The Royal Scot Class

"Royal Scot" No. 6115 "Scots Guardsman" (Picture courtesy of the Tony Dunkley Collection). 6115 is actually in its rebuilt form and was converted in August 1947

With Fowler unable to implement his 4-6-2 "Pacific" designs, the LMS design department began to consider the possibility of a 4-6-0 design, a wheel arrangement favoured by the Great Western Railway at the time. At the end of 1926, the LMS requested the loan of one of the GWR's Castle Class locomotives (one of, if not the, most successful GWR designs) in order to run trials against existing LMS designs, and was duly granted the loan of No. 5000 "Launceston Castle". The result of the tests was staggering; the Castle outperformed all of the LMS locomotives it faced in the trials, even on the steep Cumbrian banks. It looked like a 4-6-0 could be the answer to the LMS's locomotion problems, and the LMS approached the GWR with a view to either buying Swindon-built Castles for its own use, or obtaining the plans in order to build its own version of the locomotive.

However the GWR did not have the capacity at Swindon for building "export" Castles as well as its own, and was not willing to release the plans of the Castles to the LMS. The LMS then approached the Southern Railway for copies of the plans of its "Lord Nelson" class 4-6-0; the SR were more amenable and released the plans to the LMS. With some modifications at Derby (principally to make a 3-cylinder design, although some elements from Horwich 2-6-0's were also added), the final result was sub-contracted to the North British Locomotive Company, who were asked to produce 50 locomotives in time to implement the "Royal Scot" Express from Euston to Glasgow in 1927. This was the first LMS-built locomotive class to truly embrace the concept of locomotive names; most taking the names of army regiments.

By 1930, the success of the design led the LMS to order another 20 of the class. In 1933, the LMS sent one of the class to the United States on a publicity tour; the engine sent was nominally 6100 "Royal Scot", but was more likely to have been 6152 "The Kings Dragoon Guardsman" with an identity swap (a practice repeated later in the decade with 6220 & 6229), 6152 having built with improvements suggested by Stanier. However, the identities were not swapped back on return and this should be taken into consideration when considering the 1944 list below, and with regard to the preserved examples (David Jenkinson presents evidence that the identities were not returned in the section "Royal Scot (?) goes to America" of "The Power of the Royal Scots").

The 71st member of the class was not originally a "Royal Scot" as such, but an experimental high pressure compound 4-6-0 initiated by Fowler in 1929, and originally given the name "Fury" and the number 6399. However, during tests, the boiler exploded, causing one fatality, and Fowler abandoned the idea. Stanier eventually had Fury rebuilt as 6170 "British Legion" using a tapered boiler instead of the original parallel boiler; a modification that would be using in the rebuilding of the class which started in the mid-1940's. The rebuilds were prompted by issues that had manifested themselves during the early years of operation, mainly due to problems that meant the engines had difficulty running for more than 6 or 7 hours continuously.

The "Royal Scots" continued to be a mainstay of the LMS fleet, right up until nationalisation; the Stanier "Princesses" were a more powerful locomotive but there were never enough built to do away with the "Royal Scot" class. The rebuilds of the class were completed by 1953, with the scrapping of the class completed by 1965. Only 6100 (or rather 6152) and 6115 (above) made into preservation, and neither is currently operational. Plans exist to attempt to restore both 6100 and 6115 for mainline use; the situation with 6100 appears optimistic as of Jan 2003, but some doubts have been raised about whether 6115 can be restored to mainline condition.

Number

Name (in 1944)

Built

Rebuilt

Scrapped

6100(i)

