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Description
With the appointment of George Hughes in 1904, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway began to take risks in its locomotive designs. One such risk was the class 8, a four cylinder, 4-6-0 express engine. The first batch of 20, built in 1908-1909, were nicknamed "Dreadnoughts" after their imposing size and after the Royal Navy's then new battleship, the HMS Dreadnought. Originally built with saturated boilers, slide valves, and inside Joy valve gear, these engines were notoriously unreliable and prone to breakdowns. Add this to the class' 100 pound per mile coal consumption, and the class were described by crews as "Poor performers" However, in 1919 to 1920, fifteen were rebuilt with superheaters, piston valves, walshaerts valve gear, and larger cylinders. This design was then perpetuated by the LMS upon its formation with Hughes as Chief Mechanical Engineer, and 55 more were built to the new standard. Concurrently, a 4-6-4 tank engine version also appeared out of Horwich, and 10 were produced, known as Dreadnought Tanks. Both classes were not particularly successful. The tanks were the first to go, being withdrawn between 1938 and 1942. The original tender engines lasted longer, with the last, number 50455 (the only member of its class to receive a British Railways number) was withdrawn in 1951.

Description
With the appointment of George Hughes in 1904, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway began to take risks in its locomotive designs. One such risk was the class 8, a four cylinder, 4-6-0 express engine. The first batch of 20, built in 1908-1909, were nicknamed "Dreadnoughts" after their imposing size and after the Royal Navy's then new battleship, the HMS Dreadnought. Originally built with saturated boilers, slide valves, and inside Joy valve gear, these engines were notoriously unreliable and prone to breakdowns. Add this to the class' 100 pound per mile coal consumption, and the class were described by crews as "Poor performers" However, in 1919 to 1920, fifteen were rebuilt with superheaters, piston valves, walshaerts valve gear, and larger cylinders. This design was then perpetuated by the LMS upon its formation with Hughes as Chief Mechanical Engineer, and 55 more were built to the new standard. Concurrently, a 4-6-4 tank engine version also appeared out of Horwich, and 10 were produced, known as Dreadnought Tanks. Both classes were not particularly successful. The tanks were the first to go, being withdrawn between 1938 and 1942. The original tender engines lasted longer, with the last, number 50455 (the only member of its class to receive a British Railways number) was withdrawn in 1951.