Fowler Class 7F 2-8-0 Freight Locomotive (Somerset and Dorset Railway)
LMS Class 7F no. 53809, Midland Railway Centre (Dave Hitchborne / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0/Image cropped from original file)
Technical Data
Introduced: 1914
No. Built: 11
Wheel arrangement: 2-8-0In 1876, the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway jointly took over the lease of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, which ran through the Mendip Hills in Somerset, involving some steep gradients. The Midland Railway was responsible for motive power for the line, but its smaller freight locomotives struggled with the loadings, and so something larger and more powerful was needed. The result was the first batch of six 7F 2-8-0 locomotives for the line, the largest locomotives Derby had ever built up to this point. A second batch of five locomotives was produced by the LMS in 1925, although these incorporated a different boiler design, and all of the locomotives received further modifications under Stanier.
The locomotives spent their working line on the Somerset and Dorset Railway, where they were generally regarded as a success. Some evaluation on workings on other parts of the LMS was undertaken, but the locomotives were not as successful off the S&D as they were on it, and thus no further examples of the class were built after 1925
Although built primarily for freight work, they were occasionally used on passenger workings, particularly post-World War II, when shortages of motive power in the summer often meant they ended up rostered for passenger workings. However, by the the late 1950s and early 1960s, they were starting to be displaced by LMS 8Fs and BR 9Fs. Withdrawal of the class started in 1959, and the last member of the class was withdrawn in 1964.
| Original S&D Number | LMS Numbers (1930-1932) | LMS Numbers (1932-1947) | BR Numbers | Year Built | Works | Withdrawn |
| 80 | 9670 | 13800 | 53800 | 1915 | Derby | Jun 1959 |
| 81 | 9671 | 13801 | 53801 | 1915 | Derby | Mar 1961 |
| 82 | 9672 | 13802 | 53802 | 1915 | Derby | Mar 1960 |
| 83 | 9673 | 13803 | 53803 | 1915 | Derby | Feb 1962 |
| 84 | 9674 | 13804 | 53804 | 1915 | Derby | Feb 1962 |
| 85 | 9675 | 13805 | 53805 | 1915 | Derby | Mar 1961 |
| 86 | 9676 | 13806 | 53806 | 1925 | Robert Stephenson | Jan 1964 |
| 87 | 9677 | 13807 | 53807 | 1925 | Robert Stephenson | Sep 1964 |
| 88 | 9678 | 13808 | 53808 | 1925 | Robert Stephenson | Feb 1964 |
| 89 | 9679 | 13809 | 53809 | 1925 | Robert Stephenson | Jun 1964 |
| 90 | 9680 | 13810 | 53810 | 1925 | Robert Stephenson | Nov 1963 |
Preservation
Two members of the class survived into preservation: numbers 88 and 89. As of 2026, no. 88 is currently based on the Mid-Hants Railway and is awaiting overhaul; no. 89 is currently based on the North Norfolk Railway and has just been withdrawn from service, pending an overhaul. The locomotives have run in both BR and LMS liveries, with no. 88 having been painted into a (non-authentic) S&D Prussian Blue livery at one point.