Steam World: pre-No. 100 Issues & key to all Issues
First Floor, 2 King Street, Peterborough, PE1 1LT
The Editors of this magazine, which does not set out to be profound, have been highly successful in capturing material both from professional locomotive engineers (who very sadly are a shrinking breed), from senior railway managers, and from people like Andrew Dow who enjoyed priviledged access to railways at an early age. Unfortunately, the magazine neither provides volume numbers nor consecutive pagination. and this makes it slightly more difficult to cite, and this has inhibited progress in providing fuller coverage. This is a pity as some of its content is of lasting value, although that based on shed bashing is usually trivial and will not be abstracted in depth. Amongst the greatest gems are the long series by R.H.N. Hardy which have extended from the Great Central to Great Eastern sections of the LNER and onto the Southern Region. Over the years Philip Atkins has also provided much food for thought. Thus the entries are highly selective. Back issues are available from Tower Publishing Services Ltd., Tower House, Sovereign Park, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF.
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Number 34 (April 1990)
Mayes, Frank. Did 'Number 9' ever reach 120 miles an
hour? 7-11.
On an up working of the non-stop Capitals Limited hauled by 60009
Union of South Africa the locomotive had a faulty water pick-up scoop and
a halt had to be made for water at Babworth. Driver Alf Smith attempted to
make up the lost time by running very rapidly doen the bank from Stoke Summit
and estimated that they reached 120 mile/h: the pen had been lifted off the
flaman recorder by Inspector John Cunningham who was travelling on the locomotive
on this day.
The Bath Green Park of Ivo Peters. 20-5.
Black & white photo-feature from photograph taken in 1925 by a
ten year-old of S&DJR 4-4-0 through West Coutry Pacifics to No. 5523
on working to Bristol.
Glenn, D. Fereday. Fratton in focus. 44-7.
Memories from the 1950s until end of steam
W1 No. 10000 in original condition on Queen of Scots Pullman
at Eryholme. Harry Dumas. 49.
Photograph acquired car boot sale.
The 'Royal Scots' and their nameplates. David
Anderson. 31-7.
Quotes from S.P.B. Mais book
The Royal Scot and her forty-nine
sisters on the origin of the Royal Scot name. The clarity of the
illustrations is noteworthy: some of the more unusual include: 6161
King's Own (with badge below
the name); 6127 Old Contetibles;
6129 Comet(with engraved view
of early locomotive carried beneath plate); 6161 suffering smoke deflection
experiments in 1929; the naming ceremony
forSherwood Forester at Derby
on 16 June 1933; 6125 Lancashire
Witch(badge poorly displayed); 6138
The London Irish Rifleman;
6141 The North Staffordshire
Regiment (both with crests above) and in
colour:British Legion,
The Prince of Wales Volunteers South
Lancashire, Royal Army Service Corps, Civil Service Rifleman and
Royal Scot in situ; also some
preserved plates.
Barnes, Robin. Wartime service on Tyneside for SR
Arthurs. 40.
Letter plus two reproductions of paintings: SR King Arthur No. 740
Merlin piloting C7 Atlantic passing through base of Cuxhoe signalbox
with Q5 behind during WW2 and A1 No. 4470 Great Northern as rebuilt
in dark blue livery with "N E" on the tender departing Grantham in October
1945.
Taylor, Charles. Fore & aft: balanced running trials
for the 'WD' 2-8-0s. 6-11.
Running trials on scheduled freight workings between Aintree and Leeds
via Rose Grove and Copy Pit using No. 90527 which had been modified to give
40% balance in an endeavour to reduce the severe oscillation which limited
their use. The writer worked at Crewe and the experimental modification of
1951 was Experiment M/C/L/1413. Footplate observations showed that the experiment
was a success, but this did not lead to further locomotives being
modified.
Hay, Peter. A peep at Penrhyn. 14-17.
Photo-feature
Harris, Nigel. The Ntaional Railway Museum portfolio:
John G. Click. 18-24.
Biographical material used to augment
John Click entry. Includes a portrait
of his slight figure on the Leader class locomotive. Great admirer of Bulleid
for whom he worked. Illus. (both black & white and colour) from Click's
collection housed in the NRM.
The Suez Crisis, 1956: BR's biggest missed opportunity.
Alan Earnshaw. 31-3.
Failure to hold freght traffic through lack
of investment.
S.C. Townroe memorial colour feature. 48-9.
Stephen Collingwood Townroe: Colour-Rail
collection: Eastleigh taken from a lighting tower during the ASLEF strike
of 1955: 28 locomotives visible including C14 and H15; Lord Nelson 30862
at Medstead & Four Marks on troop train; 35024, as still to be named
in blue livery with red bands in 1949; H15 30477 derailed at Chichester on
8 February 1956; LN 30854 being rerailed (feature with several colour illus.
inBackTrack
1 page 20 ); 31624 leaving
Southampton on train for Andover Junction in deep snow with carmine &
cream stock.
Number 56 (1992 February)
Durrant, A.E. Should the 'Leader' have been a 'Garratt'?
. 30-5.
