What if none of the class 155s had not been converted into class 153s
Conversely, what if
all the 155s had been converted to 153s? Fewer Pacers on branch lines, more on commuter routes perhaps.
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What if Stanier had never joined the L.M.S.
And taken over from Collett instead of Hawksworth. I'd imagine that the L.M.S. would have carried on down the parallel-boiler route, with lots more
Patriots followed by Pacifics, probably some form of stretched
Royal Scot. Mixed-traffic would have to cope with steadily-improved forms of
Crab, and freight might first get an 0-8-0 version of the 4F, followed by an extended version with a leading pony truck. Perhaps the Garratts would have been modified and loads more would have appeared. Coaches would have stuck to the older pattern, at least for the time being. If Fairbairn eventually took over, we would have to see if he finally introduced taper boilers.
As for the G.W.R., we would have to wait for a while to find out. There might well have been something
County-like later on, with a design for a Pacific on the board just before nationalisation.
Finally, the 8F/O6 design would not have been chosen as the standard WWII heavy freight engine, but something else would. The 28XX is a bit complicated, but a reasonably good candidate. I've often wondered why the WWII engines did not have locally-designed tenders, but that's beside the point.
Speaking of tenders, I'd imagine that the expanded Fowler type originally designed for
The King's Dragoon Guardsman (alias
Royal Scot) to go to America with would have become the standard design for big engines.