Dennis Rock Carling
1906-1992. Dennis Rock Carling was Superintendent of the Rugby Locomotive Testing station. He was a son of Sir Ernest Rock Carling FRCS, an eminent surgeon and specialist in radiology who justified an entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. It is probable that the son's meticulous work on locomotive testing should also have been worthy of an entry in the same work (the absence of any reference to his son's work shows the weakness of the current ODNB entry, and to an extent the cxrumbling nature of this national "treasure").
An obituary in the Journal of the SLS (supplied via Phil Atkins) recorded that Dennis Rock Carling was born 29 March 1906 and died 27 September 1992. He gained the Mechanical Sciences Tripos at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1928, and went straight to Beyer Peacock for a two year apprenticeship during which time delivered the 1930 Garratts to the LMS. In 1931 he took a sabbatical and visited most of the locomotive builders in Europe before joining the family firm. He went to the LNER in 1936 as an assistant with the dynamometer car, going to the Admiralty in 1939 in a technical capacity. After the war he rejoined the LNER and owing to the unexpected death of D.W. Sandford was made head of the Rugby Test Plant throughout its steam operations, 1948-1959. Some of his contributions to the discussions on papers presented at meetings of the Newcomen Society are autobiographical and show that he had experience at Hunslet before joining the LNER to work on locomotive testing.
Phil Atkins (e-mail to KPJ) notes that DRC used to come in the NRM Reading Room in early years, a delightful old chap who had a distinctive 'chewy' way of speaking, which the late John Click (who worked with him at Rugby and who died exactly 20 years ago now, coincident with Phil's mother) who also came in, could mimic to a tee (see series of articles by Fred Rich). I am not sure where he served his time, but I think he worked for BP subsequently. I think he was involved with the first three LMS Garratts which it was found when on the hump at Toton the rear coupled wheels came up through the cab floor, so slots and covers were provided on the later 30 production engines. I fancy he had some personal recollections of the Kitson-Still loco (see below). During what proved to be some of his final visits he enquired on behalf of someone in South America the possibility of getting copies of a full set of 9F drawings, possiby with new construction in mind. It was not feasible then, but would be now, if expense was no object! He was the penultimate survivor of Mallard's record run, the last being Norman Newsome. I only wished I'd asked him more about Rugby than I did, amazingly in 1976 the NRM was able to acquire the full archive from the by then derelict Test Plant, from which asbestos sound proofing was hanging from the walls. This included fascinating pre-war corres which anticipated testing a P2 there, shades of Vitry. It was designed to handle a 4-8-4 or 2-10-2 if necessary.
Books
4-8-0 tender locomotives. Newton Abbot: David
& Charles, 1971.
Not in Ottley, but does include Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway
type. Bibliography lacks full citations to journals, a lack not evident in
his Newcomen papers!
Papers
Engerth and similar locomotives.
Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1985/6, 57, 31-56. Disc. 57-8.
Semmering locomotive: G.W. Carpenter (57) gave some information on
the Giesl ejector
Locomotive testing on British Railways.
J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1950, 40, 496-530. Discussion 530-91. (Paper
No. 497)
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. .Discussion: Bond (531-3) made reference to Rugby testing
station. T. Henry Turner (535-6); Cox (536-7) noted the accuracy of the LNER
dynamometer car, and 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.
Locomotive testing stations: Parts 1 and 2. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1972, 45, 105-44; 145-82.
A brief history of the counter-pressure
brake for steam locomotives. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1983/4, 55,
10.
Author was involved with fitting system to Beyer-Garratt locomotives
supplied to Ecuador and to the Central Railway of Peru, and later was involved
in testing the B17 and K3 classes on the LNER using the test locomotive.
P.N.D. Porter noted a Railway Magazine article (incomplete citation:
1933 p. 43) by S.R. Yates: notes on Scottish locomotives and railway working
wherein it was noted that Jones used the Chatelier system of counter-pressure
water braking on his 4-4-0s. Paper includes biographies of
several significant engineers not in Marshall.
Babbage and the dynamometer car presented at Babbage-Faraday Bicentenary Conference - Cambridge, 5-7 July 1991. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1990, 62, 143-56 (Carling page 145)
Contributions to discussions
Hills, R.L. The origins of
the Garratt locomotive. Trans Newcomen Soc., 1979, 51,
175-89. Discussion page 192.
