The Fowler 2F 0-6-0 Tanks

One might be forgiven for overlooking one or two of the more obscure locomotive classes, especially at the time, when attention was mainly directed at express passenger versions. Fowler’s 2F tanks might have gone relatively unnoticed, somewhat under the radar. Designed as a short wheel base dock shunter able to negotiate tight curves, 10 locos were built by the LMS in 1928/9. There were seven remaining by the summer of 1962, of which I saw three – numbers 47160/4/6. John Dyer photographed 47160 at Birkenhead sheds in 1961, 47165 at Agecroft MPD in 1962 and 47166 at Bidston sheds in 1959 and again in 1960. None survived into preservation.