Steam locomotive Passagers

the cost of a railcar set. thought necessary for stability at appeared in March and May of Europe, although allowing for
high speed Aids to high speed 1935, and in their highly- finished
In 1932, therefore, in accor- included large driving wheels red livery they made a great the gradients, the locomotive
90'^m (2,300mm) diameter, and impression For more than a year work required was no heavier
dance with normal German prac- very large valves and steam they were subjected to intensive
testing, partly on the road and than with the LNER "Silver
tice, private locomotive builders passages For good balance at partly on the locomotive testing
speed three cylinders were fitted plant at Grunewald. In the most Jubilee" The engines often
were invited to submit proposals The boiler pressure of 284psi notable of the road tests, on 1 1 th demonstrated their ability to re-
(20kg/cm 2 ) was the highest so May, 1936, 05002 reached a cover time lost by engineering
for a locomotive to haul 250 tons far used on a conventional Ger- speed of 124.5mph (199km/h) works
at 93mph (150km/h) in normal man locomotive Special attention on the level with a load of 197
was paid to braking, all axles ton On another test run with the The war brought these high-
service, with the capacity to reach being braked, with two blocks 169 ton, a speed of 1 18mph speed schedules to an end, and
on all wheels except the leading (189km/h) was maintained for after a period of use on ordinary
1 08mph ( 1 75km/h) with this load bogie wheels Tender was also of trains, the engines were laid
if required In the meantime wind record size, with five axles and 26 miles (42km), requiring an aside until 1950, when they were
tunnel work was conducted at weighing 86 tons fully loaded indicated horsepower of 3409,
The casing enveloped the engine rebuilt by Krauss-Maffei of
the research establishment at and tender almost down to rail an exceptional figure at that Munich into non-streamlined en-
level, and access to the motion speed gines with new boilers. The ex-
Gottmgen to determine the pos- was achieved through roller
In October 1936, 05001/2, perimental pulverised fuel firing
sible benefits of streamlining, shutters working from Hamburg Altona on the third engine, 05003, was
not successful, and it was rebuilt
and it was found that full stream- Three engines were ordered, depot, entered regular service as a conventional engine in
two arranged for conventional , 1944/5, but it saw little service
lining of the engine could reduce coal faring, but the third equipped
by 20 per cent the power re- for burning pulverised fuel, and on trains FD 23/4 from Hamburg until it too was further rebuilt by
arranged with the cab leading Krauss-Maffei in 1950 In their
quired to haul 250t at 93mph. The first two engines, 05001/2 to Berlin and back. For the 178. rebuilt form the three engines
miles (285km) from Hamburg to worked for seven years on the
From the 22 proposals sub- Below: Class "05" locomotive fastest steam workings then in
No.05.003, originally designed Berlin Lehrter the time allowed force on Deutsche Bundesbahn,
mitted, a scheme by Borsig of for the burning ofpulverised was 1 44 minutes on the outward
Berlin for a 3-cylinder 4-6-4 was fuel, in shop grey finish after journey and 145 on the return, but the tide of electrification then
rebuilding in normal form. giving average speeds of 74.2 overtook them. 05002/3 were
selected The detailed design,
and 73 7mph (118 7 and 117.9 scrapped, but 05001 was re-
produced under the direction of km/h) the normal maximum run-
ning speed being 94 mph ( 1 50 stored to its original streamlined
Adolf Wolff, incorporated stan-
km/h). These were then the condition, and in 1961 it was
DRGdard features as far as placed in the German National
highest speeds by steam in Railway Museum in Nurnberg
possible, but the overall concept

of a locomotive to develop very

high speeds with limited loads

called for a boiler larger than

those of the existing Pacifies, but

with the possibility of a smaller

adhesive weight. The 4-6-4 wheel

arrangement was chosen be-
cause a bogie at each end was

between Oslo and Trondheim is gear mounted outside each side
called the Dovre Railway and it
was for this line that these "Dov- served both HP and LP cylinders
regrubben" (Dovre Giants) were
on that side, the higher valves
built being driven via rocking shafts

Messrs Thune of Oslo built There were a number of fea-
three of these fine locomotives in tures unusual to Norwegian or
1935 and 1 936, running numbers European practice Two regu-
were 463 to 465 During the war lators were provided, one in the
two more (Nos.470 and 471) dome and one in the "hot"
were supplied by Krupp of Essen header of the superheater There
in Germany and later a further were thermic syphons in the
two (Nos.472 and 473) were firebox and a "Zara" truck (so
built They were four cylinder named after its Italian designer)
compounds with low-pressure which connected the front pony
cylinders inside the frames, and wheels and the leading coupled
wheels The cylindrical frameless
high-pressure cylinders outside tender with covered coal bunker
alone would make these engines
A single set of Walschaert's valve notable, but perhaps the most
remarkable thing of all ^bout
Right: .4 Norwegian State them is the successful creation of
Railways "Dovre Giant" 2-8-4 such a powerful machine within
so restricted an axle-loading
m action on an Oslo to
147
Trondheim express in 1935.

Class 1-5 4-6-4 United States:
New York, New Haven & Hartford (New Haven), 1937

Tractive effort: 44.0001b

Axle load:. 5 0001b (29 5t).

Cylinders: X 30in

(559 x 762mm)

Driving wheels: 80in

mm)

Heating surface: 3,8 1 5sq ft

Superheater: l,042sqft(97m 2 )

Steam pressure: ^SSpsi

~m 2 )

2mGrate area: "7sq ft (7 2

)

Fuel: 32,OO01b ( 14 5t)
Water: 1 5,000gall (18,000 US)

(68m 3 )
Adhesive weight: 193,0001b

Total weight: 698,0001b (3170
Length overall: 97ft O&in
(29,585mm)

These handsome engines were

the first streamlined 4-6-4s in the

USA to be delivered They were

also very much an example to be

followed in that firstly, the desire

to streamline was not allowed to
interfere with access to the
machinery for maintenance and
secondly, they followed in all
essential respects the simple
Stephenson concept

The New Haven Railroad ran
the main line from New York to

Boston This was electrified as far

as New Haven, leaving 1 59 miles

(256km) of steam railroad from
there to the "home of the bean
and the cod" Trains such as
"The Colonial" or the all-Pullman
parlor car express "The Mer-
chants Limited" heavily overtaxed

the capacity of the existing class
"1-4" Pacifies and, in 1936, after a

good deal of research and ex-

Class 16E 4-6-2 South Africa:
South African Railways (SAR), 1935

Tractive effort: 40,5961b with a view to accelerating such
schedules as 30 hours for the
(18,414kg) 956 miles (1,530km) from Cape
Town to Johannesburg (average
Axle load: 47,0001b (2 13t)
Cylinders: 1 2) 24 x28in speed 32mph — 51km/h), they
(610x711mm)
ordered five high speed locomo-
Driving wheels: 72in tives from Henschel & Son of
Kassel, Germany, to be known
(1,830mm) as class " 16E", running numbers
were 854 to 859.
Heating surface: 2,9 1 4sq ft
Driving wheel diameter was
(271m 2 ) increased by 20 per cent com-
pared with the "16 DA" class,
Superheater: 592sq ft (55m2). which previously had handled
such crack expresses as the
Steam pressure: 210psi
famous "Blue Train" This involved
(14 75kg/cm 2
) a boiler centre line pitched very
high (9ft 3in- 2,820mm) above
Grate area: 63sq ft (5 8m2 rail level— 2.6 times the rail gauge
)
of 3ft 6in (1,067mm). This in its
Fuel: 31. 0001b (14t).
turn made necessary a domeless
Water: 6,000gall (7,200 US) boiler, steam being collected by
pipes with their open end placed
(27m 3 )
as high as possible in the boiler
Adhesive weight: 134,0001b
barrel Aesthetically the effect
(61t) each end of each cylinder, steam Above: South African Railways'
was most imposing and it all locomotive cylinders being "16E" class 4-6-2 No.858 Millie
Total weight: 375,0001b ( 170t). worked well too. on "Sunset Limited" at Kimberley
double acting, in addition, since
Length overall: 7 1 ft 8 to The valve gear was interesting, steam engines have to go in both lateral movement reversed the
being more akin to that usually directions without a reversing locomotive The "RC" poppet
(21,850mm) found in motor cars than in steam gearbox, and in order to provide valve gear gave wonderfully free
locomotives. As in nearly all car for expansive working, the cams running and, moreover, its com-
High-speed locomotives are rare engines, the "16E" class had were of some length and coned plexities gave little trouble in
in most of Africa. Driving wheels longitudinally. The camshaft could SAR's competent hands
poppet valves actuated by rotat- be moved laterally by the driver,
as large as 60m ( 1 ,524mm) diam- ing cams on camshaft Naturally so that the cam followers engaged On various special occasions
eter were exceptional and larger there had to be a set of valves at different cam profiles, and thus (it can now be told) the "16E"s
ones were unknown except in caused the poppet valves to
the countries bordering the Med- open for longer or shorter penods have shown abilities to reach
iterranean coast. Most of Africa is to vary the "cut-off" for expansive
—safely and easily but illegally
narrow-gauge country, it is true, working, while a still greater according to the SAR rule-book
but that is no reason for low — what by African standards
speeds, provided the track is
well aligned and maintained. Du-
ring the 1930s South African
Railways perceived this fact and.

148

Left: During the late 1930s compared with the 4-6-2s they Above: The New York, New
replaced and, moreover, could Haven & Hartford Railroad class
many USA railroads introduced
handle 1 6-car 1 1 00-ton trains to "1-5" 4-6-4, which was built for
streamlined trams. Here is the the same schedules as the Pacific
Lehigh Valley RH's "Black runnmg fast trams from New
Diamond" could barely manage with 12.
Another requirement was met Haven to Boston.
periment, ten 4-6-4s were ordered
from Baldwin of Philadelphia in that they proved able to clear with speed restrictions, the sched-
Running numbers were 1 400 to ule of the "Merchants Limited"
1409. the 1 in 140 (0.7 per cent) climb never fell below 171 minutes
out of Boston to Sharon Heights including two stops, representing
This "1-5" class with disc driving with a 12-car 840-ton tram at
an average of 55mph (89km/h).
wheels, roller bearings and Wal- 60mph (97km/h). But, alas, the Forty years "progress" and a
schaert's valve gear went into "I-5"s were never able to develop change from steam to diesel
service in 1937. They certainly their no doubt formidable high
met the promise of their designers traction since the days of the
in that they showed a 65 per cent speed capability because of a "I-5"s has only succeeded in
saving in the cost of maintenance
rigidly enforced 70mph (113 reducing this time to 170mms

km/h) speed limit. For this reason today.
and because the line was infested

were very high speeds indeed.

Alas, these locomotives never
had an opportunity to demon-

strate their high-speed abilities in

normal service. South African

—Railways the only railway to fly

into London's Heathrow Airport

—has also operated the national
airline since its inception and
early on it seemed reasonable to

encourage anyone in a hurry to

travel by aeroplane So the rail

schedules remained unacceler-

ated and the five handsome
" 16E"s remained unduplicated

Four of the five were with-

drawn in the 1960s and 1970s,
but one (No 858) named Millie, is

kept on hand in order to work

special trains for steam enthusi-

asts These are very much a

SARspeciality of and often last

for ten days or so, the tram being

stabled each night while its occu-
pants sleep on board The run

behind this beautiful engine, pol-
ished bke a piece of jewellery and

at speed up to about 70mph

(1 lOkm/h) is always one of the

high spots of the trip

Right: A pair of beautifully

polished South African "16E"
class 4-6-2s handle a special
tram for steam enthusiasts

,

132 BT + ***231-
Class 4-6-2 2-6-4 Pans, Lyons & Mediterranean Co (PLM), 1937

Tractive effort: 65 9601b by the name of H.W. Garratt mainly due to the elegance of its Beyer-Garratts were seldom ex-
visited a firm of locomotive manu- geometry For example, when ploited for express passenger
^Axle load: 5001b (18 .50 facturers in Manchester called swinging fast round curves, the work, until 1 927 when a group of
Beyer, Peacock Garratt was then boiler and cab unit moved in- 2-6-2 + 2-6-2s- later altered to
Cylinder* working as an inspector for wards like a bowstring in the 4-6-2 + 2-6-4s- with 5ft 6in
goods manufactured in Britain bow of the curve, thereby coun- ( 1 ,676mm) diameter driving
Driving wheels: 7 1 in for the New South Wales Govern- wheels, were built for the 5ft 3in
ment, but he came to discuss : an overturning effect of (1,600mm) gauge Brazilian San
mm) with them an idea which he had
Heating surface: 2,794sq ft centrifugal force. Paulo Railway. With them 70mph
patented for articulated locomo- Another advantage of the Gar- (113km/h) was achieved, with
mSuperheater: 975sq ft (9 1 2 tives built to the same basic
ratt arrangement was that there excellent stability. In 1931 the
) format as mobile rail-mounted was no running gear (so vulner- Spanish Central Aragon Railway
guns The main result in due time able to grit) immediately under obtained six 4-6-2 +2-6-4s with
Steam pressure: 284psi was some hardware in the form the fire-grate, just lots of room 5ft 9in ( 1 ,753mm) driving wheels,
and plenty of the fresh air so and these were equally satisfac-
Grate area: 58sq ft (5 4m 2 ) of two little 0-4-4-0 compound necessary to ensure good com- tory, these latter locomotives were
bustion More important, the built by Euskalduna of Bilbao
Fuel:. '-4 0001b (lit) locomotives, hinged twice in the absence of running gear beneath under licence from Beyer,
Water- I jail (7.900 US) middle, for far-off Tasmania the boiler gave complete freedom Peacock.
in respect of the design of this
Adhesive weight: . 001b This Garratt layout consisted of important component Although In 1932 the Paris, Lyons &
taking two conventional locomo- a Garratt gives the impression of Mediterranean Company or-
Total weight: I -001b (2160 great length and slenderness, in
Length overall: 9< tive chassis or engine units, of fact, the boiler can be relatively dered an experimental Garratt-
(29,432mm) whatever wheel arrangement was short and fat. For fundamental type locomotive from the Franco-
preferred, and using them back- reasons short fat boilers are
Should there ever have been a considerably lighter and cheaper Beige Company of Raismes,
to-back as bogies a certain dis-
requirement for a reciprocating than long thin ones, for a given France, for the Algerian lines.
tance apart A boiler cradle was steam raising capacity
steam locomotive to emulate the This 4-6-2 + 2-6-4 was successful,
then slung between them, tanks Although many were sold for
performance of Britain's new and fuel bunkers being mounted freight and mixed traffic use, the Below: The magnificent class
231-132BT Beyer-Garratt
HSTdiesel-electnc 1 25 trains, this on the engine units. excellent riding qualities of locomotives built in France
The reason for the Garratt's for the Algerian railways.
locomotive of British concept but
success when compared with
French execution would be a
rival types of articulated locomo-
reasonable starting point tives such as the "Mallet", was

One day in 1907, an engineer

_p_n - -
i . pi
f

Class 142 2-8-4 Roumanian State Railways (CFR), 1935

Tractive effort: 44,0501b and 27 respectively between
1936 and 1949. They continued
(19,980kg)
m use until the 1 960s. In fact they
Axle load: 4 1,0001b (18.50
were copies, built under licence,
Cylinders: (2) 25.6 x 28 4m
(650 x 720mm) of the greatest of Austrian steam
locomotives, the "214" class. In
Driving wheels: 76i^in
their home country the history of
(1,940mm) the class was overshadowed by
events, 13 only were built and
Heating surface: 3,002sq ft this unlucky number certainly
justified its reputation. First came
(280m 2 ) the German takeover which turn-
ed the proud Federal Austrian
Superheater: 774sq ft (72m 2
). Railway into a mere division of
the German State Railway. Then
Steam pressure: 213psi the war, Russian occupation and

(15kg/cm2 ) finally electrification. All of these

Grate area: 5 lsq ft (4 72m2 ). traumatically affected the Vienna
to Salzburg main line for which
Fuel: see text the 2-8-4s were built but their
cousins in Roumania (called
Water: 6,500gall (7,800 US) " 142"s) flourished and multiplied.

