Stanier Class 8F

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The Class 8F were steam locomotives with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, designed by Sir William Stanier of the LMS for hauling heavy freight trains.
Introduced in 1935, the design was chosen as country's standard freight design after the outbreak of World War 2, with locos built for the use by LMS, GWR and LNER, and for overseas use by the War Department. A total of 852 were constructed by 1946. In British Railways service the class lasted to the end of steam in 1968. Several are preserved, one has run on the mainline in Scotland, and another is under restoration at Bo'ness.
Class 8F 48151 - Gauge O Guild - at Fort William depot, June 1998 Photo by whistling40s

  • The Glasgow based North British Locomotive Company (NBL) built 158 locomotives for the War Department, and 50 for the LMS, between 1940 and 1942.

Use by LMS in Scotland

  • In November/December 1940 four NBL-built locos owned by the War department entered service with LMS at St Rollox shed (then code 29G) 8257, 8261, 8262 & 8263. These would soon move south with the first two going to GWR, and all four would be shiped to Persia later in 1941.
  • On 21 January 1941, locomotive 8247 (of 20A Leeds Holbeck) was derailed at Wallneuk Junction, Paisley. Three cranes were needed to recover it.
  • NBL built loco WD.423 was on loan to LMS at St. Rollox shed (now code 31A) from March to July 1941, prior to being shipped to Persia in September of that year.
  • In December 1941 a shipment of 12 ex-LMS locos, requisitioned by the War Department, sailing from Swansea to Persia on board 'SS Pentridge Hill' encountered a severe storm in the Irish Sea. Four locos were lost overboard, with the other 8 damaged. The ship diverted to Glasgow and the locos WD.602/03/04/15/16/18/20/21 were taken to St Rollox Works for repair. With no immediate requirement for overseas use, the locos were converted back from oil to coal burning and put into service on-loan with LMS at Motherwell and Polmadie sheds from May-July 1942. In June/July 1943 the eight locos were returned to LMS ownership and reverted to their original numbers in the 80XX series.
  • LMS Northern division depots in gained permanent allocations of 8Fs in 1942, with six new NBL built examples (8183-8) based at Motherwell from April 1942.
  • Seven Crewe built locos 8146-8152 were delivered to Kingmoor July-September 1942, before moving to Grangemouth in February & June 1943.
  • First Class 8F for Perth was Ashford built 8623, new from 4/12/43, followed by Crewe built 8311/12/13/18/19/20 and Horwich built 8336/37/39/40, delivered December 1943 to February 1944. Five more 8Fs moved from Polmadie to Perth in June 1944. Brighton built 8647 was the last delivered new to an LMS shed in Scotland in December 1944. The Perth locos were fitted with tablet-catchers for working the single-track Highland Mainline to Inverness.
LMS Northern division, Class 8F allocation at January 1945 (Total 66)
Carlisle Kingmoor (12A) 11 locos.
8024, 8301, 8302, 8303, 8321, 8331, 8332, 8341, 8342, 8644, 8651.
Carstairs (28C) 6 locos.
8617, 8622, 8643, 8652, 8653, 8654.
Motherwell (28A) 17 locos.
8069, 8078, 8079, 8085, 8153, 8154, 8155, 8156, 8157, 8158, 8159, 8183, 8184, 8185, 8186, 8187, 8188.
Edinburgh Dalry Road (28B) 1 loco.
8160.
St Rollox, Glasgow (31A) 7 locos.
8161, 8162, 8163, 8164, 8165, 8645, 8646.
Grangemouth (31D) 7 locos.
8146, 8147, 8148, 8149, 8150, 8151, 8152.
Perth (29A) 17 locos.
8080, 8088, 8093, 8311, 8312, 8313, 8318, 8319, 8320, 8322, 8323, 8336, 8337, 8339, 8340, 8623, 8647.
(Allocations from 'The Book of the Stanier 8F 2-8-0s, parts 1 to 5' and RTCS Locomotive Stock Books Volume 2 - The 1940s.)

  • The Kingmoor locos has been allocated to other Scottish sheds during 1944, such as Polmadie (27A), Dumfries (12G) 8302/8303/8644/8651 and Dawsholm (31E) 8301/8331/8332/8342.
  • From April 1945 the Northern division's 8F allocation decreased with locos transferred away.
  • Locos 8158/59 moved from Motherwell to Perth in October 1945, to replace 8623/47.
  • St Rollox lost it's last two 8F in May 1946.
  • Perth lost it's 8F fleet in August 1946.



Use by LNER in Scotland

  • The Stanier 2-8-0 locomotives used by LNER were designated class O6.
  • LNER allocated three Brighton built Class O6 locos to Scottish depots in the Summer of 1944, numbers 7564 & 7663 to Aberdeen Ferryhill and 7675 to Dunfermline Upper (the Aberdeen pair moved on to St Margarets in August 1945). These three locos were renumbered as 3103/3112/3124 in April 1946.
  • Class 8F locos built at Doncaster and Darlington for LMS were loaned to LNER, with 8503 the first allocated to Thornton Junction from September 1944.
  • From September 1945 the LNER works built their own class O6 locos, 3125-3167.
  • There were also many Class O6 & LMS 8F locomotives based at Heaton shed in Newcastle which worked freight into the Edinburgh area.
Class O6 locos based at LNER sheds in Scotland, at October 1946 (Total 34)
St. Margarets, Edinburgh (8)
LNER 3103, 3112.
LMS 8527, 8528, 8543, 8544, 8545, 8546.
Thornton Junction (10)
LNER 3144, 3153.
LMS 8503, 8504, 8515, 8516, 8524, 8525, 8540, 8557.
Dunfermline Upper (16)
LNER 3124, 3126, 3129, 3135, 3139, 3141, 3143, 3144, 3152, 3153, 3159, 3165.
LMS 8526, 8530, 8539, 8542.
(Allocations from 'The Book of the Stanier 8F 2-8-0s, parts 4 & 5' and RTCS Locomotive Stock Books Volume 2 - The 1940s.)

  • The on-loan locos in Scotland moved to LMS sheds in England in the period November 1946 to June 1947.
  • The LNER owned locos were renumbered from 31XX to 35XX in February/March 1947, then from September/October 1947 moved to LMS sheds in England and were given numbers in the LMS series as 8705-8772.
  • Replacement for these locos were the WD 2-8-0, designated class O7 by LNER, which took up the 30xx & 31XX series numbers.


Use by British Railways in Scotland

Twenty-one class 8F locos remained at former LMS depots in Scotland at nationalisation in 1948, but all had moved south by March 1949.
A small number of locos were based at Carlisle Kingmoor (12A) until 1964. Some locos based further south also worked into Scotland.
Three ex-WD loco's were purchased by BR, numbered 48773, 48774 & 48775 and put into service from Polmadie (66A) in 1957. By July 1963 they were stored at Parkhead shed, but were later reinstated to Carlisle Kingmoor.


Preserved locomotive on the Mainline


Preserved locos under restoration in Scotland

  • Locomotive WD554 (NBL works number 24755 of 1942) was one of 20 War Department 8Fs delivered to Turkish Railways (TCDD) for diplomatic reasons in the 1940s. Numbered by TCDD as 45170, the loco worked loco worked local freight duties into the 1980s before being withdrawn.
  • Turkish 8F Locomotive 45170 returned to Glasgow, with a photocall at the Finnieston Crane on 13/11/14 before moving to Bo'ness

See Also

External Photo Links


External Links

Created by Dysgraphyk and last modified by him at 02:07, 22 of July 2024.