Journal Institution of Locomotive Engineers
Volume 40 (1950)
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Journal No. 213
Kreissig (Paper No. 490)
The design of light-weight rolling stock. 4-49. Disc. 49-91. Bibliography.
46 diagrams.
Author was Chief Engineer Uerdingen und Dusseldorg Carriage Companies.
Discussion: W.A. Agnew (50-1); Stanier (51); W.S. Graf-Baker (52-4) noted
stressed skin construction used by London Transport, even on the wooden bodies
used on the District Lines. Stanier noted that it is not easy to design tube
carriages because the doorways had to be wide leading to shear stresses and
fatigue. E.S. Cox (54-5) noted problems of corrosion and for end loading
quoted the Fairburn formula. Added that the passenger capacity and axle load
of the original Southport stock was almost excatly same as then recent stock.
T.H. Turner (55-6) noted problems of corrosion; L. Lynes (57-8) noted that
light alloys are expensive and also commented on the design of wheel centres;
Keith Hitchens (58-9) questionned the life expectancy of lightweight rolling
stock. J. Koffman (written 59-65); R. St J. Preston and W.H.J. Vernon (written
65-6); R.S. Hall (83-4); G.C. Jackson (84) noted that considerable rouble
had been experienced with all-welded bogies; A. Bonnères (85) recorded
buckling headstocks; J.F. Thring (85) noted excessive vibration; W.F. Allen
(85-6) noted corrosion; H.S. Stubbs (86) spoke about light alloys..
Birmingham 15 December 1949: E.R. Durnford (79-80); V.F. Dittrich (80-4): corrosion of steel Pullman cars and stressed importance of rust-proofing; J.W. Eling Smith (82); S.H. Morris (82); H. Lawton (written 82); P.K. Dewhurst (82-3)
Nock, O.S. (Paper No. 491)
The relationship between signalling and brake power in handling modern traffic.
Joint Meeting with Institution of Railway Signal Engineers. Numbered
separately.xvii pp.
R. Steadman (95-6) disputed Nock's claim that 80 mph was rarely exceeded
on Coronation between York and Darlington.
Journal 214
Cook, K.J. (Paper No.492)
The late G.J. Churchward's locomotive development on the Great Western Railway.
131-71. Disc.: 171-210. + folding plate. 33 illus., 20 diagrs., 4 tables.
.
This is the most complete professional source of assembled data on
Churchward design. It begins by emphasising that Churchward took over from
Dean some excellent locomotives, notably the 80 singles, the standard goods
0-6-0 (especially the most recent 200), and the several 4-4-0 classes and
Aberdare 2-6-0s which continued to be constructed under Churchward. The evolution
of the standard classes is examined closely. The initial six envisaged in
1903 consisted of the 2-8-0 No. 97; the 4-6-0 No. 98 (the Dean/Churchward
4-6-0 No. 100) is regarded as a protype for this) and the 2-6-2T No. 99,
and should have included a 4-6-0 with 5ft 8in driving wheels, but this did
not materialise under Churchward. A 4-4-0 (No. 3473) emerged in 1904 and
a 4-4-2T (No. 2221) in 1905. All had 18x30in cylinders and 8½ in piston
valves. It was originally envisaged that there would be 9ft and 8ft long
fireboxes, but the tank engines demanded two smaller fireboxes.
No. 98 incorporated features of American design, notably the cylinders cast
in two halves and joined by a cast saddle. This demanded a separate front
end which was joined to the normal plate frames at the rear. The boilers
featured a tapering barrel, but initially this was restricted to the rear
plate. On 4-6-0 No. 171 Albion the boiler pressure was increased to
225 psi. Cook is not very revealing on the purchase of the De Glehn compound
4-4-2s: he described their general dimensions (with the usual absurd Imperial
units) and stated how they were tested against No, 171 Albion as converted
to a 4-4-2 and that this led to Churchward designing his four-cylinder
simples..
