L&MR Lion

Lion was built in 1838 by the Leeds firm of Todd, Kitson & Laird (a partnership soon to evolve into the famous Kitson & Co.) as one of two goods engines (with sister "Tiger") for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. The 0-4-2 layout — four coupled wheels with a single trailing axle — was adopted to give the four-coupled traction needed for goods work with a longer wheelbase than the 0-4-0 colliery engines of the period.

Lion worked LMR goods traffic from 1838 until 1859, when it was sold out of mainline service to the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board for use as a stationary pumping engine at Princes Dock, Liverpool. In 1928 the Liverpool Engineering Society recognised the engine's historical significance and recovered it for preservation. After restoration to working order, Lion ran in the 1930 Liverpool & Manchester Centenary celebrations and again in the 1980 sesquicentennial.

Lion's most famous public appearance was as the "Thunderbolt" in the 1953 Ealing Studios comedy *The Titfield Thunderbolt*, in which the engine was filmed working passenger trains on the Limpley Stoke branch in Somerset. Lion is now preserved at the Museum of Liverpool, where it remains on permanent display, with occasional working appearances.

Compact 0-4-0 (often quoted as 0-4-2 with the trailing axle, depending on configuration) with two coupled axles, inside cylinders, parallel boiler, and a tall front-mounted chimney. Distinctive bright green livery with red wheels in preserved form.

• Lion (1838, Museum of Liverpool — operational on rare occasions)