Railway Vehicle Information Sheet
[1978-7036 - Crab]
Company
LMS
Type
Mixed traffic
Wheel Arrangement
2-6-0
Class
5
Name
Crab
Number(s)
1.)LMS
13000
2.)LMS
2700
3.)BR
42700
Current Number
2700
Builder
Horwich Works
Works Number
1404
Order / Lot Number
Lot 27
Cost (new)
£6070
Date Authorised
7/1924
Date Built
19/6/1926
Rebuilds / Alterations
1.) AWS 10/9/1961
Date of Withdrawal
W.E. 19/3/1966
Boiler Details
Class
G9HS
Number
14183
Date of Construction
1954
Builder
Crewe Works
Tender Details
Class
Number
3826
Date of Construction
5/1926
Builder
Derby Works
Coal Capacity
5 tons
Water Capacity
3500 gallons
Locomotive Details
Length (with tender)
59` 7 3/8``
Maximum Height
12` 10 3/16``
Maximum Width
8` 11``
Weight
Engine
Tender
Total
(Empty)
60.0 tons
21.6 tons
81.6 tons
(In Working Order
66.0 tons
42.2 tons
108.2 tons
Museum notes:
LMS 2-6-0 No.2700 was the prototype of the first entirely new locomotive design to
be introduced by the LMS, which when compared to its contemporary the LNER
upon its formation in 1923 was notably lacking in inheriting any modern express
passenger, heavy freight or mixed traffic locomotives.
The first Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LMS was George Hughes, late of the
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, and a new 2-6-0 mixed traffic locomotive was
designed at Horwich. The starting point was a proposal, already designed in
considerable detail, by the erstwhile Caledonian Railway for a powerful twocylinder 2-6-0 mixed traffic locomotive. With horizontal 21 x 28in outside cylinders
this would have been incompatible with the loading gauges of other sections of the
LMS, and Hughes would not countenance any increase in boiler pressure above
180lb in order to permit a reduction in cylinder diameter. (Also the axleload of 20
tons would have severely restricted route availability). Several schemes were
worked out by E S Cox (who 25 years later would be the true architect of the
British Railways Standard steam locomotives) who illustrated several in his book
Locomotive Panorama Vol.1 (Ian Allan, 1965) while not actually admitting as much
at the time. Importantly the design was to incorporate long travel Walschaerts
valve gear in the interests of fuel economy and free running characteristics.
A total of 245 such engines was built during 1926-1932 at Crewe and Horwich
works, the first hundred being turned out initially in crimson lake livery. c.1977
consideration was given to restoring No.2700 to this livery with its original number
13000. However, detail modifications made subsequently, most particularly the
removal of the brakes on the leading pony truck and a change in the cylinder
cladding would have made this invalid., and the engine as restored is essentially in
c.1937 condition.
A new tender was originally designed for these engines which would have
matched them as regards their cab overall width, but in 1925 George Hughes
resigned, and his successor, Sir Henry Fowler, late of Derby, substituted a
Midland Railway pattern flat-sided 3500 gallon standard tender. The tender
attached to No.2700 has been the same since 1926, but it was not entirely new. It
has been rebuilt from an underframe dating back to the 1880s, as it reveals traces
of MR green paint! The late Stephen Summerson, an authority on MR
locomotives, deduced that the frame originated in 1881, from one of a batch of
thirty Johnson 2-4-0s built by Neilson & Co (pre-1907 MR Nos.1502-1531/post1907 242-271) via 4-2-2 No.130/683 of 1899, the tender record card gives rebuilt
from a vehicle of April 1899.
Although the first built, No.2700 was one of the last Hughes 2-6-0 to remain in
service, until March 1966, just 3 months short of its 40th anniversary.
The Hughes 2-6-0s were commonly referred to as ‘Crabs’ or Land Crabs on
account of their inclined cylinders and motion giving the strong impression of a
crab running sideways.
Test reports for this design are held in the Technical Archive at TEST/LMS/14
Select bibliography:
LMS Locomotive Profiles No.2, The Horwich Moguls, by D Hunt, R Essery & F
James, Wild Swan Publications, 2000, NRM E8E/409/2
Locomotive Panorama, Vol.1, by E S Cox, Ian Allan Ltd, 1965, NRM E8E/?/1
Catching Crabs, by ‘K Pile’, British Railways Illustrated, June 1998, 330-340