LMS Class 7F 0-8-0 - Overview

Overview

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'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.