Journal Institution Locomotive Engineers
Volume 18 (1928)

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Journal No. 83

New L.M. & S.R. locomotives. 2-6 + 5 folding plates. 2 illus., 2 diagrs. (s. els.), 4 tables.
The results of dynamometer car tests on the new Royal Scot class were compared with tests on the 4P compound and "Claughton" (both original and modified) classes. Also new 2-6-4T.

Moon, A.N. (Paper No. 221)
Designing of carriages for comfort. 7-27. Disc.: 27-31.
The Meeting held in Glasgow on 16 December 1926 was chaired by D.C. Urie.
Both the paper and the discussion give some consideration to the six-wheel bogie.

Heaton, W. (Paper 222)
Carriage bogie design (Part II). Riding qualities and the effects of design on wearing parts. 38-64. Disc.: 64-128. 1929, 19, 334-6.

Stephenson, H.J. (Paper No. 223).
Locomotive engine failures and their causes—some hints for their prevention. 133-44. Disc.: 145-58.
Based on failures in the North Eastern Area of the LNER. The largest single category was overheated bearings (category included axleboxes, big end brasses and crank pins): 30% attributable to this cause. He placed most of the blame on failures in lubrication, and considered that force feed lubrication was the cause. He also considered that the quality of the metal used for bearings had declined. 13% of failures could be traced to burst or leaking tubes and the primary cause was untreated very hard water, although excessive use of the blower (termed jet) was a further cause. Injector failures accounted for 7-8% of failures and these could be traced to dirt (some via water troughs) and to badly fitting replacement cones. The motion and glands accounted for 19% of failures, and those attribuable to connecting rods and big ends were increasing. Joints accounted for 3% of failures. Superheaters increased the problem, especially from the main steam pipe in the smokebox. Springs and spring gear accounted for 3%. The spring hanger over the radial axle on the 4-4-2s was an especial cause of trouble. Axle failures were very rare: about 1%. Crank axle life could vary from 50,000 to 800,000 miles. The bending and breaking of side rods was a problem on the 0-8-0s. Coupling rod pins were a considerable source of trouble. Crank pins occasionally broke. 3% of failure could be attributed to pistons and piston valves. He prefered the Detroit lubrication system. The Gresley Pacifics experienced problems with union links and combination levers and the loss of Castle nuts. The predominantly Westinghouse brake gear accounted for 4% of failures, especially breakage of the reversing valve. Discusssion: G.A. Musgrave (145-8) chaired the meeting and was critical of both the overheated bearings and of Stephenson's criticisim of mechanical lubricators. He strongly advocated hot water washing out. E. Alcock (148-9); C.F. Adams (149-50); Burley (150)..

Adams, C.F. (Paper No. 224)
Piston gland packing. 159-70. Disc.: 170-5.
The Chaiman (G.A. Musgrave) observed when opening the discussion that the main object of piston gland packing is to prevent the escape of steam from the cylinders, and engines using highly superheated steam adopt cast iron packing, especially for passenger and express work. The “Britimp” packing was giving exceedingly good results on the engine upon which it had been fitted (a Gresley Pacific). When this packing was fitted, the rings were taken from the boring machine and put on the rods without any scraping whatever, and when the engine was steamed and moved there was no blow at the glands.
The United Kingdom packing gave very good results for superheater engines. A good feature of this packing and gland was air cooling: the housing for the white metal rings was exposed to the atmosphere and tended to reduce the temperature of the rings. The two garter rings were also a distinct advantage, and tended to keep the high temperature steam from the packing, but the joints between each segment of these rings needed to be lapped.
Cast iron packing gave good results on the majority of British railways: it was simple and adaptable. Good class metal was needed, and special care was needed in setting and hardening the elliptical or clip spring, to avoid excessive pressure being put on the rings, which, in turn, would cause piston rod wear.
Wear on piston rods due to packing:

Adams, C.F. (Paper No. 225)
Connecting and coupling rod lubrication. 175-85. Disc.: 186-93; 344-51..

