Back Track

64 Pages·2017·20.325 MB·English

BRITAIN’S LEADING HISTORICAL RAILWAY JOURNAL
Vol. 31 • No. 10 OCTOBER 2017 £4.75
IN THIS ISSUE
THE GLASGOW BLUE TRAINS
WORCESTERSHIRE’S RAILWAYS
MAUNSELL’S FREIGHT ENGINES FOR THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY
LEEDS STEAM IN COLOUR
MOTOR OMNIBUSES OF THE GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND RAILWAY
PENDRAGON
PUBLISHING LANCASHIRE & YORKSHIRE RAILWAY LOOP LINES
RECORDING THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS
THE LATEST FROM PENDRAGON
THE
In 2012 you rushed to buy the complete
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INC(U PKO OSNTALYG)E Ccroovsse-rrienfge trheen cyeeda rusn 2d0e1r2 otove 2r0 6106. sub-
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ONE MAN AND HIS CAMERA
THE RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHY OF TREVOR OWEN
COMPILED BY PAUL CHANCELLOR
Trevor Owen is undoubtedly one of the greatest names in railway colour photography.
Awvoiudl dre baed earbsl eo ft oth sep orati lownaey opfr ehsiss pwiicllt ubree vs ewryit hfaomutil inaor twicitinhg h tihs en apmhoet woghrilaspt hmear ncyre odtiht.e rs £ 3 0 . 0 0
First and foremost the quality of the image was generally second to none but other
factors would betray the touch of his genius, such as the creative use of light, often low POST FREE
winter sunshine. Other ‘trademarks’ were locomotives in action rather than at rest and
trains in the landscape rather than being tightly framed front three quarters views. With
Trevor being a prolific and a very early adopter
of colour film, the results of his work are some of
the best images of the UK railway scene that we
can enjoy today and the fact that we can do this is
down to the photographer having had the foresight
to place his work in the Colour-Rail Collection. In
association with Colour-Rail, Pendragon Publishing
now brings you this wonderful selection of some
250 classic Trevor Owen images of the steam
railway in 1950s and 1960s.
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Vol. 31 . No.10
No. 318
OCTOBER 2017
RECORDING THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS
“Britain runs on rails . . .”
A guest editorial this month and reader ALEX FLEMMING takes up the side regarding tariffs and regulations. As for any real option of creative
invitation to share some thoughts with us. solutions to provide more modern passenger transport, separated
from the dreams of vast amounts of lucrative freight, one can find little
…at least that is the opinion of a recent advertisement which was evidence.
broadcast extensively on national television. Animated images of Of course, it all came down to pure profit and loss, with complete
people being superimposed and gathering at a seaside resort, stories disregard for entrepreneurial innovation. Provision of local and
of vastly increased volumes in passenger traffic (20% in the last twenty regional transport on a non-road basis could have surely supplied
years), reduced congestion on the motorways and a beautifully a solution in many localities. The basic track already provided the
covered space at a large station with scenes of artistically modern railroad which often was equal or even superior to the tarmac roads
latticework, add to the portrait of a wonderfully modern railway gradually clogging with buses, cars and lorries. In many areas various
network which is central to the structural body of society. We are examples of private/public solutions exist successfully today.
finally told how this institution – British Rail – is investing £50 billion Rural routes in southern Germany and Austria are not only
in further improvements. Alas, the PR decision to use the well known providing an excellent service, with many new stations, but
but outdated clickety-click as the sound association invokes nostalgia astonishingly are also making money! In England the Settle-Carlisle
rather than a state-of-the-art railway system. route is a case in point. Here the necessary, inspired local and regional
Nevertheless, this is the picture of the modern railway network as forces combined to get ‘bums back on seats’ in the trains. Other
portrayed to us in this advertisement. Swift, efficient and clean seems examples from around the country may serve equally well to support
to have been the message that has gradually grown into reality in this idea. Investments have been made in railways and stock to expand
Britain since the 1950s, with Dr. Beeching so prominently cast in the successfully many of the regional networks around the country.
role of the great moderniser. Yet many enthusiasts might prefer to see So maybe Britain does run on rails or at least it is starting to aspire
him as the ultimate undertaker of the railways’ heart and soul. in that direction. But what about the heart and soul?
