LMS Route: Evesham to Birmingham

Kings Norton Locomotives: mrknlms195

Ex-MR 4-4-0 'Compound' No 1001 heads a down express pasenger service past the carriage sidings in March 1930. The 'Compounds' were developed from a series of five locomotives (No 2631 to No 2635) introduced in 1902 by Samuel W Johnson which had had a 3-cylinder compound arrangement on the Smith system. This had one high pressure inside cylinder and two low pressure outside cylinders plus Smith's starting arrangement. The first two locomotives also were equipped with independent control of high-pressure and low-pressure valve gears. From 1905 onwards, Johnson's successor Richard Deeley built an enlarged and simplified version, eliminating all the Smith refinements whilst fitting his own starting arrangement, making the engines simpler to drive. These locomotives were originally numbered 1000–1029, but in the 1907 renumbering scheme the five Smith/Johnson locomotives became 1000–1004 and the Deeley compounds 1005–1034, ten more of these being added in 1908–1909. The original Johnson locomotives were all subsequently renewed in 1914 as Deeley compounds, including No 1002 seen above and the now-preserved 1000 both outshopped with a superheater on the same occasion.

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