Henry Fowler's Royal Scots and Patriot 4-6-0s: From Original Designs to Stanier and Colman's Reconstructed Versions

When the Royal Scot class first appeared in 1927, they marked a major step forward in locomotive design for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Derby based Henry Fowler appointed as Chief Engineer favoured a Pacific Class to provide sufficient motive power, but his ideas found as little support as those of his predecessor George Hughes. In a bid to find an acceptable solution the company borrowed a GWR Castle for test purposes and sought to design and build something as good to pull its prestigious passenger trains. And so, the Royal Scot Class came into existence, followed three years later, by the 4-6-0 Patriots. Both types would have chequered histories and face rebuilding but ultimately proved to be good engines of their type, although the arrival of Stanier’s new locomotives post 1932, particularly the Princess Coronations, meant that the Scots were soon eclipsed in the public eye and have become something of a footnote in railway history.