With the near completion of the Great Western Railway While the railways have become generally cleaner in their
modernisation from London Paddington, it would seem that the final operation, more modern in their service (customer information online
major line from the capital will be electrified, run on modern track and and up-to-date electronic information in the station, Internet booking
be controlled by state-of-the-art electronic signalling. This will have etc.) and running more efficient and usually much faster operations
taken nearly 75 years to achieve since the first ideas were formulated. than 75 years ago, one may ask if the heart and soul is still lost to these
One could say better late than never! modern modes of railway transport?
The foreign traveller will probably not recognise that the It would seem the enthusiasts, all sorts of museums and,
remaining London termini have kept their names together with furthermore, the heritage lines both standard and narrow gauge, keep
the prefix, London – an important change with people arriving, for that part of the railways alive and beating. From the full-time followers
example, via the Harwich/Hook route looking for a name board to the rivet-counters at the plethora of clubs, from the intellectual
announcing ‘London’. and academic devotees to the occasional follower, from the model
But as Britain is supposed to run on rails and major political railway dreamers of the past to the volunteers and dabblers at their
institutions are currently driving us to use opportunities, it might be local heritage line, it would seem these people all constitute the heart
a good time to have a closer look at those opportunities within the and soul of the railways.
railway system – some new and some historical. Most of all, one has to ask how different groups of committed
One simple question from the past is how many local railways enthusiasts were able to take over disused lines in various parts of
could have been incorporated into the national system on a local/ the country and build them up to become the extensive picture of
regional basis backed by councils then fighting for services and only national railway heritage they are today? Simply, they had a dream
prepared to partly subsidise bus routes? and some associates. One is left to wonder what might have been
Moreover, the stick-in-the-mud attitude on responsibility possible, using all the expertise available to the railways’ authorities, if
surrounding the management levels of the nationalised railways at they too had had such a dream!
Alex Flemming
that time seems to have throttled any form of flexibility on the railway
Contents Ryecroft Reminiscences – Part Two ........................ 603
Looking at Leeds ......................................................................608
Maunsell Freight Engines for the The Railway in Court: Doors Closing ...................... 611
Southern Railway ....................................................................580
Worcestershire’s Railways .............................................. 614
The Motor Omnibuses of the Great North
The Curious Incident of
of Scotland Railway and the General
Post Office .................................................................................... 588 Manning Wardle’s Class N ............................................... 622 A– aC flaosrms e3r0 3G lealsegcotwric B mluuel tTirpalien u–n aitt
Eric Bruton on the Great Northern The Glasgow Blue Trains .................................................. 626 Helensburgh Central in June 2001
now in carmine and cream livery,
Suburban Lines ..........................................................................593 ‘Rather Unprincipled Persons’ – Part Two ........ 630 with the earlier orange and black
colour scheme in the background.
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railwy Loop Lines ........ 596 Readers’ Forum ....................................................................... 637 (Allan Trotter)
Publisher and Editor MICHAEL BLAKEMORE • E-Mail [email protected] • Tel [phone]
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for any loss or damage, however or whichever caused, to such material. l Opinions expressed in this journal are those of individual contributors and should not be taken as reflecting editorial policy. All contents of this
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All editorial correspondence to: PENDRAGON PUBLISHING • PO BOX No.3 • EASINGWOLD • YORK YO61 3YS • www.pendragonpublishing.co.uk © PENDRAGON PUBLISHING 2017
OCTOBER 2017 579
Z 0‑8‑0T No.30956 rumbles over the Red MAUNSELL FREIGHT ENGINES FOR THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY
Cow level crossing at the east end of
Exeter St. David’s station, overseen by
Exeter Middle box, on 3rd September BY JEREMY CLARKE were both schemed in detail but never got
1960; a crossing attendant supervises beyond the drawings, while the refusal of the
the shopping lady and other pedestrians. Class or the London Midland’s Garretts or Southern board to sanction a mixed traffic
(Colour‑Rail 313718) the LNER’s O2s. Even the heaviest trains of Mogul resulted in the dust being blown off
imports drawn out of Southampton could be the S15 drawings and another ten of the class,
Unlike its grouped contemporaries the handled quite happily by the mixed traffic S15 Nos.838–47, emerging from Eastleigh Works
Southern Railway obtained more of Class 4‑6‑0s. Thus Maunsell’s output of purely in 1936.
