The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Royal Scot Class is a class of 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive introduced in 1927. Originally having parallel boilers, all members were later rebuilt with tapered type 2A boilers, and were in effect two classes.

Background Until the mid-1920s, the LMS had followed the Midland Railway's small engine policy, which meant that it had no locomotives of sufficient power for its expresses on the West Coast Main Line. These trains were entrusted to pairs of LMS/MR Midland Compound 4-4-0s between Glasgow and , and a 4-6-0 locomotive of the LNWR Claughton Class, piloted by an LNWR George V 4-4-0, southwards to Euston station.

The Operating and Motive Power Departments of the LMS were satisfied with the small engine policy. However, in 1926 the Chief Mechanical Engineer, Henry Fowler, began the design of a compound Pacific express locomotive. The management of the LMS, faced with disagreement between the CME and the other departments, obtained a loan of a GWR Castle class locomotive, Launceston Castle, which was operated for one month between Euston and Carlisle.

Following the success of the Castle 4-6-0 in working on the LMS, a decision was taken to cancel Fowler's Pacific project, and to replace it with a 4-6-0 with three cylinders and a simple-expansion steam circuit. Because there was an urgent need for new express locomotives the LMS placed an order with the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow for 50 engines. The North British, with its extensive drawing office and two works, possessed sufficient capacity to expedite the order within a year. The Derby drawing office and North British staff collaborated in designing the class, with the latter producing the working drawings. Fowler took little part in the design process, which was carried out by Herbert Chambers, Chief Draughtsman at Derby, and his staff. The LMS requested a set of drawings of the Castle class from the GWR, but did not receive them. Instead a set of drawings of the SR Lord Nelson Class were obtained, and used for the design of the firebox. The main features of the design followed existing Derby practice, with the cylinders and valve gear being derived from the Fowler 2-6-4T, also being designed at Derby at that time.

They were introduced without testing. Radford claims that the boiler owed much to the MR 0-10-0 Lickey Banker 'Big Bertha'. A further 20 were built by Derby Works.

They were initially named after regiments of the British Army, and after historical LNWR locomotives. Those with LNWR names were renamed in 1935 and 1936 with more names of regiments.

From late 1931, after several forms of smoke deflectors were tried on various locomotives to stop drifting smoke obscuring the crew's forward vision, the straight sided smoke deflectors were added. These were later replaced by deflectors with angled tops. From 1933 the class was taken off the top-link expresses, being superseded by the LMS Princess Royal Class and later the LMS Coronation Class pacifics.

North American tour In 1933, the LMS was invited to send a locomotive and train to the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago, USA. It was decided to send an engine of the Royal Scot class, and one was selected that was due for general overhaul. The identity of this locomotive is generally regarded as having been No. 6152 "The Kings Dragoon Guardsman". The coupled axleboxes were replaced with larger ones, based on a GWR design, and the bogie replaced by a De Glehn type, also derived from GWR practice. Springs and spring rigging were also updated, and the boiler replaced. The rebuilt locomotive assumed the identity of 6100 Royal Scot with (on its return from the USA) an enlarged nameplate with details of its appearance at the exhibition. It retained this identity after its return from the USA.

Fury LMS 6399 Fury, built in 1929, was an unsuccessful experimental prototype locomotive with a high-pressure, water tube boiler and compound 3-cylinder drive, based on the Royal Scot. It was rebuilt by William Stanier in 1935 with a Type 2 conventional boiler to become 6170 British Legion. This served as the blueprint for later rebuilding, but always remained a one-off.

Rebuilding

In 1942, the LMS rebuilt two LMS Jubilee Class locomotives with Type 2A boilers, but later turned to the parallel-boilered Royal Scots whose boilers and cylinders were life-expired, and whose smokeboxes were difficult to keep airtight. Between 1943 and 1955, the whole class was rebuilt to create the LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot Class.Classic British steam locomotives, Abbeyille Press, 2004. p.117. The rebuilds were quite substantial, requiring new boiler, frames and cylinders, but in most cases the original frame stretchers, wheels, cab and fittings were retained. The usual procedure was that as each locomotive arrived for rebuilding, it was stripped and the identity transferred to a fresh frameset prepared using the parts recovered from the locomotive that had previously been rebuilt. The new frames were slightly shorter than the originals. Thus, most rebuilt examples retained their own cab, wheels etc., but most of the frame stretchers, and other integral parts of the frame were from the previously rebuilt loco.

The new 'Rebuilt Scot' design was carried out under the auspices of William Stanier, who was then engaged on war work, so was actually undertaken by George Ivatt and E.S. Cox. Initially these too were built without smoke deflectors, but later acquired them.

Year Number rebuilt Numbers 1943 9 6103/8/9/12/7/24/5/32/46 1944 9 6116/9/20/7/9/31/3/8/451945116101/22/6/44/9/50/2/9/60/6/91946 10 6104/14/8/21/8/39/47/57/61/81947 3 6111/5/351948 4 46105/54/62/71949 6 46102/6/23/30/43/531950 6 46100/7/13/36/41/551951246142/641952 346140/58/651953 4 46110/34/51/631954246148/561955146137 Total 70

Accidents and incidents

On 13 October 1939, 6130 The West Yorkshire Regiment, piloted by Black 5 locomotive no. 5025, was hauling a Euston railway station to Stranraer express passenger train when they collided with LNWR Class G1 no. 9169 while it was attaching a van to the rear of an Inverness train at Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. 5 people were killed and more than 30 were injured. On 30 September 1945, at the Bourne End rail crash, 6157 The Royal Artilleryman was hauling an express passenger train which was derailed at Bourne End, Hertfordshire due to excessive speed through a set of points. 43 people were killed and 64 were injured.