(295m3 ) Like so many large locomotives
Adhe sive weight : 1 6 1 ,0001b
of the time, the genesis of the
(740 type lay in a desire to avoid the and Vienna. Loads had out- Above: The Austrian "214"
indignity of double-heading on class 2-8-4 locomotives adopted
Total weight: 406,0001b their owners' principal expresses, stripped the haulage capacity of as the standard express
in this case between Salzburg the excellent class "210" 2-6-4s. locomotive design by Roumania.
(184t).
A prototype was built in 1 93 1 Roumanian copies had the for-
Length overall: 74ft 9in mer arrangement, except for a
(22,784mm) together with a three-cylinder batch which were built in 1939
with Caprotti and later altered to
Another example of a small coun- version for comparative pur-
try building its own express pas- poses. Poppet valves actuated standard.
by oscillating cams driven by
senger locomotives, and 2-8-4s Walschaert's valve gear were An unusual feature of these
to boot, was Roumania. The used, except for one which was
firms Malaxa and Resita built 58 fitted with Caprotti gear The

150

both at fast running as well as at with conventional gears, and any service on the Algiers-Constantine thetical steam replacement for
climbing over the mountains, to a more fully expansive working is main line, which included gradi-
point where further express Gar- not possible. The valve gear was ents as steep as 1 in 38^ (2.6 per the HST 125 could have 7ft 6in
ratts of an improved design were also interesting in that it was cent), the running time for the 288
miles (464km) was reduced from (2,286mm) driving wheels com-
ordered When the PLM lines in operated electrically 12^ hours to 8!^-ietween Algiers
Other equipment included du- and Oran the new timing of 7 bined with a 7ft 6in (2,286mm)
Algeria had been amalgamated hours for the 262 miles (422km)
with the Algerian State Railways plicate controls at the rear of the represented an acceleration of 2 diameter boiler, all inside the
(CFAE) an initial order for 10 hours
was later increased to 29 by cab for running hind end first, a British loading gauge 9ft wide by
Algerian Railways (CFA). feed water heater, and a turbo- Until the war came to Algena
fan for ventilating the cab There the express Garratts gave good 1 3ft high (2,740mm by 3,300mm)
Amongst many interesting fea- were drench pipes to the ashpan
tures of a design which kept and smokebox, a soot blower to service but, alas, the electncal A 5mgrate-area of 80sq ft (7 2
clean the boiler tubes on the run,
wholly to the standard Garratt valve gear did not stand up to the )
layout was the Cossart valve and a recording speedometer A inevitable neglect when the fight-
gear. This unusual gear drove ing began. Soon after the war would make a steady output of
cam-operated piston valves and double chimney and double van- there was an opportunity to
enabled the locomotive to use able blast-pipe was provided, dieselise and by 1951 these 30 5,000 horsepower in the cylinders
unusually the two orifices were superb locomotives were out of
very early cut-offs indeed, in the placed side by side instead of feasible The large space vacant
range of 5 per cent to 7 per cent. use.
If normal valve gears such as end-on. A coal-pusher assisted in beneath the firebox would pro-
Perhaps the most interesting
Stephenson's or Walschaert's are bringing coal forward ready to vide space for an adequate ash-
arranged so they can be linked be fed to the fire. The tanks and point is that, whilst conventional
up to give cut-offs as early as this, bunker were arranged to corre- pan to contain the residue left
it is impossible to arrange the spond in shape with the boiler. "straight" locomotives in express behind when the considerable
geometry so that the exhaust The ends were streamlined and passenger service have certainly
ports would then open for an the result aesthetically most been stretched up to the limit as quantities of coal involved had
adequate fraction of the return regards vanous critical dimen-
stroke Such a locomotive would impressive. been burnt. The Da Porta com-
experience a checking influence sions, the Garratt had still some
On test on the Northern Railway way to go Larger wheels could bustion system descnbed in con-
at speed— generally speaking 15 easily be combined with a larger
between Calais and Pans, it was boiler of much greater power nection with the South Africa
per cent or 17 per cent is the limit found that the engine rode output. For example, that hypo-
steadily and could develop cylin- class "25" 4-8-4s would be a
der horse-power up to 3,000 In
Apossibility. turbo-generator

could provide electnc power for

heating and air-conditioning the

present carriages of the HST 1 25

trains, to which little or no modifi-

cation would be needed But,

alas, such a magnificent means of

locomotion must remain haulage

power for the Dreamland Ex-

press, and hence live entirely in

our imagination.

and other Roumanian loco-

motives is the coal-plus-oil finng
system The coal fire provides
the base supply of steam, while
the oil supplement covers penods

of exceptional demand
For many years these imposing

locomotives covered their share
of Roumania's top express pas-
senger assignments Very unusu-

ally for a small country, Roumama
has its own diesel and electnc

locomotive industry, being de-
pendent on modest production
from this source, the change to
new forms of motive power was
sure rather than fast Even so, the
"142"s had ceased work by the
end of the 1960s, No. 142.008 is
set aside at Bucharest's Gnvita
depot and 142072 is displayed
at the Resita Locomotive

Museum

Right: A humble use m this

pastoral Roumanian scene for a
dass "142" 2-8-4 locomotive of
the state railway system

a

Duchess Class 4-6-2 Great Britain:
Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS), 1939

Tractive effort

Axle load: r. x 28m
Cylinders:

Driving wheels: 8 1 in

Heating surface: 2,807sq ft

Superheater: 8! 6sqft(79 5m 2 )
Steam pressure: 50psi

Grate area: 50sq ft (4 6m 2 )

Fuel:

Water: 1,800 US)
I

Adhesive weight: 147,5001b

(68t)

Total weight: 362,0001b

Length overall
(22,510mm)

The most powerful steam loco- lsation might have been achieved should not have been en- Above: Ex-London Midland &
motive ever to run in Britain 1 This dangered
was demonstrated in February years earlier with steam. Scottish Railway 4-6-2 No 46236
Incidentally, the "Duchess" Completely unshaken by this
1939, when No 6234 Duchess of incident, with the down tram, the City of Bradford on the down
Abercom was put to haul a locomotives were fast runners as imperturbable Driver ] T Clarke "Royal Scot" in the Lune Gorge
well as strong pullers and even using the same locomotive then
20-coach 605-ton test train from held the British rail speed record proceeded to take the party near Tebay, Lancashire.
for a short penod, although it back to London in 91 1 minutes
Crewe to Glasgow and back An was not an occasion for any direct line to Lord Stamp, Presi-
pride. This was because in order at an average speed of 79 5mph dent of the company, who had
authentic recording of an indi- (127km/h) with several maxima recruited him personally over
cated horse-power of 3,330 was to obtain the 1 1 4mph ( 1 82km/h) over 90mph (144km/h) and the lunch at the Athenaeum Club.
maximum, steam was not shut off Previous locomotive engineers
made and this power output until the train was so close to magic 100 (160) maintained for had been dictated to even over
Crewe that the crossovers leading some distance near Castlethorpe. such details as axleboxes by the
from a steam locomotive has into the platforms and good for operating department of the rail-
never been matched in Britain It only 20mph (32km/h) were taken Enough has been said to show
occurred coming south when that the "Duchess" class rep- way—and then blamed for the
climbing the 1 in 99 (1 01 per at nearly 60 (96km/h). Minor
cent) of Beattock bank at a damage was done to the track resented something close to the consequent failures.
and much to the crockery in the So Stanier was able without
steady speed of 63mph (102 kitchen car, but the train and the summit of British locomotive en-
newsmen aboard survived. The gineering. Simplicity was not the interference to initiate design
km/h) This feat was, however, a work on an excellent range of
purely academic one, not because practical features of the design keynote of the design, but sound standard locomotives, the results
which saved the day were a conventional engineering made
of any limitations on the part of took the LMS from a somewhat
the locomotive but because the credit to the engineers con- these locomotives the success
power developed corresponded cerned, but this was cancelled they were. The designer was backward position into an en-
viable one so far as their locomo-
to a coal-shovelling rate well out by a typical disdain for William Stamer who had come to tive stud was concerned His first
theory, which could so easily the LMS from the Great Western
beyond the capacity of one man have established the point at Railway in 1 932, he was a worthy Below: No.46251 City of
Two firemen were earned on the which steam should have been product of the Churchward tra- Nottingham depicted in
shut off and the brakes applied dition and at the age of 52 far LMS-style British Railways livery,
occasion of the test run, which so that the safety of the tram from being a young man He had but with the streamline pattern
one great advantage over his tender originally attached.
certinaly equalled anything
achieved later with diesel traction predecessors on the LMS—
before the recent arrival of the
High Speed Train

It remains a pity that none of
the "Duchess" class 4-6-2s were

tried with oil firing or mechanical

stoking, not so much because a
somewhat academic record might
then have been pushed higher,

but rather that the faster train

services which followed diesel-

4-6-2 was the Princess Royal

which appeared in 1933, her
cylinder layout was similar to the

Great Western "King" class, ex-
cept that two more independent

sets of Walschaert's valve gear

were fitted outside the wheels for

the outside cylinders. At first the

taper boiler did not steam as well

as it should and several quite

considerable successive internal

alterations had to be made, which
were applied new to later "Prin-

cess Royal" class locomotives as
they came out and retrospectively

to those already built. One of
these locomotives was the

"Turbomotive" cess Royal— although sub- Above: The second-lrom-last Below: In London Midland &
sequent "Princess Royal" class and considerably modified Scottish Railway days and as
A decision to run a streamlined locomotives had bigger super- "Duchess" No. 46256 was
heaters, none were as large as originally built in streamline
high-speed express from Euston that. Not many people liked the named Sir William A Stanier
sausage-shaped streamlined FRS m honour of her designer. form. No. 6225 Duchess of
to Glasgow in 1937 was the Gloucester passes Rugby.
opportunity to apply all that had shroud that enveloped the loco- removed from locomotives fitted
motive, but the new blue and with it. This was not completed streamline, standard LMS ma-
been learnt from the 1 2 locomo- silver livery was lovely The other until 1 949 by which time the last
four locomotives were named and 38th "Duchess" (No6257 roon, maroon and gold stream-
tives of the "Princess Royal" after members of the royal family City of Salford) had been com- line, plain wartime black, lined
plete for a twelve-month post-war black, experimental
class for these 4-6-2s were far — Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary,
The success of the class is gray, BR dark blue, BR medium
larger than anything the LMS Princess Alice and Princess measured by the minimal number blue, BR green and finally LMS
of changes that were made over maroon with BR insignia as
had had before. The train and the Alexandra. their years of service from 1937,
first of the five new locomotives The 6!^-hour schedule of the until electric and diesel locomo- shown in the painting below
built for it took the names Coro- tives took over in 1964 Nos.6256
nation Scot and Coronation "Coronation Scot" from London and 6257 had some modification, Three have been preserved —
to Glasgow with only a 270-ton but these were more in the No 6229 Duchess of Hamilton, in
respectively load was not too demanding for nature of experiments than cures
for recognised ills In contrast, charge of the National Railway
This time the cylinder layout these great locomotives but, quite the number of livery changes Museum, and currently restored
aside from this, they were found to main line running condition,
was moved well away from that to be excellent heavy artillery for were legion — blue and gold
GWRof the general express passenger use No 6233 Duchess of Sutherland
The centre lines on this West Coast main line.
Accordingly, a further ten were in Alan Bloom's collection at
were inclined upwards at a slope ordered of which only the first
five were streamlined. All ten Bressingham, near Diss, and No
of 1 Yi degrees, while the outside
cylinders were brought forward were named after duchesses (in 6235 City of Birmingham in the
fact, the whole class is now Birmingham Science Museum
from the original position in line usually referred to by that name)
and it was No 6230 Duchess of
with the rear bogie wheel. The
outside valve gears were made Buccleuch that first demonstrated

to work the valves of the inside how extremely handsome these
engines were when unclothed.
cylinders as well as the outside
More streamlined engines of
by rocker arms just to the rear of an order for 20 (named after
cities) placed before the war
Athe outside cylinders. similar were delivered gradually over
the war years 1939-43 After 18
arrangement had been fitted to of them had been completed
No 6205 Princess Victoria Both
construction continued with non-
wheel and cylinder diameters streamlmed examples, and in
1945 instructions were issued
were slightly larger on the "Coro- for the streamline casings to be

nation" class than on the "Princess

Royal" class An interesting gad-

get in the tender was the steam

coal-pusher which helped the

fireman bring coal forward from
the back of the tender when

supplies at the front got used up.
The boiler was notable for an

1 1 per cent larger fire grate area
and a 133 per cent increase in

superheater heating surface,

compared with the original Prin-

153

5

Class GS-4 4-8-4 United States:
Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), 1941

Tractive effort

Axle load: 68.9251b (3 1250

Cylinders: x 32in

Driving wheels: 80in

Heating surface: 4 887sq ft

Superheater: 2,086sq ft

Steam pressure: 300psi

Grate area: 90 4sq ft (8 4m 2 )

Fuel (oil): 4 900galls (5,900 US)

Water: • OOgall (23,500 US)

