LMS Stanier Mogul

Although all built at Crewe Works, they were designed at Horwich Works and were developed from the Horwich Mogul, the LMS Hughes Crab 2-6-0. They had the addition of several features brought over from the Great Western Railway by newly arrived Chief Mechanical Engineer William Stanier, most notably the taper boiler (Stanier would have been familiar with the GWR 4300 Class). In an effort to please Stanier, Horwich had designed a GWR style top-feed cover and showed him locomotive 13245 with this fitted. However, Stanier disapproved and had it replaced with the normal LMS cover. Due to a higher boiler pressure than the Crabs the cylinder diameter was smaller and could thus be mounted horizontally, the only Stanier design to do so. Like the Crabs they were connected to a Fowler tender that was narrower than the locomotive. When built the first ten locomotives had no water pick-up gear fitted. They were initially numbered 13245–13284 (following on from the Crabs), but as standard locomotives, in the LMS 1933 renumbering scheme they were renumbered 2945–2984 in 1934 (the Crabs becoming 2700–2944). BR added 40000 to their numbers so they became 42945–42984. They were always painted black, and this was lined out except during the austere periods of the 1940s and towards the end of steam. From the end of 1934 Stanier turned to a larger 4-6-0 for his mixed traffic class, this being the LMS Black Five Class. ==Details==

Withdrawals commenced in November 1963 with the last one being withdrawn in February 1967. == Preservation ==

One, 13268/(4)2968, the penultimate member of the class to be withdrawn, has been preserved. This locomotive was acquired from Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales by the Stanier Mogul Fund in December 1973. It was restored on the Severn Valley Railway, first entering service in April 1991 as LMS 2968. It was main line certified in 1996 and was the first locomotive, together with GWR 4300 Class 7325, to work a train over the Lickey Incline in preservation. After withdrawal for overhaul in 1998, it re-entered service in 2003 in BR lined livery as 42968, which it carried for ten years. Following another overhaul, it re-entered service in late 2023, being repainted in LMS Lined Black as 13268 in April 2024. It is notable that this is the first time that the locomotive has carried its original number in 90 years since it was renumbered to 2968. On two occasions, firstly between 1994 and 1998, and again between 2010 and 2012, it ran with the tender from Black 5 no. 45110, while its own Fowler-pattern one was undergoing repairs. == Models ==

Bachmann Branchline has produced a model of the Stanier Mogul including the preserved example. Initial releases from Bachmann Branchline include the LMS Black Lined version 31-690 in February 2017, BR Black early emblem and BR Black late emblem. Later liveries to follow. ==References==