Details Note: Date built refers to the 'LMS build date'. LMSNo. BRNo. Name Builder Datebuilt Daterebuilt Datewithdrawn Notes 6100 46100 Royal Scot Derby Permanently swapped identities with 6152 in 1933. Swap engine 6152 Preserved under 6100's identity. 6101 46101 Royal Scots Grey North British 6102 46102 Black Watch North British 6103 46103 Royal Scots Fusilier North British First locomotive to be rebuilt with a taper boiler. 6104 46104 Scottish Borderer North British 6105 46105 Cameron Highlander North British 6106 46106 Gordon Highlander North British Fitted with BR style smoke deflectors Dec. 1952 6107 46107 Argyll and Sutherland Highlander North British 6108 46108 Seaforth Highlander North British 6109 46109 Royal Engineer North British 6110 46110 Grenadier Guardsman North British 6111 46111 Royal Fusilier North British 6112 46112 Sherwood Forester North British 6113 46113 Cameronian North British 6114 46114 Coldstream Guardsman North British 6115 46115 Scots Guardsman North British Preserved – last to be withdrawn. 6116 46116 Irish Guardsman North British 6117 46117 Welsh Guardsman North British 6118 46118 Royal Welch Fusilier North British 6119 46119 Lancashire Fusilier North British 6120 46120 Royal Inniskilling Fusilier North British 6121 46121 H.L.I. from 1928 North British Renamed 15 January 1949 Highland Light Infantry, City of Glasgow Regiment 6122 46122 Royal Ulster Rifleman North British 6123 46123 Royal Irish Fusilier North British 6124 46124 London Scottish Regiment North British 6125 46125 Lancashire Witch North British Renamed June 1936 3rd Carabinier 6126 46126 Sans Pareil North British Renamed June 1936 Royal Army Service Corps 6127 46127 Novelty North British Renamed June 1936 The Old Contemptibles 6128 46128 Meteor North British Renamed April 1936 The Lovat Scouts 6129 46129 Comet North British Renamed January 1936 The Scottish Horse 6130 46130 Liverpool North British Renamed June 1935. Involved in an accident near Bletchley, Buckinghamshire on 13 October, 1939 The West Yorkshire Regiment 6131 46131 Planet North British Renamed May 1936 The Royal Warwickshire Regiment 6132 46132 Phoenix North British Renamed May 1936 The King's Regiment Liverpool 6133 46133 Vulcan North British Renamed May 1936 The Green Howards 6134 46134Atlas North British Renamed May 1936 The Cheshire Regiment 6135 46135 Samson North British Renamed May 1936 The East Lancashire Regiment 6136 46136 Goliath North British Renamed May 1936 at Carlisle Citadel station The Border Regiment 6137 46137 Vesta North British Renamed May 1936. Last locomotive to be rebuilt. The Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire) 6138 46138 Fury North British Renamed October 1929 The London Irish Rifleman 6139 46139Ajax North British Renamed May 1936 The Welch Regiment 6140 46140 Hector North British Renamed May 1936 The King's Royal Rifle Corps 6141 46141 Caledonian North British Renamed June 1936 The North Staffordshire Regiment 6142 46142 Lion North British Renamed May 1936 The York and Lancaster Regiment 6143 46143 Mail North British Renamed July 1934 The South Staffordshire Regiment 6144 46144Ostrich North British Renamed January 1933 Honourable Artillery Company 6145 46145 Condor North British The Duke of Wellington's Regt. (West Riding) 6146 46146 Jenny Lind North British Renamed May 1936 The Rifle Brigade 6147 46147 Courier North British The Northamptonshire Regiment 6148 46148 Velocipede North British Renamed October 1935 The Manchester Regiment 6149 46149 Lady of the Lake North British Renamed May 1936 The Middlesex Regiment 6150 46150 The Life Guardsman Derby 6151 46151 The Royal Horse Guardsman Derby 6152 46152 The King's Dragoon Guardsman North British Permanently swapped identities with 6100 in 1933. Preserved under identity of 6100 - first to be withdrawn. 6153 46153 The Royal Dragoon Derby 6154 46154 The Hussar Derby 6155 46155 The Lancer Derby 6156 46156 The South Wales Borderer Derby 6157 46157 The Royal Artilleryman Derby Involved in the Bourne End rail crash on 30 September, 1945 at Bourne End, Hertfordshire 6158 46158 The Loyal Regiment Derby 6159 46159 The Royal Air Force Derby 6160 46160 Queen Victoria's Rifleman Derby 6161 46161 The King's Own Derby The King's Own carried from Sep. 1930 to Jun. 1931King's Own 6162 46162 Queen's Westminster Rifleman Derby 6163 46163 Civil Service Rifleman Derby 6164 46164 The Artists' Rifleman Derby 6165 46165 The Ranger (12th London Regt.) Derby 6166 46166 London Rifle Brigade Derby 6167 46167 The Hertfordshire Regiment Derby 6168 46168 The Girl Guide Derby 6169 46169 The Boy Scout Derby 6170 46170 British Legion North British Rebuilt from experimental high pressure locomotive Fury with non-interchangeable boiler. It was the only Rebuilt Scot to carry Crimson Lake livery in service, and a single chimney.

Preservation No original Royal Scots in 'as built' condition survive, as all were rebuilt by 1955. However, two of the rebuilt locomotives have been preserved as LMS Rebuilt Royal Scot Class examples.

In fiction No. 6115 Scots Guardsman featured in the 1936 film Night Mail along with No. 6108 Seaforth Highlander, the latter of which being cleaned at an unknown shed. 46126 Royal Army Service Corps featured in the 1949 film Train of Events.

Models