Adhesive weight: 276,0001b

Total weight: 883,0001b
(400 50

The "Daylight" express of the the lessening of running times few special features worth record- Above: Southern Pacific's tough-
Southern Pacific Railroad was represented by all three of the ing was one that has almost no haulage class "GS-4" 4-8-4 No.
the third of three famous train steam traction parallel elsewhere, 4456 at San Francisco, California,
services worked by matching new trains were roughly even.
streamlined express locomotives The gradients encountered by that is the provision of electro- in May 1952.
and coaches over a similar dis- the "Daylight" nicely balanced pneumatic brake equipment With
tance The "Hiawatha" trains of other forms of traction, the sprays to cool the tyres on engine
the Milwaukee Une between out with the "Hiawatha" faster electro-pneumatic brake is and tender wheels during braking
Chicago and the Twin Cities and running, but certainly the "Day- on the long descents Air sanding
the "Coronation" of the British light" was a far tougher haulage commonplace today, especially gear was provided, fed from a
London & North Eastern Railway tank under that boiler-top casing,
between London and Edinburgh proposition than the British train. for multiple-units. Application of which held a full ton of sand 1
have been noticed elsewhere the brakes on a normal air-brake With booster cut in, the "GS"s
Each of the three trains introduced The motive power provided re- system relies on a pressure could manage the standard "Day-
new standards of speed, comfort light" consist on the 1 in 45
and decor, and each train was flected this change travelling down the brake grades (2.2 per cent), but if any
extra cars were attached a helper
spectacularly successful in attrac- Eight-coupled wheels were pipe from the locomotive to switch was needed.
on the brakes under each suc-
ting new traffic needed and enabled the resulting cessive car This involves a flow Although the "Daylight" type
The 470-mile route between "Daylight" 4-8-4 to have (with of air towards the driver's brake- held to the simple and world-
booster) 1 24 per cent more trac- valve and in consequence a standard concept of a two-
Los Angeles and San Francisco delay of several seconds occurs cylinder locomotive with outside
was much the hardest as well as tive effort than the LNER "A4" before the brakes are applied to valve gear, the host of equipment
the longest of the three For the wheels of the rear car In provided did add a certain com-
example, there was nothing on 4-6-2. As regards grate area, that plexity There were three turbo-
either of the other lines to compare contrast, with EP braking the generators, for example, and a
with the 1 in 45 (2.2 per cent) is, the size of the fire, the increase
gradient of Santa Marghanta signal to apply the brakes goes feed-water heater and pump as
Hill, north of San Luis Obispo was 1 19 per cent. The SP already down the tram with the speed of
The "light-weight" 12-car "Day- electric current. The thinking well as injectors. It must be said
light" express weighed 568 1
tonnes, nearly double the weight was that these few seconds — that virtually all of this complication
of the British train— though it had fourteen 4-8-4s (class "GS- "),
must be said that as regards which came from Baldwin of during which the train would was made up of items- of pro-
weight hauled per passenger Philadelphia in 1930. As with the travel several hundred feet—
carried, the latter came out at 1 LNER's but unlike the Milwau- might in the case of a high-speed pnetary equipment each of which,
per cent less than the former kee's, the SP's new locomotives service be the difference between as it were, came in a box and
(class "GS-2") were from a mech- an incident and a disaster could be bolted on Such fittings
Because of the severe curvature anical point of view based very were apt to work well because
closely on their immediate pre- The curvature of the route was competition kept the suppliers
of the line as well as the heavy decessors. Of course, the decor recognised by the provision of
was something else again and it spring-controlled side-play on Below: One of the original
gradients the 48 5mph (78km/h) gave these four black, silver and the leading coupled axle. In this
gold monsters from the Lima way the wheels could "move-over" batch (class "GS-2") of
average speed of the "Daylight" Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio, on a curve and allow the flange Southern Pacific's "Daylight"
train was considerably less than an appearance which could force to be shared between the 4-8-4s as delivered from the
hardly be described as less than two leading axles, with benefits Lima Locomotive Works, Ohio,
that of the other two, although superb. to the wear of both rails and
tyres. The hilliness of the line m 1937.
Like so many large North gave rise to a series of water
American locomotives of the time,

the success of the "Daylight"
type was due to the application

of the excellent standard of US

practice of the day. Amongst a

on their toes, and if problems
arose a replacement could be
fitted quickly Even so, an
electro-magnetic gadget— inside
the boiler! —which sensed foam-
ing and opened the blow-down
cocks automatically, did not last

Like most SP steam loco-
motives, the "Daylight's were
fired with oil— indeed, SP were

the United States' pioneers in this
area— economy being achieved
with a device called a "locomotive
valve pilot" which indicated to
the engineer what cut-off he
should set to suit any particular
speed and conditions of working

Streamlined trains, worked by
further batches of these

magnificently-equipped loco-
motives, spread to all parts of
SP's system and thus served
such far distant places as Portland

in Oregon, Ogden in Utah and
New Orleans Details of the 60
locos were as shown in the table

The War Production Board
refused to sanction the "GS-6"
batch, but on being told that
"GS" now stood for "General
Service" rather than "Golden

State", they accepted the pro-
posal Of an order for 16, six
went to Western Pacific Railroad

The first "GS" to be withdrawn
was No 4462 in 1954 and in
October 1958 No.4460 (now
displayed at the Museum of

Transportation at St Louis, Mis-

souri) brought SP steam opera-

tions to a close with a special
excursion from Oakland to Reno,

Nevada No 4449 also survived
to haul the "Freedom Train"

several thousands of miles across

the USA in connection with the

bi-centenmal of independence in
1976 The locomotive is still able
to run and has recently been re-
stored to the original superb

"Daylight" colours

Designation

1

Royal Hudson Class 4-6-4 Canada:
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), 1937

Tractive effort: 45 3001b ways, such as tractive effort or number of engine changes Flyer" then had a timing of
adhesive weight, the new loco- needed to cross Canada, from
Axle load: v:i 0001b (29 5t) motives were little different to the fourteen to nine. The longest 70mm for the 77 Va miles ( 1 24km),
old Their class designation was stage was 820 miles (1,320km)
Cylinders: x 30in H-l and the running numbers an average speed of 66.3mph.
were 2800 to 2819. from Fort William, Ontario, to The 4-6-4s were normally as-
Driving wheels: 75in Winnipeg, Manitoba, experi- signed to this tram Subsequently
The boilers had large super- mentally a 4-6-4 had run the
Heating surface: 3,79 lsq ft heaters and combustion 1,252 miles (2,015km) between GWRthe dropped 3 minutes
chambers (the latter an addition Fort William and Calgary, Al-
Superheater: i i2sq ft to the firebox volume, provided berta, without change. from their timing and took back

Steam pressure: ,"75psi by recessing the firebox tubeplate For five hectic months in 1 93 the record.
into the barrel), as well as front-
(19.3kg end throttles which worked on the afternoon CPR train from An interesting feature, later
the hot side of the superheater provided on one of the "H-l"s,
Grate area: 8 lsq ft (7 5m2 ) This enabled superheated steam Toronto to Montreal, called the was a booster engine working
to be fed to the vanous auxiliaries "Royal York" became the world's on the trailing truck. One of the
Fuel: 47.0001b (2 It) There were arch tubes in the fastest scheduled train, by virtue problems of a 4-6-4 was that only
firebox and, necessary with a of a timing of 1 08 minutes for the six out of 1 4 wheels were driven;
Water: 1 2.000gall ( 1 4,400 US) grate of this size, a mechanical 124 miles (200km) from Smith's this was no detriment while run-
Falls to Montreal West, an average ning at speed but starting was
6m(54 3 stoker speed of 68.9mph (lllkm/h).
The record was wrested from sometimes affected by the limited
) The first effect of the new the Great Western Railway of
locomotives was to reduce the England, whose "Cheltenham Below: Ex-Canadian Pacific
Adhesive weight: 194,0001b "Royal Hudson " class No. 2860
progresses gently along the
Total weight: 659,0001b (2990 shore of Howe Sound, B.C.
Length overall: 90ft 10m
(27,686mm)

To be both Royal and North
American is almost a contradiction

in terms but, forty years ago, the
Canadian Pacific Railway was as

much British as it was Canadian
It had been incorporated by an
Act of the British Parliament, and
its east-most terminal was situated
at Southampton, England It was
here in 1939 that King George
VI and Queen Elizabeth set sail in
the Canadian Pacific liner Em-

press of Britain for a tour of their

largest Dominion Once ashore,
their home for much of the visit
was a Royal train, at the head of
which was a new 4-6-4, No 2850,

specially turned out in royal blue
and silver with stainless steel
boiler cladding The royal arms
were painted on the tender and a
replica crown was mounted on
the running board skirt just ahead
of the cylinders, later this crown
was affixed to all 45 of CPR's
famous 4-6-4s built between 1937
and 1945

The genesis of these fine loco-
motives lay in a wish to improve
upon the class "G-3" 4-6-2s
which before 1931 had been the
top-line power of the system, by

increasing their steam-raising

capacity a substantial amount A

fire-grate 23 per cent larger was
possible if the 4-6-4 wheel ar-
rangement was adopted and the
boilers of the new locomotives
were based on this But in other

adhesion. The extra 12,0001b Above: A head-on view of been an obvious necessity Railway Museum at Delson,
4-6-4 No. 2860 as preserved Like other lines which had Quebec, No. 2858 is on display at
(5,443kg) of tractive effort pro- and now running on the the National Museum of Science
excellent steam power, well main- and Technology at Ottawa and,
vided by the booster came in British Columbia Railway. tained and skilfully operated, the most famous of all, No. 2860
very handy; the mechanism cut Canadian Pacific Railway was in
out automatically at 20mph when they were built and they no hurry to diesehse and, in fact, works regular tourist trains on
would then remain there for it was not until 1956 that the first the British Columbia Railway
(32km/h). many years This unusually stable 4-6-4 was scrapped By mid- 1 960 between Vancouver and Squa-
The 1930s were the period approach to locomotive alloca- all were out of service, but five mish. No. 2860 has visited Eastern
Canada as well as steaming
when streamlining was in fashion tion also allowed the booster-fitted have survived the scrap-men's south as far as Los Angeles,
but when the time came to order locomotives to be rostered for torches. Standard Hudson No. hauling a show train intended to
some more 4-6-4s, H.B Bowen, sections of line where their extra 2816 is (at the time of writing) at publicise the beauties of British
Steamtown, Bellows Falls, Ver- Columbia.
the CPR Chief of Motive Power, push was needed For example, mont, USA. Of the "Royal Hud-
decided to compromise He came booster fitted "H-lc"s allocated Below: The beautiful red
to Toronto could take the 18-car son" types, No 2839 has recently livery of preserved 4-6-4 No.
to the conclusion that the shrouds 1,300-ton "Dominion" express 2860 was basically the same
which enveloped many contem- up the Neys Hill incline on Lake been seen in operation in the
Superior's north shore unassisted as used on these engines m
porary designs made the mech- with booster in operation, other- USA on the Southern Railway, a
wise a helper engine would have Canadian Pacific Railway days.
anism inaccessible to an extent line which regularly operates
which smothered any savings special steam trains for enthusi-
attributable to reduced air resis-
asts. No 2850 is in the Canadian
tance. On the other hand, he

accepted that the public liked
their trains hauled by loco-
motives which were a little easier
on the eye than was then

customary.
The result in 1937 was another

batch of 30 Hudson type, Nos
2820 to 2849 designated "H-lc",
(the earlier ones had been deliv-
ered in two batches of ten,
"H-la" and "H-lb") which had

not only softer bnes but also
sported a superb coloured livery,

as our artist has rned to show.
Very few mechanical changes

needed to be made— although

there were certain improvements
or changes such as power-
operated reversing gear, dome-
less boilers and a one-piece cast

locomotive frame, while boosters
were fitted to five of the loco-

motives A further ten 4-6-4s,

designated "H- 1 d" were delivered

in 1938, while the last batch of
five ("H-le"), Nos.2860 to 2864
of 1 940, differed from the others
in being oil burners All the
"H-le"s and five of the "H-ld"s
had boosters

The last batch of 4-6-4s were
intended to operate in the far
west, between Vancouver and
Revelstoke, British Columbia,
where oil firing had been the rule
for many years After the war,
when the big Canadian oil fields
were being exploited, all the

"H- 1 "s operating over the prairies

were also converted This was
made easier by the fact that it was
customary to allocate a particular

locomotive to a particular depot

Class U-4 4-8-4 Canada:
Canadian National Railways (CN), 1936

Tractive effort: 52 4571b ment had perforce to take over that ultimate of passenger types, numbers were 6400-4 (CN) and

Axle load: -i 5001b (27t) 24,000 miles of bankrupt lines the 4-8-4 6405-11 (GTW).
Cylinders: 24x30in
The task ahead was formidable The Canadian Locomotive 'Yet more standard 4-8-4s fol-
Driving wheels: 77in Company delivered lowed in 1940 and 1944 until
and one of the most remarkable No.6100 —
Heating surface: 3,86 lsq ft
railwaymen of all time was en- named Confederation to cele- finally the total reached 203. All
Superheater: l,530sqft
gaged to take charge This was brate the 60th anniversary of the CNthe locomotives were built in
Steam pressure: 275psi Sir Henry Thornton, who had
Canadian Confederation — just Canada either by the Montreal
Grate area: 73 7sq ft (6 8m 2 )
learnt his trade on the Pennsyl- seven months after Northern Locomotive Works or by the
Fuel: v).0001b( 180 Canadian Locomotive Company
Water: 1 1.700gall( 14,000 US) vania Railroad and its notorious Pacific received its 4-8-4s. By the
(35m 3 )
Adhesive weight: 236,0001b subsidiary, the Long Island Rail- CNend of the year, and its US also of Montreal, while (no doubt

Total weight: 660,0001b (3000 road In 1914 he was appointed subsidiary Grand Trunk Western, because of import duties) those
Length overall: 95ft hn
(28,990mm) general manager of the British had a fleet totalling 52 of these GTWfor were built by US

During the steam age the longest Great Eastern Railway During great machines This made CN builders.
railway in America was not located
in the USA, for Canadian National World War I he became a by far the greatest 4-8-4 owner in It is no disparagement to say
Railways held the title Around the world, a position which was
60 years ago Canada suffered brigadier-general in charge of CNthat the engineers were not
from the sort of railway problems retained until the USSR took the
that the United States is in the rail movement in France, and keen on innovation, and so the
throes of now and the Govern- class was very much the standard
received a knighthood lead in the mid-1950s Running

It was a far cry from 0-6-2 numbers were 6100-39 and North American product CN's

tanks on Thornton's famous jazz 6300-1 1, classes "U2" and "U3", trade marks were the cylindrical

service which so much eased the GTWfor CN and respectively. Vanderbilt tenders and, on those
built up to 1936, a prominent
lot of commuters homeward Further batches, generally

bound from London's Liverpool similar, built in 1929 and 1936 transverse feed-water heater

Street station, to the Trans-Canada brought the numbers up to 77 placed just in front of the chimney

Limited running 2,985 miles and then in 1936-38 a high-speed Naturally, such improvements as

(4,776km) across a great con- streamline version was built This roller bearings and cast-steel

tinent, but he took it in his stride "U-4" class, the subject of the locomotive frames were adopted
as they became available
Adequate tools for the job was dimensions given on this page,
One locomotive (No 6 1 84) was
very much a Thornton principle. had larger driving wheels and a

It should, therefore, have been less than typically ugly shroud,

CNno surprise that was right in but was also very much the same Right: No.6218, a fine
specimen of CN's class "U-2".
the vanguard of roads in ordering locomotive basically Running

Class Ul-f 4-8-2 Canadian National Railways (CN), 1944

Tractive effort: 52,5001b Railways, that eight-coupled loco-
motives were first introduced
(23,814kg)
into passenger service there This
Axle load: 59,5001b (270 was the original "Ul-a" a batch
consisting of 16 locos, built by
Cylinders: (2) 24 x 30in
the Canadian Locomotive Com-
(610 x762mm) pany Then 1924 and 1925
brought the "Ul-b" and "Ul-c"
Driving wheels: 73in batches of 21 and five from
Canadian and from Baldwin re-
(1,854mm) spectively The latter were for
CN's Grand Trunk Western sub-
Heating surface: 3,584sq ft sidiary in the USA. In 1929 and

(333m 2 ) 1930 there followed five "Ul-d"
Superheater: l,570sqft and 12 "Ul-e" from Canadian
and from the Montreal loco-
(146m2 ). motive works.