its income from passengers than from freight engines was small, a mere 43 examples
freight. There was none of the massive hauls in three different classes. Two others, a four‑ Z Class 0‑8‑0T No.956 is seen at Hither
of coal or iron ore or manufactured goods cylinder 4‑8‑0 for Kent coal traffic and a three‑ Green shed on 27th July 1946. (R. C. Riley/
which spawned the Great Western’s ‘28XX’ cylinder 2‑6‑2 with 5ft 6in driving wheels The Transport Treasury)
MAUNSELL FREIGHT ENGINES FOR THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY W 2‑6‑4T No.31911 lends its weight to
banking a London‑bound Southern
Region express up the 1 in 37 from Exeter
The first of the accepted designs, the Z Class design offering 1173sq ft of surface, was allied St. David’s to Exeter Central on 13th
0‑8‑0T, was constructed to meet the specified to a modest firebox of 106sq ft and a grate area July 1963. (Trevor Owen/Colour-Rail.com
need for a heavy shunting engine. Maunsell of but 18.6sq ft. The reasoning was that the 392334)
had considered building further examples of temperature of the relatively small fire would
Urie’s G16 Class 4‑8‑0T engines of 1921 but fall quite quickly after a period of shunting, instead by Marshall drive which had an
instead chose to make use of many existing diminishing the prospect of steam being lost additional eccentric providing lap and lead
parts in a new design. Other factors were noisily through the safety valves. By the same movement. The driving wheels, the third axle
considered, not least maximum adhesion. For token the fire could be readily revived for work being driven, were a non‑standard 4ft 8in in
that reason the possible later inclusion of a while the boiler would have retained heat in the diameter. One might question why this when,
trailing pony truck was dropped. Adoption interim. Further, Maunsell contended the short for example, the Brighton had standardised
of a three‑cylinder layout was designed bursts of power required for shunting would on 4ft 6in wheels since Stroudley’s time and
to avoid excessive slipping while, at the not raise the gas temperature sufficiently to so had patterns already available. Were they
same time, reducing the decibel level of the make a superheater of much value.
exhaust, a neighbourly consideration given The three 16in x 28in cylinders were of The coaling plant at Exmouth Junction
the urban location of some of the Southern’s the same pattern as in the N1 and U1 Class shed overshadows the doyen of the Z
busiest marshalling yards. Then, given the Moguls. Walschaerts gear drove the outside Class, No.30950, and its train of wagons
intermittent nature of shunting operations, valves but the centre one, originally planned on 5th July 1961.
a relatively large boiler, of existing Brighton to have Holcroft conjugated gear, was worked (R. C. Riley/The Transport Treasury)
Commendably clean Z Class No.30952 in a goods yard! In working order the engine three diesels, built at Ashford Works in 1937
is on banking duties at Exeter Central turned the scales at 71 tons 12cwt. Eight and powered by 600hp English Electric units,
on 10th October 1959. (R. C. Riley/The were built at Brighton in 1929 and numbered went new to Norwood Junction shed which,
Transport Treasury) 950–17. Unusually perhaps for its purpose, the fostering a small army of ex-Brighton radial
class was fitted with steam heating apparatus tanks since its opening in 1935, ironically
perhaps considered insufficiently robust for though vacuum brake gear enabled it to deal never had a Z in its allocation though its near-
this new design? The wheelbase incidentally with fitted stock. Livery at first was the usual neighbour at Hither Green did so. The diesels
was 17ft 6in but the engine could negotiate green-lined black with ‘SOUTHERN’ and the were prosaically numbered 1, 2 and 3.
4½-chain radius curves at slow speed through number centrally on the tank sides but plain The Zs proved to be excellent in their field
limited axle sideplay. However, the overall black with number on the bunker and power but with the proliferation of diesel shunters,
length was such that an overhang at both ends class ‘6F’ in British Railways days. particularly post-nationalisation, other work
of all but 11ft required care to avoid fouling A further ten examples were ordered from had to be found for them. This, however,
anything adjoining on curved sidings. Eastleigh in 1931 but soon cancelled because tended to show how the close specification for
Tractive effort at 85% of the 180psi boiler of the poor economic situation of the time.
