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 LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR) Class B was a class of

steam locomotives 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 ...

introduced in 1901. A development of the three-cylinder compound Class A (though this letter classification was not introduced until 1911), they had a 4-cylinder

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

arrangement. 170 were built between 1901 and 1904.

Rebuilds

;Class E Between 1904 and 1908, Webb's successor

George Whale George Whale (7 December 1842 – 7 March 1910) was an English locomotive engineer who was born in Bocking, Essex, and educated in Lewisham, London. He worked for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Career In 1858 he entered the LNWR's ...

added a leading

pony truck A Bissell or Bissel truck (also Bissel bogie or pony truck) is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by and usually then known as a ''pony truck'' ...

to 26 engines, making them s and taking them into Class E (again from 1911). ;Class F Between 1906 and 1908, Whale also rebuilt 10 with larger

Experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

-type boiler to Class F, again adding a leading pony truck. (Two more of Class B were also converted to Class F ''via'' Class E). ;Class G Neither of the above conversions was particularly successful and, as a result, 32 were rebuilt to Class G with 2-cylinder simple expansion between 1910 and 1917. ;Class G1 Whale's Successor

Charles Bowen Cooke Charles John Bowen Cooke (11 January 1859 – 18 October 1920) was born in Orton Longueville (then in Huntingdonshire) and was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). He was the first to add superheating t ...

rebuilt a further 91 direct from Class B to 2-cylinder simple superheated

LNWR Class G1 The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Class G1 was a class of steam locomotives. It was a superheated version of the LNWR Class G with 8 inch piston valves. The prototype was rebuilt in 1912 from a member of Class G and a furt ...

(also known as "Super Ds"). The rebuilds from Class B to Class G1 continued under LMS ownership between 1923 and 1927. ;Summary A total of 170 locomotives was built but No. 134 was destroyed in a

boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety val ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

on 11 November 1921 leaving 169. The rebuilds (some under LMS ownership) totalled 159, leaving 10 unrebuilt.

LMS ownership

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) inherited 53 unrebuilt Class B locomotives in 1923 and numbered them 8900–8952. The LMS continued to rebuild them to Class G1 and the number of unrebuilt locomotives dwindled to 10.

Withdrawal

The remaining 10 Class B locomotives were withdrawn in 1927–1928. None were preserved.

Rebuilds

LMS ownership

Withdrawal

References

Further reading