| This absorbing read opens at Grouping with an LMS locomotive fleet of poor steaming designs unsuited
to the heavy and growing traffic levels. The Board‘s historic decision to hire Stanier from the rival
Great Western and his revolutionary work to equip the LMS with a more suitable locomotive fleet revolved
around more effective raising and use of steam. The complete story is presented here, from early LMS practice
based on pre-Grouping designs, through Stanier‘s importation of GWR practices, early results and comprehensive details
of his design improvements culminating in the largest British pacifics, the Coronation class. The necessary technical
content is presented by author Arthur Cook concisely in useful tables and an Appendix, allowing the text to be
presented in an infectious, readable style. Readers can almost imagine themselves in the mutual improvement classes
at the running shed!
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