In the discussion W.A. Stanier presented some anecdotal material
(pp. 171-2) including his observations on
Churchward's County
class.Stanier said that it was with particular pleasure that he had come
to the present meeting to hear a Vice-President, Mr. Cook, tell them something
of the work with which he himself had been mixed up to a certain extent during
its early history. . Mr. Churchward had come to Swindon the year of his own
birth. He had then been Carriage Works Manager and was actively engaged in
developing new things. He had developed the Great Western axle box, which
was recognized as being one of the axle boxes most free from failure. They
had heard about a number of people who had been associated w,lth Churchward
but one of the principal people who had worked with him was George
Burrowshis son was present at the meeting. He himself, having been
in the drawing office at the time, had seen some of his work.
He could, of course; speak at great length about Mr. Churchward, but would
confine himself to referring to one or two points only. Mr. Cook had drawn
attention to the 4-4-0 "County" class engine. Churchward had built that engine
with his tongue in his cheek. He knew the front end was too powerful for
the wheel base. This engine was built for working trains on the Shrewsbury
and Hereford line, which was a joint line with the L. & N.W., and the
L. & N.W. objected at that time to the 4-6-0 "Saint" class working over
it. He was not going to be told what he could do by Webb! Therefore Churchward
built the "County" which had plenty of power to run the service.
Another matter he wished to speak about was the advent of the French erigine;
Churchward had always been very' keen on spotting things that were good.
The French engine had an extraordinarily good bogie and almost from the time
the French engine. started running until the present time the Great Western
bogie had the French spring control on it, as also had a great many L.M.S.
bogies. Then there was also the big end for the inside cylinders The big
end on the King, Castle, and Coronation" classes, and on a number of other
4-cylinder engines, had a French big end for the inside cylinder. He would
like to tell the meeting something of the" old man." After the first world
war a deputation had visited Churchward to tell him of their wishes. Churchward
had rather an autocratic way and used to tell his people what to do. The
leader of the deputation, the district organiser, said, "You know, the time
has come when we wish to be asked to do a thing and not ordered to do it."
"D- it all, it is time the' old man' retired," he replied. When Churchward
retired the workers insisted on making him a presentation. They asked him
what he wanted and intimated that he wanted nothing, and on being pressed
he said, "A fishing rod." So he was presented with one and at his request
the rest of the amount given was devoted to prizes for apprentices who attended
the technical college. At the presentation the Chairman of the Works Committee,
having spoken in glowing terms of how they admired Churchward, wound up his
remarks by saying that he hoped every hair on his head would be a candlelight
to glory. Churchward replied, "Well, there will not be many of them." He
was as bald as a coot. . . As members probably knew,he himself had served
his time under Dean but had worked a11 his active life until 1932 under
Churchward. He had a great regard and affection for his memory. As Mr. Cook
had said,'" His soul goes marching on" That was true because all his engines,
which are still of the most modern type, were built before 1910. Those who
had come after Churchward had tried to follow in his steps ever since.
H. Holcroft (pp. 173-82) added a considerable amount of extra detail.
R.C. Bond (182-4) examined the influence of Swindon
policy on the design of the Royal Scot class, but "It was not until Sir William
Stanier introduced on the locomotives he designed as Chief Mechanical Engineer
of the L.M.S., the Swindon boiler in all its essentials, that the full benefits
of Churchward's work was felt. The maintenance record of all Stanier's boilers
has been outstanding and he would be the first to acknowledge their design
as fundamentally based on Churchward's earlier work. He felt satisfied from
his experience with the original Royal Scot and 5X 4-6-0 boilers, and those
with which these engines have subsequently been fitted, that the shape of
the firebox and design of the water spaces are primarily responsible for
their high performance and the long life of the firebox plates. . As a matter
of interest he had looked up the Paper on "Large Locomotive Boilers" read
to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers by Churchward in 1906. Therein
Churchward states that in his standard boilers provision for adequate circulation
to the water spaces, and also upwards between the tubes at the firebox tube
plate, had been made by leaving space between the tubes and barrel from top
to bottom of a sectional area equal to the combined area of the vertical
spaces between the tubes at all points, with a balance to ensure adequate
feed to the water spaces of the firebox. Freedom from plate wastage and tube
and stay trouble was thus ensured.
