LMS Class 7F 0-8-0

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Fowler Class 7F was a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotives. They were a Midlandised version of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Class G2 and Class G2A 0-8-0s. They were also classified as Class G3 under the former LNWR system. The class were sometimes known as Baby Austins, or Austin 7s, after a motor car that was becoming popular at the time.

LMS 7F 0-8-0
49592 at Aintree, June 1948.
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
BuilderLMS Crewe Works
Build date1929–1932
Total produced175
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte0-8-0
 • UICD h2
Gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Driver dia.4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
WheelbaseLoco: 18 ft 3 in (5.56 m)
Length56 ft 1 in (17.09 m)
Loco weight60.75 long tons (61.72 t; 68.04 short tons)
Tender weight41.20 long tons (41.86 t; 46.14 short tons)
Total weight101.95 long tons (103.59 t; 114.18 short tons)
Fuel typeCoal
Fuel capacity4 long tons (4.1 t; 4.5 short tons)
Water cap3,500 imp gal (16,000 l; 4,200 US gal)
Firebox:
 • Firegrate area		23.5 sq ft (2.18 m2)
BoilerLMS type G7¾S
Boiler pressure200 lbf/in2 (1.38 MPa)
Heating surface:
 • Tubes and flues		1,434 sq ft (133.2 m2) later 1,402 sq ft (130.3 m2)
 • Firebox150 sq ft (14 m2)
Superheater:
​
 • Heating area353 sq ft (32.8 m2) to 338 sq ft (31.4 m2)
CylindersTwo
Cylinder size19 1⁄2 in × 26 in (495 mm × 660 mm)
Valve gearWalschaerts, piston valves
Performance figures
Tractive effort29,745 lbf (132.31 kN)
Career
Power class7F
Numbers
  • LMS: 9500–9674
  • BR: 49500–49674
Nicknames
  • Baby Austins
  • Austin Sevens
Withdrawn1949–1962
DispositionAll scrapped

Overview
49560 with a typical freight duty in 1950

It featured a Belpaire firebox and increased boiler pressure over its predecessor but had the same power rating of 7F. Unfortunately the design had been done at the old Midlands Railway's Derby Works and the drawing office staff insisted on using Midland practice. Among other things this meant that the axle bearings were too small for the loads they had to carry. E.S. Cox, writing in a series of articles in Trains Illustrated c. 1957, suggests that they had a sufficiently modern and effective front end that, for steady slogging, some drivers preferred them to an LMS Stanier Class 8F. However, this also meant that, with bearings comparable to an LMS Fowler Class 4F and already inadequate for the lower powered engine, the bearings broke up rapidly.

Numbering
Number Lot
Number		 Date
built		 Crewe Works
serial Nos.
LMS BR
9500–99 49500–99 57 1929 5872–5971
9600–02 49600–02 71 1930 6047–49
9603–19 49603–19 71 1931 6050–66
9620–32 49620–32 81 1931 1–13
9633 49633 81 1932 14
9634–35 49634–35 81 1931 15–16
9636–59 49636–59 81 1932 17–40
9660–74 49660–74 84 1932 41–55

Equipment

Numbers 9672–74 were fitted with ACFI feedwater heaters when built but these were removed during the Second World War. After the war, five were briefly converted to oil burning.

British Railways

They all survived to pass into British Railways ownership but 122 had been withdrawn by the end of 1951; fifty were withdrawn without receiving their BR number. They had a fairly short life and were all withdrawn between 1949 and 1962, some time before the G2s which lasted until 1964.

Accidents and incidents
  • On 13 March 1935, a milk train was in a rear-end collision with an express freight train at King's Langley, Hertfordshire due to a signalman's error. Another freight train collided with the wreckage. Locomotive No. 9598 was hauling a coal train that ran into the wreckage. One person was killed.[1]
  • On 14 May 1948, a locomotive of the class was hauling a freight train that ran away and was in collision with an empty stock train at Battyeford, Yorkshire.[2]

Withdrawal
Table of withdrawals
YearQuantity in
service at
start of year		Quantity
withdrawn		Locomotive numbers
1949175619504/07/12/17–18/21–22/27–28/30/33–34/42/46/49–50/59/65/73/75–77/84/97/99,
9601/04/06/13–14/16/26/29/32–33/39/42/44–46/52/54/56/58/69–70,
49513/25–26/39/51–52/64/81/84, 49607/11/22/30/43/47.
1950114379514/29, 9619/21,
49500–01/16/19–20/31/35/37/41/43/53/56/61/67/69/74–75/79/83/96,
49605/09/15/28/34–36/41/49/51/53/55/65.
1951772449502/10/23/40/58/68/71/80/85/87/89–90/93–95,
49610/17/23/25/31/50/60/63/73.
195253649506/48/63/91, 49661/71.
195347449524, 49600/08/12.
195443249503, 49602.
195541349554/57/70.
195638649532/52, 49603/20/38/66.
1957321249536/38/45/47/55/60/66, 49648/57/59/64/72.
1958200—
1959201149509/11/15/78/82/86/92/98, 49640/62/67.
19609449505/44, 49624/74.
19615449618/27/37/68.
19621149508.

References
  1. Hall, Stanley (1990). The Railway Detectives. London: Ian Allan. p. 99. ISBN 0 7110 1929 0.
  2. Earnshaw, Alan (1990). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 6. Penryn: Atlantic Books. p. 28. ISBN 0-906899-37-0.
  • Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, summer 1961 edition, part 3, page 52
  • Rowledge, J.W.P. (1975). Engines of the LMS built 1923–51. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-902888-59-5.
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