CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T

Stanier’s 3-cylinder designer for the LT&SR

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ6459082 ↗
Source-derived summary

The LMS Stanier Class 4P 3-Cylinder 2-6-4T is a class of steam locomotives designed for work over the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway route. All 37 were built in 1934 at Derby Works and were numbered 2500–2536. The third cylinder was provided to allow increased acceleration between the many stops on the L.T.&S.R. line. From 1935 the LMS switched to constructing a very similar, albeit simpler, 2-cylinder design.

Production

The 37 three-cylinder express passenger tank locomotives were designed specifically for the London Tilbury and Southend line of the London Midland & Scottish railway (LMS) where extra power was needed to operate the heavy outer suburban trains to tight schedules. The inside cylinder and valve gear created additional maintenance and was deemed unnecessary for other duties. The locomotives were built in 1934 at LMS Derby Works.

Withdrawal

The class were withdrawn from 1960 to 1962.

Preservation

No. 2500, the first of the class to be built, has been preserved on static display at the National Railway Museum in York in LMS lined black livery.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T” as stanier’s 3-cylinder designer for the LT&SR. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1934, 1935, 1960, 1962—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where 3-Cylindered, Stanier and 2-6-4T can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as stanier’s 3-cylinder designer for the LT&SR. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6459082. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1934, 1935, 1960 and 1962.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T primary sources, LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T archive and 3-Cylindered research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.