It would be interesting to know if the sketch of the cab-in-front
locomotive in Garratt's scrap-book was made before or after the appearance
of Planchar's Italian 4-6-0 Mucca, which was similarly arranged, and
details of which were pubIished in England ear1y in 1903. There was also
an Italian 0-10-0 type arranged in the same way. The Garratt was inherently
more stable than a Fairlie. yet one of the Fairlies of the Mexican Railway
once descended the whole length of the Maltrata incline. with no crew abroad,
at a speed that must have exceeded 60 m.p.h.; the bogies may have hunted
a lot, but they did not derail. On the other hand the very good riding
of the Tasmanian. express Garratts was the cause of a derailment due to excessive
speed on a sharp curve, alleged to have been due to the driver not realising
how fast he was going. It was said, when I was at Beyer, Peacock & Co.,
that this accident spoiled the Australian market for Garratts for many yeats.
The Author mentions a 2 ft. 6 in. gauge system in New South Wales; should
this not be Victoria? All railways in New South Wales were legally bound
to be of standard gauge, excepting the two lines connecting only with the
Victorian 5 ft. 3 in. gauge and the Broken Hill 3 ft. 6 in. system connecting
with South Australia, which was legally a tramway. It was the long boiler
tubes of other locomotives that made necessary an excessive draught in the
smokebox in order to obtain the requisite draught in the firebox. One reason.
for the Garratt not being adopted in the U.S.A. was that the Garratt was
a tank engine and, except for some suburban: passenger traffic, tank engines
did not suit Ameriean operating conditions, which latterly required very
luge supplies of fuel and water. [We havc since learned that the prototype
of the Italian Mucca locomotive was shown at the Paris Exhibition
in 1900 and a full description appeared in The Engineer in 1901. Ed.],
Author's Note: The title for the 2 ft. 6 in. Garratt appears on the scheme
drawing as '"New South Wales Public Works Department" but this is an the
information given and nothing more could be discovered about it.
Pyne, A. The
Kitson-Still locomotive. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1970, 43, 53-62.
Discussion page 63.
Carling's first contact with the Kitson-Still locomotive was as a
student doing his first workshop training, not at Kitsons but at Hunslets,
next door; but he was privileged to visit Kitsons and aauaIly to drill one
of those 0.012 in. holes in an experimental fuel injector. Ten years later
he joined the staff or the LN.E.R. testing section and worked in the dynamometer
car. Tests of the Kitson-Still were over, but he not only examined some of
the test records, but also talked with the men who were involved with the
tests. In his own opinion the tests, at least with goods trains, were
unfortunately conducted. The Kitson-Still was fated just a little optimistical1y
in relation to the L.N.E.R. 0-6-0 goods engines. It cou1d not haul quite
the normal load of those engines over the more severe parts of the line on
internal combustion alone, nor even with occasional help from the steam boiler.
The burner had to be kept on for too great a proportion of the time when
as well as during the long standing periods which occurred in service. In
his opinion tests should aIso have been made with a slightly uduced load,
which could have been handled with little, if any, use of the burner except
for starting. Diesel oil was a very expensive boiler fuel But the fate of
rhe project was really settled by the state of depression of world trade
in those slump years. Railways all over the world were having difticu1ty
in making ends meet, and, with very few exceptions, were in no position to
risk money on experimental locomotives. Indeed, they ordered so few locomotives
of well tried kinds that many locomotive builders went out of business and
many others only just weathered the storm. By the time things became better
Kitsons had ceased to build locomotives. This was a sad end to a venture
that deserved better.
Riemsdijk, J.T. van. The compound
locomotive. Part 2, 1901-1921. Trans Newcomen Soc., 1970,
44, 73-98.
Initial comment in response to Carpenter's comments about the "Gelsa"
locomotives for Brazil: these were newly built engines to Chapelon's designs,
ninety in all, but at the users request, all simple-expansion. Chapelon also
designed the series of standardised compounds for the S.N.C.F., the building
of which was authorised and, for one type actually Commenced, before being
cancelled due to a change of higher policy. Also confirmed that the Bavarian
4-4-4 compound high-speed locomotive was unique. He also noted that the
articulated locomotive that so considerably out-performed the South African
Mallet compound was a Garratt, not a Beyer-Garratt, that latter appellation
not coming into use until 8 or 9 years later when he himself was at Gorton
Foundry.
