TS19: The Royal Scot, Take Two

The Royal Scot Class was designed by Sir Henry Fowler for express passenger work on the London Midland and Scottish Railway, as it was a type of locomotive sorely lacking among the fleet. A total of 70 were produced from the LMS’ Derby Works, 50 in 1927 and a further 20 in 1930. Originally, Fowler was hoping to produce a pacific-type locomotive, however a loco-swapping scheme saw a GWR Castle Class operate between London and Preston without issue, so a 4-6-0 design was chosen instead.

The class was noted to be successful despite undergoing no testing before entering service, working top link expresses out of London Euston before the arrival of the Princess Royal and Princess Coronation classes. One example was even selected to represent the LMS on a tour to Chicago, USA.

However, once the fleet’s boilers started to show their age, it was decided to rebuild them using the modern, type 2A boiler designed by Sir William Stanier. Many other changes would also take place during the rebuild, particularly to the frames and cylinders. All 70 would be rebuilt between the mid-1940s and 1950s.

The rebuilt locomotives were masterpieces, capable of matching the Coronations in service, all while being much smaller in comparison. LMS gave the rebuilt Royal Scots a power classification of 6P, one above the likes of the Black Five and Jubilee, however British Railways would later revise this to 7P, acknowledging their newfound strength.

The rebuilt Royal Scots would work under BR until 1965, and out of the 70, only two survived into preservation, (6100 “Royal Scot” and 6115 “Scot Guardsman”), although both have continued to be mainline operational on railtours and excursions throughout the subsequent years.

The incredible Royal Scot class, in its rebuilt form, will soon be arriving courtesy of Bossman Games, complementing the already available Black Five and Jubilee classes and matching them in terms of authenticity and detail – watch this space!