Royal Scot

1930

Jun 1950

Preserved

6101

Royal Scots Grey

1927

Nov 1945

Sep 1963

6102

Black Watch

1927

Oct 1949

Dec 1962

6103

Royal Scots Fusillier

1927

Jun 1943

Dec 1962

6104

Scottish Borderer

1927

Jun 1946

Dec 1962

6105

Cameron Highlander

1927

Mar 1948

Dec 1962

6106

Gordon Highlander

1927

Sep 1949

Dec 1962

6107

Argyll and Sutherland Highlander

1927

Feb 1950

Dec 1962

6108

Seaforth Highlander

1927

Aug 1943

Jan 1963

6109

Royal Engineer

1927

Jul 1943

Dec 1962

6110

Grenadier Guardsman

1927

Jan 1953

Feb 1964

6111

Royal Fusilier

1927

Oct 1947

Oct 1963

6112

Sherwood Forester

1927

Jun 1943

May 1964

6113

Cameronian

1927

Dec 1950

Dec 1962

6114

Coldstream Guardsman

1927

Jun 1946

Oct 1963

6115

Scots Guardsman

1927

Aug 1947

Preserved

6116

Irish Guardsman

1927

Aug 1944

Sep 1963

6117

Welsh Guardsman

1927

Dec 1943

Nov 1962

6118

Royal Welch Fusilier

1927

Dec 1946

Jun 1964

6119

Lancashire Fusilier

1927

Sep 1944

Dec 1963

6120

Royal Inniskilling Fusilier

1927

Nov 1944

Jul 1963

6121

Highland Light Infantry, The City of Glasgow Regiment

1927

Aug 1946

Dec 1962

6122

Royal Ulster Riflemen

1927

Sep 1945

Nov 1964

6123

Royal Irish Fusilier

1927

May 1949

Oct 1962

6124

London Scottish

1927

Dec 1943

Dec 1962

6125

3rd Carabinier

1927

Aug 1943

Oct 1964

6126

Royal Army Service Corps

1927

Jun 1945

Oct 1963

6127

Old Contemptibles

1927

Aug 1944

Dec 1962

6128

The Lovat Scouts

1927

June 1946

May 1965

6129

The Scottish Horse

1927

June 1944

Jun 1964

6130

The West Yorkshire Regiment

1927

Dec 1949

Dec 1962

6131

The Royal Warwickshire Regiment

1927

Oct 1944

Oct 1962

6132

The King's Regiment Liverpool

1927

Nov 1943

Feb 1964

6133

The Green Howards

1927

July 1944

Feb 1963

6134

The Cheshire Regiment

1927

Dec 1954

Nov 1962

6135

The East Lancashire Regiment

1927

Jan 1947

Dec 1962

6136

The Border Regiment

1927

Mar 1950

Apr 1964

6137

The Prince of Wales Volunteers, South Lancashire

1927

Mar 1955

Oct 1962

6138

The London Irish Riflemen

1927

Jun 1944

Feb 1963

6139

The Welch Regiment

1927

Nov 1946

Oct 1962

6140

The King's Royal Rifle Corps

1927

May 1952

Nov 1965

6141

The North Staffordshire Regiment

1927

Oct 1940

Apr 1964

6142

The York & Lancaster Regiment

1927

Feb 1951

Jan 1964

6143

The South Staffordshire Regiment

1927

Jun 1949

Dec 1963

6144

Honourable Artillery Company

1927

Jun 1945

Jan 1964

6145

The Duke of Wellington's Regt. (West Riding)

1927

Jan 1944

Nov 1962

6146

The Rifle Brigade

1927

Oct 1943

Nov 1962

6147

The Northamptonshire Regiment

1927

Sep 1946

Nov 1962

6148

The Manchester Regiment

1927

Jul 1954

Dec 1964

6149

The Middlesex Regiment

1927

Apr 1945

Sep 1963

6150

The Life Guardsmen

1930

Dec 1945

Dec 1962

6151

The Royal Horse Guardsman

1930

Oct 1948

Dec 1962

6152(i)

The King's Dragoon Guardsman

1927

Jun 1948

Apr 1965

6153

The Royal Dragoon

1930

Aug 1949

Dec 1962

6154

The Hussar

1930

Mar 1948

Nov 1962

6155

The Lancer

1930

Aug 1950

Dec 1964

6156

The SouthWales Borderer

1930

May 1954

Oct 1964

6157

The Royal Artilleryman

1930

Jan 1946

Jan 1964

6158

The Loyal Regiment

1930

Sep 1952

Nov 1963

6159

The Royal Air Force

1930

Oct 1945

May 1965

6160

Queen Victoria'sRiflemen

1930

Feb 1945

May 1965

6161

King's Own

1930

Oct 1946

Nov 1962

6162

Queen's Westminster Rifleman

1930

Jan 1948

Jun 1964

6163

Civil Service Riflemen

1930

Oct 1953

Sep 1964

6164

The Artist's Riflemen

1930

Jun 1951

Dec 1962

6165

The Ranger (12th London Regt.)

1930

Jun 1952

Dec 1964

6166

London Rifle Brigade

1930

Jan 1945

Oct 1964

6167

The Hertfordshire Regiment

1930

Dec 1948

Apr 1964

6168

The Girl Guide

1930

Apr 1946

May 1964

6169

The Boy Scout

1930

May 1945

Jul 1963

6170(ii)

British Legion

1930

n/a

Nov 1962

(i) The identities of these two locomotives were switched in 1933 and never switched back.

(ii) Formerly 6399 "Fury", rebuilt by Stanier as the first of the "Rebuilt Scots" in 1935.

In addition, the following members of the class held other names up until 1935/1936, apart from 6138, which was renamed in 1929.