It seemed clear from Mr. Cook's Paper that a guiding principle followed by
Churchward is the old maxim that "If it. is not necessary to alter a thing,
it is necessary not to alter it." Features of design roved sound in practice
were left 'alone and have remained unaltered Or many years. Ne There comes
a time, of course, when change becomes essential. tiv~erhe.1ess ~~urc~ward's
work would exert its influenc~ on Locomongllleels In thIS cOuntry for many
years to come, III fact, for so
W.F. McDermid (184) noted the difficulty of keeping steam pipes tight with
high degree superheating; O.S. Nock (written 184-5); H.M. Le Fleming (written
185)
Manchester 31 March 1950: Forsyth (187);
Finlayson (188) observed how :the Great Western had been the first railway
to develop taper barrel boilers and later taper fireboxes. These boxes appeared
to become more and more tapered in their length, which in turn caused varying
curves on the firebox side, which must have resulted in more difficult boiler
making. Churchward was presumably making a very scientifically designed boiler
to encourage heat transfer from the fire and quicker water circulation, but
on the other hand this appears to necessitate difficult boiler plating. In
asking the question from Great Western men as to how they got on with steel
stays, he had always been informed that on the Great Western Railway there
had never been any trouble with broken steel stays. This is not true of boilers
on other railways. Would he be correct in saying that Churchward had succeeded
in making a boiler which. from a practical boilermaker's point of view was
a difficult thing to make but that the resultant article was scientifically
designed from a water circulation and heat transference point of view? Would
it also be correct to say that in designing various curvatures of the wrapper
plate sides he had succeeded in making a boiler in which steel stays gave
no trouble in service?;
Patrick (188) commented on the statement which had been made about the freedom
from failure of firebox stays. In comparison with the practice on other railways,
the stays .were of relatively small diameter, but there was another point
\yhich occurred to him which was connected with the feed system. He believed
that the Great Western Railway were the pioneers of the Top Feed system and
they employed a somewhat elaborate system of feed trays which might possibly
be the secret of success for Top Feed. In modern times on many railways abroad,
in particular, they found locomotives with a Top Feed system in which the
water entered the boiler through a twin nozzle or sometimes a pipe, without
trays. There was nothing to show that such a system was in any way superior.
to side clack boxes from a maintenance point of view on the boiler. He would
like to ask the Author whether he considered that the employment of the
Churchward Top Feed Tray system was a contributory factor in the freedom
from stay leakage obtained. It also appeared to him to be worthy of note
that the Great Western many years ago were using a boiler pressure very much
higher than any contemporary railway outside the USA. The final comment he
would make was on the continued faithfulness to inside valve gear. He believed
there were now some Great Western engines with outside Walschaerts valve
gear, but there were a great many engines having various forms of Stephenson
or Walschaerts inside valve gear. Was that system maintained for the appearance
and finish of the locomotive, in neglect of the fact that accessibilily must
be somewhat difficult for lubrication and inspection, particularly on the
tank engines? . ;
E.G. Smith (188); Metcalfe (188); K.R.M. Cameron (188) noted how up-to-date
Churchward's designs were: more like "1938" than 1908. Mr. E. G. Smith (G.)
asked whether it was the Author's experience that inside valve liners wear
far less than outside valve liners on the 4-cylinder engine. He had found
it so on the L.M. Region. .
