# LNWR Dreadnought Class

The LNWR Dreadnought class was a class of 40 passenger three-cylinder compound 2-2-2-0 locomotives designed by F. W. Webb for the London and North Western Railway, and manufactured by them in their Crewe Works between 1884 and 1888. The railway also commissioned the Beyer, Peacock and Company to construct an additional locomotive of the design for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

## Design

The design featured a boiler pressed to 175 lbf/in$^2$ (1.21 MPa) delivering saturated steam to two outside 14-inch (356 mm) high-pressure cylinders, which exhausted to one 30-inch (762 mm) low-pressure cylinder inside the frames. All three cylinders had a stroke of 24 inches (610 mm); the high-pressure cylinders drove the rear wheels, while the low-pressure drove the leading driving wheels. As the two pairs of driving wheels were not connected, the locomotives were "duplex drive" or "double-singles".
They were a development of Webb's Experiment class; they had larger boilers and smaller driving wheels, and while the Joy valve gear for the HP and LP cylinders could still be independently adjusted, it was now also possible to reverse both sets simultaneously. The inside valve gear was subsequently amended to the loose or slip-eccentric system, thus giving automatic reversal.

## Decline

When George Whale become chief mechanical engineer of the LNWR in 1903, he started a programme of eliminating Webb's over-complicated duplex compound locomotives. Consequently, the class was scrapped between December 1903, and July 1905, having been replaced by Whale's Experiment class.
Table of locomotives :
| LNWR No. | LNWR Name | Crewe Works No. | Date built | Date scrapped | Notes |
| 503 | Dreadnought | 2795 | Sep 1884 | Apr 1904 | |
| 508 | Titan | 2796 | Oct 1884 | Feb 1904 | |
| 504 | Thunderer | 2797 | Feb 1885 | Aug 1904 | |
| 507 | Marchioness of Stafford | 2798 | Mar 1885 | Jul 1905 | |
| 509 | Ajax | 2799 | Mar 1885 | Apr 1904 | |
| 510 | Leviathan | 2800 | Apr 1885 | May 1904 | |
| 511 | Achilles | 2801 | May 1885 | Aug 1904 | |
| 513 | Mammoth | 2802 | May 1885 | Mar 1904 | |
| 515 | Niagara | 2803 | May 1885 | Nov 1904 | |
| 685 | Himalaya | 2804 | May 1885 | Sep 1904 | |
| 2055 | Dunrobin | 2886 | Dec 1885 | Jan 1905 | |
| 2056 | Argus | 2887 | Dec 1885 | Apr 1904 | |
| 2057 | Euphrates | 2888 | Dec 1885 | Jul 1904 | |
| 2058 | Medusa | 2889 | Dec 1885 | Feb 1905 | |
| 2059 | Greyhound | 2890 | Dec 1885 | Feb 1905 | |
| 2060 | Vandal | 2891 | Dec 1885 | Jul 1904 | |
| 2061 | Harpy | 2892 | Dec 1885 | Apr 1905 | |
| 2062 | Herald | 2893 | Dec 1885 | Jul 1905 | |
| 2063 | Huskisson | 2894 | Dec 1885 | Sep 1904 | |
| 2064 | Autocrat | 2895 | Dec 1885 | Mar 1905 | |
| 173 | City of Manchester | 2896 | Mar 1886 | Aug 1904 | |
| 2 | City of Carlisle | 2897 | Mar 1886 | Jun 1904 | |
| 1539 | City of Chester | 2898 | Jun 1886 | Jul 1904 | Renumbered 437 in November 1886 |
| 410 | City of Liverpool | 2899 | Jun 1886 | Apr 1904 | |
| 1353 | City of Edinburgh | 2900 | Jun 1886 | Jul 1904 | |
| 1370 | City of Glasgow | 2901 | Jun 1886 | Jan 1904 | |
| 1395 | Archimedes | 2902 | Jun 1886 | Mar 1904 | |
| 1379 | Stork | 2903 | Jun 1886 | Feb 1905 | |
| 545 | Tamerlane | 2904 | Jul 1886 | Dec 1903 | |
| 659 | Rowland Hill | 2905 | Jul 1886 | May 1904 | |
| 637 | City of New York | 3012 | Mar 1888 | Aug 1904 | |
| 638 | City of Paris | 3013 | Apr 1888 | Nov 1904 | |
| 639 | City of London | 3014 | May 1888 | Oct 1904 | |
| 640 | City of Dublin | 3015 | May 1888 | Jan 1904 | |
| 641 | City of Lichfield | 3016 | May 1888 | Feb 1904 | |
| 643 | Raven | 3017 | May 1888 | Oct 1904 | |
| 644 | Vesuvius | 3018 | Jun 1888 | Jul 1904 | |
| 645 | Alchymist | 3019 | Jun 1888 | Jan 1905 | |
| 647 | Ambassador | 3020 | Jun 1888 | Apr 1904 | |
| 648 | Swiftsure | 3021 | Jun 1888 | Oct 1904 | |