London Midland and Scottish Railway Stanier Mogul 2-6-0, 42968 sits in the sunshine in Bridgenorth yard, 30th May 2009. Built at Crewe works in 1933 this class of forty locomotives were designed at Horwich works and were developed from the LMS Hughes “Crab” 2-6-0. They had the addition of several features brought over from the Great Western Railway by newly-arrived Chief Mechanical Engineer William Stanier, most notably the taper boiler. Due to a higher boiler pressure than the “Crabs” the cylinders could be 3" smaller in diameter and so the cylinders were able to be mounted horizontally. Like the “Crabs” they were connected to a Fowler tender that was narrower than the locomotive. The class were initially numbered 13245-84 but in the LMS 1933 renumbering scheme they were renumbered 2945-84 in 1934. British Railways added 40000 to their numbers so they became 42945-84. 42968 entered traffic on the 24th January 1934 and gave over thirty two years service before becoming the penultimate member of the class to be withdrawn when it was condemned on the 31st December 1966.After spending seven years awaiting breaking up at Barry it was purchased for preservation and moved to the Severn Valley Railway in December 1973. Returned to steam in November 1990 it is currently (May 2009) undergoing boiler repairs prior to re-entering traffic.