The LNWR ''Samson'' Class was a class of ninety steam locomotives built by 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 ...

at their

Crewe Works Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in March 1843, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s ...

between 1863 and 1879. They were officially designated "Curved Link 6-ft Passenger" due to the use of

Stephenson valve gear The Stephenson valve gear or Stephenson link or shifting link is a simple design of valve gear that was widely used throughout the world for various kinds of steam engines. It is named after Robert Stephenson but was invented by his employees. ...

which included a curved expansion link between the fore and back eccentric rods (earlier LNWR designs had used the

Allan valve gear The Stephenson valve gear or Stephenson link or shifting link is a simple design of valve gear that was widely used throughout the world for various kinds of steam engines. It is named after Robert Stephenson but was invented by his employees. ...

which had a straight expansion link) and the use of diameter wheel centres, which, together with thick tyres gave a driving wheel diameter of . Ostensibly a mixed traffic design, they were the first locomotives with coupled driving wheels to be allocated for passenger duties on the LNWR.

History

They were designed by John Ramsbottom who had fifty built, all without cabs and with pierced driving wheel splashers. Ramsbottom's successor F. W. Webb, built forty more, all with cabs. The earlier locomotives also gained cabs, and all eventually had their splashers filled in. All ninety locomotives were 'renewed' (replaced) by a like number of Waterloo Class locomotives between 1889 and 1905, but only eighty were scrapped quickly. The ten exceptions were transferred to the Civil Engineer's list, and these were withdrawn between 1914 and 1925. No examples have been preserved.

Fleet list

References

* {{LNWR Locomotives

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2-4-0 locomotives 1B n2 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1863 Scrapped locomotives Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom