lms-ivatt-2mt-tank

The LMS Ivatt Class 2MT 2-6-2T was a series of small mixed-traffic Prairie tank locomotives designed by H.G. Ivatt as LMS Locomotive Superintendent and built at Crewe Works from 1946, continuing in production under British Railways until 1952, giving BR a useful light mixed-traffic tank for branch passenger and local freight working on routes where the heavier Standard tank types were unnecessary. The 2-6-2T Prairie wheel arrangement provided a well-balanced tank locomotive with good stability at speed in either direction, making it ideal for the push-pull working and rural branch operations that formed the majority of the class's duties on both the LMS and subsequently the BR Midland and other regions.

Ivatt's 2MT design was notable for its incorporation of modern, labour-saving features — self-cleaning smokeboxes, rocking grates, self-emptying ashpans — that reduced maintenance time and made the class popular with running sheds despite its modest power output. The design directly influenced the BR Standard Class 2MT tank (82xxx series) that followed it, and the two types together provided BR's light branch-line tank locomotive requirement through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. Four examples are preserved: 41241, 41298, 41312, and 41313.