Steam pressure: 260psi Thus in seven years, fifty-nine
4-8-2s, numbered from 6000 to
( 18 3kg cm 2 6058, became available, although
) by now the class had become
overshadowed by the 4-8-4s intro-
Grate area: 70 2sq ft (6 6m 2 ) duced in 1927, described on this
page There were also four 4-8-2s
Fuel: 40,0001b (180 acquired by the Central Vermont

Water: 1 l,500gall (9,740 US)
(53m 3 ).
Adhesive weight: 237,0001b

(107 50

Total weight: 638,0001b (2900
Length overall: 93ft 3in

(28,426mm)

It was in 1 923, very soon after the
formation of Canadian National

jl^-J ^fyl H^v*

158

tried with poppet valves and in
later years when Canada struck
oil, many 4-8-4s changed over to
that method of firing. Withdrawals
began on a small scale in 1955
and grew slowly until the final

holocaust of the last 159 took
place in 1960 The sadness felt
by Canadian railwaymen at the
4-8-4s departure from the scene
is well expressed by Anthony
Clegg and Ray Corley, in their
excellent book Canadian Nat-
ional Steam Power, by quoting
the following verse chalked on a
withdrawn 4-8-4:

"In days gone by this junk pile
now
Was a grand sight to behold

On threads of steel it dashed

along
Like a Knight in armour

bold "
For a period Canadian Nat-

ional operated certain 4-8-4s in

excursion service This has now

finished, but eight have survived,

two, including streamliner No

6400, are on display at Ottawa in

the National Museum of Science
and Technology

CNRailway, another subsidiary service in conjunction with so, exhaust steam injectors are the clean lines The result is so
Canadian Pacific. remarkable conjuring tncks in good that one can almost forgive
but one which did not then the application of natural laws It the designers that bullet nose to
In 1944, a further twenty 4-8-2s is difficult to believe that exhaust the smokebox 1
number or classify its locos as were delivered from Montreal, of steam at, say lOpsi (0 7kg/cm2)
the "Ul-f" batch illustrated here. could force water into a boiler Canadian National is amongst
CNpart of the main fleet It did containing steam and water al- that superior class of railway
They were brought up to date by most 30 times that pressure administrations who offer steam
CNuse the method of classifi- However, an arrangement of for pleasure, as exampled by the
having cast-steel locomotive cones turns a high velocity jet of
cation, though, so these 4-8-2s frames, disc wheels and other low pressure steam into a low fact that a total of six of these

were also Class "Ul-a" In fact improvements Some were oil- velocity high-pressure flow of locomotives are preserved No
burners and all had Vanderbilt water, which has no difficulty in
mthey were rather different cylindrical tenders and outside forcing its way past the non-return 6060 of class "Ul-f" does the

design, having been acquired bearings on the leading bogies clack valves into the boiler honours and in addition No 6069
Most significant was a major
from amongst a flood of 4-8-2s CNWith just a few exceptions, is displayed at Bayview Park,
simplification consisting of the
which the Florida East Coast steam locomotives were totally Sarnia and No 6077 at Capreol,
replacement of the boiler feed
Railroad had ordered but found utilitanan, but with these excellent Ontano. Of the elder CN Moun-
pump and feed-water heater, by
itself unable to pay for engines, efforts were made to tains, No.6015 is at the Museum
a device called an exhaust steam make them good looking too. at Delson, Quebec, No.6039
The 6000s performed with (Grand Trunk Western) was at
injector Injectors are usually Side valences, a flanged British-
elan on the then highly competitive style smokestack, green and black Steamtown, Bellows Falls, Ver-
rucked away tidily under the side livery, brass numbers and placing mont, and No.6043 at Assinboine
express trains between Montreal of the cab but in this case the Park, Winnepeg.
device was hung outside the the dome and sand container in
and Toronto, speeds up to 82mph driving wheels, the large pipe the same box all contnbuted to Below: Canadian National
which supplied the exhaust steam Railways class "Ul-f" 4-8-2 as
(131 km/h) have been noted with adding to its conspicuousness.
originally built in 1944.
700 tons or so Later, the same Like other injectors but more

engines operated well in pool

Left: Canadian National
Railways class "Ul-f" 4-8-2
No. 6060 depicted in mint
condition as delivered.

V2 Class 2-6-2 Great Britain:
London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), 1936

Tractive effort: -7301b etween those previously total up to 184 Only a few had carriages were also well within
names but (with reason) they
: their capabilities.
came to be known (in LNER
thought right for freight trains On the debit side was the fact
territory) as the "engines that
Axle load: 49, 5001b (22 5t) and those appropriate for pas- that whilst the V2s were general-
won the war" In order of con- purpose locomotives in the sense
Cylinders: x 26m senger trains, at full speed they struction, their running numbers that they could haul anything,
they were by no means go-
Ahad to turn faster better were 477 1 -4898, 3653-64, 4899, anywhere locomotives. An axle-
364 1 -3654, 3665-3695 After the load as heavy as 22 tons meant
Driving wheels: 74in understanding of the best way to war they became (more sensibly) that only some 40 out of every
mm)
balance the reciprocating parts, 800 to 983 and in BR days 100 miles of the LNER system
Heating surface: 2,43 1 sq ft
excellent valve gears to get the 60800-60983 was open to them Indeed two
Superheater: 680sq ft (63 2m2) prototypes of a miniaturised ver-
Steam pressure: 220psi steam in and out of the cylinders As one might have expected sion (class "V4") appeared in
1 94 1 to fill this gap, but Gresley's
quickly enough and (in this case) with a fire-grate sensibly the successor had other ideas and
no more were built
the use of more than two cylinders same in size, the V2s were vir-
helped to make this feasible tually as good as the 4-6-2s when Two other question marks
it came to express passenger hung over details of the class, the
Grate area: 4 1 25sq ft (3 86m 2 ) In June 1936 the first of Sir work. A V2 was noted running at
93mph ( 149km/hr) on the "York- Gresley conjugated valve gear
Fuel: : 7,0001b (8t) Nigel Gresley's (he was knighted
Water: 1.200gall (5.040 US) shire Pullman" Express fully- Right: Preserved ex-LNER
(19m 3 ) that very year) famous "V2" braked freight trains were the "V2" class 2-6-2 No. 4771 Green
Adhesive weight: 146,0001b Arrow at the Birmingham
2-6-2s appeared from Doncaster class's speciality and these en- Railway Museum depot.
gines could manage over 60mph
Works It was to be the master Below: The apple green
on the level on such trains as the
designer's last major class, for he famous "Scotch Goods" (sic) LNER "V2" or "Green Arrow"
mclass 2-6-2, completed 1936.
Total weight: 323,0001b died in 1941 with 600 tons On occasion, they

The locomotive was named were pressed into service on the
streamliners and no difficulty
Length overall: 66ft 5in Green Arrow after a system of was found in keeping time, while
wartime trains of up to 25 packed
; :nm) registering freight consignments

These remarkable locomotives — from a single packing case to a
were a sympton of the trend —train-load just introduced at the
apparent dunng the 1930s for
producing all-purpose loco- time and it was finished in the
motives Because the diameter of
the wheels had to be a compro- apple-green passenger livery of

the company Before war broke

out the class numbered 86; sub-

sequent building brought the

Class E4 4-6-4 United States:
Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW), 938

Tractive effort: 55,0001b These handsome locomotives of

(24,798kg) advanced design have the un-

Axle load: 72,0001b (32.7t). happy distinction of being the

Cylinders: (2) 25 x 29in first to be superseded by the

(635 x737mm) diesel-electric locomotive from

Driving wheels: 84in the job for which they were built
The Chicago & North Western
(2,134mm) Railway had its own way of doing

Heating surface: 3,958sq ft things, not for nothing did its
(368mm 2
trains run on the left-hand track,
)

Superheater: l,884sqft

(175m 2 ). whereas most North American

Steam pressure: 300psi trains take the right When, in

(21 kg/cm2 ). 1935, the gloves came off for the

Grate area: 90 7sq ft (8 4m 2 fight between the Milwaukee,
).
Burlington and C&NW com-
Fuel (oil): 5,000gall (6,000 US)

(22.7m 3 ) panies for the daytime traffic

Water: 16,500gall (20,000 US) between Chicago and the twin

5m(75 3 cities of St Paul and Minneapolis,

).

Adhesive weight: 2 16,0001b the last-named was first into the

(98t) ring with the famous "400" trains

Total weight: 791,5001b — named because they ran

(359t) (about) 400 miles in 400 minutes.

Length overall: 101ft9%in C&NWThe stole this march over

(31,033mm). their competitors by running

160

which worked the valves of the
middle cylinder was one which
has already been mentioned in

connection with other LNER

locomotives The other query
has also been referred to else-
where; this was the usual one
associated with the 2-6-2 wheel
arrangement, viz the tracking
qualities of the leading pony
truck All went well until 1946,
when two derailments on war-
time quality permanent way took

place After investigation the

original swing-link self-centring

suspension of the leading pony
truck was replaced by a side
control system which used trans-
verse springing and no further
trouble was experienced.

These matters apart, the V2s
were superb engines and the last
one was not withdrawn until late
1966 when the class was finally
overtaken by dieselisation Hap-
pily, the original Green Arrow
has been preserved and is now
restored to working order as

part of the national collection

refurbished standard rolling management decided it had was the world of steam railway
stock hauled by a modified exist- backed the wrong horse and engineering
ing steam locomotive, instead of went to General Motors Electro-
motive Division for some of the Amongst the advanced fea-
trains brand new from end to tures of the "E4" may be men-
end first production-line diesel loco-
tioned Baker's valve-gear, oil
Soon enough, though, the motives. These took over the new firing, roller bearings throughout

C&NW had to follow their compe- streamlined "400" trains, leaving and, particularly interesting, a
Barco low water alarm Boiling
titors' example They chose to the new 4-6-4s to work the dry such a large kettle as a
copy the style of the Milwaukee's locomotive boiler is a very senous
"Hiawatha" rather than the Bur- transcontinental trains of the ori- matter indeed and on most steam
lington's diesel "Zephyr" and ac- ginal Overland Route, which the locomotives there is no automatic
cordingly the American Loco- guard against the crew forgetting
motive Company was asked to C&NW hauled from Chicago to
supply nine high-speed stream- to look at the water-level in the
Omaha gauge glasses
lined 4-6-4s
Because of the arithmetic of Brash styles of painting were
The new locomotives, desig-
nated "E4" and numbered 4000 design the basic physical statistics not the C&NW's way, and thus it
to 4008, were delivered in 1938, of the "E4" were very close to the is particularly sad that, when the
time came in the early 1 950s for
C&NWbut in the meantime the Hiawatha" 4-6-4s, yet it is very the "E4"s to go to the torch, none

Left: Gone, but not forgotten, clear that lesser differences be- of them was preserved So, there-
the original class "E4 " 4-6-4 tween the two meant two separate fore, only in imagination is it
No. 4001 of Chicago and North possible to feast our eyes on their
Western Railway in action. designs So we have two classes green and gilded elegance.
of six and nine locomotives res-
pectively, intended for the same
purpose, built by the same firm at
the same time, which had few jigs
or patterns in common Such

161

Class 56 4-6-2 Malaysia:
Malayan Railway (PKTM), 1938

Tractive effort of the best colonial systems Japanese occupation 28 were this one, run by a combination of
British, Chinese, Indian and Malay
Before it turned to diesels, the supplied, and 40 immediately
Malayan Railway operated the staff, succeeded
Axl« load: 28.56011 majority of both its passenger afterwards They were extremely Originally the class was desig-
Cylinders: and freight trains with this one
class of 66 neat Pacific locomo- neat and handsome little machines nated "O" and the running num-
Driving wheels: 54in both in their looks and in their bers were 60 to 87. After the war
tives The PKTM had long been a design One feature was the they were redesignated class
mm) "56" and the various batches
Heating surface: l,109sqft "railway of Pacifies", since the excellent balance of the moving supplied were numbered 56 101
-11, 562.01-06, 563 01-11,
days when railways back home parts, and consequent absence 564,01-40. Of these 56109
in Britain were still building 4-4-0s of hammer blow to make them and 562 01 were scrapped after
as top line express power In fact, war damage and not replaced.
Superheater: . Ssq ft suitable for lightly laid track,
the first Malayan Pacihc.the In the late 1950s there was a
obtained by the use of three period when locomotives were
initial member of a run of 60 painted and lined out in Great
Steam pressure: 250psi known as Class "H", was built for cylinders, all driving the middle Western Railway colours, but
what was then the Federated coupled axle Another was the
Malay States Railways (FMSR) before this as well as afterwards,
5mGrate area: ,"7sq ft (2 2 back in 1907 by Kitson of Leeds use of rotary-cam poppet valve a. smart black livery was used.
Others were supplied bv Nas- Malayan names were applied to
). myth, Wilson of Manchester and all the motive power at thus

Fuel (coal): 22.0001b ( lOt) Robert Stephenson of Darlington gear; on other railways which period — Malay script is used on
Another 79 Pacifies of four more one side of the locomotive, Roman
Water: 3.500gall (4,200 US) tried this promising arrangement
classes followed during the next on the other
(16m 3 it failed to ofier any savings, In 1955 there was a proposal
30 years
) In 1938 the North British Loco- to run faster trains in Malaya and
two "56" class locos were tested
Adhesive weight: 86,0001b motive Co of Glasgow supplied because of the better use of up to 70mph (112km/h) a re-
some remarkable Pacifies which
steam in the cylinders, to com-
were to be the ultimate in Malayan
Total weight: 226,0001b steam power Before the war and pensate for its extra cost and

additional maintenance expenses.

