Power Classification	4F
Introduced	1911 – 1922
Designer	Fowler
Company	MR
Weight – Loco	48t 15cwt
Tender	41t 4cwt
Driving Wheels	5ft 3ins
Boiler Pressure	175psi superheated
Cylinders	Inside – 20in x 26in
Tractive Effort	24,555lbf
Valve Gear	Stephenson (piston valves)

In 1911 two prototypes for the Fowler 4F 0-6-0 design were completed at Derby. The most radical improvement over the earlier Deeley designed Midland 0-6-0 locomotives was the inclusion of superheaters. Number 3835 was equipped with the type invented by the German engineer Whilhelm Schmidt whilst 3836 had been built with a version of the double-pass superheater developed by the Great Western Railway. Both were incorporated into a new Midland Railway (MR) G7S boiler which was used for the Fowler engines introduced in 1924. Many of the other features were standard to earlier MR locomotives.

	Deeley 0-6-0 introduced on the Midland Railway in 1903
	Fowler 0-6-0 introduced on the Midland railway in 1924

The prototype engines were allocated to Saltley depot from where they were deployed on both passenger and goods work. In the summer of 1912, comparative tests, were undertaken with two none superheated Deeley 0-6-0 engines to study the coal and water consumption of the different designs. The locomotives were attached to loaded trains of 600tons for the southbound run and on the return they pulled a rake of 50   or 100 empty wagons. Problems immediately occurred between the superheater elements and the superheater headers on both of the Fowler engines. In addition, after only two runs 3836 had to be fitted with new valves and liners. Nevertheless results showed the locomotive with the Schmidt superheater (3835) to be the most economical as it demonstrated savings in coal and water consumption.

It was not five years later though that any further locomotives of the Fowler 0-6-0 locomotives were produced. This was in course partly due to the First World War but it should also be noted that at the time the MR already had nearly one thousand five hundred 0-6-0 engines which represented about half of its entire motive power stock.

All of the class were equipped with superheates and fitted with Belpaire boilers. They had a slightly higher pitched boiler, in order to clear the piston valves. They were later adopted as the basis for an LMS standard type and 580 (44027-44606) more were built from 1924 onwards.

Development of the Midland Railway 0-6-0.

A total of 197 engines were built. 192 of them were sequentially numbered 3835–4026 for the Midland Railway. After nationalisation in 1948 British Railways added 40000 to their numbers so they became 43835–44026. Five engines were constructed by Armstrong Whitworth for the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in 1922, numbered 57–61. They were absorbed into LMS stock in 1930, becoming 4557–4561 and included in the 44027-44606 class.

The June 1925 allocation to depots of the 192 MR locomotives is shown below.

Motif Power Depot	Locomotives	Number
Derby	3872/78/79	3
Saltley	3869-71, 3911-13	6
Leicester/Coalville	3873-77/80-84, 3936-39, 3950	15
Wellingborough	3885-3902, 3914-27	32
Kentish Town	3931-35	5
Toton	3835-68, 3903-10/40-49/90-91/93	55
Nottingham	3951-58	8
Walton	4017-21	5
Belle Vue	4022-26	5
Westhouses	3959-63	5
Hasland	3964-68	5
Staveley	3969-74	6
Brightside	3975-86	12
Leeds	3928-30/87-89/92/94-98	12
Carlisle	3999-4016	18
		192

They were later to be found all over the Midland Region and a few were based in the Scotland and on the Eastern Region (mainly at Staveley Barrow Hill) and on the Western Region at Gloucester and Bristol. At least one member of the class spent time allocated to Spital Bridge shed at Peterborough but this was mainly in the period when that depot was part of the LMS.

The first two were given reconstructed 2950 gallon tenders taken from 4-4-0s. Many of the remaining Midland engines had second hand 3250 gallon tenders fitted as a temporary measure. 3837 to 3847 were first attached to modified second hand Schenectady tenders from withdrawn American 2-6-0s and 3848 to 3851 had ex 2-4-0 tenders. Second-hand tenders were also used on engines up to 3876 including some from 4-2-2s. The old 3250 gallon varieties were replaced with 3500 gallon types, although in addition 3889/92/94/95 and 3917 all had the 3250 variety at one time.

New 3500 gallon tenders were fitted starting with 3877, initially of the standard MR pattern followed by the new Fowler LMS standard 3500 gallon variety The tenders attached to 3954/55/57/58 had Whittaker’s tablet exchange apparatus for use on the M&GN and S&DJ sections, as did many other engines (primarily on the S&D) in the BR period.

It is interesting to note that Stanier who was responsible for modernising much of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) stock built  45 of these locomotives during his period as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LMS.

Number in Service.

	Built		Withdrawals	No. in Service
	BR Numbers	Quantity
1911	43835-36	2		2
1917	43836-51	15		17
1918	43852-79	28		45
1919	43880-901	22		67
1920	43902-33	32		99
1921	43934-66 & 43987-4020	67		166
1922	43967-86 & 44021-26	26		192
1923-53				192
1954	43862		1	191
1955			5	186
1956			8	178
1957			19	159
1958			3	156
1959			36	120
1960			8	112
1961			15	97
1962			20	77
1963			21	56
1964			35	21
1965			21	0

• 43835-43936 and 43987-44026 were built at Derby
• 43937-86 were built by Armstrong Whitworth

The first withdrawal from service was in 1954 when 43862 was taken out of service at Saltley. The last twenty-one of the class in service survived until 1965 with 43953 being the last to be withdrawn in November 1965 whilst based at Workington. See photo below.

The allocation of the final 21 in service in January 1965 was rather different from the allocation in 1925.

Bristol Barrow Road	1
Buxton	1
Carlisle Kingmoor	1
Gloucester	1
Kirky in Ashfield	2
Royston	2
Skipton	5
Stourton	1
Sutton Oak	1
Westhouses	3
Workington	3
	21

Accidents and Incidents

• On 19 November 1926, locomotive 3980 was one of two hauling a freight train. One of the private owner wagons disintegrated, derailing the train at Parkgate and Rawmarsh, Yorkshire. A signal post was partly brought down, obstructing an adjacent line. The carriages of an express passenger train had their sides ripped open by the signal post. Eleven people were killed.
• On 6 March 1930, locomotive 4009 was hauling a ballast train that was in collision with a passenger train at Langwathby station, Cumberland. The passenger train had departed from Culgaith against signals. Two people were killed and four were seriously injured.

 

43953 on Workington shed-14th November 1965. It had spent most of its working life based at Bristol Barrow Road and Burton. It was the last member of the class to be withdrawn from service when it ended its working life in the month I photographed it. It was scrapped in January 1966.

Preservation

• 43924 LMS 3924 & BR 43924)

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