Meeting in Derby 13 April 1950: M.A. Henstock (194-5) noted that Churchward had decided that double admission valves were inefficient and opted for large diameter piston valves.and was surprised that Cook had stressed valve travel rather than lead (which Henstock considered to be a very important factor in smooth running: Replying Cook stated that the reference to lead and valve travel must be taken relatively and to emphasise the importance which Churchward placed upon long valve travel. It should also be borne in mind that Walschaert and Stephenson valve gears have different lead characteristics) but both can be developed to give excellent results. The leads as quoted in the Paper remain the same to-day on the Churchward engines. On the Castles the lead has been increased from the 1/8 in of the Stars to 3/16 in. Henstock also queried the function of top feed trays and was informed. by Cook that they may have made a greater contribution to the condition of feed water than was really planned. Certainly around about 1939, admitting that shed boiler maintenance was at its best, really excellent boiler life was being obtained on the Great Western Railway, such that the chemists would say could only be obtained from fully softened water, but softening was not universal. Main line passenger engines were in many cases running three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand miles between boiler lifts.
E.A. Langridge (196-7) noted how
Churchward had introduced high boiler pressures (225 lb) and stuck with them
unlike other locomotive engineers: he considered that was indicative of excellent
workshop practice and the ability to maintain firebox stays and tubes. He
queried the cylinder layout of the four-cylinder locomotives: on other railways
this layout had been tried but dropped due to the loosening of the cylinders.
In reply the Author said one had to decide in a 4-cylinder design whether
to set cylinders in transverse line or staggered as in the Churchward
arrangement. There were pros and cons; Churchward chose that arrangement
very largely, he thought, to keep the connecting..rods the same length and
to distribute the weight. It did give rise to breathing moments and there
was some difficulty in keeping the exhaust joints tight. There was some trouble
with cylinder bolts at that point.
The regulator opening curve was obtained as shown on the diagram provided
that free movement of the valves were maintained and for this purpose one
feed from the sight feed lubricator led to the regulator valve. The difference
in valve opening on the forward and return movements of the regulator handle
was, of course, part of the design and the Experimental Section, when recording
regulator openings during tests had to be careful to note whether the regulator
was moving on the forward or return stroke. Regarding the Deeley gear, he
thought the. North Star was first. Deeley published the gear shortly
afterwards. There was correspondence between Swindon and Derby, with the
result that acknowledgment was made that Swindon was entitled to use the
gear.
York Meeting: 19 April 1950: chaired by J.N. Compton who made some searching comments, notably on p. 203: in developing the King class, the very high tractive effort seemed to have been achieved by reducing the wheel diameter and increasing the stroke, and asked why it was necessary to go to 40,000 lbf tractive effort on what was a high speed passenger locomotive. Cook replied that the power was needed for the exacting services to Wolverhampton and over the severe South Devon banks. Compton then criticised the short stumpy boilers (a result of Churchward's seeking the maximum degree of standardization in throat plates, etc.) which must have led to difficulties on tubing because the shortness of barrels in proportion to gas area must affect the A/S ratio or hydraulic effect. One must have an enormous number of tubes, and that would lead to too much gas area. Cook avoided the specific question and implied that Churchward was seeking the free circulation of water. Compton's observations on the combining valve received a crisp response: The lubricator combining valve was controlled by the operation of the regulator handle. On opening the regulator, the combining valve was lifted which started the flow of oil and it was cut off again by the closing of the regulator without. interfering with the adjusting needles. The second steam supply from the manifold to the combining valve was for the purpose of completing atomization. Lastly he mildly attacked the sacred cow of the brake valve: it was rather similar to other types of combmed steam and vacuum, but embodied only a large ejector. This caused him to think that the Western type ejector must be rather heavy on steam when the locomotive was stationary. The vacuum pump, of course, replaced the small ejector when running. Cook agreed that when the engine was stationary and the vacuum pump was not operating, the large ejector was brought into operation to release the brakes. This is, however, required for relatively short periods. The economy by this system was extremely marked in 1922 when trials were carried out by a Committee on Unification of Brakes.
