LNWR Claughton Class
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) Claughton Class was a class of 4-cylinder express passenger 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...

 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 in 1913, the first of the class No. 2222 was named in honour of Sir Gilbert Claughton, who was the Chairman of the LNWR at that time. A total of 130 were built, all at 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 1921.

The LNWR reused numbers and names from withdrawn locomotives, with the result that the numbering was completely haphazard. An exception was made for the LNWR's war memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...

 engine, 1920 - built Patriot, which acquired the number 1914 from a Renown Class
LNWR Renown Class
The London and North Western Railway Renown Class was a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotives. They were rebuilds of F.W. Webb's 4 cylinder compounds of the Jubilee and Alfred the Great classes into 2 cylinder simple engines by George Whale, later continued by Charles Bowen-Cooke.The first to be...

 locomotive. The LMS renumbered them into the more logical series 5900–6029, no. 1914 becoming 5964. Twenty were rebuilt by the LMS with larger boilers, and ten of these had Caprotti valve gear
Caprotti valve gear
The Caprotti valve gear is a type of steam engine valve gear invented in the early 1920's by Italian architect and engineer Arturo Caprotti. It uses camshafts and poppet valves rather than the piston valves used in other valve gear...

. Twelve others were rebuilt as the initial engines of the LMS Patriot Class
LMS Patriot Class
The Patriot Class was a class of 52 express 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...

, though not much material was reused.

From 1927 with the introduction of the LMS Royal Scot Class
LMS Royal Scot Class
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Royal Scot Class is a class of 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive introduced in 1927. Originally having parallel boilers, all members were later rebuilt with tapered type 2A boilers, and were in effect two classes.-Background:Until the mid-1920s, the LMS...

, the Claughtons' main work had been taken away and many were transferred to the Midland Division.

At the end of 1939, all but one, 6004 Princess Louise, had been withdrawn. The Second World War caused such a motive power shortage however that 6004 soldiered on in terrible condition on local freight duties in the Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

 area. Acquired by British Railways in 1948, it was allocated the BR number 46004 but was withdrawn in 1949 without it being applied. None were preserved.

Details



  • † Locomotives fitted with larger boilers from 1928.
  • ‡ Locomotives fitted with Caprotti valve gear and larger boilers from 1928.

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