John Ramsbottom locos of the LNWR

I have added a new collection of photos of John Ramsbottom’s LNWR Lady of the Lake or Problem class 2-2-2 Single (rebuilt by Webb)


The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) 7 ft 6 in Single 2-2-2 class was a type of express passenger locomotive designed by John Ramsbottom. The class is better known as the Problem class for the first locomotive built, or the Lady of the Lake class for the example that was displayed at the International Exhibition of 1862.

The Lady of the Lake class was the second type of locomotive designed by Ramsbottom. It was typical of express passenger locomotives of its era in having a single driving axle with large (7 ft 6 in (2.286 m) in this instance) driving wheels to achieve high speeds, while avoiding the friction associated with coupled driving wheels. (Coupling was done primarily on goods locomotives, where tractive effort was more important than speed.) The locomotives bore a resemblance to 2-2-2 designs by Patrick Stirling and Joseph Beattie, yet could also be regarded as a development of Alexander Allan's designs under Ramsbottom's predecessor, Francis Trevithick. They had an open cab, a smokebox door that opened vertically, and open slots on the "splashers" that covered the driving wheels

In 1873, two years after Francis Webb took over as engineer from Ramsbottom, the new General Manager William Cawkwell decided that black should be the standard colour for all locomotives. The Lady of the Lake class were thus painted as Webb added a cab roof and modified the chimneys of the entire class. When the class received replacement boilers from 1879 to 1883 they were also fitted with steam brakes (previously only the tender had brakes, and they were wooden ones) and enclosed splashers.


The "Ladies" received a very extensive rebuild from 1895–1897. This time they were fitted with enlarged boilers and larger fireboxes, round smokebox doors, crosshead vacuum pumps, new 3 in (76 mm) tyres (which increased the diameter of the driving wheels to 7 ft 9 in or 2.36 m), and cross-stays to stiffen the frames. These rebuilt Ladies gained a new lease of life and were often used to pilot express trains, achieving speeds of over 80 mph (130 km/h)

Only photo I have of the original Ramsbottom locos with open cab
291 Prince of Wales
https://tinyurl.com/xs7zmy9x
All the rest of the photos are of the rebuilt Webb locos
184 Problem unknown location
https://tinyurl.com/2336mk4p
Full collection starts here
https://tinyurl.com/2fhjsvdp

Neil

 

I have added a lot of new photos of Ramsbottom LNWR Special Tank 0-6-0ST
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Special Tank was a class of 0-6-0ST steam locomotives. They were a saddle tank version of the LNWR DX Goods class. A total of 278 locomotives were built from 1870 onwards, of which five survived to be inherited by British Railways in 1948. These five were in departmental stock: four – numbered 3 (né 317), 6, 7 (2329) and 8 Earlstown (2359) – as Carriage Department shunters at Wolverton Works; and No. 3323 (né 2322 May 1878), a shunter at Crewe Works.
Including this photo of
3323 Crewe Works 25th November 1951
https://tinyurl.com/bdytwr5b
Full collection of 75 photos starts here with
3,6 & 7 Wolverton works 10th October 1954
https://tinyurl.com/5n6n988j
to
https://tinyurl.com/2p87vs3s
to 3061 Chester
https://tinyurl.com/5n6jj63s
to 3323 Crewe works
https://tinyurl.com/2p8zcysd
to 7346 & 6875 Crewe works
https://tinyurl.com/275zbter

Neil

 

I have added a lot of new photos of John Ramsbottom locomotives of the LNWR
Including this photo from 1884
1080 Manchester Victoria c1884 Ramsbottom DX Class
https://tinyurl.com/5n93j9sx
Full collection starts here
https://tinyurl.com/58d528xm
to
https://tinyurl.com/3n7dbhed

Neil