Locomotive Railway Carriage and Wagon Review

Volume 59 (1953)

Number 725 (January 1953)

B.R. standard class 4 2-6-0 loco.. 11-12. illustration, diagram. (side elevation)
No. 76000

Beyer-Garratt 4-8-2+2-8-4 No. 338, Benguela Railway. 12. illustration

Number 726 (February 1953)

British Railways 2-6-0 class 2 locomotives. 16-17. illustration, diagram. (side elevation)
No. 78000

[Obituary: T.R. Perkins]. 17

[West Clare Railway]. 20

Nils Ahlberg. Swedish Steam Locomotives. 25

Nils Ahlberg. Swedish Steam Locomotives. 34
Continued in Volume 60 page 7

[Luxury coaches for sightseeing]. 38. illustration

Number 729 (May 1953)

Local conditions and locomotive design. 63-4.

C.P.R. new C.M.E. 64.
F.A. Benger appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer in  succession to W.A. Newman who had died; had been Assistant CME since 1948. Had joined CPR as an apprentice in 1913. Had been responsible for streamlining Royal Hudsons.

"YL" class locos for India. 64-6. illustration, diagram (side elevation)
Light metre gauge 2-6-2 with wiide Belpaire firebox built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Ltd under the ispection of Rendel, Palmer & Tritton.

L. Lynes. Reflections. 66-9. 2 diagrams.
Design of suspension springs for carriages and especially the motor cars for the Brighton express multiple units including load deflection behaviour of helical springs

[Baldwin 2-6-0 locomotives for Uganda]. 59. illustration

F.J.G. Haut. Railway electrification in India. 70-4. 6 illustrations

0-4-0 diesel locomotives for Denmark. 74. 2 illustrations
John Fowler & Co. (Leeds) Ltd. with 6-cylinder Leyland engine fpr the Aalborg Private Railways.

Radio communication to shunting locos. 75. 2 illustrations
Abbey Works of the Steel Company of Wales:  General Electric equipment 

Gold Coast Railways. 75
Hunslet Engine Co. had received an order for three 3ft 6in gauge 0-8-0Ts with welded fireboxes

British Railways standard wagons. 76
27-ton iron ore tippler and 24-ton covered hopper wagon for transport of soda ash or sodium tripolyphosphates to design of R.A. Riddles

M.A. Harrison. Some narror gauge locos. 77-8. 4 illustrations
Bagnalls 0-6-0T for Mauritius; 0-6-2 for plantation work in Malaysia; 4-6-4v for Barsi Light Railway and oil-burning 2-8-2 for Egyptian State Railways with cover plates to protect motion from blown sand.

Longmoor Transportation Centre, R.E. 78
50th anniversary of arrival of first railway troops

B.R. instructional films. 78

Number 730 (June 1953)

The Franco-Crosti boiler. 80-4. illustration, diagram, table, plan.

Lighting of engine pits. 95. illustration

Earlstown Works Centenary. 98

[Former Mersey Railway 0-6-4T working at Shipley Colliery]. 104
Cited from Volume 61 p. 221

Number 731 (July 1953)