Skeat, W.O. The Great Eastern
Railways "1500 Class" locomotives. Trans Newcomen Soc., 1970,
42, 75-97. Disc.: 97-106.
During his days on the London and North Eastern Railway he had ridden
on, and fired on, the Great Eastern l500s in 1937, and one of his recollections
was that they were by far the most comfortablc-riding engines with coupled
wheels under the cab that he had ever been on. Doubtless one of these engines
on which he had ridden, because it was one of those kept for Royal trains,
was in the very best condition; nevertheless the impression was strong. The
duties were not heavy-they were running between Cambridge and King's Cross
— but the memory remained as a very pleasant one.
Other pertinent material
Rich, Fred. "You'll
go to jail, young man...". Part 1. Steam Wld, 2005, (215) 8-14.
Rich started work at Rugby in 1957 when the plant was past its prime.
Nevertheless, there are interesting illustrations and rewarding reminiscences
about D.R. Carling, the Superintendent and about Horace Clarence Ockwell,
his Deputy. Ockwell appears to have been mildly eccentric. Tommy Cadzow
(1903-77), a Scot, was the chemist. These senior members of staff are portrayed
in a group photograph (taken by J.M. Jarvis) with Robin Johnson, John McCann
(a sometime contributor to Steam World) and George Podmore. Ron
Pocklington was in charge of the Farnborough indicator. John Click (1926-88)
was the footplate observer until 1956 when Rich tookover. Notes that Eric
Nutty was Ell's footplate guru. Alleges that on road testing Derby "couldn't
hold a candle to Sammy Ell" at Swindon, although Swindon lacked a Farnborough
Indicator. and did not indicate every cylinder. Ockwell stated that "we will
never outshine Sammy Ell becase he doesn't set out to prove himself wrong!".
Swindon was integrated and coherent. On 26 November 1957 Carling met Chapelon
in London where Chapelon congratulated Carling concerning the tests of the
Crosti boiler: "These tests of yours are the most accurate and consistent
that I've ever seen". Chapelon had been called in to adjudicate between Crosti
and British Railways over the savings which had been expected from the use
of the Crosti boiler. The Heenen & Froude dynamometers were hydraulic.
The article also describes the testing of the gas turbine locomotive GT3
and its designer J.O.P. Hughes and George Howe his test engineer.
Rich, Fred. "You'll go to
jail, young man...". Part 4. 36-43.
The final part of this interesting series states how Fred Rich gathered
information through his footplate riding mainly on the WCML and the Great
Central route on what might be termed the ergonomics of footplate design:
this was eventually published as Paper
589 in the J. Instn Loco. Engrs. Carling was very supportive of
this work, but Ockwell banned any further footplate journeys (by withdraweing
access to the footplate pass). During these footplate journeys Rich found
the B1 class to be extremely rough and a vast contrast from the smooth-running
Hall class. Although he described a footplate journey on a down journey via
High Wycombe with a V2, the only real observation was that the class tended
to produce a lot of smoke, and in the case of this particular locomotive
it was necesary to run with the firedoor open. Illus.: group photograph
to mark Tom Cadzow's departure for Stratford: also present: John Hicks, Garry
Hibberd, Brian Hughes, Alan Betts, John Tierney, Charles Paterson, Denys
Twine, Carling, Ockwell, Ron Pocklington (Farnborough indicator), Dick Grant,
Dick Wilkinson, Bill Lucas, Norman Norton, Tom Potter, Driver Charlie Drouet
and Fireman John Beck.
John Tidmarsh (Steam Wld, 2005 (218) p. 20) adds a considerable amount: "Dennis Carling was a delightful character and became a good friend when I succeeded John Gardam as ORE Conseiller Technique in 1965. His wealth of experience in steam locomotive design and testing was legendary. Writer particularly enjoyed listening to the fascinating stories of his railway life over a good evening meal after a long ORE meeting during our many journeys around Europe. He was extremely well-travelled and had met many prominent people in the steam world - such as Andre Chapelon, mentioned by Fred Rich - and right back to the great Russian testing engineer Lomonossoff in the early 1930s. He was also present in the dynamometer car during Mallard's 126mph dash in 1938. He had a lovely old-English charm and, as Fred mentions, always addressed you simply by your surname. Incidentally he was also seconded to the ORE organisation at Utrecht as a Conseiller Technique in October 1959, being succeeded by John Gardam in January 1962."
2007-11-16