LMS Route: Trent Valley Line

LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Nuneaton Shed: lnwrns1639

Ex-LMS Mogul No 43023 is pictured in as built condition, in front of the under-repair Nuneaton loco shed, during the summer of 1950. Completed in January 1949 by Horwich Works, the engine joined 5 classmates at Nuneaton (2B). The class was designated 4F under LMS auspices, but considered as 4MT by British Railways after Nationalisation in January 1948. George Ivatt used the American S160 class 2-8-0 freight engines as a base design and made his engine shorter and smaller. The double chimney was fitted to the first 50 engines of the class and was larger than necessary because the outlet pipes were splayed relative to each other and not parallel, as with most designs. After much consternation, debate and testing by Swindon Works, a single version chimney in conjunction with a single blastpipe and re-draughting took place, using '43027' and later '43094' as the test engines, resulting in a superior locomotive. Also of note were the smaller tender wheels which did not impinge on the base of the water tank and the continuation of the cab housing onto the front of the uniquely shaped design of tender. No 43023 remained in service until December 1967 when it was withdrawn from Workington shed to be scrapped in April 1968 by GH Campbell of Airdrie.

Derek Dean

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