate of . Modifications of the chimney and blast pipe improved the maximum rate to but no other engine was modified to take advantage of this.


Successor

When an order was placed by the traffic department for delivery of 40 more examples of this type, the new chief mechanical engineer,
William Stanier Sir William Arthur Stanier (27 May 1876 – 27 September 1965) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Biography Sir William Stanier was born in Swindon, where his f ...
, decided to introduce a taper boiler version, in line with his policy of using taper boilers on all new locomotive designs. There were so many changes to the layout of the locomotive, such as higher boiler pressure and smaller cylinders, that it became a new design, the
LMS Stanier Mogul The London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 5 2-6-0 or Stanier Mogul is a class of 2-6-0 mixed traffic steam locomotives. Forty were built between October 1933 and March 1934. Overview Although all built at Crewe Works, the ...
.


Numbering

Initially numbered 13000–244, as standard locomotives they were given the lower numbers 2700–2944 in the LMS 1933 renumbering scheme. After being taken into
British Railways 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 Commis ...
stock an additional 40000 was added to their numbers, becoming 42700–42944.


Withdrawal

The class survived intact until 1961 when three were withdrawn. The remainder of the class were withdrawn over the next six years.


Accidents and incidents

*On 23 February 1937, an express freight train hauled by locomotive No. 2765 was derailed at ,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
. * On 27 August 1950, locomotive No. 42885 was in a collision ,
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...
. The engine was shunting when it was inadvertently diverted onto the mainline. The ''
Irish Mail The ''Irish Mail'' was a named train in the United Kingdom that operated from London Euston via the West Coast and North Wales Coast lines to Holyhead from 1848 until 2002, connecting with ferry services to Dublin. History The first ''I ...
'', hauled by LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot 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 abs ...
No. 46119 ''Lancashire Fusilier'', collided with it from behind. 6 people were killed in the accident. *On 19 May 1957, locomotive No. 42806 was derailed at Parkhouse, Ayr. *On 21 January 1960, in the Settle rail crash, a freight train derailed following damage to the track from a failed connecting rod assembly on a passenger locomotive on the adjacent track. The derailed locomotive, No. 42881, struck the stopped passenger train, killing 5 passengers and injuring 8 more.


Nicknames

These locomotives were referred to by
train spotters A railfan, train fan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff, anorak (British English), gunzel (Australian English), trainspotter (British English) or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally in ...
as "Crabs", although the term "Horwich mogul" was preferred by the LMS. Several authors have claimed that this refers to the resemblance to a
crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
's pincers of the outside cylinders and valve motion. Another suggestion is that the nickname refers to the "
scuttling Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel ...
" motion felt on the footplate when the engine is being worked hard, due largely to the inclined cylinders, producing a sensation that it is walking along the track. In some areas they also received the nickname "frothblowers" from their tendency to prime easily when the boiler was overfilled, or the feedwater contaminated.


Preservation


Survivors

Three have survived to preservation Note: Engine numbers in bold mean their current number.


Models

Models exist in 00 gauge. An old model was produced by Lima, and an updated model has since been produced by Bachmann. N gauge models are produced by
Graham Farish {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Graham Farish is a Chinese-owned brand of N scale, N gauge British railway models. The Graham Farish Ltd company was founded in 1928 in the UK and Kader Group of Hong Kong bought the firm in 2001. Kader's subsidia ...
.


Notes


References


External links

{{Authority control 5 Hughes Crab 2-6-0 locomotives 1′C h2 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1926 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain