The old saying of ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ is often used in railway circles and this saying was never more true than in the design of the ‘2MT’ 2-6-0s which, despite being a BR Standard design, were near identical copies of an earlier type, as EVAN GREEN-HUGHES explains.
When British Railways was formed in 1948 one of the objectives was to cut costs by sharing best practice, with a central plank of this being the introduction of a series of Standard steam locomotives which would cover almost all duties across the network. A total of 12 classes was thought to be necessary of which eight would be to new designs while four would be modifications of locomotives already in production.
Given the predominance of former employees of the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) in the locomotive department of the new organisation, it was not surprising that these standard locomotives would be based very heavily on that railway’s former products. There would be three mixed traffic tender engines of the 2-6-0 wheel arrangement and also two very similar 2-6-2 tank versions with a 2-6-4T for the ‘4MT’ power classification.
One of these types was H.G. Ivatt’s modern low-axleweight 2-6-0, a modestly-powered design for secondary a…
