Power Classification	5XP reclassified 6P5F in 1951 Rebuilt – 6P reclassified as 7P in 1951
Introduced	1934 – 1936 (two rebuilt in 1942)
Designer	Stanier
Company	LMS
Weight – Loco	79t 11cwt – Rebuilt 82t 0cwt
Tender	54t 13cwt
Driving Wheels	6ft 9ins
Boiler Pressure	225psi superheated – Rebuilt 250 psi superheated
Cylinders	Three – 17in x 26in
Tractive Effort	26,610lbf – Rebuilt 29,570lbf
Valve Gear	Walschaert (piston valves)

When the Jubilee class was first introduced in 1934 it was simplified as 5XP. The following year the LMS hierarchy selected the class to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary. As they entered service the locomotives were named after dominions and dependencies of the British Empire, heroes of the Royal Navy and famous ships of the line.

The first members of the class had been ordered as Fowler Patriot class locomotives but Stanier built them with taper boilers and top feeds and became Jubilees.

Construction

• Although built over only a 3-year period the class had many variations due to improvements being made as they were built. The major differences were:
• Boilers – 10 variations, mainly affecting the number of tubes. The earlier boilers were domeless but later boilers were domed. There were 2 sizes of fire grate area depending on whether the firebox throatplate was straight or sloping.
• Bogies – Approximately 50 of the earlier locomotives were built with ex-Claughton bogies which had a 6’3” wheelbase compared to the later locomotives built with new bogies that had a wheelbase of 6’ 6”.
• Smokebox Saddle – The first 113 locomotives were built with a 2 piece saddle, the rest had a conventional 1 piece saddle.
• Tenders – 3 basic patterns were fitted; Fowler 3,500 gall. Fowler high-sided (10 off) and Stanier 4,000 gall. However, taking into account rivets, wheelbase, and welds this can be subdivided into a total of 8 patterns.

The engines came out concurrently with Stanier’s 5MT Black Five class, and were designed for all ordinary main line work on the LMS apart from the heaviest top-link jobs, for which the 8P 46200 Princess class had been built.

	Black Five class introduced 1934
	Jubilee class introduced 1934
	Patriot class introduced by Fowler in 1930
	Princess class introduced in 1933

One hundred and thirteen engines were ordered without a prototype because there was an urgent need for new engines and they were thought to combine the best features of the Patriots and the recently introduced Stanier Black Five.  At first the Jubilees  were a disappointment, often being short of steam. After extensive trials, alterations to the blast-pipe and chimney dimensions greatly improved their steaming ability. The initial problem was due to the use of GWR principles with which Stanier was well acquainted but which did not transfer from 4-cylinder locomoives to those fitted with 3-cylinders. The Swindon design of low-degree superheating worked well when accompanied by free-flowing steam circuit and good draughting for the fire. The Swindon engines employed a blastpipe device known as a jumper top which reduced the wear on the boiler stays. This device lifted in response to a fierce blast, temporarily increasing the diameter of the blastpipe and reducing the velocity of the exhaust. Whilst this worked well with the GWR 4-cylinder engines in 3-cylinder Jubilee draughting was insufficient the jumpers deadening effect. As the LMS did not have a scientific testing facility it took a very long time to overcome the problem.

In 1937 a test train of 300 tons hauled by 5660 Rooke produced 900-1,250 horsepower almost continuously when climbing to Ais Gill summit with a train from Carlisle.

In 1935 5642 exchanged numbers with 5552 and was finished in black enamel with cast chromium-plated letters and numerals, and chromium –plated dome cover and cladding bands. The new 5552 was named Silver Jubilee (to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V), giving the name to the class. The locomotives carried names associated with the British Empire. Some were named after admirals and warships, others carried names of engines from an earlier age. 5572 originally named Irish Free State and 5633 named Trans-Jordan until 1946.

45742 was fitted with a double chimney between 1940 and 1957. The boiler carrying the double chimney later appeared on 45596 in 1961.

45735 and 45736 were rebuilt in 1942 with larger boilers and double chimneys, based on the boiler fitted to 46170 in 1935. They were reclassified 7P. Following the success of the rebuild with the two Jubilee locomotives this type of boiler was later applied to the rebuilt Royal Scots and the rebuilt Patriots, but surprisingly, no more of the Jubilees were rebuilt.

Number in Service.

