LNWR Bloomer Class

Bloomer was a name used for three similar classes of 2-2-2 express passenger locomotives designed by James McConnell for the Southern Division of the London and North Western Railway, 74 of which were built between 1851 and 1862. The name began as a nickname, topical in the autumn of 1851 because of popular excitement over women wearing trousers as advocated by Mrs Amelia Bloomer. The large Bloomers with 7 ft driving wheels were based on six 2-2-2 locomotives supplied by Bury, Curtis and Kennedy in 1848: the first twenty were built by Sharp, Stewart and Company in 1851 to 1853, and a further twenty in 1861 and 1862, five of them by Sharp Stewart. They worked express services between London and Birmingham and were withdrawn between June 1876 and November 1888.