The Horwich Mogul takes its name from the LMS works in Horwich, formerly Lancashire, where the first series of these locomotives were built. However, it is better known by the name “Hughes Crab” given to her by railroad enthusiasts. In order to accommodate the large cylinders within the loading gauge, engineer George Hughes was forced to incline them and set the connecting rods a few degrees upwards. Since this gave the impression of a crab with its claws, it was given this name. It was designed taking into account the latest knowledge and planned with the most modern assemblies available in terms of brakes, valves, boiler and tender. The design was only implemented under Henry Fowler and it was initially questionable whether all the innovations could actually be put into practice.
Due to the technical progress, however, it was possible to implement a large part of the innovations, while standard parts of the LMS only had to be used for the brake system and the boiler attachments. A standard model from Derby Works was used as the tender. Since the locomotive itself made full use of the available loading gauge and this was not the case with the tender, the latter was noticeably narrower than the locomotive's cab. A total of 70 were built in Horwich and a further 175 in Crewe between 1926 and 1932. These engines were particularly popular in Scotland on the mountainous routes when used in front of heavy ore and coal trains without continuous brakes.
![BR 42894 in the year 1951 at Bescot Depot](./data/photos/LMS_hughes_crab.jpg)
BR 42894 in the year 1951 at Bescot Depot
Ben Brooksbank / Hughes/Fowler 2-6-0 at Bescot Locomotive Depot ![CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike](./images/CC-BY-SA.png)
Over time, some engines have been experimentally upgraded with modern assemblies. In 1934, five units received a Lentz valve control, which they also kept. However, it stayed with these five. In 1954 a new chimney with blowpipe was tested on one locomotive. This increased the boiler's evaporative capacity by 25 percent, but it remained a one-off. The locomotives were retired between 1961 and 1967 and three remain in existence today. One of them was preserved in driving condition and only got a completely new boiler in 2018.