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 had followed the Midland Railway's small engine policy, which meant that it had no locomotives of sufficient power for its expresses on the West Coast Main Line. These trains were entrusted to pairs of LMS/MR Midland Compound 4-4-0s between Glasgow and, and a 4-6-0 locomotive of the LNWR Claughton Class, piloted by an LNWR George V 4-4-0, southwards to Euston station.
The Operating and Motive Power Departments of the LMS were satisfied with the small engine policy. However, in 1926 the Chief Mechanical Engineer, Henry Fowler, began the design of a compound Pacific express locomotive. The management of the LMS, faced with disagreement between the CME and the other departments, obtained a loan of a GWR Castle class locomotive, Launceston Castle, which was operated for one month between Euston and Carlisle.
Following the success of the Castle 4-6-0 in working on the LMS, a decision was taken to cancel Fowler's Pacific project, and to replace it with a 4-6-0 with three cylinders and a simple-expansion steam circuit. Because there was an urgent need for new express locomotives the LMS placed an order with the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow for 50 engines. The North British, with its extensive drawing office and two works, possessed sufficient capacity to expedite the order within a year. The Derby drawing office and North British staff collaborated in designing the class, with the latter producing the working drawings. Fowler took little part in the design process, which was carried out by Herbert Chambers, Chief Draughtsman at Derby, and his staff. The LMS requested a set of drawings of the Castle class from the GWR, but didn't receive them. Instead a set of drawings of the SR Lord Nelson Class were obtained, and used for the design of the firebox. The main features of the design followed existing Derby practice, with the cylinders and valve gear being derived from the Fowler 2-6-4T, also being designed at Derby at that time.
They were introduced without testing. Radford claims that the boiler owed much to the MR 0-10-0 Lickey Banker 'Big Bertha'. A further 20 were built by Derby Works.
They were initially named after regiments of the British Army, and after historical LNWR locomotives. Those with LNWR names were renamed in 1935 and 1936 with more names of regiments.
From late 1931, after several bizarre forms of smoke deflectors were tried on various locomotives to stop drifting smoke obscuring the crew's forward vision, the straight sided smoke deflectors were added. These were later replaced by deflectors with angled top. From 1933 the class was taken off the top-link expresses, being superseded by the LMS Princess Royal Class and later the LMS Coronation Class pacifics.

North American tour

In 1933 the LMS was invited to send a locomotive and train to the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago, USA. It was decided to send an engine of the Royal Scot class, and one was selected that was due for general overhaul. The identity of this locomotive is generally regarded as having been No. 6152 "The Kings Dragoon Guardsman". The coupled axleboxes were replaced with larger ones, based on a GWR design, and the bogie replaced by a De Glehn type, also derived from GWR practice. Springs and spring rigging were also updated, and the boiler replaced. The rebuilt locomotive assumed the identity of 6100 The Royal Scot with an enlarged nameplate with details of its appearance at the exhibition. It retained this identity after its return from the USA.

Fury

, built in 1929, was an unsuccessful experimental prototype locomotive with a high-pressure, water tube boiler and compound 3-cylinder drive, based on the Royal Scot. It was rebuilt by William Stanier in 1935 with a Type 2 conventional boiler to become 6170 British Legion. This served as the blueprint for later rebuilding, but always remained a one-off.

Rebuilding

In 1942 the LMS rebuilt two LMS Jubilee Class locomotives with Type 2A boilers, but later turned to the parallel-boilered Royal Scots whose boilers and cylinders were life-expired, and whose smokeboxes were difficult to keep airtight. Between 1943 and 1955 the whole class was rebuilt to create the LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot Class. The rebuilds were quite substantial, requiring new boiler, frames and cylinders, but in most cases the original frame stretchers, wheels, cab and fittings were retained. The usual procedure was that as each locomotive arrived for rebuilding, it was stripped and the identity transferred to a fresh frameset prepared using the parts recovered from the locomotive that had previously been rebuilt. The new frames were slightly shorter than the originals. Thus, most rebuilt examples retained their own cab, wheels etc., but most of the frame stretchers, and other integral parts of the frame were from the previously rebuilt loco.
The new 'Rebuilt Scot' design was carried out under the auspices of William Stanier, who was then engaged on war work, so was actually undertaken by George Ivatt and E.S. Cox. Initially these too were built without smoke deflectors but later acquired them.