Carpenter (presumably G.W. pp. 202-3)
refered to the De Glehn compounds, and asked whether,
in view of the widely accepted idea that it was not possible to accommodate
large low-pressure cylinders between the frames of British locomotives without
undesirable reductions in axlebox bearing surfaces, any heating trouble had
been experienced with the French engines, the last two of which had
235/8in. diameter low-pressure cylinders. He also wondered
whether the valve design of the French compounds, which had slide valves,
was less efficient than that of the Churchward 4-6-0s, which had long travel
piston valves, as the thermal efficiency of the compounds was theoretically
higher. Cook replied that he did not consider that there had been any particular
heating problems with the French compounds as the pressure was limited in
the low pressure cylinders. The engines ran well and were efficient, but
did not give a free exhaust when worked heavily. Nevertheless, a drawbar
pull of 2 tons was obtained at 70 mile/h.. Carpenter recalled that the efficiency
of the similar Nord 4-4-2 compounds was greatly increased in later years
when the front end was re-designed and a. multiple jet blast pipe fitted
and queried whether further investigations into compounding had been made
at Swindon following the Marechal trials between otherwise similar, compound
and simple locomotives in 1912 on the PLM Railway. This part failed to illicit
a response. Carpenter also asked whether it was originally intended to fit
the 47xx class No.7 boiler to the "Castle" class engines, as this had had
the same length between tubeplates and a larger diameter? It had occurred
to him that the increased weight of the No.7 boiler as compared with that
actually fitted to the " Castle" class engines, and consequently increased
axle loading, might have been the principal objection to doing this. Cook
agreed that this was so.
J.F. Harrison (204) had never understood
why it was necessary to have stay bars from the front buffer beams to the
smokebox. Also, why was it that Churchward, who gave so much thought to matters
of locomotive design, did not pursue superheating to its logical conclusion?
It seemed to him that he failed to take advantage of what other designers
were making the best use of and possibly he would have produced even better
engines than the "Castle" engines had he furthered superheating. The third
point waswhy only one water gauge? He thought it was wrong. Also, many
Western Region engines had under the boiler at the front end, some sort of
plate support which might not actually carry the boiler, and he would like
to know what that was for. The reply (page 206) noted that smoke box
struts were fitted on some classes because the extension frames tended to
be liable to deformation by rough usage. It did not apply on the 6 ft. 8½
in. wheels, but on the smaller wheeled engines the depth of extension frames
immediately in front of the cylinders was restricted. One water gauge, which
was. a unit fitting with test cocks on the pillar, had been found to meet
all requirements. The motion plate beneath the boiler did not fit against
the barrel plate but was a safeguard to support the front end in case of
a breakage of an extension frame. The adoption of a low degree of superheat
should be regarded as a "Churchwardism," upon which his views, as mentioned
in the paper, were quite definite. He appeared to combine the matters of
degree of superheat with boiler pressure. He adopted 225 lb. per sq. inch
in 1904, which was much in advance of other designers, and in conjunction
with this, wanted sufficient superheat to provide dry steam free of condensation
in the cylinders. .
Newcastle Meeting 26 April 1950: R.W. Taylor (208) asked about frame fractures and small tenders. Cook gave a smug reply to the latter: the Churchward locomotives were so efficient that the coal and water consumption was low. Later longer trains and larger locomotives demanded 6 tons of coal and 4000 gallons of water. The frames did not suffer greatly from fractures: the 4-cylinder suffered more frequently, but mainly of a "minor nature" at the leading end. On the 2-cylinder type fractures tended to occur within the portion round the coupled wheels, but could be eased by attention to horn bolt spacing. Birkett asked why steel stays at bottom and copper stays at top of firebox and was informed that steel was cheaper and could be of smaller diameter in circulating area. Free entry of water to waterways was of paramount importance in Churchward's eyes.
Lund, G.H.K. (Paper No. 493)
Railway breakdown and rerailing equipment. 226-69. Disc. 269-303.
