The Jacobite

The Jacobite at Mallaig station, Highland

Based at its home shed in Bury, Lancashire, ‘Black 5’ No 45407, ‘The Lancashire Fusilier’ has been a stalwart of northern charter trains for over a decade. It is no stranger to the West Highlands and has taken charge of The Jacobite for many years.

The LMS Class 5MT – The Black 5 – was an enormously successful design. The class is credited to William A Stanier, appointed CME of the LMS in 1932. In total, eight hundred and forty-two of this ubiquitous, mixed traffic locomotive were built, the majority by the LMS themselves at Horwich, Derby and Crewe, and some by contractors Armstrong Whitworth (as were the two to be seen on The Jacobite) and Vulcan Foundry. The first of the class was built in 1934 and the last in 1951. They worked for British Railways in almost every part of the UK. A relatively straightforward, 2 cylinder 4-6-0, they were economical to maintain and a firm favourite with many crews..