LNWR Samson Class

The LNWR Samson Class was a class of ninety 2-4-0 steam locomotives built by the London and North Western Railway at their Crewe Works between 1863 and 1879.

They were officially designated "Curved Link 6-ft Passenger" due to the use of Stephenson valve gear which included a curved expansion link between the fore and back eccentric rods (earlier LNWR designs had used the Allan valve gear which had a straight expansion link) and the use of 6-foot (1.829 m) diameter wheel centres, which, together with1+1⁄2-inch (38 mm) thick tyres gave a driving wheel diameter of 6 feet 3 inches (1.905 m).

Ostensibly a mixed traffic design, they were the first locomotives with coupled driving wheels to be allocated for passenger duties on the LNWR.

They were designed by John Ramsbottom who had fifty built, all without cabs and with pierced driving wheel splashers. Ramsbottom's successor F. W. Webb, built forty more, all with cabs. The earlier locomotives also gained cabs, and all eventually had their splashers filled in.

All ninety locomotives were 'renewed' (replaced) by a like number of Waterloo Class locomotives between 1889 and 1905, but only eighty were scrapped quickly. The ten exceptions were transferred to the Civil Engineer's list, and these were withdrawn between 1914 and 1925. No examples have been preserved.

• Baxter, Bertram (1978). Baxter, David (ed.). British Locomotive Catalogue 1825–1923, Volume 2A: London and North Western Railway and its constituent companies. Ashbourne, Derbyshire: Moorland Publishing Company. ISBN 0-903485-51-6.