Kelbus ramps, jacks, packing, lighting, breakdown cranes (Cowans Sheldon,
Cravens and Ransomes & Rapier), Kelbus rail anchors, cooking, protective
clothing, French railways, electric locomotives. Includes specific mention
of locomotive derailments which occurred near Maryhill, on West Highland
line at Inveruglas and on Skinningrove zig-zag. Discussion:
Stanier (pp 270-1) mentioned that as an Assistant Divisional
Locomotive Superintendent on the GWR: 12 ton cranes were the highest capacity
when he first had to deal with problem. Hydraulic jacks had assisted. In
1910 36 ton capacity cranes became available: a Ransomes & Rapier machine
at Swindon and a Stothert & Pitt crane at Old Oak Common. In 1927 when
in the USA he had come across the Lidgerwood steam winch. Cited earlier paper
by John Baker (Paper 310 of Vol. 23..
Rudgard (271-2) described how he had re-railed Kirtley
double-frame locomotives with 5 ton cranes. He also advocated issuing the
men with beer. A.S. Gillitt (272-3) noted that the 10 ton oil jacks used
on the Western Division of the LMR were easier to manipulate than the 20
ton type. There was a shortage of breakdown cranes in the British Zone of
Germany. He also made observations on the re-railing of cranes. T.C.B. Miller
(279-80) noted how the breakdown gang at Stratford used to live in houses
adjacent to the depot and would be called out by bells in these houses.
In his response to the discussion Lund (page 281) mentioned
the difficulties in re-railing articulated rolling stock and the particular
difficulty encountered with the C9 locomotives.The First Ordinary General
Meeting of the Korth Eastern Centre was held at the G. K. Station Hotel,
Leeds, on Thursday 11th October 1951 at 6.45 p.m., the Chair being taken
by Mr. T. Matthewson-Dick. The Minutes of the Meeting held on the 19th April
1951, were read, approved and signed as correct. The Chairman then introduced
Mr. G. H. K. Lund who read his Paper entitled Railway Breakdown and
Rerailing Equipment see V. 41.
Robertson, A.S. (Paper No. 494)
Trends in electric traction. 304-25. Disc.: 325-36.
The thermal balances of steam and electric traction were compared.
Noted the satisfactory nature of the control gear used on the Liverpool to
Southport rolling stock. Included AC electrification; the mercury arc rectifier
and the Weir Report. Discussion: Hull (328) queried the effect of third rail
electrification on ATC. Marshall (332) queried the effect of nose-suspended
motors on tyre wear and stated that the heat loss through cylinders was
5.8%
Journal No. 216
Thompson, W.T. (Paper No. 495)
Rolling bearings their contribution to modern rolling stock design.
343-80. Disc.: 381-424. (Paper No. 495).
Author employed Railway Technical Division, Skefko Ball Bearing Co.,
Luton. Self-aligning ball bearings were first applied by Gresley to return
cranks of Walschaerts link motion on GNR locomotives in 1916.
Cited paper No. 317 by P.A. Hyde and report
by E.L. Diamond.Lomotives for iron and steel works, Iron & Steel
Institute, March 1947 wherein shows advantage of roller bearings on ingot
cars. Discussion: G. Hally (p. 385) noted that Metropolitan
Railway had fitted some trains with roller bearings, once fitted "one could
forget about them. J.J. Johnston (p. 387): Drumm battery electric railcar
introduced in 1929 had been a success: it had a 21 ton axle load and could
attain 55 mph. In 1939 the three Irish Queen class locomotives were
fitted and had a 21 ton axle load. K.R.M. Cameron (p. 398)
noted that a Royal Scot tender equipped with rolling bearings could
be pushed by two foremen in the erecting shop.
Gammon, C.A. (Paper No. 496)
Standardisation and design of goods and mineral wagons as applied to
British Railways. 425-65. Disc.: 466-85; 695-709.