Accidents and incidents

On 30 September 1945, at the Bourne End rail crash, 6157 The Royal Artilleryman was hauling an express passenger train which was derailed at Bourne End, Hertfordshire due to excessive speed through a set of points. Forty-three people were killed and 64 were injured.

Details

Note: Date built refers to the 'LMS build date'.
LMS
No.		BR
No.		NameBuilderDate
built		Date
rebuilt		Date
withdrawn		Notes
610046100Royal ScotDerbyPermanently swapped identities with 6152 in 1933. Swap engine 6152 Preserved under 6100's identity.
610146101Royal Scots GreyNorth British
610246102Black WatchNorth British
610346103Royal Scots FusilierNorth BritishFirst locomotive to be rebuilt with a taper boiler.
610446104Scottish BordererNorth British
610546105Cameron HighlanderNorth British
610646106Gordon HighlanderNorth BritishFitted with BR style smoke deflectors Dec. 1952
610746107Argyll and Sutherland HighlanderNorth British
610846108Seaforth HighlanderNorth British
610946109Royal EngineerNorth British
611046110Grenadier GuardsmanNorth British
611146111Royal FusilierNorth British
611246112Sherwood ForesterNorth British
611346113CameronianNorth British
611446114Coldstream GuardsmanNorth British
611546115Scots GuardsmanNorth BritishPreserved – last to be withdrawn.
611646116Irish GuardsmanNorth British
611746117Welsh GuardsmanNorth British
611846118Royal Welch FusilierNorth British
611946119Lancashire FusilierNorth British
612046120Royal Inniskilling FusilierNorth British
612146121H.L.I. from 1928North BritishRenamed 15 January 1949
612146121Highland Light Infantry, City of Glasgow RegimentNorth BritishRenamed 15 January 1949
612246122Royal Ulster RiflemanNorth British
612346123Royal Irish FusilierNorth British
612446124London Scottish RegimentNorth British
612546125Lancashire WitchNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
6125461253rd CarabinierNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
612646126Sans PareilNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
612646126Royal Army Service CorpsNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
612746127NoveltyNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
612746127The Old ContemptiblesNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
612846128MeteorNorth BritishRenamed April 1936
612846128The Lovat ScoutsNorth BritishRenamed April 1936
612946129CometNorth BritishRenamed January 1936
612946129The Scottish HorseNorth BritishRenamed January 1936
613046130LiverpoolNorth BritishRenamed June 1935
613046130The West Yorkshire RegimentNorth BritishRenamed June 1935
613146131PlanetNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613146131The Royal Warwickshire RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613246132PhoenixNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613246132The King's Regiment LiverpoolNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613346133VulcanNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613346133The Green HowardsNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613446134AtlasNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613446134The Cheshire RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613546135SamsonNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613546135The East Lancashire RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613646136GoliathNorth BritishRenamed May 1936 at Carlisle Citadel station
613646136The Border RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936 at Carlisle Citadel station
613746137VestaNorth BritishRenamed May 1936. Last locomotive to be rebuilt.
613746137The Prince of Wales's Volunteers North BritishRenamed May 1936. Last locomotive to be rebuilt.
613846138FuryNorth BritishRenamed October 1929
613846138The London Irish RiflemanNorth BritishRenamed October 1929
613946139AjaxNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
613946139The Welch RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614046140HectorNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614046140The King's Royal Rifle CorpsNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614146141CaledonianNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
614146141The North Staffordshire RegimentNorth BritishRenamed June 1936
614246142LionNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614246142The York and Lancaster RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614346143MailNorth BritishRenamed July 1934
614346143The South Staffordshire RegimentNorth BritishRenamed July 1934
614446144OstrichNorth BritishRenamed January 1933
614446144Honourable Artillery CompanyNorth BritishRenamed January 1933
614546145CondorNorth British
614546145The Duke of Wellington's Regt. North British
614646146Jenny LindNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614646146The Rifle BrigadeNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614746147CourierNorth British
614746147The Northamptonshire RegimentNorth British
614846148VelocipedeNorth BritishRenamed October 1935
614846148The Manchester RegimentNorth BritishRenamed October 1935
614946149Lady of the LakeNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
614946149The Middlesex RegimentNorth BritishRenamed May 1936
615046150The Life GuardsmanDerby
615146151The Royal Horse GuardsmanDerby
615246152The King's Dragoon GuardsmanNorth BritishPermanently swapped identities with 6100 in 1933. Preserved under identity of 6100 - first to be withdrawn.
615346153The Royal DragoonDerby
615446154The HussarDerby
615546155The LancerDerby
615646156The South Wales BordererDerby
615746157The Royal ArtillerymanDerby
615846158The Loyal RegimentDerby
615946159The Royal Air ForceDerby
616046160Queen Victoria's RiflemanDerby
616146161The King's OwnDerbyThe King's Own carried from Sep. 1930 to Jun. 1931
616146161King's OwnDerbyThe King's Own carried from Sep. 1930 to Jun. 1931
616246162Queen's Westminster RiflemanDerby
616346163Civil Service RiflemanDerby
616446164The Artists' RiflemanDerby
616546165The Ranger Derby
616646166London Rifle BrigadeDerby
616746167The Hertfordshire RegimentDerby
616846168The Girl GuideDerby
616946169The Boy ScoutDerby
617046170British LegionNorth BritishRebuilt from experimental high pressure locomotive Fury with non-interchangeable boiler.
It was the only Rebuilt Scot to carry Crimson Lake livery in service,
and a single chimney.

