LMS Hughes Crab 2-6-0

George Hughes was the locomotive engineer of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway from 1904 and was retained as the LMS's first chief mechanical engineer at Grouping in 1923. He inherited the LMS's diverse pre-Grouping fleet and an urgent need for a modern mixed-traffic mogul that could replace the older 2-6-0s on cross-country services. The Crab was Hughes's answer, designed in 1925 and built from 1926.

The steeply inclined cylinders were a result of the boiler's height and the need to clear the leading bogie; conventional horizontal cylinders would have fouled the bogie wheels. The arrangement gave the class its distinctive nickname and a recognisable appearance, although the class's reputation for free running and reliability was earned on engineering rather than the visual appeal.

245 engines were built between 1926 and 1932 at Horwich (the L&YR's former works) and Crewe. The Crab was the most numerous LMS mixed-traffic mogul before Stanier's Black Five took over from 1934. After Stanier the Crabs were progressively cascaded to secondary work, but the class remained popular with crews and was kept in service until well into the 1960s.

The Crabs spent their working lives on LMS and BR LM and Scottish Region mixed-traffic services. They were a familiar sight on the LMS's heavy summer Saturday holiday relief services to Blackpool, the cross-Pennine fitted freight, and the Settle and Carlisle line's secondary services. They were particularly common on the Settle to Carlisle and the heavy mineral services from the Yorkshire and Lancashire coalfields to the East Coast and West Coast docks.

Withdrawals began in the early 1960s as the LMS's newer Stanier Black Fives and BR Standards displaced the older mixed-traffic engines. The last Crab in regular service was withdrawn in 1967.

Four Hughes Crabs have survived. 13065 (later 42700) is preserved at the Bury Bolton Street site of the East Lancashire Railway. 42765 is at the East Lancashire Railway in working order. 42859 is at the East Lancashire Railway. 42700, the prototype-numbered survivor, is also at the ELR. The class is exceptionally well-represented at the East Lancashire Railway, which has the largest concentration of Crabs anywhere in preservation.

The class was outshopped from new in plain LMS unlined black, with LMS shaded numerals on the cabsides. From the late 1930s the LMS painted the class in lined LMS crimson lake on overhauls, although wartime conditions restricted this. British Railways from 1948 painted the class in lined mixed-traffic black with the early lion-and-wheel emblem; from 1956 the late ferret-and-dartboard crest. Preserved examples have appeared in both LMS lined crimson lake and BR lined black liveries.