Journal No. 84

Carrick, Peter (Paper No. 226)
Train lightinng. 201-16. Disc.:217-22.
The voltage generally adopted in Great Britain for train lighting was 24. This comparatively voltage had several advantages: robust filaments in the lamp circuit more able to withstand the vibration from within a moving vehicle; elimination of risk of fire from an electric arc; less risk of electrical leakage and consequent loss of energy from the accumulators. The widely used Stone's System included the then more recent Lilliput dynamo; variable speed equipment, the Vicker's single battery system and the Vickers V1 system. Accumulators
In this Paper on train lighting the Author has attempted to give in as lucid a manner as possible an explanation of the working of a train lighting equipment. In the short time at his disposal numerous points had necessarily to be very briefly touched upon and many interesting details of those little "automatic power stations on wheels” were not mentioned at all.

Tomlinson, Frederick (Paper No. 227)
The use and collapsing strength of copper flue tubes for locomotive boilers. 223-31. Disc.: 231-6.
Second Meeting of the Western Australian members of the Institution was held at Perth on 29th July, 1930, Mr. J. W. C. Broadfoot occupying the Chair, Vol. 21 p. 327.

Bulleid, O.V.S. (Paper No.228)
The booster. 239-74. Disc.: 274-91+ 13 folding plates. 5 illus., 29 diagrs. (incl. some folding), 8 tables. 2 plans.
This was a highly detailed paper and is illustrated with a very large number of diagrams. Bulleid attempted to justify the advantages of the wide firebox, but his arguments were destroyed by Clayton, and Chambers detected considerable weaknesses in his argument. Very interestingly, Chambers cites the Diamond paper on the 3-cylinder compounds in his defence of Derby locomotive design. The history: Verpilleux fitted cylinders on a tender om the Lyons-St. Etienne Railway in 1843. The Sturrock steam tenders are also mentioned and The Engineer, 1919, 17 January is cited. Bulleid attempted to show the advantages of the wide firebox in terms of steam generation using a formula adopted by the American Locomotive Co. which compared 4-4-2, 4-6-0 and 4-6-2 types and suggested that the coal required per ft² of grate area would be 128 for the 4-4-2; no less tha 228 for the 4-6-0 and 153 per hour: this led to fierce responses from Chambers and Clayton. C1 Atlantic was fitted with a Franklin Supply Co. booster in 1923 and was tested on a run from King's Cross hauling 18 coaches weighing 535 tons on 29 July 1923. The aim was to establish whether the locomotive could start and re-start with such a load. On 28 August 1923 the booster-fitted locomotive worked the 11.30 King's Cross to Grantham. The two P1 class 2-8-2s were fitted with modified boosters in which the thrust was transmitted to the main frame through pivoted thrust blocks, rather than through the axleboxes and guides. It was claimed that the boosters increased haulage capacity by 19%.  Tests with the Atlantic had shown that it was difficult to engage the booster at slow speeds. This modified booster was tested on the 1 in 96 of Cockburnspath bank where it was foound that the booster enabled trains to restart at a signal where the unfitted locomotive would stall. Further modifications were made to the booster to improve ride.
Discussion: Lawford Fry (274-5) suggested that Bulleid's equivalences of draw-bar horsepower as being 90% of cylinder horsepower were rather low. He also noted the use of four-wheel trailing reucks in the USA and the use of tender boosters where training axles were not fitted. E.C. Poultney (275-9) illustrated a New York Central Railroad booster-fiited 4-6-4 with an 81ft² grate area. R.W. Reid (279-80) noted that there was a renewal of interest in steam tenders in Germany. He was also highly critical of Bulleid's theoretical justification of wide fireboxes, and asked if booster-fitted Atlantics should be constructed in preference to Pacifics.
