LMS Fowler Class 4F - Gateway to the LMS

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Class 4F
LMS Class 4F no. 44422
Technical Data
Introduced : 1911
Number built : 772
Wheel arrangement :  0-6-0
Originally introduced by the Midland Railway, it says a lot that the LMS  continued to produce this class of locomotive until 1941.   It was originally intended to  be an attempt to reduce the need for the Midland Railway for double-heading  their freight trains; whether or not it was successful in this is debatable as  compared to later LMS designs it wasn't all that powerful.   It also suffered  the typical Midland design weaknesses in the front end design and the axlebox  bearings.   However they were robust, simple and relatively cheap to build and so it is  perhaps not too surprising that the LMS continued with their construction, even  after class 5F and 8F locomotives were introduced.  It was only the post-war Ivatt  designs that finally removed the need for any more of this class to be  constructed.   
Midland Railway-built Locomotives
Number
Works Built at
Year Built
3835-3836
Derby
1911
3837-3851
Derby
1917
3852-3901
Derby
1918-1919
3902-3936
Derby
1920-1921
3937-3986
Armstrong Whitworth
1921-1922
3987-4026
Derby
1921-1922
SDJR 57-61
Armstrong Whitworth
1921-1922
Note: The locomotives built for the Somerset and Dorset Railway  in the above table were taken into LMS stock in 1930 and renumbered 4557-4561  (hence the gap in the table on the right).  
LMS-built Locomotives
Number
Works Built at
Year Built
4027-4034
Derby
1924-1925
4057-4081
North British
1925
4082-4106
Kerr, Stuart
1925-1926
4107-4176
Crewe
1924-1926
4177-4178
St Rollox
1924
4179-4206
St Rollox
1926
4207-4301
Derby
1925-1927
4302-4311
Crewe
1926
4312-4331
St Rollox
1927-1928
4332-4356
Kerr, Stuart
1926-1927
4357-4381
Andrew Barclay
1926-1927
4382-4406
North British
1926-1927
4407-4436
Derby
1927
4437-4456
Crewe
1927-1928
4457-4466
Horwich
1928
4467-4476
St Rollox
1928
4477-4506
North British
1927
4507-4556
Crewe
1928
4562-4576
Crewe
1937
4577-4606
Derby
1939-1941
Preservation

4 of the class survive:
3924 - Located at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, operational
4027 - Located at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, under overhaul
4123 - Located at the Avon Valley Railway, undergoing restoration
4422 - Undergoing overhaul.   
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