pressure worked out at 29,376lb. The bunker When those matters improved diesel-electric The last of the fifteen W Class engines,
held three tons of coal though the side tanks, shunters had proved their worth on the London No.31925, stands ahead of an
with their downward-angled tops to provide Midland & Scottish Railway and the Southern unidentified classmate at Hither Green
good vision on a hump, could take only 1,500 thereafter turned to that type of motive power shed on 21st February 1960. (R. C. Riley/
gallons – but then water was always available for its shunting needs. The company’s first The Transport Treasury)
their primary role made them unsuitable for C Class 0‑6‑0 No.30536 has spare steam which the firebox supplied 135sq ft. A further
much else. Among other duties some spent on a freight at Hamworthy Junction, 285sq ft could be found in the superheater and
time handling the heavy oil traffic on the between Bournemouth and Wareham, in the grate had an area of 25sq ft. A Belpaire
Fawley branch and between the Southern and August 1959. firebox, top feed and smokebox regulator
Somerset & Dorset at Templecombe, as well as (Colour-Rail .com 341917) featured as usual. The N1’s 5ft 6in driving
banking trains up the sharp gradient between wheels and three 16in x 28in cylinders were
Exeter’s St. David’s and Central stations. The the ‘Schools’ – and nicknamed ‘the piano front’ provided here though the latter were slightly
latter in particular ought to have played to emanated from the original use of Holcroft enlarged to a diameter of 16½in., increasing
their strengths – a short sharp burst of energy conjugated gear to work the centre valve, the tractive effort from 27,695lb to 29,452lb at
– but some anecdotal evidence suggests good which lay alongside the cylinder. That was 85%BP. The coupled wheelbase, which made
preparation and skilled handling were required angled at 1 in 8 to give the connecting rod 63% of the total weight adhesive, was 15ft 6in,
on both sides of the footplate if the engine were clearance over the leading axle. Though, like the total wheelbase worked out at 36ft 4in and
not to become winded before Central had been Gresley’s, this gear used 2:1 levers and drove overall length of the engine a quarter‑inch over
reached. None of the eight has been preserved, at the leading end of the valve, unlike Gresley’s 44ft. Brakes were fitted to the bogies recovered
all being withdrawn in 1962. it was worked directly from the combination from the ‘Rivers’ following their reconstruction
links by drive rods to the arrangement under as tender engines and the tanks, holding 2,000
The second of the three was the massive and behind the piano front. The rods passed gallons, came from the same source too. The
W Class 2‑6‑4T engine built explicitly alongside the outer valve casings which had pony trucks were among remnants of stock
to handle heavy cross‑London freight to be sharply inset to provide the clearance. purchased from Woolwich Arsenal where
traffic which, other than in and out of Feltham Although of the six N1 engines only the parts for N Class engines had been produced
Yard where Urie’s great H16 4‑6‑2T reigned prototype actually had the conjugated gear in after the First World War to maintain a
supreme, was in the hands of the Southern’s service for a time, all the three‑cylinder engines degree of employment as the demand for arms
battalion of ageing 0‑6‑0 goods engines. in the family retained the look. The advantage declined sharply. The bunker, holding 3½
This was the N1 three‑cylinder 2‑6‑0 of Holcroft’s over Gresley’s was that the tons of coal, had the back panel sharply angled
of 1919 with minor alterations. That class events in the centre valve were not affected by downwards towards the sides to provide a
emanated from the very successful mixed expansion of the outside valve spindles as the good lookout from the footplate when running
traffic N Class 2‑6‑0 first introduced on the engine worked. in reverse.
South Eastern & Chatham Railway in 1917, The W arose from the identified need First proposed in 1926 and designed in
the solitary three‑cylinder example being to make best use of the limited number of 1929, an initial order for the erection of ten
permitted to work through the loading gauge inner suburban paths now available for was placed at Eastleigh, the frames having
restricted tunnels south of Tunbridge Wells. freight traffic across London among the more been made at Ashford, not surprising in view
Though this class eventually ran to no more frequent and faster (and still being introduced) of parentage, and the boilers at Brighton.
