LNWR Improved Precedent Class 2-4-0 Jumbos The LNWR Jumbos were among the most famous British steam engines of the nineteenth century. They were not only capable of high speeds but regularly hauled heavy loads in relation to their small size, and so they well deserved their nickname. They were designed by F.W. Webb, and 166 of them were built at Crewe Works between 1887 and 1901. Known officially as the "Improved Precedent" class, they were developed from John Ramsbottom's Newton Class of 1866-73. One of the most famous "Jumbos" was No. 790 Hardwicke. During the "Races to the North" in 1895, it set a record which was to last for almost forty years. Hauling the west coast train from Crewe to Carlisle, it covered the 141 miles of hilly road, including the four miles of 1 in 75 Shap Summit, at an average speed of 67 1/4 mph, and achieved speeds over 90 mph. It is now preserved in the National Railway Museum, York England. Even more famous in its day was No. 955 Charles Dickens. This engine worked the 8:30AM express from Manchester to London Euston and the 4PM return for twenty years and so covered more than 2 million miles, a record that has never been broken by any other British steam engine. Aster has chosen to model these two famous engines as they were in the late nineteenth century, in the famous blackberry black livery of the LNWR. They are are a fitting companion to the model of the famous East Coast engines, the Stirling Single, produced in 1996. After the grouping of 1923, when the LNWR became part of the LMS, four "Jumbos" were painted in LMS crimson red. Aster has chosen to model LMS No. 5036 Novelty in red livery and No. 25001 Snowdon, which was the last surviving "Jumbo" in plain black livery, as it was when scrapped in 1934.
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