Preservation

No original Royal Scots in 'as built' condition survive, as all were rebuilt by 1955. However two of the rebuilt locomotives have been preserved as LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot Class examples.

In fiction

featured in the 1936 film Night Mail along with No.6108 Seaforth Highlander, the latter being cleaned at an unknown shed.
46126 Royal Army Service Corps featured in the 1949 film Train of Events

Models

Models to 00 scale of the Royal Scot in both unrebuilt and rebuilt forms have been produced by several manufacturers, and each has been available in several liveries with a variety of numbers and names. Mainline introduced a model of the rebuilt locomotives in 1977 and they were followed by Airfix who introduced their own version in 1978, but after the Airfix range was incorporated into the Mainline range, the ex-Airfix model was dropped. In unrebuilt form, G & R Wrenn introduced a model in 1980; and Mainline introduced their own version in 1982. Bachmann took over the tooling for both of the Mainline locomotives, and did do several production runs, with the ultimate intention of re-tooling the design to upgrade it to modern standards and detailing, but unfortunately for them, Hornby beat them to it.
Hornby produced their own Rebuilt Scots, these being introduced in 2007, along with the rebuilt patriot locomotives. Rivarossi made a similar model of the No. 6100 in an intermediate 1:80 scale between HO & OO in 1977 based on the original unrebuilt form in LMS livery. It also made another model of the No. 6140 "Hector" sister engine.
Graham Farish released a 'N' gauge model in 2009, in LMS Black, and BR Brunswick Green liveries.
Comet Models produce a 4 mm kit in brass and white metal for the rebuilt Scot. Wills produced an original version kit in whitemetal which Southeastern Finecast have revised this kit and added an etched chassis. Eames/Jamieson produced a rebuilt version using nickel silver for the superstructure.
Brassmasters did a limited edition kit in 4 mm.
The erstwhile Kitmaster company produced an unpowered polystyrene injection moulded model kit for TT gauge. In late 1962, the Kitmaster brand was sold by its parent company to Airfix. It is thought that the moulds for this locomotive were amongst those lost or destroyed at about this time or before. As a result, unmade examples of this kit exchange hands between collectors for considerable sums.