H. Chambers (280-1) acted as Sir Henry Fowler's messenger to criticise Bulleid's comments on the boilers mentioned. He also noted a further early booster-fitted locomotive constructed by Beyer, Peacock in 1865: a 2-4-0 for the Tudela and Bilbao Railway, Spain which was arranged to drive on the leading pair of wheels. Whitelegg (with illustration) The Engineer 1923, 11 May. Regarding the boiler particulars quoted for the Pacific, Atlantic and Royal Scot types, the American formula adopted presumed 55 lbsft². of steam per ft² of firebox heating surface and about 10 lbs. for the tubes, but when comparing actual boiler performances they require to be treated very carefully. For example, the Claughton boiler is not considered to be a very good steamer, yet on the basis of Bulleid’s figures the Claughton boiler would give a steam evaporation of 24,700 lbs. of steam as against a figure for the Royal Scot of 25,272 lbs making the Claughton boiler nearly equal to the Royal Scot boiler, but this was not suppoprted by actual performance. In using these theoretical figures very great care should be taken with regard to the disposition of the boiler tubes and the length of tube compared with the diameter and other ratios, citing  Lawford Fry’s very exhaustive conclusions on boiler ratios and design. In the case of a wide grate it might be assumed that the back corners of the grate are likely to give trouble and therefore will not give as efficient combustion as the front portion of the grate. Lawford Fry and Poultney referred to the proportion of the drawbar horse-power-hour being taken as equivalent to 90% of cylinder horse-power-hour. Often the locomotive weight might be 25 to 30% of the gross weight of the train hauled, thus "we are entitled to take a very much more liberal figure than that quoted." Referring to figures quoted in the Paper, Collett had pubished figures of 2.1 lbs of coal per ihp/hour and 2.83 lbs. per dbhp/hour: a ratio of 1 to 1.36. Diamond, in a paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on the LMSR Midland Division 3-cylinder compound engine, went into the question of dbhp/hour coal consumption as against ihp hour coal consumption and gave a figure of 1.38, and therefore suggested that Bulleid should modify the ratio of dbhp/hour to ihp/hour proposed.
J. Clayton (281-3) argued strongly against Bulleid's assertion that nothing but a boiler having a wide firebox is economic, and that such ordinary engines as the Lord Nelson, the Royal Scot and the King George V "are not in it". As Chambers had pointed out, if these figures show a correct deduction there would be no need to build Royal Scots. He requested Bulleid to show how the figures given in the Paper were arrived at. Bulleid (page 291) responded Mr. Clayton is a more persuasive advocate of the narrow box than I of the wide. Mr. Ivatt’s small and large Atlantics are convincing examples of the advantage of increased boiler capacity. The designer should constantly keep before himself the future and the probability that it will demand greater loads and higher speeds, and that the success of his design will depend upon the engine being able to cope with such increased demands during its useful life. The wide firebox gives him greater latitude in designing the boiler.
Clayton continued: it is an historic fact that the Castle class engine of the GWR did as good work as the LNER engine when the two were exchanged, and yet the LNER engine was 12 tons heavier than the Castle engine, so that either the LNER engine has a boiler which is too large or the Author is making out a very good case for the use of a trailing axle, which cannot be required for any other purpose than that of carrying the wide firebox. "I am not prepared, therefore, to subscribe to the conclusion reached by the Author as to the superior capacity of the wide firebox engine, and would point out that the Atlantic engine could have a firebox having 30 or 31 ft² of grate with a narrow firebox between the frames and the figures would have been the same.
"Would the Author tell us the cost of fitting a booster and also something about its maintenance in the sheds, and whether Mr. Gresley after his experience is likely to increase the use of the booster? For myself, I would suggest it might be more economical to increase the boiler pressure or the cylinders or both, and provided you fit a good valve gear which can be notched up close you have the opportunity to draw on the extended cut-off when you are lifting the train or facing a heavy gradient, and can notch up close to run at speed, when the tractive effort required is small. It would seem to be a question, therefore, whether the additional axles required to carry the wide firebox are altogether necessary, or is the suggestion to use the booster with such engines an apology for making use of a wide firebox, which requires a trailing axle. If the booster could be fitted, as the Author points out, to the front engine bogie, just as in America they have applied it to 4-wheel bogies under the wide firebox, the exhaust pipe would be very short, and that would no doubt conduce to the efficiency of the booster."

