When more 0-8-0s were needed by the LMS in the 1920s, their solution was not to produce more of a tried and trusted design, but to start anew from scratch. The resulting locomotive was certainly no better and in many respects (particularly weak axle bearings) worse than the L&NWR 0-8-0s. The LMS built 175 (from 1929-32) of these Fowler '7Fs' or 'Austin 7s' as they were nicknamed. All were withdrawn by 1962, tellingly with much shorter lives than the L&NWR types. Photo taken at Skelton Junction, Cheshire in Aug. 1953.

© Ken Widd. Steve Armitage Collection