LMS Princess Royal Class - Overview

Overview

When originally built, they were used to haul the famous Royal Scot train between London Euston and Glasgow Central. Two batches of locos were built; a first batch of two, and a second batch of eleven, including a single example of a version using steam turbines instead of cylinders (No.6202) – which was in its own, separate class. This Turbomotive was later rebuilt with conventional pistons and named Princess Anne, then finally destroyed in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash. The rest of the class were withdrawn in the early 1960s in line with British Railways' modernisation plan.

Each locomotive was named after a princess, the official name for the class was chosen because Mary, Princess Royal was the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Scots. However, the locos were known to railwaymen as "Lizzies", after the second example of the class named for Princess Elizabeth who later became Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Later examples of 4-6-2 express passenger locomotive built by the LMS were of the related but larger, Coronation Class.