Journal No. 85 (May-June 1928)

Fry, Lawford H. (Paper No. 229)
Some constructional details of a high-pressure locomotive. 314-29. Disc.: 329-43
Meeting in London on 10 January 1928 chaired by H.N. Gresley
Experimental 4-10-2 locomotive with a Brotan water tube firebox pressed to 350 psi provided steam for a 3-cylinder compound. The cylinders were formed from cast steel.

Gresham, J.N. (Paper No. 230)
Vacuum braked freight train trials (Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro, Brazil, 1926–1927). 353-74. Disc.: 374-88.
Meeting in London on 1 March 1928, chaired by A.M. Bell.
Vacuum braked trials were conducted at the request of the Paulista Railway Company, Brazil, which owned 1,300 km of track, 500 km. of which are 1.60 m. gauge of this only 44 km were double tracked. The system operated in the State of Sao Paulo, connecting up with the Sao Paulo Railway at Jundiahy.
Mr. O. Bulleid : We thank the Author for his interesting Paper on a subject in which all railwaymen are interested. It is, however, very difficult to criticise the Paper when we have not had the goad fortune to have the diagrams in our hands before the meeting.
The brake question is primarily the stopping of a train from a given speed in a certain distance. Mr. Gresham has given us many interesting figures, all depending, of course, on the gradients with which he has been dealing and which, obviously, are very se\;ere. Experience in England with trains of 60 to100 wagons braked throughout has given us considerable knowledge of how to handle the brake, but unfortunately we have not been able to work the 20-inch vacuum over 60 wagons. I feel a little sorry that a 16-inch vacuum was used in the Brazil trials on the ground of difficulty of maintenance. It seems to me that the sacrifice of 4 inches of vacuum in the brake, is. a rather expensive sacrifice of power when it can be overcome by greater attention to the joints, couplings, etc. When making our lmg brake trials in England with 100- wagon trains we had considerable difficulty in stopping the train without shock; and were only able to qyercome ihe shock when stopping at low speeds by inserting reducing washers with much smaller holes than Mr. Gresham used. If I remember rightly, our washers were 5 / 3 2 for 21-inch cylinders and 9 for an 18-inch cylinder. Those sizes were very carefully arrived at by experiment to give a more or less equal feeding of air into the cylinders throughout the train. We have made many experiments and we came to those figures as the result of the tests. The reducing washer has the advantage of equalising the application of the brake, but it also has the serious disadvantage of making it slower to release; and this latter had the indirect effect of making it extremely difficult to reduce speed from low speeds. If on a train at 20 miles an hour a brake application was made at all, and it was then desired to release the brake to regain speed, we had considerable difficulty in so doing. The trains experimented with in Brazil weighing 1,500 tons were heavier than those used in experiment in England, but the Ioo-ton wagon train of the L.N. E.R. was longer and possibly, therefore, the difficulties in England were greater than the difficulties which were experienced in Brazil.
In conclusion, I think we should congratulate Mr. Gresham for giving us particulars of such tests because there is very little information on that subject available. It is very rarely that information is published about emergency stops, and it is certainly useful for us to have figures of that kind ready to hand.

Bond, R.C. (Paper No.231)
Fundamental considerations in the design of locomotives. 389-401. Disc.: 402-6.
Factors influencing tractive effort:
weight on coupled wheels.
diameter, stroke and number of cylinders.
diameter of the coupled wheels.
working boiler pressure
grate area.
amount and disposition of heating surfaces.
quality and calorific value of the fuel burned.
The performance of a locomotive depends not upon any one factor, but on a number of related dimensions, and the tractive effort and draw-bar horse-power are limited not by the average of these related dimensions, but by the weakest of them. Every part of the engine should be carefully proportioned to all the other parts. The application of the results of practical tests as a means to this end is of the utmost value, but it must not be forgotten that calculations and estimates, while very necessary, are only the beginning ; the final test is in traffic, and the most carefully designed engine may be wonderfully improved by some slight alteration made as the result of practical experience on the road.
Discussion: A.C. Stamer (402-4) had drawn attention to the fact that very little has been said in the Paper on the question of steam distribution. I fully realise the vital importance of this matter, and the effect which it has upon locomotive performance, so much so that I felt it was essentially a subject for a paper in itself and could not therefore adequately be dealt with in the time at my disposal for the present Paper. There can be no doubt that the excellent results obtained with the " Royal Scot " outlined briefly above are due to the combined and mutually reacting effects of a good boiler generating steam at 250 pounds per square inch, and the ample cylinder capacity enabling the high pressure superheated steam to do its work at an early cut-off, made possible by long travel valves giving a good distribution and a very free exhaust. Mr. Robinson has raised,