Highly critical of many of the Leader design
features, notably the boiler, the valve gear and the sleeve valves. Suggests,
and reproduced as side elevation diagram a double-ended Garratt with a
conventional cab in the centre. Several illustrations of Leader locomotives
under construction and under test from John G. Click Collection at NRM and
colour illustrations of 36001 being painted grey at Eastleigh (S.C. Townroe)
and reproduction of Robin Barnes watercolour of locomotive at speed on test
near Winchester.
Urie class H16 4-6-2T No. 520/30520. Philip Atkins.
36-7.
Photo-feature: 24 May 1922; summer 1935, c1948
and 1957: first two on freight; remainder on ecs
The National Railway Museum portfolio: John G.
Click.Nigel Harris (captions) with John Edgington. 38-44.
The colour illustrations on pages 40 and 41,
with captions by TJE, are the most interesting as these show locomotives
on test at the Rugby Test Plant and show 92166 and 46225 Duchess of Gloucester
outside the plant (but prepared for testing); the main control desk and
92013 and 73030 on test. Also in b&w: 46225 on test, 35022 Holland
Amerika Line and 70025 Western Star being prepared for test.
Essery, Bob. Genesis of the Stanier 2-6-0s.
6-12.
Author states that design was essentially that of modifying Horwich
2-6-0 with a high pressure Swindon boiler (and this enabled the cylinders
to be repositioned). Original allocations and changes in boiler type (from
partially conical to fully coned) and in cylinder type). Illus.: 42961 on
passnger train leaving Chester (Eric Treacy); 2984 on two-coach stopping
train (Eric Treacy); 13245 with GWR-style safety valve bonnet: colour: 42966
on freight at Bradley (Gavin Morrison); 42975 at Willesden (Colour-Rail)
42960 on express near Lancaster in August 1962 (Keith R. Pirt), and 42957
at Oxley on 30 January 1966 (Ken Cooper); 13245 with tapered boiler on rear
section only and GWR-type safety valves (T.G. Hepburn); 13257 (as previous
boiler but with pop safety valves above firebox and whistle (not hooter)
clearly visible; 42954 at Derby on 10 July 1948
Hardy, R.H.N. Memories of Thompson. 6-12.
Gresley, Thompson and Hardy were all educated
at Marlborough (and Thompson's father was a house master at the School).
Number 62 (1992 August)
Bullock, William. Swindon apprentice. . 30-3.
Acted as tour guide on visitors' days and greatly liked to show them
locomotives on stationary testing plant. Moved to millwrights shop where
he worked on a huge Dean Smith & Grace lathe under Alex Clissold. Sent
to Kemble to measure water tank. Work in erecting shop ('A' shop). Note on
how brass token was handed over on visits to loos (high up in building).
Application of "streamlined" casing to 5005 Manorbier Castle and its
test when 100 mile/h was achieved when approaching Swindon which was overshot.
Train was met by Collett and Pole whilst Inspector 'Daddy' Dew was on footplate
at controls (amazing how LNER always managed to stop unlike GWR & LMS).
Apprenticeship ended by being sent to the Accounting & Tabulating C o
at Thornton Heath to work on Power Samas (Hollerith) machines as a potaential
fitter for GWR accounting programme, but after two years he left.
David Hepburne-Scott appreciation. Richard Ray. John
Coiley. 34-8.
Obituary notice: subject was a superb photographer
and physics teacher and housemaster at Westminster School. Portrait and illus.
both colour and b&w. He was a perfectionist who demanded sunshine, and
tended not to take pictures in winer. Neither writer nots that subject was
murdered.
Hughes, Geoff. Talking to Thompson. Part 2.
50-3.
Notes and observations made of an "interview"
made by Brian Reed in 1948 with Edward Thompson; the record of which is kept
at the NRM. T. Worsdell was forced to retire due to the excessive patent
royalties paid to him by the NER. Wilson Worsdell according to Thompson was
lazy and spent his time fishing and on his estate in Norway, but he was a
mechanical genius. Thompson recorded how the upopular Works Manager at
Darlington, Ramsay Kendall, was engineered out of his position by deliberate
bad workmanship on the R1 class when manufacture was transferred there from
Gateshead. The locomotive was unworkable even by Driver Blades and on stripping
down it was found that the coupling rod centre-to-centre lengths varied by
up to a quarter of an inch and Kendall was asked to leave. He was replaced
by Norman Lockyer formerly Works Manager, Gateshead. Thompson had a poor
regard for Raven's engineering skills ("scarcely knew the difference between
an engine and a tender"), but he got on well with him and married his daughter.
