David Maidment has unraveled the complex history of the Johnson, Deeley, and Fowler 4-4-0 locomotives of the Midland Railway and its LMS successor, covering their design, construction, operation, and performance in this book with over 400 black and white photographs.

It recounts their working on the Midland main lines from St Pancras to Derby, Manchester, Leeds, and Carlisle, the latter via the celebrated Settle & Carlisle line, and the later work of the Fowler LMS engines on the West Coast main line. The book also describes the history of the Midland 4-4-0s built for the Somerset & Dorset and Midland & Great Northern Railways. The book covers the period from the first Midland 4-4-0 built in 1876 to the last LMS 2P withdrawn in 1962 and includes performance logs, weight diagrams, and dimensions and statistical details of each locomotive.