Clayton, J. (Paper No. 232)
Engine failures. 409-24. Disc.: 424-31; 610-22 + 10 folding plates. 6 diagrs., table, 9 facsim. forms.
The paper notes the reduction in the number of locomotive failures on the S.R., since 1923.

Journal No. 86

Whittle, R.W.
Manufacture of superheaters. 454-60.
Commentary on a film

Parker, G.C.R. (Paper No. 233)
Are screwed smoke tubes worth while? 461-4. Disc.: 464-89.

Case, Charles (Paper No. 234)
The organisation of a locomotive running department in the Argentine republic. 470-536. 37 figs. (illus., plan. diagrs.)
Figures include plan of sttraight-through shed at Rosario. In part the paper showed the methods employed to control locomotives, including the forms used for reporting and compiling data, and in part means used to increase the productivity of both locomotives and enginemen. Breakdown fascilities included the provision of housing en site for the crews at Rosario. As an instance of the distances which can be attained by through running of engines without serious locomotive defects, a trial was once made on the Central Argentine Railway of a run with one engine between Retiro and Tucuman, 1,156 km.

Hadfield, Robert, W B Pickering and S A Main (Paper No. 235)
Recent developments in alloy steels. 547-88. Disc.: 588-608. 24 figs. (ilus., diagrs.)
Notably heat resistant, corrosion resistant and high tensile steels. Many of the key applications were for items like turbines, aircraft and chain grates for electricity generating stations.  The use of alloy steels in locomotive engineering, as in other fields, must depend largely upon the results of trials, in those cases where the special characteristics possessed were called for. Discussion: F.H. Eggleshaw Although firehole deflectors made of heat resisting steel gave longer lifc than ordinary mild steel, the price of heat resisting steel deffcctors was against their general use. As regards corrosion resisting steels, one point of great interest was that a steel with 0.25% copper content produces a metal with greater resistance to corrosion, Experience with the largest LNER passenger and goods engines fitted with nickel-chrome high tensile steel connecting, and coupling rods had produced very good results, with a considerable reduction in reciprocating and rotating weight.
The Chairman (G.A. Musgrave 588-9): With regard to the baffle plate, which is a typical use of this heat resisting steel, in this particular instance it proved to give a much longer life than the ordinary carbon steel plate. The chief factor of course is cost, although one cannot always condemn an article because it is dear; it may prove to he very much cheaper in the end owing to length of service it gives over a similar article at a much cheaper cost. I am afraid that argument is often lost sight of. The .Authors mentioned cases where this material is welded by either oxy-acetylene or electric arc.: what class of metal did they employ for this purpose. He also asked what their opinion was of vanadium steel, whicli was much used in America.
E. Windle (590-1) asked whether non-corrodible steels would be suitable for locomotive fireboxes, where there is the heat of the fire on one side of the plate and the scaling and corrosion on the other. Could one of these special steels be substituted for copper in the case of the firebox stays? The initial cost would apparently rule out its use for boiler tubes, but would there be any objection to the welding of an end of this steel on to the firebox end of ordinary steel tubes, where both burning and corrosion are the most severe? With regard to the high tensile steels, is there any prospect of their being rendered more suitable for forging or treatment in the ordinary smith’s fire, and by the type of workmen employed in general engineering works; or is it advisable or imperative that when these steels are be.ing worked it should be under the supervision of a metallurgist?

Journal No. 87

Smith, W.G. (Paper No. 236)
Some features of the mechanical and electrical equipment of the Port of Manchester. 624-44. Disc.: 644-7.

Brown, Herbert (Paper No. 237)
High pressure locomotives. 655-86. Disc.: 686-92.
Swiss Locomotive Company