Included an assessment of cast irn versus cast steel for axleboxes;
axleguards; bearing springs,; drawgear (rubber springs: steel and rubber
versus all rubber); Buffers, brakes. Discussion by E.S. Cox (466-7) noted
that Pugson regretted that he could not be present (the absence of Pugson
makes Riddles choice of his rolling stock "expert" even more bizarre). Stanier
(467-8): When he was on the Great Western Railway, the late Churchward built
a 40 ton bogie coal wagon, but he found that the tare of the 40 ton-wagon
was greater than the tare of two 20-ton wagons, and it was very restricted
in the places it could serve, and so naturally he built 20-ton wagons. On
the Cornish Riviera Limited they had measured the quantity of oil
placed into the axleboxes, and the sealed boxes were run for eleven months
- care was taken to examine the boxes adjacent to the engine to ensure that
water had not breached the dust shields. Queried the change to oil-hardened
plates from water-hardened: danger of mixing the two. T. Hornbuckle (471-2)
that Clayton, Carriage & Wagon Superintendent of the MR had constructed
80,000 wagons to one design at a cost of £65 per wagon. These 8 ton
wagons were mass produced at Derby Works. B.C. Bean (702-3)
commented on the advantages of bogie stock (and observed that it was
better suited to the freight then being carried by road) and on rubber drawbar
and buffer springs and their use avoids damage to the headstocks. Discussion
Glasgow Meeting 13 December 1950: F.J. Pepper (703) noted the value of rubber
springs and the author in his response (p. 708) noted that rubber springs
lasted for at least ten and possible fifteen years. See also
Simpson: Specially constructed railway wagons
(Volume 44 Paper 533)..
Carling, D.R. (Paper No. 497)
Locomotive testing on British Railways. 496-530. Discussion 530-91.
This was a beautifully written paper and surveyed all the testing
equipment available at the time: the GWR dynamometer car; the Swindon locomotive
testing plant; the ex-North Eastern Railway dynamometer car, and the counter
pressure locomotive; the ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway dynamometer
car; the LMS gas analysis car (described by P.Lewis-Dale, Institute of Fuel
1936) and the two self-weighing tenders. the "new" LNER dynamometer car fitted
with Amsler hydraulic equipment, the "new" LMS dynamometer car and its associated
mobile testing unit and special tender. Obviously, the Rugby testing station
is also described. On page 521 and Figures 26 and 27 there
are details of the famous comparitive tests between a 2301 Dean Goods 0-6-0
with an unmodidied LMS Ivatt class 2 2-6-0. Discussion: Bond (531-3) made
reference to Rugby testing station. T. Henry Turner
(535-6) noted that Ivatt had read a paper at Doncaster in 1897on the
chimneys of locomotive engines in which he had examined chimneys from twenty
companies; Cox (536-7) the LMS had borrowed the LNER dynamometer car to calibrate
the Crewe and Horwich cars and had noted the accuracy of the LNER dynamometer
car, he also observed that the class 5 and 5X "had considerable variety of
boiler proportions". A Reidinger (540-3) refered to D49/2
and class 5 45218 (the later being equipped with special piston valves which
gave five different values of lead. The author's reply stated that in both
cases the steaming rates had been increased. Tuplin (555-6) proposed a circular
test track with a two mile diameter.
The Derby meeting on 19 October was chaired by E.R. Durnford
(572) who refered to the tests of the Ivatt Class 2 and 4 2-6-0s.
C.S. Cocks (573-5) mentioned the Testing Committee, he
was interested in the tests on the D49 class locomotive with poppet valves,
and had some fairly sharp comments about the draughting on the Ivatt 2-6-0s.
the Author (page 577) reported on further trials on the class 2 2-6-0
with the Western Region's dynamometer car, and he had seen a photograph of
that little engine attaining the summit of nine miles of 1 in 300 gradient
at 40 m.p.h., in 41 per cent. cut-off, with regulator full open and a load
of 15 coaches; this was with the existing cylinders but with the revised
chimney. Glasgow Meeting on 1 November 1950 chaired by C.D. Hanna:
E.D. Trask (585) mentioned the quantity of steam required
for steam heating. W.H. MacLeod asked about double blast pipes and on tests
with poppet valves on the D49 class. In reply Carling considered that double
blast pipes were not required on locomotives of the size of a class 5 and
that in the D49 tests something was wrong with the valves or their seats.:
.
