The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Fowler Dock Tank was an steam locomotive. Designed for shunting in docks, it had a short wheelbase in order for it to easily negotiate tight curves. The locomotives spent their entire lives painted in plain black.
History
The LMS operated lines on a number of docks which due to space constraints contained curves considerably sharper than most other places, thus most dock tanks had only four coupled (i.e. driving) wheels in order to allow them to negotiate the tight curves.
Design
With the growth in freight transport a more powerful engine was required, resulting in this design by Sir Henry Fowler: an locomotive with a wheelbase which, aided by the use of Cartazzi self-centring axleboxes on the rear axle, allowed the engines to negotiate curves of .
Construction
Ten members of the class were built on Lot 61 in 1928 and 1929 by Derby Works, although unusually for dock tanks they incorporated outside cylinders which was normally considered too dangerous in an area where people were working close to the track.