	Built		Withdrawals	No. in Service
	BR Numbers	Quantity
1934	45552-93 & 45607-46	82		82
1935	45594-606 & 45647-81	48		130
1936	45682-742	61		191
1937-51				191
1952	45637		1	190
1953-59				190
1960	45609		1	189
1961	Including 45630		3	186
1962			41	145
1963			31	114
1964			66	48
1965			33	15
1966			7	8
1967			8	0

• 45552-45556, 45607-45654 and 45665-45742 were built at Crewe.
• 45557-45606 were built by the North British Locomotive Co.
• 45655-45664 were built at Derby.
• 45735 and 45736 which were rebuilt in 1942 and reclassified as 7P were withdrawn in 1964. 45735 in October from Annesley, Nottinghamshire and 45736 in September 1964 from Carlisle Kingmoor.

The class ended Although they did not attain the prominence of some of the more powerful express locomotives, they were hard-working and could be found through-out the LMS area working express trains on routes such as the former Midland Railway line from St. Pancras, the West Coast route and the Bristol to Birmingham line. The class spent their days working from Leeds Holbeck shed, mainly on duties over the Settle & Carlisle line.

Allocation of locomotives in service as at 1st of January.

	1948	1960	1965	1966	1967
Bank Hall	1	3	5	1
Blackpool Central	7	6
Bushbury	4	3
Bristol Barrow Road	9	9
Camden	6
Carlisle Kingmoor	16	15	3
Carlisle Upperby	8	13
Carnforth		5
Coalville	1
Corkerhill	8	2
Crewe North	22	20	2
Crewe South			1
Derby	5	11
Edge Hill	12	14
Farnley junction	5	4	3	3
Kentish Town	15	10
Leeds Holbeck	20	18	14	6	5
Llandudno Junction			1
Longsight	10	6
Low Moor			2	1	1
Millhouses	8	12
Newton Heath	11	8	6	1
Nottingham	3	7
Patricroft	5	5
Perth		5
Polmadie	4	4
Preston		3
Stockport Edgeley			2	1
Trafford Park	7
Wakefield			2	2	2
Warrington Dallam			7
Willesden	4	7
	191	190	48	15	8

45562 Alberta was the last steam engine during BR days to haul the royal train. Unusually the locomotive was based at Leeds Holbeck depot for almost the whole of its life only moving as far as Farnley Junction in May 1964 before returning to Leeds Holbeck in November 1966. There were attempts to preserve this locomotive by trying to get Butlins to purchase it but this never materialised.

Accidents and Incidents

• On 21 January 1938, locomotive 5568 Western Australia was hauling an express passenger train which was in a head-on collision with an empty stock train at Oakley Junction due to a combination of driver and signalman’s errors. Three people were killed and 46 were injured.
• On 10 Oct. 1940, 5709 Implacable was damaged by enemy action.
• On 11 October 1943 locomotive 5581 Bihar and Orissa hauling the Leeds – Edinburgh express collided with a freight train being shunted into sidings at Steeton, West Yorkshire. No one was killed but four people were injured.

• On 8 October 1952, an express passenger train overran signals and crashed into the rear of a local train at Harrow and Wealdstone station, Middlesex. Locomotive 45637 Windward Islands was one of two locomotives hauling an express passenger train which crashed into the wreckage. A total of 112 people were killed and 340 were injured. The locomotive was consequently scrapped due to damage sustained.
  • The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash was a three-train collision at Harrow and Wealdstone station in London during the morning rush hour of 8 October 1952. 112 people were killed and 340 injured (88 of these being detained in hospital); as of July 2015 it is the worst peacetime rail crash in the United Kingdom.
  • The accident accelerated the introduction of Automatic Warning System – by the time the report had been published British Railways had agreed to a five-year plan to install the system that warned drivers that they had passed an adverse signal.
  • The collisions involved three trains;
    • The 7:31 am Tring to Euston local passenger train – 9 carriages hauled by a steam locomotive (LMS Fowler 2-6-4 tank engine running bunker first 42389) – on the up fast line
    • The 8:15 pm Perth to Euston night express – 11 carriages carrying approximately 85 passengers hauled by a single steam locomotive (46242 Coronation Class 4-6-2 City of Glasgow which was repaired) – on the up fast line – this train was running about 80 minutes late because of fog.
    • The 8:00 am express from Euston to Liverpool and Manchester – 15 carriages carrying approximately 200 passengers, double headed by two steam locomotives (Jubilee 45637 Windward Islands  and Princess Royal 46202 Princess Anne both of which had to be withdrawn)- on the down fast line.
      • Sequence of eventsAt around 8:17 am, on 8 October 1952 the local train had stopped at platform 4 at Harrow and Wealdstone station, approximately seven minutes late because of fog. Carrying about 800 passengers; it was busier than usual because the next Tring -Euston service had been cancelled. As scheduled, it had travelled from Tring on the slow line, switching to the up fast line just before Harrow and Wealdstone to keep the slow lines to the south of the station clear for empty stock movements. At 8:19 am, just as the guard was walking back to his brake van after checking doors on the last two carriages, the Perth express crashed into the rear at a speed of 50–60 miles per hour. It had passed a colour light signal at caution, two semaphore signals at danger, and had burst through the trailing points of the crossover from the slow lines. The collision completely destroyed the rear three coaches of the local train (where most of the casualties occurred) telescoping them into the length of one coach, and drove the entire train forward 20 yards. The leading two vans and three coaches of the Perth train piled up behind and above the locomotive.The wreckage from the first collision was spread across the adjacent down fast line. A few seconds after the first collision, the northbound express to Liverpool Lime Street passed through the station on this line in the opposite direction at approximately 60 miles per hour. The leading locomotive of this train struck the derailed locomotive of the Perth train and derailed. The two locomotives from the Liverpool train were diverted left, mounting the platform, which they ploughed across diagonally before landing on their side on the adjacent DC electric line, one line of which was short circuited by the wreckage; the other line had its electric current quickly switched off by the signalman, thus preventing any further collisions. The leading seven coaches, plus a kitchen car from the Liverpool train were carried forward by momentum, overriding the existing wreckage and piling up above and around it. Several of these coaches struck the underside of the station footbridge, tearing away a steel girder.Sixteen vehicles, including thirteen coaches, two bogie vans and a kitchen car were destroyed or severely damaged in the collisions. Thirteen of these were compressed into a compact heap of wreckage 45 yards long, 18 yards wide and 18 feet high. The Perth locomotive was completely buried under the pile of wreckage.Casualties

