Steam locomotive, No 2700, ‘Crab’, 2-6-0, London Midland & Scottish Railway, designed by George Hughes, built at Horwich Railway Works in 1926, withdrawn in 1966. Length over buffers: 59' 8"; width: 8' 11"; weight: 66 tons; driving wheel diameter 5' 6".

Between 1926 and 1932 the London Midland & Scottish Railway built a class of mixed traffic 2-6-0 steam locomotives called the Hughes Crab or Horwich Mogul, after the designer George Hughes and the Horwich Works. LMS 2700 was the first of these locomotives to be built.

The class of locomotives were nicknamed ‘crabs,’ possibly because of the outside cylinders and valves resembling a crab’s pincers. Another suggestion is that the nickname refers to the motion felt on the footplate when the engine is working, which apparently felt like scuttling.

Originally given the number 13000, the locomotive was re-numbered to 2700 in 1934, and again under British Rail to 42700. 2700 was in service for just shy of 40 years and is now preserved in the National Collection on static display.