x
Home
Search
Topics
Almanac
Science
Nature
People
History
Society
Signup
Login
HOME
TOPICS
ALMANAC
SCIENCE
NATURE
PEOPLE
HISTORY
SOCIETY
PHILOSOPHY
LNWR Whale Precursor Class
Topic Home
Discussion
0
Encyclopedia
The London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 (LNWR) Precursor Class, the second to be known by that name, was a class of 4-4-0
4-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels...

 steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s.

They were introduced by George Whale
George Whale
George Whale was a British locomotive engineer who worked for the London and North Western Railway .Whale was born in Bocking, Essex. In 1858 he entered Wolverton Works under James Edward McConnell, and from 1862 under John Ramsbottom. In 1865 he entered the drawing office at Crewe Works, and in...

 in 1904 and 130 examples were built by Crewe Works
Crewe Works
Crewe railway works is a British railway engineering facility built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway. It is located in the town of Crewe, in the county of Cheshire....

 up to 1907. Their introduction allowed Whale to phase out his predecessor Francis Webb
Francis Webb (engineer)
Francis William Webb was a British engineer responsible for the design and manufacture of locomotives for the London and North Western Railway .- Biography :...

's unreliable compounds. They were essentially a larger version of Webb's LNWR Improved Precedent Class
LNWR Improved Precedent Class
The London and North Western Railway Improved Precedent Class or "Jumbo" Class is a class of 2-4-0 steam locomotive originally designed for express passenger work....

. As built, they were saturated, though some were later superheated.

Whale's Experiment Class
LNWR Whale Experiment Class
The London and North Western Railway Experiment Class of was a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed by George Whale.They were an extended version of the Whale's Precursor Class 4-4-0, with slightly smaller driving wheels. The first of the class, 66 Experiment was built in 1905 and a total of...

 4-6-0
4-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This wheel arrangement became the second-most popular...

 were essentially an extended version built from 1905. An Atlantic
4-4-2 (locomotive)
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-2 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...

 tank engine version, Precursor Tank Class
LNWR Precursor Tank Class
The London and North Western Railway Precursor Tank Class was a class of 4-4-2 tank steam locomotives. Fifty were built to the design of George Whale between 1906 and 1909, being a tank engine version of his Precursor Class....

 was also built from 1906. The Precursors were developed by Charles Bowen-Cooke
Charles Bowen-Cooke
Charles John Bowen Cooke was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Western Railway . He was the first to add superheating to the locomotives of the railway. He wrote a book called British locomotives: their history, construction; and modern development which was published in 1893,...

 into the superheated George the Fifth Class
LNWR George the Fifth Class
The London and North Western Railway George the Fifth Class was a class of 4-4-0 passenger steam locomotive.They were introduced in 1910 by Charles Bowen-Cooke and construction continued until 1915. They were essentially superheated versions of the LNWR Whale Precursor Class...

 4-4-0 (1910). The main visual difference was that the Precursors had separate splashers over each of the driving wheels while the Georges had combined splashers that covered both pairs.

The LNWR reused numbers and names from withdrawn locomotives, with the result that the numbering system was completely haphazard. Starting with the first of the class 513 Precursor in 1913, were given superheater
Superheater
A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into dry steam used for power generation or processes. There are three types of superheaters namely: radiant, convection, and separately fired...

s, the process continuing until just after grouping in 1923. Most of the superheated engines were also converted from having slide valves to piston valve
Piston valve
A piston valve is a device used to control the motion of a fluid along a tube or pipe by means of the linear motion of a piston within a chamber or cylinder.Examples of piston valves are:...

s.

This resulted in two main subclasses; saturated locomotives with 19 by 26 in (48.3 by 66 ) cylinders, and superheated locomotives with 20.5 by 26 in (52.1 by 66 ) cylinders. The LMS gave them the power classification 3P. The saturated engines were given the LMS numbers in the 5187–5266 series, though not all survived long enough to receive them. The superheated engines were given the LMS numbers 5270–5319 (5267–5269 were not used).

The LMS continued to superheat engines until 1926, these rebuilds retained their LMS number. Also, three superheated engines became saturated via boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

 swaps.

Withdrawals of the saturated engines started in 1927 and the last engine in as built condition was withdrawn in 1935. The four superheated engines which retained slide valves were withdrawn 1931–1936. Withdrawals of the superheated engines with piston valves began in 1935. Those not withdrawn had 20000 added to their numbers 1934–1937 to make room for Black Fives
LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0
The London Midland and Scottish Railway's Class 5 4-6-0, almost universally known as the Black Five, is a class of steam locomotive. It was introduced by William Stanier in 1934 and 842 were built between then and 1951...

.

At the end of 1939 only seven survived. Only a single example was inherited by British Railways in 1948, 25297 Sirocco, which was withdrawn in 1949. Despite being allocated the number 58010, that was never applied.

None was preserved.

Stock list


  • † Locomotives that had 20000 added to their LMS number.
  • ‡ Locomotive had 20000 added to LMS number; allocated 58010 by British Railways, but number never carried.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
Silverdale Interactive © 2024. All Rights Reserved.
 
x
OK