        There were 112 fatalities, including the driver and fireman of the Perth express and the driver of the lead engine of the Liverpool express. 102 passengers and staff died at the scene, with a further 10 dying later in hospital from their injuries. Of the 108 passenger fatalities, at least 64 occurred in the local train, 23 in the Perth train, and 7 in the Liverpool train. The remaining 14 were unclear, but some of the fatalities may have been standing on the platform and hit by the derailed locomotives of the Liverpool train. A total of 340 people reported injury: 183 people were given treatment for shock and minor injury at the station and 157 were taken to hospital, of whom 88 were detained.

• On 16 August 1953, locomotive 45699 Galatea was hauling a passenger train which became divided and was derailed at Kingsbury, Warwickshire due to a combination of defects on the locomotive and the condition of the track.
• On 20 July 1959, locomotive 45730 Ocean overran a signal and consequently crashed into Dock Junction Signal Box, London. Trains had to be hand signalled into and out of St Pancras station for several days afterwards.
• On 28 August 1961, locomotive 45401 was hauling a southbound freight from Liverpool past Warrington Dallam shed when it was in collision with Jubilee class 45630 Swaziland coming off the shed. Both locomotives were extensively damaged and withdrawn later that year.

 

• Last Stranraer Road Winter

The snowstorm of Wednesday, 12th March 1947, came on with great suddenness. At 5pm there were but wandering flakes of snow, but by 7 o’clock the little station of Glenwhilly, in North Wigtownshire, was cowering beneath a blizzard that was to make history. In the five railwaymen’s cottages which form the little outpost away in the heart of the great moor there were anxious hearts as the gale shrieked and the drifts mounted up. At 7.53pm out of the smother to the North came the 5.10pm express from Glasgow. “5X” 4-6-0 No 5728 defiance had a load of four corridor coaches only, but its Stranraer crew, Driver George Hannay and Fireman Henry Lightbody, had had a grim struggle getting her over the dreaded Chirmorie summit. And now they could not get any further, for the section ahead was occupied by the north-bound freight for Glasgow, which had long since left New Luce, and which was still battling away in the blizzard. An hour the 5.10 lay ther in the driving storm, waiting for the freight to arrive; 70 minutes, 80; then came the word from New Luce that the freight was back there. It had failed to get through the drifts, and now a snow-plough was essential before the 5.10 could attempt the passage. Snow ploughs were at a premium, for Scotland had lent generously to Northern England. It was 11 o’clock before a plough got south of Glenwhilly and drove on into the New Luce section; at two minutes to midnight New Luce gave out-of-section for the plough. At 12.3am the 5.10 resumed its journey.

Anxiously the Glenwhilly signalman watched his clock. Eight minutes should have taken her down the 4½ miles to New Luce, but eight minutes went by, 15, hal-an-hour, three-quarters, and still no sign of her. It was just on 1am when a burly, snow shrouded figure plunged in out of the storm. It was Guard John Wright, of Stranraer. Thev 5.10 was stuck in a drift half-a-mile south of Glenwhilly.

