LMS Stanier Class 8F

The Stanier Class 8F was a class of steam locomotives designed to haul heavy freight for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. A total of 852 were built between 1935 and 1946, not all to LMS order, as the freight counterpart of William Stanier's successful Black Five, from which it took its two-cylinder arrangement. LMS freight traction had suffered from the Midland Railway's small engine policy, which left heavy trains double-headed by underpowered 0-6-0s together with disappointing Garratts and Fowler 7F 0-8-0s. The engines were first classified 7F and later 8F. When the Second World War broke out the design was chosen as the country's standard freight design, and the War Department had 208 built by Beyer Peacock and the North British Locomotive Company and requisitioned 51 more, so the class saw extensive service overseas during and after the war.