Length overall: 6 1 ft 1 %in FMSRAll credit, then, to the (and
(18.628mm)
later the PKTM), which made

enough of a success of this

These metre-gauge Pacific loco- sophisticated system for it to
motives were one of the most
become standard on the railway
elegant of all the British colonial
No other railway administration
designs and they worked on one in the world managed —it only

800 Class 4-6-0 Ireland:
Great Southern Railways (GSR), 1939

Tractive effort: 33,0001b variety, divided as they were into was there for something better Maeve, Macha and Tailte, com-
(14,970kg) over 80 classes. Some of the last for the heavy Mail expresses on
Axle load: 47,0001b (2 It) the hard road between Dublin plete with nameplates in Erse
Cylinders: i 3: 18 x28in single-wheelers to remain in ser- and Cork, it seemed most unlikely
(470 x711mm). vice in the world were running that anything could be done. script They were the only express
Driving wheels: 79in
(2,007mm). between Waterford and Tramore As is well known, in Ireland the passenger locomotives to be built
Heating surface: 1 ,870sq ft unlikely can always be relied
(174m 2 ) as late as 1932. All the companies upon to happen, but it was still a in an independent Ireland, all
surprise when three large and
Steam pressure: 225psi which did not cross the border handsome three-cylinder 4-6-0s, subsequent ones having been
(15 8kg/cm2 ). into the six counties known as
Grate area: 33^sq ft (3 10m2). Northern Ireland, had been as up-to-date as any locomotive imported.
grouped into the Great Southern in Europe, emerged from the
Fuel: 18.0001b (8t) Inchicore Works of the Great This illustrates the nice thought
Water: 5,000gall (6,000 US) Railways in 1925. The economics Southern Railway. They had taper
(23m 3 ) that quite small and agricultural
Adhesive weight: 141,0001bs of the GSR did not allow for any boiler-barrels, Belpaire fireboxes,
nations can set out to design and
(64t) significant new construction of three independent sets of Wal-
build steam locomotives of top
Total weight: 302,5001bs any type of locomotive, let alone schaert's valve gear and resem-
bled very closely in appearance, quality with success and econ-
(137t) new express passenger power. size and layout the rebuilt "Royal
Scot" class of the London Midland omy; and also the less nice
Length overall: 67ft 6in Aside from a group of ten & Scottish Railway— at least they
(20,550mm) would have done if the rebuilt thought that the diesel loco-
4-6-0s inherited from the old "Scot's had then existed. The
The 450 or so broad-gauge (5ft running numbers were 800 to motives which superseded steam
3in— 1,600mm) locomotives of Great Southern & Western Com- 802 and the locomotives received
Ireland that existed between the the names of the Irish queens can only be built economically by
wars were of amazing age and pany, the GSR relied on 26
large industrial nations
162 locomotives of South Eastern &
Chatham Railway design, 2-6-0s The "800" class had just time
put together from parts made at
Woolwich Arsenal after World to prove itself in service that
War I and obtained cheaply as
summer of 1939. Maeve was
surplus stores from the British
government Whilst the need OStimed by Nock on a journey

from Cork to Dublin, when extra

carriages added for passengers

from a trans-Atlantic liner had

swelled the usual load of about

300 tons to 450 A remarkable

markable speed for the metre to the "Night Scotsman" or to the
gauge. The tests were completely "Blue Tram" was a feature of the
satisfactory but nothing came of "Golden Blowpipe" express, this
the proposal and the speed limit used to come as a pleasant
surprise to people making their
remained at 45mph (72^km/h) first trip up country after arriving
from Europe
Malayan Railway's trains, in those
During the same period all
days anyway, made up for speed Malayan locomotives were con-
with comfort Luxury comparable verted to burn oil instead of the
local coal for which their wide
Left: Malayan Railways fireboxes were eminently suit-
preserved class "56" 4-6-2 able But there were no problems
with the new fuel and Malayan
No 564 36 Temerloh leaves rail travel suddenly became much
Kuala Lumpur on a private
excursion to Batu Caves m cleaner
In 1 957 the first diesels arrived
September 1979. This
locomotive is one of two kept and by 1972 only half the Class
"56" 4-6-2s were still in service.
maside after the end of steam
In 1981 the only steam locomo-
Malaya. The Railway tives left are a pair (No. 564 33
Administration can arrange Jelebu and No. 564 36 Temerloh)

special trams usmg one of these stationed at Kuala Lumpur—
two steam locomotives at short
notice and and at surprisingly where the main works of the
modest cost.
system is situated — and used
Below: Malayan Railways
class "0" 4-6-2 No. 71 Kuala mainly to haul charter trains for
Lumpur (later class "56" tourists plus an occasional service
No. 56201) in pre- 1941 livery
run in some emergency

23mph (37km/h) was maintained
with this big load on the severe 1
in 60 ( 1 66 per cent) gradient out
of Cork Later in the journey the
ability to run fast was demon-
strated with 79mph (126km/h)
near Newbridge

A chronic shortage of fuel

persisted long after the war and
there seemed little time in the
short interregnum before diesel
traction took over to see more of
the work of these fine locomotives
The first one to go was Tailte,
withdrawn in 1957; the other two
lingered on without seeing much
use until 1 964 Mae ve is preserved
in the Belfast Transport Museum

Right: 77ie Irish Great
Southern Railways (later Coras
lompair Eirann) 4-6-0 No.800
Maeve as preserved
The locomotive is currently
on display at the Irish

mTransport Museum Belfast

L63

FEF-2 Class 4-8-4 United States:
Union Pacihc Railroad (UP), 1939

Tractive effort: 63,8001b —like Northumbrian 108 years with the pleasing result that the sing gear and automatic stoking,
earlier— the standard recipe for locomotives had a delightfully whilst electric lighting was some-
'kg) success in having two outside elegant uncluttered appearance, thing that certainly paid off in
unmarred by any streamline helping "800" crews to see what
Axle load: 67,0001b (30.50. cylinders only, the simplest poss- they were doing
Cylinders: 2)25x32in ible arrangement That king of shroud. On the other hand, they
(635 x813mm) passenger locomotive wheel ar- Perhaps the most original fea-
Driving wheels: 80in rangements, the "Northern" or rightly fell for such excellent ture and one which contributed a
4-8-4, was adopted and mis- good deal to the success of the
mm) givings originally felt regarding simplifications as the cast-steel "800"s was the main morion.
Heating surface: 4,225sq ft locomotive frame, which replaced
the suitability of eight-coupled Aesthetically, the mam rods were
Superheater: l,400sqft wheels for very high speeds were many separate parts by one
single casting. Another example pure poetry but there was a
(130m 2 ) found not to be justified. The was the use of a static exhaust great deal more to it than that
Steam pressure: 300psi negotiation of curves was made Because of the speeds and forces
easier by the fitting of Alco's steam injector instead of a steam- involved, current technology was
(21kg, cm 2 ) lateral motion device to the lead- driven mechanical water-pump taken beyond the then accepted
ing coupled wheels limits, at the same time, the
Grate area: 3mlOOsq ft (9 2 and feed water heater A compli- magnitude of the stresses to
) The basic simplicity of so many cation resisted by the UP was the
US locomotives was often spoilt Below: Preserved Union Pacihc
Fuel: 50,0001b (230. by their designers being an easy provision of thermic syphons in "FEF-3" class 4-8-4 No.8444
touch for manufacturers of com- with a special tram run for
Water: 19,600gall (23,500 US) the firebox, they held the view hundreds of enthusiasts a year.
plicated accessories. The UP that on balance these quite com-
(90m3 )
managed to resist most of them mon devices were more trouble
Adhesive weight: 266,5001b
than benefit Even so, both com-
Total weight: 908,0001b (412t).
Length overall: 1 13ft 10m mon sense as well as Uncle
(34,696mm) Sam's rules meant power rever-

The origin of the class occurred

during the late 1930s, when

rising train loads began to over-

tax the 4-8-2s which were then

the mainstay of UP passenger
operations One day in 1937 a

"7000" class 4-8-2 had the tem-

erity to demonstrate the lack of

steaming power inherent in the

UPtype, on a train with President

William Jeffers' business car on

the rear. Even while the party

was waiting out on the prairies

for rescue, a dialogue by telegram

went on with the American Loco-

motive Company (Alco) in far-off

Schenectady, with a view to

getting something better

The result in due course was

this superb class of 45 loco-

motives of which 20, numbered

800 to 819, were delivered in

1938 A further 15 (Nos.820 to

834) with larger wheels and

cylinders as well as 14-wheel

centipede tenders— instead of

1 2-wheel ones — came the follow-

ing year and it is to these that the

dimensions etc given above apply

This second batch was desig-

nated "FEF-2", the earlier ones

becoming class "FEF-1" FEF

stood for Four-Eight-Four!

A final batch of ten almost

identical to the second one ex-

cept for the use of some substitute

materials, appeared in 1944

These were known as "FEF-3"s

and were the last steam power

supplied to UP. All the "800"s
came from Alco.

The "800"s as a whole followed

164

Leh:An "FEF-1" class 4-8-4 Above: The last steam locomotive
built for the Union Pacific Railroad,
of the Union Pacific Railroad class "FEF-3" 4-8-4 No.844
(renumbered to 8444 to avoid
rea dy to lea ve Den ver, Colora do. confusion with a diesel unit).
These locomotives had the

smaller 12-wheel tenders.

which those whirling rods were trusted with the many expresses faster timings. In those early days when all were out of service
formed of the then conventional awaiting scrapping, it was a sad
subject are very different to evalu- heavyweight stock, but the new the new form of motive power moment for all who admired
was not too reliable and "800" these superb locomotives
ate with any degree of confidence engines' arrival on UP coincided
class locomotives frequently Since then No 844 (renum-
What a triumph for the desig- with the introduction of diesel-
found themselves replacing a bered 8444 to avoid confusion
ners, then, that these lovely electnc streamline trains on much multi-unit diesel at the head end with a diesel unit) has been put
of one of UP's crack trains They back into service by a publicity-
tapered coupling and connecting found no problem in making up conscious Union Pacific and fre-
time on the tight diesel schedules quently performs for her fans.

sufficient to offset extra minutes No 814 is displayed across the
Mississippi river from Omaha, at
spent taking on water. Dodge Park, Council Bluffs, and
The last service passenger
Nos.833 and 838 are also be-
train hauled by an "800" was lieved still to be in existence, the
latter as a source of spares for
caused by such a failure; it No.8444.
occurred when in autumn 1958,
the last one built took the "City of Below: A second section of

Los Angeles" over the last stretch "The Gold Coast" tram
of 145 miles (232km) from Grand behind class "FEF- 1 " (which
appeared before "FEF-2"s)
Island into Omaha. No 844 gained 4-8-4 No.826.

time on the streamliner's schedule

in spite of the crew's lack of

recent experience with steam A
year later there came a time

rods were a resounding success
even though frequently moved at

revolutions corresponding to run-

ning speeds above the lOOmph

(160km/h) mark The main prin-
ciple of the new design was that

the pulls and thrusts were trans- I

mitted from the connecting rods

— and hence to three out of the
—four pairs of wheels by separate

sleeve bearings instead of via the

main crankpins in accordance

with convention. The result was

that separate knuckle-]oints in

the coupling rods were replaced

by making the centre pair of rods

forked at both ends and com-

bining the roles of crank-pins

and knuckle-pins

The results were superb and

there are many reports of speeds

being run up to the design limit
of 1 lOmph ( 176km/h) After the
war there was a period when

coal supplies were affected by

strikes and, in order to safeguard

UP passenger operations, the

"800"s were converted from coal

to oil burning, a 6,000gall (27m 3
1

tank was fitted in the bunker

space Otherwise only minor

modifications were needed over
many years of arduous service, a
fact which is also much to the

credit of the designers.

Normally the 4-8-4s were en-

165

Class 12 4*4-2 Belgium:
Manorial Railways (SNCB), 939

Tractive effoit

Axle load: 52.00011
Cylinder

Driving wheels:

Heating surface: 1 729

Superheater: ( 78sq ft (63m 2 )
Steam pressure: . '56psi

Grate area: 1.8
Fuel
Water: ^ 280gall (6.300 US)

Adhesive weight: 101,0001b

Total weight*: 188.5001b start-to-stop speed: Whilst the than original thinking would be Above and below: Two views
Belgian class "12" 4-4-2s were expected of a country that pro-
Length overall: ''• duced both Alfred Belpaire and of the Belgian National Railways'
totally conventional as regards Egide Walschaert? class "12" high-speed 4-4-2
•nm)
Cengine only without tender) principles, the layout of their The concept was to operate mlocomotives, built 1938 to
frequent lightweight high-speed
Most modern steam locomotives machinery was unusual if not haul lightweight expresses
trace their descent more from between Brussels and Ostend.
Northumbrian than Planet; but unique — but then what other
here is an exception; and, more-
over, one that was good enough
for a world record for scheduled

520 Class 4-8-4 Australia
South Australian Government Railways (SAR), 1943

Tractive effort: 32,6001b

(14,800kg)

Axle load: 35,0001b (16t).
Cylinders: (2) 20^ x 28in
(521 x 71 lmm).
Driving wheels: 66in
(1,676mm)
Heating surface: 2,454sq ft
(228m2 )
Superheater: 65 1 sq ft (60.5m2).
Steam pressure: 2 1 5psi

Grate area: ~5sq ft (4.2m2 ).
Fuel: 22,0001b (lOt).
Water: 9,000gall (10,800 US)

Adhesive weight: 140,0001b W^^sMO^amd^

(63.5t)

Total weight: 449,5001b

(204t).

Length overall: 87ft 4^in
(26,622mm)

166

trains, of three cars only, over the only ran for a few months before timing by electric traction today Above: SNCB Class "12" 4-4-2
7 1 miles (121 km) between Brus- between Brussels and Ostend is
sels and Ostend in the even hour, war broke out in September 1 1 minutes longer with one extra No. 12.004, one of the world's
including a stop at Bruges Be- 1 939 One of the 4-4-2s (No. 1 203) stop— an 18 per cent increase in
tween Brussels and Bruges the has, however, survived and is journey time when steam gives last4-4-2s.
timing was to be 46 minutes, way to electric traction is possibly
giving an average speed of 75 4 preserved at the SNCB loco- yet another record achieved by
these remarkable locomotives
mph (121 3km/h) The speed motive depot at Louvain. The best
limit of this almost level route was

specially raised for these trains to

87mph ( 1 40km/h) It was decided
that four coupled wheels were
adequate, whilst the power
needed for the high speeds con-
templated was best provided by
a wide firebox A leading bogie
was certainly desirable and, to

avoid oscillations inside cylinders

were preferred, made reasonably
accessible by the use of bar

rather than plate frames. All this

added up to the world's last

4-4-2s as well as the world's last
inside-cylinder express loco-
motives The tenders were
second-hand, with streamlining
added, and the locomotives were
built by Messrs Cockenll of
Seraing, Belgium

Alas, the high-speed trains

South Australia certainly became clearly based on that of the "TI"
4-8-4 country in 1943 when the class 4-4-4-4s of the American
ten "500" class were supple-
mented by twelve "520" class Pennsylvania Railroad Unlike the
But there the resemblance ends contemporary "TI"s though, they
because ,the "500"s had a lot of were starkly conventional under
wheels in order to give brute
force but the "520"s were many- their shrouds— and, also unlike
wheeled so that they could tread the "TI"s had useful lives of up to
delicately on the light 601b/yd 18 years In 1948 all the loco-
(30kg/m) rails of the remote motives of this class were con-
verted to burn oil fuel
branches in the State This they
Two "520"s are preserved,
did with great success No 520 Sir Malcolm Barclay-
All the locomotives were built Harvey is occasionally run The
other, No 523 Essmgton Lewis,
at the SAGR's Islington shops
between 1943 and 1947 The is displayed at the Australian Rail-
style of their streamlining was way Historical Society's site at

Mile End near Adelaide

Left: Showing a fine plume of Right: One of the preserved
smoke, a "520" class 4-8-4
makes good time with an class "520" locomotives Sir
en th usiasts ' special.
Malcolm Barclay-Harvey as built

m 1943

C38Class 4-6-2 Australia: rnment Railways (NSWGR), 1943

Tractive effort: • :001b

Axle load: I
Cylinders:

Driving wheels: 69in
Imm)

Heating surface: 2.614sq ft

Superheater: 75!
Steam pressure: 45psi

Grate area: 4m4 2
I
)
Fuel:
Water: X) US)

Adhesive weight: 150.5001b

Total weight: :. 0001b (205t)
Length overall

'mm)