B.R. Improvement Schemes. 100
British Railways are to proceed with three major improvement schemes, at a total cost of nearly £4 million. These projects are widening of the East Coast main line, the modernisation of Crewe (North) Motive Power Depot, and the provision of a new motive power depot at Thornaby (near Middlesbrough), mainly for handling the rapidly growing industrial traffics in the North East.
The widening of the East Coast main line is a £lim. scheme for providing two additional tracks between Greenwood Box (north of New Barnet) and Potters Bar where it will link up with the widening and station reconstruction scheme at Potters Bar authorised in 1952 at an estimated cost of just over £500,000. The proposal includes new tunnels at Hadley South, Hadley North and Potters Bar; reconstruction of Hadley Wood Station; the abolition of Greenwood Signal Box and extension of the colour-light signalling and track circuiting installations. About 1,830. yards of new tunnelling will be required, and 380.,000 cubic yards of excavation. The provision of. an additional line in each direction will overcome the bottle-neck hitherto existing and will provide a continuous four-track route . throughout the London suburban area; it will also cater for the planned development of Hertfordshire; which is expected almost to double the population served by the stations from Hadley Wood to Royston. Work is expected to start in the early spring of 1954 on this scheme, which will take five years to complete.
Nearly £1 million is to be spent in modernisinz Crewe North Motive Power Depot. A reinforced concrete coaling plant of 200-ton capacity, a new mechanical ash-lifting plant, ash pits, 70ft. turntable and sand drier had already been provided. Modern buildings are now to be erected, on a site to the south of Crewe station, for the periodical examination and repair of locomotives; there will be accommodation for 16 steam locomotives and two diesel shunting engines to be dealt with simultaneously. A shed of the round-house type with 32 roads will be built around the new 70ft. turntable, and another similar round-house, also with 7Qft. turntable will be pro- vided; a second coaling and ash plant will also be installed together with office and staff accommodation. The new round-houses will provide ample space for 58 locomotives to be berthed at once.
A £1 million motive power depot is to be built at Thornaby which will replace the 70-year-old depots at Middlesbrough and Newport and will be situated between the Newport Marshalling Yards and, the main Thornaby and Middlesbrough Road. When in full use it will employ a staff of over 1,000 and will have an allocation of 220. locomotives. The new depot will have two round-houses (later to be increased to three if necessary) each wiith a 70ft. turntable. There will also be a separate machine shop in which repairs, other than major repairs, will be carried out, and a shop especially for the maintenance and servicing of the diesel-electric shunting locomotives which are to be allocated to work on Tees-side. A coaling plant of 350. tons storage capacity is to be built, together with stand-by facilities for coaling locomotives when the plant may be out of use. Wet ashpits will be installed. Office, staff, and stores accommodation, of the latest type will be provided. The project involves alterations to existing rail connections to the Newport Marshalling Yards to provide for the speedy routing of locomotives to and from the new depot. An additional reception line will be provided at No. 2 Up Marshalling Yard to improve the working. Colour-light signalling and track circuits will be installed between Thornaby East and Newport East signal boxes. It is anticipated that the modern facilities' to be provided will yield both increased efficiency and substantial economies.

National Coal Board. 100
Placed an order with Brush Bagnall Traction, Ltd., for two 400 h:p. 0-6-0 diesel electric shunting locomotives for use at Cwm Colliery. They were to be equipped with National R4AA6 engines and Brush electrical equipment comprising main and auxiliary generators, traction motors and control gear. The mechanical parts will be manufactured by W.G. Bagnall, Ltd.

B.R. London Midland Region. 100
New locomotives put into service included Class 4 2-6-0 mixed traffic, Nos. 76014 and 76015, built at Horwich for 'the Southern Region; Class 4 2-6-4T, No. 80062, built at Brighton; 350 h.p. 0-6-0 diesel electric shunters, Nos. 13021 and 13022, built at Derby.

B.R. Western Region. 100
Two further 0-6-0T engines, Nos. 8436 and 8437, have been delivered by W.G. Bagnail, Ltd.. H.E.A. White had been appointed District Motive Power Superintendent, Bristol, and L.C. Barron Staff Assistant to the Motive Power Superintendent at Swindon.

C.P.R. new train ferry. 100
Contract made with.Alexander Stephen & Sons, Ltd., Glasgow, for the building a 7,000-ton train ferry for the Vancouver and Nanaimo service. The ship, a twin-screw diesel vessel, will cost four million dollars and is expected to be in service by May, 1955.

I.L.E. 100
Paper  No. 520 presented to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers by R.C. Bond, M.LC.E., M.LMech.E. (Vice-President), on the Organisation and Control of Locomotive Repairs 'on British Railways. The Author, who is Chief Officer, Locomotive Construction and Maintenance, Railway Executive, dealt in the first half of the paper with the principles governing the maintenance of locomotives on British Railways. Reference was made to the .relationship between the Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power Depts.. and the paper covered such aspects of the work as the classification of repairs, mileage between repairs, locomotive availability and the system for selecting and controlling the input of locomotives to the works. The second half of the Paper dealt with the Works Organisation and, described the progressive system of repairs, erecting shop organisation, component part time schedules, workshop methods, general supervision and costing.