than six units it proved to be a very successful ‘Southern Electric’ suburban services. The However, the trade recession following the
design. The given reason for this small number routes taken to reach yards on the north side of Wall Street crash late that year caused the
was the cost, both first and maintenance. the Thames often included some stiff gradients first five frames delivered to Eastleigh to be
From the enginemen’s point of view the three‑ and sharp curves, the 1929 loops, causeway stored and the boilers put into the pool of
cylinder layout meant the locomotives rode and flyover at Lewisham being just one such spares for the U and N Classes. The go‑ahead
relatively comfortably, rather more so than example facing traffic out of Hither Green for construction came with improved trading
their two‑cylinder counterparts which could yard. The brief thus included power to haul conditions in 1931, which permitted the first
thrash about very badly, especially as mileage and especially to stop heavy, unfitted freight five to be delivered in January and February
built up. (Bert Hooker vividly describes a very trains, good acceleration and, by inference, 1932, numbered 1911–5. They had gravity
lively run with a U Class Mogul, the former good adhesion. The relatively short journeys sanding and right‑hand drive, vacuum brake
River Torridge, over the Portsmouth Direct favoured a tank engine but Maunsell saw no equipment and, perhaps unusually for an
line. Phlegmatically, he terms the violent reason to go beyond existing and available engine defiantly labelled ‘Goods’, carriage
‘hunting’ going downhill from Haslemere standard parts to create it. steam heating gear. However, the Chief Civil
towards Guildford at the maximum permitted The very satisfactory boiler used Engineer, George Ellson, with his memories of
70mph as disconcerting!) throughout the whole of Maunsell’s 2‑6‑0 the Sevenoaks disaster in mind, immediately
The peculiar front end look to all fleet was used, pressed at the regular 200psi. placed an embargo on their use on passenger
Maunsell’s three‑cylinder classes – other than It offered 1,526sq ft of heating surface of trains though they regularly worked empty
OCTOBER 2017 583
its life at just three depots, Stewarts Lane,
Norwood Junction and Hither Green. Towards
the end, however, Feltham had a taste of them
as the ageing H16s went for scrap. Like the Zs
they also featured for a short time at Fawley
and Exeter and though surviving intact the
wholesale slaughter of steam at the end of
1962, these most handsome engines had all
gone by the close of 1964.
So to the third type and I find it ironic
that the passenger-orientated Southern
Railway should be the last company
to produce the final examples of the classic
British 0-6-0 freight engine. The raison d’être
in the case of the Q was to permit withdrawal
of some of the SR’s more ancient freight
engines though as a class of twenty it made
few inroads into the mass of these. There were,
for example, that number alone of Adams’s
‘0395’ Class engines of 1881 still in service
as well as more than 40 ex-South Eastern
Railway O1 Class locomotives, a design which,
at base, was introduced by James Stirling in
1878. True, Wainwright had reboilered them
in the early years of the twentieth century but
W No.31920 is at Kensington Olympia with a northbound freight on 11th February much else was original. The Central Section
1961. (R. C. Riley/The Transport Treasury) could offer Billinton’s C2 six from 1893, but
though more than 40 came rebuilt with a larger
stock in later years. Whisper it quietly though, five being provided with this in 1959/60. boiler, again much else was unchanged. The
one was apparently given the opportunity Walschaerts gear powered the outer valves sum total in these three classes alone is more
under Bulleid to sample passenger duty. The but the inner one on all fifteen engines was than a hundred to begin with.
belief is it failed but then it wasn’t classed as a driven by conjugation from cross rods worked It has to be said the year of their order,
‘mixed traffic’ design! from the top of the combination links of the 1937, was not the most auspicious time for new
The other five locomotives from the outside gear. This saved some weight but steam on the Southern. Main line electrification
first-ordered batch and another five ordered more importantly left plenty of room within was in full swing, for in that year 100 route
in March 1930 were eventually delivered in the frames for adequate bearings. Nevertheless miles had received the third rail and another
the year beginning April 1935. By that time the engines turned the scales in working order
Eastleigh was in the throes of constructing at 90 tons 14cwt. 12F power! W tanks Nos.31914 and
the final lot of ten ‘Schools’ Class locomotives The plain black livery of the first batch 31915 bank a train of Meldon granite
so the order was switched to Ashford. These was relieved by green lining though the second ballast out of Exeter St. David’s at the
engines, numbered 1916–25, were turned out lot was not so adorned. In BR days, power- start of the near ¾-mile 1 in 37 slog to
in most respects like the first five but they had classified 6F, their lot was the usual unlined Exeter Central on 2nd July 1963.
left-hand drive and steam sanding, the earlier ‘goods black’ livery. The class spent most of (R. C. Riley/The Transport Treasury)
584 BACKTRACK
Not long out of shops and with the Sevenoaks to Hastings for which new narrow expenditure while Maunsell was in office they
original capuchon chimney, Q Class 0‑6‑0 carriages would be required. came out under Bulleid in the form of the
No.531 is seen at Eastleigh in 1938. Much of the suburban electric rolling awful ‘2-HAL’. Matching all this against the
(R. C. Riley Collection/The Transport Treasury) stock had been produced by mounting twenty engines of Class Q and one gets the
existing bodies on new underframes. impression the board would have preferred
70 miles in 1938, which required much new However, the massive investment in entirely to hear no mention of new steam investment.