That was bad, but Guard Wright reported the train well-heated and lighted, and in his van a consignment of foodstuffs for the NAAFI canteen. Authority was given to issue these to the passengers, and big Jock tramped resolutely back to his charge. Rations were doled out and the 57passengers settled down in reasonable comfort in their snowy prison. All the night the driver and fireman remained on the engine and kept the heating going.

Dawn broke on a Thursday of screaming gale and snow which never ceased to whirl and drift. Stationmaster R. Blackwood of Glenwhilly had mobilised his limited forces and at 7am a supply of hot tea was carried perilously up to the half-buried train. Thrice during the day devoted carriers made their terrible journey, and with one such party Fireman Lightbody returned to the station with his tablet, collapsing before he got there and having to be carried to the signalbox. By noon came a cruel moment when the engine water supply gave out. The fire had to be thrown out and the steam heating was finished. Towards night a new peril developed, when the train windows began to crack with the pressure of the snow. One caved in, and two passengers were cut rather badly. Thursday night closed grimly in. The train was deathly cold; the lights had gone out. Away to the North a relief plough was 10 miles off, stuck fast between Pinwherry and Barrhill, while to the South the plough had not even reached New Luce.

With Friday came an easing, the storm ceased, and even a spark of sun came out. No time was lost. Fires were built up in Glenwhilly stationmaster’s house, in the booking office, waiting room, in the surfaceman’s hut. Then the 57 passengers were escorted to the station, where, shelter and warmth, the big-hearted folks of Glenwhilly tended and fed them. But Thursday is ration day, no supplies had arrived, and their own larders were getting empty. Fuel was short, too, and a sledge expedition had to be made to No 5728’s tender for replenishment.

About5 o’clock on Friday afternoon came the first contact with the outer world. A Stranraer guard, Harry Rice, walked in from the South and reported that a plough and a train of workers had won through to New Luce and that it was possible for fit persons to make their way down. Thirty-two passengers and the three trainmen volunteered to return with him, and Guard Rice led his Pilgrim Band down through the wilderness. A sore floundering it must have been, but they got to the relief train before dark, and into Stranraer that night.

On Saturday all hands mustered in a final rescue party. A squad of police, led by the chief constable and a large company of German prisoners, helped the plough and train to within two miles of the block, then walked up to Glenwhilly. The remaining passengers were brought down to the train, german prisoners with stretchers carrying the older passengers over the worst drifts. All had reached Stranraer by afternoon.

Still the ploughing and digging went on. On Sunday the party from the South broke through at last to the snowed-up train. From the North another force was working hard, but in a charge on a hard-packed drift the plough broke, the engine (a Caledonian 0-6-0) became derailed, and pushed vigorously by a Mogul, travelled some distance off the road. Then the digging out of 5728 and her train was a long and difficult task; it was Thursday, 20 March, before thevroad was fully open again.

Stranraer had been completely cut off by rail and road for a week. The Glasgow trainmem, stranded in Stranraer, had to return home by steamer via Gourock!

David L. Smith, Stephenson Locomotive Society Journal, January 1948.

	45563 Australia at Carlisle-August 1965.The locomotive spent most of its life based in Lancashire and was withdrawn from service at Warrington Dallam in November 1965. It was scrapped in March 1966.
	45684 Jutland at Carlisle just north of Kingmoor-August 1965. It was withdrawn from service at Bank Hall in December 1965 and scrapped in March 1966.
	45660 Rooke heads north out of Carlisle-August 1965. It was then based at Leeds Holbeck from where it was withdrawn in June 1966. It was scrapped in October 1966.
	45697 Achilles arriving at Carlisle-December 1965. It was withdrawn from service at Leeds Holbeck in September 1967 and scrapped in May 1968.
	45660 Rooke at Carlisle-April 1966.
	45694 Bellerphon at Low Moor-May 1966. The locomotive was based at Bristol Barrow Road early in its life before being firmly based in the North East – at Leeds  Holbeck for fourteen years before moving on to Low Moor and Wakefield. It was withdrawn in January 1967 and scrapped in June 1967.
	45562 Alberta at Carlisle-February 1967. Alberta was the last steam engine in BR days to haul the Royal train. It spent almost all of its life based at Leeds Holbeck from where it was withdrawn in November 1967. It was scrapped in May 1968.

 

Preservation

• 45593 Kolhapur
• 45596 Bahamas
• 45690 Leander
• 45699 Galatea

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