The last and best of Australian Co of Sydney, were streamlined Hence only two cylinders, valve Above: Class "C38" 4-6-2 No.
express passenger locomotives The remainder were not stream- gear outside, all mounted on a 38.01 hauling the "Western
cast steel locomotive frame with Endeavour" transcontinental
he thirty "C-38" Pacifies of lined and built at the railways special en route from Sydney to
own shops at Cardiff and Eve- integral cylinders, air reservoirs, Perth Note extra water tanks
the New South Wales Govern- leigh. The designers had not lost
brackets, saddles, stays etc All in the train.
ment Railways, built between sight of the fact that simplicity
1943 and 1949 They had been axles had roller bearings and Right: 4-6-2 No.38.06 on
planned before the war but the was the steam locomotive's there were rocking and dumping Sydney to Brisbane Day
majority were not completed until greatest asset and that its greatest elements in the grate, power Express at Hawkesbury
after it was over The first five, handicap was the manual labour reverse and air sanding.
built by the Clyde Engineering involved in keeping it running
The "C-38" class could give

Class Tl 4-4-4-4 United States:
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), 1942

Tractive effort: I 4 7001b required to accommodate the

second set of cylinders This

Axle load- ^.OOOlbOl 5t) increase was in itself sufficient to

Cylinders: x 26in discourage some roads from

further consideration of the

Driving wheels: 80m proposal

The first road to build a duplex

Heating surface: 4,209sq ft engine was the Baltimore and
Ohio, which made a 4-4-4-4 with

Superheater: l,430sqft an experimental water-tube fire-
(1319m2 )
Steam pressure: 300psi box in 1937, but it was the
(21 lka
Grate area: 92sq ft (8.5m 2 ) Pennsylvania which first built a
Fuel: 35,0001b (38 5t)
Water: 16,000gall( 19,000 US) locomotive with a conventional

boiler to this layout. In 1937, with

the principal passenger services

still worked by the "K4" Pacifies

of 1914 design, the road's en-

Adhesive weight: 273,0001b gineers embarked on the design

(124t) of a locomotive to haul 1 ,090 tons
Total weight: 954,0001b
(432 7: at lOOmph (160km/h), which

Length overall: 122ft 10m was well beyond the capacity of
(37,440mm)
any existing 4-8-4

Johnson put the case for the

In the 1 930s there was a notable duplex engine, and this appealed York World Fair and it was not Above: Class "Tl" No.5537
increase in the use of 4-8-4 until December 1940 that it en- leaving Fort Wayne, Indiana,
to the PRR men, but for the size tered revenue service Although with the eastbound "Fast Mail"
locomotives in the United States, intended for use throughout the express en route from Chicago
both for freight and passenger of the engine required 1 6 wheels main line from Harnsburg to
service There were, however, Chicago, in the event its great to New York.
were insufficient, and the PRR
some problems with the very length led to its prohibition from 120mph (193km/h) on many
high piston thrust in these en- took one of its most spectacular the curved lines in the east, and occasions There were, however,
gines, and the resultant stresses this prohibition was further ex-
in crank pins, while the balancing steps by adopting the 6-4-4-6 problems, particularly with slip-
of the heavy reciprocating parts tended because the maximum ping, not helped by the fact that
for high speeds also caused wheel arrangement The loco- axle load came out at 73,8801b only 46 per cent of the total
difficulties All the problems could engine weight was carried on the
be solved, but R.P Johnson, chief motive was designed and built at (33. 5t), against the figure of driving wheels, compared with
engineer of The Baldwin Loco- 65 per cent in a "K4" Pacific.
motive Works suggested that Altoona, and it was the largest 67,5001b (30 .5t) which had been
they could be avoided by dividing Despite the limited and variable
the driving wheels into two rigid-framed passenger engine stipulated to the designer. experience gained so far with the
groups in a single rigid frame,
ever built It was numbered 6 1 00 As a result the engine was "SI", the PRR ordered two more
with separate cylinders for each, and classified "SI", and with
thus making the engine into a limited to the 283-mile Crestline duplex locomotives from Baldwin
driving wheels 84in (2,134mm) to Chicago division, on which it in July, 1940 The performance
4-4-4-4. Compared with the 4-8-4, proved capable of hauling 1 225 requirement was reduced to the
piston loads were reduced, and in diameter, a grate area of tons at an average speed of
it was easier to provide valves of haulage of 880 tons at lOOmph
adequate size, but the rigid wheel- 3m132sq ft (12 2 and a boiler 66mph (106km/h). With smaller ( 160km/h) and this could be met
base was increased by the space by a 4-4-4-4, with 80in (2,032mm)
), loads it achieved very high driving wheels, and a grate area
of 92ft (85m 2 ) The maximum
some 15 per cent greater than speeds, and although the PRR

that of any 4-8-4, it was essentially and its official locomotive historian
were silent on the subject, it was
an engine for developing high widely believed to have exceeded

power at high speed With a

streamlined casing design by the

fashionable stylist Raymond

Loewy, its appearance was a

striking as its dimensions

No.6100 appeared early in

1939, but it spent much of 1939
and 1940 on display at the New

168

substantially higher power output
than the "C-36" class 4-6-0s
which the larger engines re-
placed They were capable of
taking the Melbourne Express
loaded to 450 tons unassisted up
the 1 in 75 ( 1 .33 per cent) inclines
of the main line to Albury Their
heavy axle-loading limited them

to the principal routes of the
state, but this still left ample
scope for the class to perform
with great ability on the majority

of New South Wales' top pas-

senger trains
Withdrawal began in the mid-

1 960s and the class just lingered
on in normal service until 1970.
Several have been preserved
and one or two are occasionally
put into steam to give pleasure.
The longest run of this kind ever

made— or ever likely to be made
—was when No 38.01 crossed

the continent from Sydney to

Perth and back on the "Western
Endeavour" special train, to cele-
brate the day in 1970 when 4ft

8Hm ( 1 ,435mm) metals became

available over the whole 2,461
miles (3,96 1 km) between the two

cities

axle load was 69,2501b (31 4t) on the Altoona testing plant and tween late 1945 and early 1946. cent, with numerous records of
it produced a cylinder horse- With a shorter rigid wheelbase 1 OOmph ( 1 60km/h) with 9 1 0-ton
compared with 73,8801b (33 5t) power of 6,550 at 85mph (137
km/h) with 25 per cent cut-off. In than the "SI" and a smaller trains, including a pass-to-pass
of the "SI" The two engines, service the engines worked over maximum axle load, the "Tl"s
the 7 1 3 miles between Harnsburg were allowed over the full steam- average of 1 OOmph over 69
classified "Tl" and numbered and Chicago, but despite these
long runs they built up mileage worked part of the PRR mam line miles of generally falling grades
6110 and 6111 differed only in slowly and spent an undue with a load of 1,045 tons They
amount of time under repair. from Harnsburg to Chicago, rode smoothly, and when all was
that 6111 had a booster Apart Slipping was again the main and they worked through over well they were popular with the
the whole 713 miles They took enginemen, but slipping re-
from the inclusion of certain PRR trouble, although in these engines over all the passenger work on mained a major hazard, not only
54 per cent of the total weight this route, including the 73 lmph
standard fittings, Baldwin was was adhesive (117 5km/h) schedule of the slipping at starting but violent
Chicago Arrow over the 123 slipping of one set of wheels at
given a free hand in the design At this point the road took a miles (198km) from Fort Wayne high speed.
to Gary, and four other runs at
Franklin's poppet valves were fateful step Ignoring its old policy more than 70mph (112 5km h I At this time the motive power
of testing and modifying a proto- At their best they were magnifi-
PRRfitted at insistence, as these type until it was entirely satisfac- department of the PRR was at a
tory, it ordered 50 almost identical Below: Pennsylvania Railroad
had produced a notable increase class "Tl" 4-4-4-4 duplex low ebb, both in equipment and
engines Nos 5500-24 were built locomotive No. 551 1, built in morale, and compared with
in the power of "K4" Pacific at Altoona and 5525-49 by the the simple and well-known "K4"
Baldwin Works and delivered be- at Altoona. Pacifies, the "Tl " was a complex
Roller-bearings, light-weight box of tricks, particularly its
valve gear. Maintenance of the
motion, and disc wheels were big engines proved to be a
difficult job, and their appear-
amongst the modern equipment ances on their booked workings
became less and less regular
and the engine was clothed in a The faithful "K4"s were out again
casing designed by Raymond
in force-
Loewy, but quite different from
Various modifications were
that of No 6 100 They were de- made to ease maintenance, mainly
livered m April and May 1942 by the removal of parts of the
casing, but one engine was rebuilt
In 1944, No 6 110 was tested with piston valves. Eight engines
had their cylinder diameter re-
duced in an attempt to reduce
the tendency to slip but the
problem was never solved As
time passed, the worsening finan-

cial state of the railroad led to the
ordering of mainline diesels

It was intended that the "Tl "s
should have a full economic life
before succumbing to diesels In
the event, the serious and intrac-
table problems with them had

the effect of accelerating diesel-

tsation, and by the end of 1949
most of them were out of service
So ended the most expensive
locomotive fiasco of the century.

169

Challenger Class 4-6-6-4 e 1942
umonPacihc Rauroad(up),

Tractive effort: \ 4001b and hinged steam pipes were More American Mallets fol- brought the further benefit that
needed only for the steam to and lowed, at first mainly for banking more adequate steam pipes could
Axle load: cSiWii from the low-pressure cylinders duties, but then for road work be provided, and the engines
Cylinders: 4) x 32m However, with their huge low- were capable of higher speeds.
The European engines built to pressure cylinders and the tor-
3mm) this design were mostly for tuous steam pipes between the Some intensive work was needed
Driving wheels: 69in narrow-gauge railways However, cylinders, these engines were
in 1903 the hrst American Mallet unsuitable for speeds above 30- to develop flexible pints suitable
mm) was built Here the aim was to get 40mph (40-50km/h). Above these for carrying high-pressure steam
Heating surface: A 64! the maximum adhesion, and as speeds oscillations of the front to the leading cylinders.
frame developed leading to heavy
Superheater: l,741sq ft mthere were difficulties designing wear on locomotive and track. From this time onwards Ameri-
can interest centred on the four-
Steam pressure: 80psi a locomotive with six driving In 1924 the Chesapeake and cylinder simple Mallet and suc-
Ohio Railroad ordered twenty cessive improvements were made
Grate area: L32sqftl 12 3m 2 ) axles in a rigid frame, articulation 2-8-8-2 locomotives with four which upgraded the type from
banking duties to main line freight
Fuel -3 0001b (25.40. was an attractive proposition at simple expansion cylinders. Al- work and, eventually, on a few
Adhesive weight: 406,0001b this stage The American engine roads, to express passenger
though the main reason for this
Total weight: 1,071.0001b was an 0-6-6-0 built for the was that the loading gauge of Below: "Challenger" class
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad It 4-6-6-4 No. 3985 at Cheyenne
Length overall: 121ft 1 1 in was the largest locomotive in the C&O could not accommodate awaiting restoration to working
(37,160mm) world and thereafter that distinc-
tion was always held by an the large low-pressure cylinders morder 1981.
American member of the Mallet of a compound, the change

family

On virtually all counts this loco-

motive was the largest, heaviest,

strongest and most powerful one

which ever regularly handled

express passenger trains Its

existence was only possible be-

cause it was an articulated loco-

motive, that is, there was a hinge

in the middle

Articulated locomotives were

introduced early in locomotive

history, but it was not until the full

flowering of the narrow-gauge

railway late in the 19th century

that they were built in quantity

Many designs were fried, but the

most popular was that of Anatole

Mallet, a French consulting en-

gineer Mallet was an early advo-

cate of compounding, and from

1876 a number of two-cylinder

compound locomotives were built

to his designs In 1884, to cater

for larger locomotives, he pro-

posed an articulated design in

which the rear set of driving

wheels were mounted in the

main frame, which supported the

firebox and the rear part of the

boiler The front set of driving

wheels were in a separate frame,

the rear end of which was hinged

mamto the front of the frame.

The front of the boiler rested on

the hinged frame, and as the

boiler swung across this frame

on curves, a sliding support was

needed The high-pressure cyl-

inders drove the rear set of

wheels and the low-pressure cyl-

inders the leading set High-

pressure steam was thus entirely

on the rigid part of the locomotive.

7

work Amongst changes intro- the UP used came from mines Above: Union Pacific's A favourite racing ground for
duced were longer travel valves "Challenger" 4-6-6-4 No.3964
and more complete balancing of which the railroad owned takes on coal from an these monsters was the main line,
the moving parts, but most im- overhead coaling plant. mostly across the desert, between
portant were the changes made In 1942 pressure of wartime Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and
to the connection between the the front one, thus evening out Los Angeles, where they regularly
leading frame and the main frame, traffic brought the need for more the distribution of weight between ran at up to 70mph (112km/h)
and to lateral control of the the two sets of driving wheels, on passenger trams
leading wheels It was these latter large engines and the construc- and thereby reducing the ten-
alterations which eliminated the dency of the front drivers to slip, In 1952 coal supplies were
violent oscillations which had tion of Challengers was resumed, which had been a problem with interrupted by a strike and a
the earlier engines With no hori- crash programme for further
limited the speed of earlier a total of 65 more being built up conversions to oil-burning was
zontal hinge, humps and hollows
Mallets to 1944 A number of changes in the track were now looked mput hand, but the strike ended
after by the springs of each
The Union Pacific acquired 70 were made, notably an enlarge- individual axle, as in a normal after eight engines had been
compound 2-8-8-0s with 59in converted Rather perversely, in
(1,500mm) driving wheels be- ment of the grate from 108sq ft rigid locomotive
tween 1918 and 1924 These All the engines were built as 1950 ten of the original series
were essentially hard-slogging, 3m(10.0m2 ) to 132sq ft (12 2 had been converted back to
coal-burners, but in 1 945 five of coal-firing, but in less than a year
modest speed engines and m ), them were converted to oil- had been changed yet again to
burning for use on passenger oil Dieselisation gradually nar-
1926, for faster freight trains, the cast steel frames in place of trains on the Oregon and Wash- rowed the field of operation of
railroad introduced a class which ington lines Trouble was experi-
built-up frames, and an increase enced with smoke obstructing the "Challengers", but they con-
was remarkable in several re- the dnver's view so these five tinued to take a major share of
spects It was a three-cylinder in the boiler pressure to 255psi engines were fitted with long
4- 1 2-2 with 67in ( 1 ,702mm) driv- smoke deflectors, and they were steam working up to 1958 when
ing wheels, and was the first (17 9kg/cm2) accompanied by a
class with this wheel arrangement. malso painted the two-tone grey the delivery of a large batch of
It was also one of the few Ameri- reduction in cylinder size of one diesels rendered them redundant
can three cylinder engines and livery which was used for pas-
the only one to be built in inch, which left the tractive effort senger engines for a number of The numbering of the Challen-
quantity, a total of 88 being built years, as depicted above. gers was extremely complicated
They were highly successful, but unchanged due to the practice of renumber-
with their long rigid wheelbase ing engines when they were
and heavy motion they were A less obvious but more funda- converted from coal-burning to
limited to 45mph (72km/h), and oil-burning or vice versa Thus
with growing road competition a mental change from the earlier the original engines were re-
twelve-coupled engine was numbered from 3900-39 to
engines was in the pivot between 3800-39 and the three batches of
needed capable of higher speeds the second series were numbered
than the 4- 12-2 the leading unit and the main successively 3950-69, 3975-99
and 3930-49, so that 3930-9
Expenence with the compound frame In the earlier engines were used twice but 3970-4 not
Mallets had led to the decision to
convert them to simple expansion there were both vertical and at all. Furthermore, eighteen of
and the way was then set for the the second series which were
railroad to make another impor- horizontal hinges, but in the new converted to oil-burning were
tant step forward in 1936 by renumbered from 3700- 1
ordenng 40 simple-expansion engines, following the practice
4-6-6-4s with 69in (1,753mm) Several other roads bought
driving wheels They were num- adopted in the "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4s, engines of the 4-6-6-4 wheel
bered from 3900 to 3939 and
designated "Challenger" The there was no horizontal hinge arrangement, generally similar to
leading bogie gave much better the "Challenger" and they also
side control than a pony truck The vertical hinge was now ar-
and the truck under the firebox were used on some passenger
ranged to transmit a load of
assisted the fitting of a very large work, but it was on the UP that
several tons from the rear unit to
grate The engines were distri- the articulated locomotive had its
most important application to
buted widely over the UP system passenger work, and a "Chal-
lenger" hauling 20 or more
and were used mainly on fast coaches was a regular sight
Fortunately one of the engines,
freight trains, but the last six of No3985 was preserved as a
the engines were ordered specifi- static exhibit, but in 1981 it was
cally for passenger work The restored to working order,
most obvious difference between making it by far the largest
working steam engine in the
these earlier "Challenger" loco- world
motives and those depicted in
the art-work above was the pro- Below: Union Pacific Railroad
"Challenger" 4-6-6-4 depicted
vision of much smaller 1 2-wheel
tenders Much of the coal which m the two-tone grey passenger
mlivery used the late 1940s.