Gresley was at daggers drawn with Raven. Thompson suggested rebuilding the
NER Pacifics with two cylinders of 21 in diameter and with the smokebox tubeplate
pushed back, but Gresley was not interested. Thompson considered the
J39 a failure compared with the NER P2 and P3 0-6-0s: the J39s were too powerful
in relation to the size of the big end bearings. He noted that the difference
in the boiler mountings made it difficult to interchange boilers between
the D49 and J39 classes. The rebuilt S3 class eliminated six eccentrics on
the crank axles and moved away from poor NER cylinder design. The rebuilt
S3 (B16/2) were better than the K3 class. Thompson considered GCR frame and
boiler design to be excellent, but most had poor cylinder layouts, especially
the 4-cylinder types. New construction was concentrated at Doncaster (larger
types) and at Darlington (smaller and medium sized locomotives). Boiler making
(except for the wide firebox types) and iron casting were concentrated at
Gorton where the castings were excellent. Cowlairs eventually had an excellent
foundry, but Darlington lacked this ability as Lord Airedale, Chairman of
the Locomotive Committee insisted on using Kitson's who supplied the monobloc
and valve chest castings for the Z class Atlantics. The facilities at Stratford
were cramped but Thompson increased productivity there. Whilst Works Manager
at Doncaster he had prepared plans to concentrate all new construction there.
The LNER followed NBR practice in having a separate Running Department. The
GER had divorced running from A.J. Hill and given it to F.V. Russell, but
he was a difficult man and Col. W.J. Galloway, a GER director insisted that
it was transferred back to Hill. The author questions how the interview was
conducted: was it face-to-face or by letter?
Number 65 (November 1992)
The enigma of the BR 'Clans'. Philip Atkins .
6-10.
Notes criticism by Bond of Riddles' proposed
class 5 4-6-2 design and suggested increasing dimension to produce a class
6 4-6-2 which was really a
Britannia class with a smaller
boiler. Intended for Highland line but Atkins suggests that not sent there
as required tablet catchers to be fitted which seems odd as some of the
illustrations show locomotives fitted with brackets for working over Dumfries
to Stranraer road (but do not show apparatus fitted). Article mentions proposed
rebuilding of Patriot with 2A boilers at low cost and at reduced pressure
in exchange for not building more
Clans. Notes movement of coupled
wheels on axles (a fault also evident on
Britannia class), attempts
to improve steaming, their sluggishness when sent to Haymarket and their
appreciation on the "Port road". The class were clearly Riddles' P2
class.
Number 71 (1993 May)
Leigh, Chris. Crisis on the Southern: behind the
scenes. 6-9.
On 24 April 1953 the crank axle of locomotive No. 35020 Bibby
Line fractured whilst approaching Crewkerne Station at speed. This article
is based on the official British Transport Commission report which showed
that many of the Merchant Navy class suffered from similar flaws and the
crank axle had to be redesigned and replaced.
Crisis on the Southern; from the lineside. David Anderson
(phot.) and Richard Strange . 10-13.
Replacement locomotives included members of
the V2 (used on some of the main services, notably the Bournemouth Belle),
B1, Britannia and Standard class 5
Harris, Michael. Fast fitted freight on the East Coast main line.
6-11.
The Three Forty Scotsman (15.40 King's Cross Goods to Edinburgh and
Aberdeen) or 562 Down regularly ran at speeds up to 65 mile/h during the
1930s. Also mentions the Green Arrow fitted freights.
Jones, Peter. Steam's last week. 13-17.
Fitzgibbons, Richard. Signalboxes – the WR. 19-21.
Photo-feature (some colour): Newbury, Little Somerford, Hungerford,
Savernake High Level, Chipping Norton on 3 October 1953, Penarth Town (colour:
Hugh Ballantyne), Travellers Rest Crossing in July 1967 (colour: Keith Jaggers),
Ellesmere with No. 2204 (colour: Richard Thompson).
Rixon, Geoff (phot.). Focus on the 'Crabs'. 22-23.
Colour photo-feature: 42884 at Carlisle Kingmoor in September 1962,
42707 at Willesden on 26 April 1963, and 42815 at Willesden on 1 August
1964.
Essery, Terry. Working from Saltley. The Long Marston link. Part 1.
6-10.
Whittaker, NIcholas. Burton's brewery railways. 46-9.
Number 79 (January 1994)
Boocock, Colin. The rebuilt Bulleid 'Pacifics' –
were they value for money? 6-11.
Short answer was "yes"
Ashcroft, Bill. The 'Patriots': I remember them
well. 46-9.
Memories of class in Preston area. Locomotive Inspector, Paul Jamieson
considered that the unrebuilt locomotives steamed well; they performed well
on freight but were not as good as Class 5, and could haul heavy loads on
passenger trains. The tenders were difficult as the water capacity was limited
and overflowing led to soaking the driver.
Too little, too late. Alan Earnshaw. 40-3.
A historical examination which considers accidents
caused by signals passed at danger which could have been prevented by some
form of automatic warning system. Notes statistics quoted by Brigadier C.A.
Langley following the Milton accident who noted that 69 out of 664 accidents
might have been prevented, GWR involvement from 1908 following the accident
at Slough in 1900, the two Committes involving Col. Sir Arthur Pringle, and
a closer examination of an accident at Welwyn Garden City on 7 January 1957
when an overnight express ran into the rear of a commuter train from Baldock
as it was accelerating away on the fast line. The driver (from New England)
attempted to transfer responsibility onto the signalman, but the system of
Welwyn Control exonerated him.