electric stock to be provided. Finding money new stock to work over these later and longer (As a matter of interest Herbert Walker had
for steam motive power was thus a minor routes dwarfed that available for steam. refused Maunsell’s intention to put two motor
consideration. It is probable even as the Q was For example, 87 express four-car sets were
at the final design stage the next 100 miles ordered for the Portsmouth Direct and Mid- On the old route (‘Castleman’s
of electrified route, scheduled for 1939, were Sussex line electrifications of 1937–8, as well Corkscrew’) between Brockenhurst and
already in detailed planning. Other potential as 142 ‘2-BIL’ units for stopping and semi- Bournemouth C No.30548 heads through
projects were in the pipeline too: South fast services. The Kentish outer suburban West Moors (for Ferndown) towards
Croydon to Horsted Keynes to provide an electrification to Gillingham and Maidstone Brockenhurst with a mixed goods on 4th
alternative route to Haywards Heath and the in 1939 required another 92 two-coach sets, July 1959.
ex-Brighton coastal resorts, for example, and and though those had been noted in planned (Trevor Owen/Colour-Rail.com BRS2029)
OCTOBER 2017 585
Stovepipe chimney-equipped Q Oliver Bulleid is recorded as saying the the will to argue forcefully for such a course.
No.30549 stands alongside C2X 0-6-0 Q ought never to have been built and rued Quite how any such design might have turned
No.32521 at Norwood Junction shed an arrival too late to prevent it. By the time out is impossible to know though doubtless
on 22nd May 1961. It later received the first, No.530, emerged from Eastleigh in it would have been capable of a rather wider
a ‘Standard 4’ chimney to match the January 1938 an ailing Maunsell had retired. range of duties than local freight work and the
blastpipe. Output appears unhurried for the last of the occasional rather slothful excursion. As Mike
(R. C. Riley/The Transport Treasury) twenty, No.549, did not enter service until Romans described it, “the Q was properly
September 1939. Bulleid’s views were perhaps a child of circumstance more than of its
bogies on the power cars of the ‘4-COR’ units, rather unfair. With so much electrification designer”. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Maunsell
meaning the proposed 1,800hp as provided going on and more planned, it is clear never considered it to be a ‘standard’ class.
on the ‘6-PAN/6-PUL’ sets was halved. This Herbert Walker would not, maybe could not, Whatever the case, the Q featured a
showed in service where they were allowed countenance spending on any new steam slightly smaller version of the boiler fitted to
four minutes more non-stop between Waterloo power beyond the simplest and cheapest the L1 Class 4-4-0, retaining a Belpaire firebox
and Portsmouth Harbour than the ‘Schools’ machine. In 1937 Maunsell was 69 years old but having a slight taper. It contained 1,247sq
they superseded hauling ten coaches, a tare and in poor health. However much he and his ft of surface of which the firebox contributed
load of around 335 tons. A ‘4-COR’ set weighed design team might have wanted to produce 122sq ft. Grate area was 21.9sq ft. Unusually
158 tons tare though that naturally included something more radical, it seems probable and uniquely – other than the single example
the power source.) he simply did not have either the strength or fitted to ‘Lord Nelson’ Class 4-6-0 No.857 –
the superheater was of the Sinuflo pattern, of
The ‘works’ of Q No.30534 are obviously of interest to its crew before departure from 185sq ft. The two 19in x 26in inside cylinders,
Dover Priory on 23rd May 1959. Note the wide Bulleid chimney. (A. E. Bennett/The powered through rocker-worked 10in diameter
Transport Treasury) outside admission piston valves giving a
direct route for the exhaust to the chimney,
and standard 5ft 1in driving wheels provided a
tractive effort of 26,158lb at 85% of the 200psi
working pressure. Maunsell also reintroduced
the very reliable and accurate Stirling steam
reverser, an Ashford speciality. In working
order the engine weighed 49½ tons with a
maximum axleload of 18 tons. The intention
to give it a wide route availability was further
shown by the width and height maxima of 8ft
4in and 12ft 10in respectively. Overall length
was 53ft 9½in. The first few were provided
with 3,000-gallon tenders off U Class 2-6-0s
but some later received those of 3,500 or 4,000
gallons’ capacity. In all cases they could carry
five tons of coal.
First allocations were naturally to sheds
with freight duties. Post-war, representatives
were at Eastleigh, Norwood Junction, Three
Bridges and Horsham, Bournemouth retaining
its twin allocation for local working out of the
yard at Poole. Only in the last few years were
the engines more widely scattered with Nine
Elms, Salisbury, Guildford and Redhill also
hosting them.
The engines acquired the reputation of
being competent workhorses but indifferent
steamers though that did not prevent them
586 BACKTRACK