The LMS Patriot Class was a class of 52 express 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotives built for the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The first locomotive of the class was built in 1930 and the last in 1934. All of the Patriot class locomotives were withdrawn from service by 1965. The class was based on the chassis of the Royal Scot combined with the boiler from Large Claughtons earning them the nickname Baby Scots.
Background[]
The first two were rebuilt in 1930 from the 1912-built LNWR Large Claughton Class, retaining the original driving wheels with their large bosses, the "double radial" bogie truck and some other parts. Of the subsequent 50 locomotives of the class 40 were nominal rebuilds of Claughtons, being in fact new builds classified as rebuilt engines so that they could be charged to revenue accounts, rather than capital. The last ten were classified as new builds.
The two former Claughtons retained their original numbers until 1934, when they were renumbered 5500–1. The 40 built as replacements took the numbers of the Claughtons that they replaced; these were renumbered 5502–41 in 1934. The remainder of the class were allocated nos. 6030–9, but were numbered 5542–51 from new. BR added 40000 to their numbers to make them 45500–51. The numbering of the similar LMS Jubilee Class continued on from where the Patriots left off. This was because 5552–5556 were ordered as Patriots (to be numbered 6040–4) but built with taper boilers as Jubilees on the orders of Sir William Stanier.
Naming of the class was somewhat erratic. Some retained old Claughton names, whilst others continued the military associations of the names Patriot and St Dunstans, and 13 carried names of holiday resorts served by the LMS. Seven remained unnamed, although they had been allocated names in 1943.
Between 1946 and 1948 after the end of World War 2 eighteen locomotives were rebuilt with Stanier 2A boiler, cab and tender, though again these were paper rebuilds. The rebuilt engines were (4)5512/14/21–23/25–32/34–36/45. These were originally built without smoke deflectors but starting in 1948 were fitted with LMS Royal Scot Class pattern deflectors. The two original members of the class, and the first ten of the nominal rebuilds, were not rebuilt due to their non-standard parts.
Accidents and incidents[]
- On 13 March 1935, a milk train, hauled by LMS Compound 4-4-0 No. 1165, was in a rear-end collision with an express freight train, hauled LNWR Claughton Class 4-6-0 No. 5946, at King's Langley, Hertfordshire due to a signalman's error. No. 5511 was hauling a freight train that collided with the wreckage. A coal train hauled by LMS Class 7F 0-8-0 No. 9598 then ran into the wreck. 1 person was killed.[6]
- On 16 October 1939, No. 5544 was hauling a train that was in a collision with another train at Winwick Junction, Cheshire and was derailed.[7]
- On 13 October 1940, No. 5529 was hauling an express passenger train that collided with a platform barrow obstructing the line at Wembley Central station, Middlesex and was derailed. Several people were killed and many more were injured.
Withdrawal[]
All of the unrebuilt Patriots were withdrawn between 1960 and 1962[9] in accordance with the BR Modernisation Plan. None have survived to preservation.
The Unknown Warrior[]
In 2007 a proposal to build a new built LMS Patriot, using the surviving drawings, was published in the 13 July issue of Steam Railway magazine. This led to the formation of a Limited Company with charitable status. The engine was built using the number of the last Patriot which is 5551. Since the original locomotive had no name, the new one will be named The Unknown Warrior.
In Fiction[]
- This class of engine forms the basis of the Big City Engine from the 'Railway Series' of children's books by the Rev. W. Awdry.
Models[]
Both Hornby and Bachmann have produced OO gauge models.
Hornby first introduced an original Patriot in the 1979 catalogue that has remained in production and now forms part of the 'Railroad' budget (i.e. toy) range.
Gallery[]
_to_York_express_at_Bromsgrove_2093445_81a11e17.jpg "Bristol (Temple Meads) to York express at Bromsgrove 2093445 81a11e17.jpg (88 KB)")