171

ClaSS 4-8-4J lorfoll Westi Hailway(N&W), 1941

Tractive effort: 80.0001b build) of express passenger a mechanical lubncator with a modern US features such as a
24-gallon ( 1 10-Htre) tank, enough
.'kg) super-locomotive for 1,500 miles (2,400km). Even cast-steel locomotive frame, all
the bearings of the bell were these things added up to a
Axle load: :2.0001b (33t). Around 1940 the company's locomotive which could run
Cylinders: 2)27x32in locomotive chiefs felt that it should automatically lubricated 1 15,000 miles (24,000km) per
(686 x813mm) be possible to have something month, needed to visit the repair
Driving wheels: 70in better than the standard United There was another large lubri- shops only every \Vz years and
cator to feed high-temperature had a hard-to-believe record of
Heating surface: 5,27 lsq ft States Railroad Association's de- oil for the steam cylinders, this is
(490m 2 ) normal but the feeds from this reliability.
Superheater: 2, 1 77sq ft N&Wsign of 4-8-2 upon which lubncator also ran to the steam
(202m 2 ) cylinders of the water and air During the period when steam
Steam pressure: 300psi passenger expresses then relied. pumps and the stoker engine and diesel were battling for su-
Very wisely, they accepted that Hence the labour involved in premacy on United States rail-
m2 Robert Stephenson had got the filling separate lubricators at each roads, it was typically the case
) thermal and most of the mech- of these was avoided The basic that brand new diesel locomotives
were being maintained in brand
Grate area: 107 5sq ft (10m 2) anical principles right with the simplicity of the two-cylinder new depots while the steam
Fuel: 70,0001b (31 75t) arrangement with Baker's valve
Water: 16.700gall (20,000 US) Northumbrian, but what needed gear also had the effect of mini- Below: A class "J" 4-8-4
(76m 3 ) attention was the cost and time mising maintenance costs. of the Norfolk & Western
Adhesive weight: 288,0001b involved in servicing and main-
3( 1 It) Huge tenders enabled calls at Railway takes a fast express
Total weight: 873,0001b (396t) tenance This meant, for example, fuelling points to be reduced to a passenger tram round a
Length overall: 100ft 1 1 in roller beanngs to the axleboxes minimum Together with the usual
(30,759mm). and throughout the motion, while mcurve the hills of Virginia.

an unparalleled number of sub-
sidiary beanngs, over 200 in fact,
were automatically fed with oil by

"Of all the words of tongue and

pen, the saddest are 'it might

nave been'." In the USA, there
was ]ust one small (but prosper-

ous) railroad that, on a long-term

basis, came near to fighting off

the diesel invasion. This was the
Norfolk & Western Railway, with

headquarters in Roanoke, Vir-

ginia, and a main line then stretch-

ing 646 miles (1,033km) from

ocean piers at Norfolk, Virginia,

to Columbus in Ohio It had

branches to collect coal from

every mine of importance across

one of the world's greatest coal-

fields In the end steam lost the

N&Wbattle on the and big-tone

steam railroading finally vanished

from the United States— so deal-

ing a fatal blow all over the world

to the morale of those who

maintained that dieselisabon was
wrong. But the Norfolk & Wes-

tern's superb steam locomotives
came close to victory, so let us
see how it was done.

The principle adopted was to

exploit fully all the virtues of

steam while, rather obviously,

seeking palliatives for its dis-

advantages It was also a principle

of N&W management that the

maximum economy lay in main-

taining the steam fleet in first-class

condition, with the aid of premises,

tools and equipment to match.

All this is well illustrated by the

story of the "J" class, Norfolk &
Western's own design (and own

172

1

Above: The superb ..."

the Roanoke-built new Norfolk &

Western class "J" 4-8-4 are

mexemplified this artwork.

engines with which they were locomotives in plain garb the 676 miles (1,082km) from Top: New class "J" 4-8-4
being compared were worn out mNo. 605, built at Roanoke
and looked after in rumble-down In spite of having driving wheels Norfolk, Virginia to Cincinara,
sheds Often much of the roof which were on the small side for 1943. heads the stream-
would be missing while equip- a passenger locomotive, speeds Ohio, an average speed of 43mph liner "Powhattan Arrow".
ment was also worn out and (69km/h) Whilst this tram was
obsolete The filth would be up to 90mph (144km/h) were Above: Another "J" built
recorded in service and 1 lOmph not a heavy one, the overnight at Roanoke. No.607. Six of these
indescribable ( 176km/h) on test The latter was "Pocahontas" which carried locomotives originally ran

On the Norfolk & Western achieved with a 1 ,000 ton trailing through cars from Norfolk to unstreamlined.
load of 1 5 cars and represented Chicago via Cincinatti and Penn-
Railroad during the 1950s, loco- the development of a remarkable sylvania Railroad, could load up Lynchburg and Bristol, on the
6,000hp in the cylinders to 1,000 tons which had to be
motives were new and depots handled on ruling grades up to 1 famous journeys from New York
almost clinically clean, modern, With such power and speed in 62 ( 1 6 per cent)
well-equipped and well arranged to Chattanooga and points
A "J" class could be fully serviced, capability available, the fact that Norfolk & Western also acted beyond No.611 was preserved
at the Transportation Museum in
greased, lubricated, cleared of overall speeds were not high as a "bridge road" and their Roanoke, Virginia, but in 1982
ash, tender filled with thousands 4-8-4s hauled limiteds such as it was being restored to working
reflected the hilly nature of the the 'Tennessean" and the order
of gallons of water and many country served For example,
tons of coal, all in under an hour the coach streamliner "Powhattan —"Pelican" the original Chatta-
The result was efficiency, leading Arrow" needed 15hr 45min for nooga Choo-choos — between
to Norfolk & Western's share-
holders receiving 6 per cent on

their money, while those of the
neighbouring and fully-dieselised
and electrified Pennsylvania Rail-
road had to be content with Yz

per cent
In the end, though, the prob-

lems of bejng the sole United

States railroad continuing with

steam on any scale began to tell
Even a do-it-yourself concern

like N&W normally bought many

components from specialists and
one by one these firms were
going out of business. In 1960
this and other factors necessitated
the replacement of steam and the
"]"s plus all the other wonderful

locomotives of this excellent con-
cern were retired

One feels that the "J"s were the

best of all the 4-8-4s, but that is a

matter of opinion, in matters of

fact, though, they had certainly

the highest tractive effort and, as

well, the class included the last

main-line steam passenger loco-
motives to be constructed in the
United States They were built as

follows, all at N&W's Roanoke
shops Nos 600 to 603, 1941,
604, 1 942, 605 to 6 1 0, 1 943; 6 1

to613, 1950

No 604 had a booster engine

on the trailing truck
Nos 605 to 6 1 were originally

unstreamlined and ran for two
years as chunky but attractive

173

2900 ClaSS 4-8-4 Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), 1944

Tractive effort: .' ) 9601b

Axle load: -i 0001b (33 50
Cylinders: 1 2) 28 x32in

3mm)
Driving wheels: 80in

mm)
Heating surface: 5.313sq ft

Superheater: 2,366sq ft

Steam pressure: oOOpsi

Grate area: 108sq ft (10m 2)
Fuel (oil): 5 830galls (7,000 US)

(26 5m 3 )

Water: 20,400gall (24,500 US)

Adhesive weight: 294,0001b

Total weight: 96 1 ,0001b (4360
Length overall: 120ft lOin

:nm)

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa brought about a firm resolve to given in this description are Above: Atchison, Topeka &
stick to the Stephenson path in based, were constructed in war- Santa Fe Railway class "3700"
Fe Railway (Santa Fe for short) the future and almost without 4-8-4 No.3769 climbing the
was remarkable in that it was the exception all subsequent steam time. Quite fortuitously, they also
only railroad company which locomotives built for Santa Fe became the heaviest straight pas- Cajon Pass, California, with
connected Chicago with Cali- were "straight" (le non-articulated) senger locomotives ever built, the first part of the "Grand
fornia Odder still perhaps that it "simple" (le non-compound) and because high-tensile steel alloys Canyon Limited", in June
was named after three small with two cylinders only. The were in short supply and certain 1946. Note that the
places in the southern Mid-West, results of the slow-and-steady parts— in particular the main chimney extension is in the
while so many railroads with policy were magnificent.
Pacific in their titles never got coupling and connecting rods— fully raised position
there Even now it remains as it The Santa Fe main line crossed had to be much more massive
the famous Raton Pass in the when designed to be made from or more sections each and all
was in the great days of steam — more ordinary metal They man- needed steam power at the head
New Mexico with its 1 in 28)^ aged this feat by a very small
solvent, forward-looking and with margin, but when those immense end.
(3!^ per cent) gradient, as well as 16- wheel tenders were included Apart from the early diesel
its physical plant in first-class the less impossible but still severe and loaded there were no close
Cajon Pass in eastern California. rivals to this title. The big tenders incursions, these 4-8-4s that
condition With a main line stretch- East of Kansas City across the were fitted to the last two batches, totalled 65 ruled the Chicago-Los
ing for 2,224 miles (3,580km) level prairies 4-6-2s and 4-6-4s and as well as being the heaviest Angeles main line from Kansas
across America (or 2,547 miles sufficed until the diesels came, passenger locomotives ever built,
(4, 100km) if you let the Santa Fe but for the heavily graded western they were also the longest City westwards. It was normal
take you as far as San Francisco lines Santa Fe in 1927 took practice to roster them to go the
Bay) together, once upon a time, delivery of its first 4-8-4s. It was It must be said that Santa Fe
with some of the world's finest only by a small margin that the would have preferred diesels to —whole distance (1,790 miles
and most prestigious passenger Northern Pacific Railroad could the superb last batch of 4-8-4s,
services, you might think that the claim the first of the type as its 2,880km -via Amanllo or 1,760
company's steam power must but wartime restnctions prevented
own These early 4-8-4s (Nos. miles— 2,830km — via the Raton
have been remarkable — and you 3751 to 3764) were remarkable this. The company had been
for having 30in (762mm) diameter early into the diesel game with Pass); in respect of steam traction
would not be wrong. the now legendary streamlined these were by far the longest
Nearly all Santa Fe's steam cylinders, the largest both in bore light-weight de luxe "Super Chief" distances ever to be scheduled
or volume in any passenger to run without change of loco-
locomotives came from Baldwin locomotive, apart from com- mtrain, introduced 1937, as well motive. Speeds up in the 90-100
of Philadelphia At one time it pounds
included briefly such exotic items as the equally celebrated coach- mph ( 1 40- 1 60km/h) range were
as 2-4-6-2 and 2-6-6-2 super- This first batch burnt coal,
subsequent 4-8-4s being all oil- class streamliner "El Capitan" both permitted and achieved
heated express Mallet loco- But thirty years ago there were This journey was not made
motives with 73 and 69in (1,854 burners. More 4-8-4s (Nos.3765 still trains such as the "California
and 1 ,753mm) diameter driving to 3775) came in 1938 and a Limited", "The Scout" and the without changing crews. In this
wheels respectively Six of the further batch was built in 1941. "Grand Canyon Limited" and, of respect feather-bedding union
class of 44 of the 2-6-6-2s even The final group (Nos.2900 to rules based on the capacity of the
had boilers with a hinge in the 2929) on which the particulars course, the original "Chief", still "American" 4-4-0s of fifty years
middle 1 Experience with these formed of standard equipment. earlier applied and crews were
and a few other wild ideas changed 1 2 times during the 34
They were often then run in two hour run Water was taken at 16
places and fuel nearly as often, in
spite of the enormous tenders

Below: Santa Fe "2900" class rods and the enormous tender
with two eight-wheel bogies.
4-8-4. Note the chimney extension Eight of these magnificent engines
survive, butnoneisnowsteamable.
m the raised position, the

handsome tapered connecting

Above: Atchison Topeka & valve gear on some of the 4-8-4s
Santa Fe Railway class "3700" To reduce the amount of swing —
4-8-4 No. 3787 hauling the
—and consequent inertia forces
streamline cars of the
legendary "Chief" express needed on the curved links, an
amongst the mountains of the intermediate lever was introduced
into the valve rod. This was so
mCa/on Pass California. arranged as to increase the
amount of valve travel for a given
This tram ran daily over amount of link swing
the 2,225 miles (3, 580km) of
Santa Fe metals between Santa Fe was generous in
Chicago and Los Angeles. handing out superannuated
4-8-4s as not always properly
Left: The impressive front
end of a Santa Fe "2900" appreciated gifts to various on-
line communities. These included
class 4-8-4. Modesto and San Bernadino,

These magnificent examples California, Pueblo, Colorado, Fort
of the locomotive builder's art Madison, Iowa; Kingsman, Ari-
were conventional in all main
zona, Alburquerque, New Mex-
respects. One unusual feature
was the 'hot hat' smoke-stack ico, and Wichita, Kansas. No. 2903
extension shown on the picture is displayed in the Chicago Mu-
above, absence of overbndges seum of Science and Industry,
and tunnels over many miles of while No.2925 is still in the
the Santa Fe route meant that this
roundhouse at Belen, New Mex-
could be raised for long periods
with beneficial effect in keeping ico. There was a rumour a year
smoke and steam clear of the or so ago that Santa Fe might
cab- Another detail concerned a have intentions of entering the
modification to the Walschaert's
steam-fpr-pleasure business with
this locomotive, like neighbour

Union Pacific, but nothing came

of the proposal.