Journal No. 218
Shields, T.H. (Paper No. 498)
The Giffard centenary: a survey of locomotive injector development. 597-649.
Disc.: 649-73.
Paper Number duplicated in Warder paper
on electric traction Vol. 41. Comprehensive review including patents.
Began with showing the boiler feed arrangement (pump) for a Caledonian 2-2-2
of the Crewe type on the Caledonian Railway. Then explored the development
of jet instruments via Venturi (1797), Nicholson (patent in 1806), the Marquis
Mannoury d'Ectat, Benoulli, Euler and Bourdon with patents in 1848 and 1857.
Also pre-dating Giffard's invention Andrew Barclay and his draughtsman Alex
Morton were working on jet condensers from 1854. Giffard's patent 1665 dated
from 23 July 1858 and an extract from it is reproduced on pp. 601-2. Samples
of the injectors were supplied to the Paris representatives of Sharp Stewart
and R. Stephenson, but only the former successfully asembled the device (aided
by John Robinson) and this was fitted with to a ballast locomotive with the
assistance of James Cross
of the St Helens Railway in 1859, and subsequently to a freight
locomotive. Robinson and Cross conducted experiments to establish the effects
of temperature and vibration. Ramsbottom fitted an injector to a Problem
class 2-2-2 in 1860. Sharp Stewart obtained the British rights and continued
to manufacture injectors until the firm moved to Glasgow in 1888. The US
rights were obtained by William Sellers of Philadelphia: the device was first
fitted to a Baldwin locomotive for the Clarksville & Louisville Railroad
in 1860 (incidentally the rapid uptake of Giffard's invention should be
of interest to those studying technological innovation). In 1864 Andrew
Barclay was involved in litigation concerning infringement of the Giffard
patent. The first modifications were patented by Gresham & Robinson
(2784/1864) and Gresham (3169/1867)..
Discussion: Cox (651-3) noted that tests were performed on injectors by British
Railways (but types were not identified in Paper); Holcroft (653-5): In
Maunsell's day on the Southern Railway a special point had been made of the
simplicity and reliability of injectors and their accessories. The injectors
were located behind the foodsteps to the cab where the cones could be got
at without having to uncouple pipes to do so. He entirely disagreed with
the Author about his views on the best positions of clacks and
injectors.
Darlington (666-9)
Glasgow (669-73): The Chairman, C.D. Hanna (669-70) noted the connection
between the Robinson family from J.
Robinson's 1860 IME paper and the death of C.H. Robinson, a Director
of NBL, in 1940; G.W. Phillips (670-1) noted his experience
of the exhaust steam injector c1909 with Ivatt Atlantic superheated boilers
fitted to Nos. 1452-61.
Riddles, R.A. (Presidential Address)
Nationalisation and the mechanical engineer. 675-94.
Main theme was standardization and some case was made for retaining
steam traction. Noted that the Southern Railway and the LNER had Chief Electrical
Engineers and that this was not so on GWR and LMS. The table below compares
the cost of steam with other forms of motive power.
| type | cost (£k) | starting tractive effort | 1 hr DBHP | cost per DBHP |
| Class 5 | 16 | 26120 | 1200 | £13+ |
| 1600 hp CC type diesel electric | 78 | 41400 | 1200 | 65 |
| 2500 hp A1A gas turbine | 138 | 33000 | 2000 | 69 |
| CC electric for Woodhead | 37 | 45000 | 2120 | 17 |
Noted that standard coaching stock was all-steel, exploited welding, had Buckeye couplers and Pullman gangways which held the train together in the event of accidents. Resistance to end-loading was doubled. Largely evaded the wagon problem except to note the vast intake of private owner wagons many of which were in a very poor stock and had to be scrapped..