A detAiled history of the lMs PAtriot 4‑6‑0s

BY JOHN JENNISON • Rcts

Comprehensive history of a much-loved class.

Reproduction of colour pictures.

PRICE: £24.95 RATING:

With the announcement that new-build ‘Patriot’ No. 5551 The Unknown Warrior is to be completed by the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust, and is therefore hopefully on the home straight after a period of difficulties, this book is a topical arrival.

Latest in the RCTS series of LMS locomotive profiles, it traces the roots of the ‘Patriots’ right back to the LNWR period, and follows their story through the 18 Stanierinspired rebuilds to BR days and withdrawal, before signing off with a detailed account of the construction of the new example so far. There are also details of a littleknown proposal in 1950 for a ‘lowcost’ rebuild of the entire class, again using the Stanier ‘2A’ boiler but at a lower working pressure.

The history of the ‘Patriots’, and how they were developed from the LNWR ‘Claughtons’, is as convoluted as many locomotive classes – but this book does a good job of laying it all out. It draws on such original sources as the writings of former LMS draughtsman Eric Langridge (who confirmed that the ‘Claughton’ frames were not used in the rebuilding, explaining that so many holes would have had to be filled up and new ones drilled: “the drawing looked like flypaper”) and correspondence about how the ‘Patriot’ class name came to be selected (one factor being that LMS Vice-President E.J. Lemon disliked the term ‘Baby Scots’ for what were, at the time, front-line express engines).

As we’ve come to expect from these books, it’s an invaluable reference guide for its subject, and any criticisms are relatively minor; while the selection of colour photographs is very welcome, for instance, many have not reproduced well and some appear to be very low-resolution. (TJ)