L. Lynes. Reflections. 101
How the South Eastern & Chatham Railway's plans for electrification dictated Southern Railway policy. Old carriage bodies from four- and six-wheel were widened and built onto new trussed steel underframes fitted with bogies. This greatly reduced the cost of electrification.

[A mobile rectifier for testing locomotives]. 113. illustration

Number 732 (August 1953)

Reviews. 130

The steam locomotive in America, its development in the 20th century. A.W. Bruce. Allen & Unwin Ltd.
While many books have been published on the steam locomotive the proportion of first-class works cover[ng development and its why and wherefore has been exceptionally small. The book under review is certainly one of the few really good books and it covers an important phase of steam locomotive history.
The author was assistant vice-president in charge of engineering and director of steam locomotive engineering in the Amencan, Locomotive Company and he has drawn on his 45 years experience to wnte a most valuable interesting. and illuminating book. In the preface he states his intention of recording in a single volume the main historical events in. the development of the steam locomotive and its achievements particularly during the first half .of the 20th century, for during the first decade of this it made greater advancement than it had accomplished in its entire previous existence. It can he said that the intention has. been admirably fulfilled.
The book is devoted primarily to the technical details of how development progressed with specific reference to improvements m the basic elements of the locomotive different forms of power transmission from steam cylinder to rails, and the development of individual locomotive types in. both main-line and special services. Extensive use has been made of tables, charts and statistical data; a large number of drawings and photographs are reproduced. Arrangement of material is functional rather than chronological and has resulted in a reliable and compact work of reference. We say compact for although the book runs to considerably over 400 pages it contains for its size an immense amount of material, much of which has never appeared elsewhere so far as we are aware.
Among the large amount of interesting information a few examples may be quoted. At the present rate of replacement nearly complete dieselisation may be realised by perhaps 1965 or soon afterwards. It is probably not generally known that the Louisville and Nashville Railway carried out a gauge conversion besides which our own problem appears to have been small. In 1886 the concern mentioned converted approximately 1,500 miles from 5ft. to 4ft. 8½in.. in one day:
The growth of the boiler is vividly illustrated by the statement that in 1900 a large boiler burned about 5,000 lb. of coal and evaporated some 35,000 lb. of water per hour. To-day there are boilers which on the test plant have burned about 24,000 lb. of coal to give an evaporation of nearly 140,000 lb of water per hour. The importance of ample air openmgs under the grate is well appreciated when one reads that burning 15,000 lb. of coal per hour the quantity of air required m the same period is 2,250,000 cu. ft.—as the author remarks—a lot of air! Since 1900 driving axles have grown from a maximum diameter of about 10in. to 15in. .
Dealing with trucks it is mentioned that the continued use of the four-wheeled leading truck in passenger service is explamed by Its ability to operate at high speed without derailment under very unfavourable conditions. An example is cited of a rear wheel being found missing during a routine check at a station stop. The axle had broken close to the hub and the wheel was found ten miles back!
In a book of this size and scope it is inevitable that some criticism arise. The absence of all hyphens from the Whyte system of wheel notation takes a little getting used to, The driving wheels of the Rocket were of 4ft. 8½in. diameter—not 3ft. 8½in. as given. The articulated locomotive certainly originated prior to 1888. the practical work of these engines dates from Fairlie's efforts of 1866. We cannot agree with the statement that grease lubrication of driving boxes is almost unknown abroad, it has had extensive, application in. India and South Africa to .narne but two countries.
The book is and will remain one of the classic works on the. steam locomotive and will be equally useful to the historian, student and. designer.

The locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part II, Broad Gauge. The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society.
A comprehensive account of the old broad (7ft.) gauge locomotives of the Great Western Railway, being the second part of the series of twelve to be published, which, when completed, will form a complete history of the G.W.R. locomotives, B.G. and N.G. This part, 56 pages of text and 108 illustrations reproduced from photographs and drawings, has been compiled and edited by Messrs. N. J. Allcock, F. K. Davies, H. M. Le Fleming, P. J. T. Reed and F.J. Tabar.

La traction electrique et diesel-electrique, P. Patin. Ed. Eyrolles, Paris. (300 pages, 174 illustrations, 58 pIates.).
This describes in considerable detail the latest developments of electric traction; from the point of view of the railway official and student. Although the book deals mainly with French practice, the fact that the S.N.C.F. electrification uses 1,500 volt D.C. and overhead catenary lines. makes it of great interest to the English reader. The book is divided into 25 chapters. The theoretical principles of railway traction, and the differences between the various types of electric current available are covered, after which the mechanical parts of the electric locomotives are described in considerable detail. The chapter dealing with the action of the moving locomotive includes a survey of critical movements. The "drive" from motor to axle receives adequate attention, after which there is a full description of the electrical installations of a D.C. locomotive, i.e., motors, speed regulation, electric braking and current recuperation, power and control circuits.
Six chapters are devoted to installation of D.C. traction and another three go into details about A.C. traction, reviewing existing single and 3-phase systems, as well as " mixed" schemes. Single-anode rectification (ignitrons and excitrons), form the subject of a further chapter and the last part describes the mechanical and electric components of diesel-electric locomotives. This book is a very compact and useful publication, although it is in French its circulation in Britain will be only slightly affected for there is nothing like this work on modern electric railway practice available in English

Royal Trains. Cecil J. Alien, London: Ian Allan, Ltd. 130
An attractive booklet of 40 pages, illustrated, recording Royal journeys by rail 'in Great Britain since the early days of the Great Western, between Paddington and Slough, when the Prince Consort visited Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. The Royal saloons introduced by the L.M.S., L.N.E. and Southern Railways are described and illustrated, also the trains used in Kenya during the South African tour of King George VI and that used in the Canadian tour of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Publications received. 130

K.. & L. Steelfounders & Engineers, Ltd., of Letchworth
This year celebrate 25 years' association with their present company, George Cohen Sons Co., Ltd., and the 600 Group. The years concerned have witnessed tremendous development and expansion both in techniques and the volume of business handled-which has in turn led to enormous increase in the size of the works and the number of personnel employed. An attractive and interesting publication we have received ably conveys the history and organisation of the firm and at the same time clearly portrays their great resources for the production of high- quality steel castings and Jones K.L. cranes.

Number 733 (September 1953)

Mr. R.A. Riddles. 131-2. illustration (portrait)
Retirement biography

[Victorian Railways]. 133

B.R. class 2 2-6-2 mixed traffic tank locomotive. 142-3. illustration, diagram. (side elevation)
No. 84002 illustrated

[Schneider turbine locomotives]. 147

Crewe Apprentices Training School. 163

[Wind tunnel for British Railways Research]. 173

Spanish State Railways 4-8-2 locomotives. 177. illustration

Rubber in rolling stock. 179. illustration

Number 739 (December 1953)

Running a railway. 183

16A class Beyer-Garratts for Rhodesia. 184-5. illustration, diagram (side elevation)
2-8-2+2-8-2

2-8-2 locomotives for French Equatorial Africa. 185-6. illustration

L. Lynes. Reflections. 188-90

Paraguay Central Railway 2-6-0 locomotives. 196-7. illustration, diagram (side elevation)
Two wood-burning engines built by Yorkshire Engine Co. with welded steel fireboxes

Sound equipment, Willesden Carriage Shed. 197
General Electric Co. loudspeaker system to ensure staff safety when working on vehicles including sleeping cars: within the depot vehicles are hauled by mules.

A Hawthorn veteran. 199. illustration

[Talyllyn Railway]. 200. illustration