civilian use 'The Big Four' railways Some 331 locomotives were built for the London Midland and Scottish Railway between 1935-45. A further 245 were built by the London and North Eastern Railway, Great Western Railway and Southern Railway in 1943-45 for LMS stock, though mostly retained on loan by the other railways during the war. The LNER also purchased 68 Stanier 8Fs for its own use in 1944-46, classifying them O6, though these were also sold to the LMS after the war. As noted above, 51 LMS locomotives were requisitioned by the WD in 1941, but 31 WD locomotives were subsequently purchased by the LMS in 1943 (including 8 of the requisitioned engines). British Railways As a result, 624 8Fs passed into British Railways ownership when Britain's railways were nationalised in 1948. A further 39 (10 requisitioned) were purchased from MEF stock in 1948, and a final 3 (1 requisitioned) from the Longmoor Military Railway in 1957, bringing the total to 666. The 8Fs were concentrated on the London Midland Region, but were also allocated to former LMS sheds on other regions. Despite some having operated in Scotland by the LMS, they were not common on the Scottish Region under BR ownership as the later WD 'Austerity' 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 types were used instead. Withdrawal The 8Fs were successful and durable locomotives in BR service, with all 666 locomotives surviving until 1960 and routine withdrawals not beginning until 1964. The first to go in 1960 was 48616, followed two years later by 48009. 48773–48775 (the former Longmoor Military Railway locomotives which were the only 8Fs on the Scottish Region) were also withdrawn in 1962, but these were reinstated into London Midland Region stock in 1963. The remaining 664 were withdrawn between 1964 and 1968, with 150 surviving to the last year of steam on BR. During the late 1960s, no. 48773 had diagonal yellow stripes painted on the cabsides to indicate that it could not run south of Crewe due to it being out of gauge for the new 25 kV AC overhead electrification. Preservation Fourteen 8Fs are known to have survived with six LMS/BR locomotives being preserved in the UK; a seventh was used a spares donor for other preserved 8Fs as well as a number of new build projects. None of the pre-war 8Fs survived into preservation. Of the six LMS/BR locomotives that exist, only 48773 was purchased