West Country Class 4-6-2 soSmiXay <sr). 946

Tractive etiort:

Axio load: ;;;>

Cylinders

Omm)

Driving wheels: 74in
urn)

Heating surface: 122

Superheater: 545sq ft (50 6m 2)
Steam pressure: 280psi

Grate area: 38 25sq ft (3 55m2)

Fuel:

Water: jail (6,600 US)

Adhesive weight: 1 3 1 ,0001b

Total weight: 304,0001b ( 138t) of the driver; the fireman, on the a wide firebox tapered on the Above: "Merchant Navy" class
Length overall: t .' other hand, just needed to throw 4-6-2 No. 34002 Union Castle.
(20,542mm) base line.
the coal in The first ones to be built were Note red-and-cream coaches of
When Oliver Bullied from the Bullied also went to consider-
London & North Eastern Railway called the "Merchant Navy" class, early BE days.
was appointed Chief Mechanical able pains to meet what should the prototype of the 30 built took
be the C.M.E.'s second objective: the rails in 1 94 1 With the experi- water treatment known as Trait-
Engineer of the Southern Railway that the first objective should be ence gained, some smaller 4-6-2s ment Integral Armand— which
in 1937 he affirmed his intention met at minimum cost. Here one known as the "West Country"
of contributing a major forward must say that despite the very class were introduced in 1945. really kept the boilers free of
step in the art of steam locomotive considered and onginal approach Over the next five years 109
adopted, these locomotives were more were built, making them scale even in chalky SR country—
design He was a man of charm, disastrously more expensive than the most numerous Pacifies in
ability, education and integrity was used later All except six
and had never allowed the many their rivals in first cost, mainten- Britain Southern Railway running
ance cost and fuel consumption. were built at Brighton Works, an
years spent under Sir Nigel numbers were 2 1 C 1 1 up wards,
Gresley to blunt an extremely A third objective was achieved, establishment that, apart from a
keen and original mind The however. Bullied belied his name British Railways allocated Nos.
result so far as express passenger few locomotives built during the
traffic was concerned was the by being most considerate toward 34001-34110 Names of west war, had not produced a new
building of 140 4-6-2s, which country locations were given to
collectively were some of the the men who worked for him. He one for many years The odd six
most remarkable machines ever was an example to many of his the first 48, most of the remainder
to be seen on rails Bullied 's were given names associated were built at Eastleight Works
locomotives were amazingly good peers through the care he took to with the Battle of Britain and were
in some ways yet almost un- add a number of far from costly sometimes known as the "Battle The very best features of the
believably bad in others. features to the locomotives in aid
of the convenience and comfort —of Britain" class but there was 4-6-2s were the boilers. They
He began from the premise of his crews They repaid him by
no technical distinction between bristled with innovations so far as
(often forgotten by others) that doing their very best with the the two series.
the prime task of the Chief strange and unfamiliar engines the Southern Railway was con-
Mechanical Engineer (C.M.E.) he created. Other features included a
was to build locomotives which multiple-jet blastpipe known as cerned—they were welded in-
could run the trains to time, Bullied's 4-6-2s all had three the Lemaitre, disc type wheels
regardless of quality of coal, bad stead of nvetted, fireboxes were
weather and the presence on cylinders with three sets of patent with holes rather than spokes, made of steel instead of copper
board of the least skilled of chain-driven valve gear inside an
and a so-called air-smoothed and their construction included
qualified engine crews On the oil-filled sump between the frames. casing. Innovations (for the SR)
appreciated by the crews in- water ducts called thermic
whole he succeeded, except per- Outside-admission piston valves cluded rocking grates, power
haps for the need of a certain were used, dnven from the centre (steam) operated fire-hole door syphons inside the firebox. Yet in
specialised expertise on the part and reverser, rocker grate and spite of these new features the
via transverse oscillating shafts.
electric light A French system of boilers were marvellous steam
A large boiler was provided, with
raisers as well as being light on

maintenance, thereby reflecting

enormous credit on Bullied and

his team

An elaborate high pressure

vessel, holding a mixture of water

and steam at 280psi ( 1 9 7kg/cm 2

)

had been found easy, but one to cost of a "West Country" was Above: An unkempt "West minutes fane was regained in the
hold oil a few inches deep proved £17,000 at a fane when even Country" 4-6-2 No.34017 famous ascent from Blair Atholl
to be difficult The feature that such a complicated locomotive lays down a tine trail of to Dalnaspidal; a drawbar horse-
did not work out was the totally as a Great Western "Castle" smoke on a cold snowy day power approaching 2,000 was
enclosed oil-filled sump between 4-6-0 cost under £10,000. recorded on this occasion The
the frames in which the inside near Weald, Kent. coal burnt per mile compared
connecting rod and three sets of An unhandy throttle was an- with the normal 4-6-0s on this line
chain-dnven valve gear lashed other handicap and this, com- 1 948, they put up performances was 28 per cent more and the
away Bullied expected that as in equal or superior to any of their amount burnt per horsepower-
a motor car the lubrication drill bined with the absence of any larger rivals from other lines. It is hour developed was 22 per cent
would consist solely of a regular equalisation between the rear clear that the SR people knew higher It is also recorded that the
check of oil level with occasional pony wheels and the dnvers, their candidates were going to consumption of lubricating oil
topping-up The motion would made the locomotives liable to come out bottom in coal con- was not 7 per cent more but
be protected against dust, dirt driving wheel slip both at starting sumption anyway, so they were seven times more, but that was
and water while wear would be determined to show that they
small Alas, it did not quite work and while running On the other could perform instead Elsewhere —untypical three fanes that of a
than on the SR punctuality in
out like this — the sumps leaked hand the performance which the Britain at that time was dreadful normal engine was more usual!
and broke and the mechanisms Bullied Pacifies gave once they and one cites a run on which And remember that a normal
inside also bristled with so many got going was superb. No 34006 Bude regained 11 locomotive was intended to be
minutes of lateness on the level lubricated on a "total loss"
innovations that they were never Both classes were good but
made trouble-free The motion since the smaller "West Country" route in the short distance (about system.
also suffered severe corrosion as class seemed to be able to equal 40 miles, 64km) between Bristol
the oil became contaminated anything the larger "Merchant and Taunton. On their home territory the
Hence there were appalling Navy" could do, one's admiration
maintenance problems, never goes more strongly to the former. On another occasion in the "West Country" locomotives were
During the locomotive exchange used on almost every Southern
properly resolved in spite of trials which took place soon after Highlands of Scotland over 13 steam-hauled main line passenger
working from the "Golden
many years of unremitting efforts nationalisation of the railways in Arrow" continental express from

to solve the difficulties Victona to Dover, down to two
Stretching of the chains which and three coach local trains

drove the miniature valve gears, in Cornwall Their maintenance
problems were less apparent
plus the effect of any wear, all of because the 140 Bullied 4-6-2s
which was multiplied when the represented a huge over-
motion was transferred to the provision of motive power
valve spindles through rocking
shafts, played havoc with the Furthermore, in 1957-60, sixty
"West Country" class were rebuilt
valve settings This explained the
heavy steam consumption Oil with new conventional cylinders
and motion; in this form and for
leaking from the sump went
everywhere, making the rails the short period left to steam they
slippery and even adding a fresh were unambiguously amongst
hazard to railway working— the the very best locomotives ever
danger of a steam locomotive to run in Britain. During 3 to 9
catching fire. This happened July 1967, the last week of steam
on the Southern, these rebuilds
several times worked the luxury "Bournemouth
Belle" on several days
With outside motion in full
view, dnvers often sported some Several both rebuilt and un-
defect before it had gone too far rebuilt have been preserved and
and something broke But on restored, for example, unrebuilt
No.21C123 Blackmore Vale on
these engines the first sign of
trouble was often some extremely the Bluebell Railway and No
expensive noises, followed pos- 21C192 City of Wells on the
Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
sibly by the puncturing of the oil
Below: The impressive
bath as loose bits forced their
way out Incidentally, the pnce of SR '
all this complexity was very great
' 'Ba ttle of Britain ' class
even when development costs 4-6-2 Sir Winston Churchill
had been paid, the production
now on display at Didcot.

a
United States:

Niagara Class 4-8-4 New York Central Railroad (NYC), 1945

Tractive efiort:

Axle load:
Cylind. :

Driving wheels:

Heating surface: '.

Superheater: 060sq ft

Steam pressure: '75psi

Grate area: 1 OOsq 3mft (9 2

)

Fuel:

Water: I5.000gall< 18,000 US)

Adhesive weight: 274,0001b

Total weight: 891,0001b (405t) Because the NYC structure that the NYC was one of the very Above: A New York Central
Length overall: 1 15ft 5!^in
(35,192mm) gauge only allowed rolling stock few American railroads equipped "Niagara" 4-8-4 on a westbound
to be 15ft 2in (4,623mm) tall with track pans (in Great Britain passenger tram of standard
Something has already been said instead of 16ft 2in (4,928mm) as water troughs) meant that less heavyweight stock at Dunkirk,
on the UP, the smokestack had to water could be carried con-
of the New York Central Rail- be vestigial and the dome little veniently, leaving more capacity New York State, m March 1952.
road's speedway from New York but a manhole cover. There were for coal. This in its turn enabled
other differences such as Baker's achieved — 6, 700hp on test and
to Chicago, arguably in steam valve gear instead of Wal- the New York-Chicago run to be
days the greatest passenger rail- schaert's but in general the adop- an average of 26,000 miles run
way in the world, in terms of tion of standard American prac- done with ]ust one intermediate monthly
speeds run and tonnage moved coaling, while an improved design
By the 1940s these speeds and tice led to similarities of power-operated pick-up scoop The original idea was that the
loads were beginning to be as Naturally, the foundation of the prototype should be tested and
much as the famous Hudsons reduced delays by allowing water then a production order con-
could cope with and the Central's design was a cast steel integral firmed, but before work had
to be taken at 80mph ( 1 28km/h)« gone very far instructions were
chief of motive power, Paul Kiefer, locomotive frame — nothing else given for all 27 to be put in hand
Special extra venting avoided This was reasonable because in
decided to move on a step He could have stood up to the bursting the tenders (there had fact the Niagaras were very much
punishment intended for these
proposed a 4-8-4 with above 30 engines Also, as one might ex- been cases!) when some 1 ,600cu a standard, if slightly stretched,
per cent more adhesive weight pect, all axles, coupling rods and ft (45m 3 ) of incompressible fluid product of the industry, whereas
and tractive effort than the 4-6-4, connecting rods had roller bear- enters the tank all in a few
together with a fire grate 25 per ings Baker's valve gear has the what really needed attention was
cent bigger His aim was a advantage that it has no slides, so seconds Incidentally, the over- the ground organisation to enable
locomotive which could develop all its moving parts could, as in hang of the tank over the running the mileage target to be met And
6,000hp in the cylinders for hour this case, be fitted with needle gear at the rear end was to allow this, of course, could not be
bearings. While speaking of the the engines to be turned on tested until a fleet was available
after hour and could do the New valves, an interesting detail was 100-foot turntables by reducing
that the edges of the valve-ports By an ordinance of the City of
York-Chicago or Chicago-New were sharp on the steam side, the wheelbase
York run of 928 miles day after but slightly rounded on the ex- Allocating the number 6,000 New York, steam locomotives
haust side This eased the sharp-
day without respite ness of the blast beats, thereby to a locomotive whose target was were not allowed inside city
The American Locomotive evening out the draught on the that amount of horse-power as limits Trains therefore left Grand
well as that number of miles run Central Station behind third-rail
Company at Schenectady, pro- fire. per week might seem to be electnc locos for Harmon, 32
posed what was to be the last tempting providence, but all was miles out in the suburbs. It was
really new design of passenger Although fundamentally the well The prototype had the sub- here, then, and at Chicago that
locomotive to be produced in the same design as that fitted to the
USA It owed something to the class designation "Sla", while the the Niagaras were, in their great
UP locos, the tender had some
Union Pacific's "800" class, 25 production models (Nos days, kept in first-class condition
dimensionally, the two designs interesting differences The fact 6001-6025) were known as "S 16" for what was without doubt one
were very close and, in addition, and there was also a single of the hardest services ever de-
Below: Regarded by many as poppet-valve version known as
the design of the 1 4- wheel Centi- the Ultimate Steam Locomotive, manded of steam, or for that
pede or 4-10-0 tender was cer- "Sic" (No 5500) This greatest of
the last of the Niagara 4-8-4s of matter, of any motive power.
tainly based on the UP one The steam locomotives got the class- World records are not achieved
NYC engines had something the New York Central Railroad. name "Niagara" and when the
without extreme efforts, but ex-
else unusual for America, in word is uttered, no steam man cellent organisation allowed quick
worthy of the name ever thinks of and thorough servicing. The
common with the "800"s— a waterfall 1 Both targets were
smooth and uncluttered appear-

ance but with no false stream-

lining or air-smoothing

178

power production part of the Shore Limited, the Mohawk, the
North Shore Ltd, the Pacemaker,
locomotives had to be ]ust-so to the Water Level, the Wolverine

give such a remarkable per- and, greatest of all, the 16-hour
Twentieth Century Limited-
formance out on the road and to
Even the most fanatical steam
achieve this the fire was first enthusiast would admit that other
factors have contributed, but
dropped with the engine in nevertheless the Day of the
Niagaras did mark a peak. So
steam Than a gang of "hot men"
low have things fallen -that the
in asbestos suits entered the best time by diesel traction today

firebox — the size of a room — and on this route between New York

cleared tubes and flues, did any and Chicago is 1 9hr 50min and
there is only one train
repairs required to the brick
The Niagaras also demon-
arch, grate etc Good water strated once again that modern
well-maintained steam power
treatment ensured that no scale could be more economical than

built up in the heating surface, diesel Alas, in those days, coal
supplies controlled by miners'
preventing the heat reaching the leader John L. Lewis were less
reliable than oil supplies, more-
water inside the boiler On many
over, most of New York Central's
railways steam locomotives were
steam power was neither modern
allocated one "shed day" each nor well-maintained So, having
run more miles and hauled more
week for these things to be done, tons in their short lives than most

but running the 928 miles from locomotives which run out their

Harmon to Chicago or wee versa term to obsolescence, the
Niagaras went to their long home.
each night, the Niagaras needed
None have been preserved
to do a week's work in one

24-hour period

In those days there were 12

daily trains each way just be-

tween New York and Chicago —

the Chicagoan, the Advance

Commodore Vanderbilt, the

Commodore Vanderbilt, the Ad-

vance Empire State Express, the

Empire State Express, the Lake

Below: New York Central Right: "Niagara" No.6018 leans

Railroad "Niagara" No.6001 Newto the curve at Peekskill,

leaves Albany, New York State, York, with "The Missounan"
mfor the south April 1952.
from St. Louis to New York.

179

:

242 Al 4-8-4 France:

Axle load

Cylinders, HP

Cylinders, LP

Driving wheels

Heating surface:

Superheater

Steam pressure:

Grate area:
Fuel:
Water:

Adhesive weight: 185.5001b

Total weight (2250
Length overall

authority it is to be constr rather thm wi ibs (since there was Above: A view of Chapelon's
was over The work was put in no room for thick ones) and it is
pelon hand by the Societe des Forges admitted that this was a source of masterpiece, French Railways'
et Acieres de la Marine et maintenance problems So the
.ided in the shortest new engine was to have a single 4-8-4 No242A. 1, rebuilt from a
d'Homecourt
! lists of candidates to be The chassis needed substantial high-pressure cylinder inside pre-war 4-8-2.
driving the leading main axle
is the greatest loco- strengthening and the extra and two low-pressure cylinders last batch of 4-6-2 rebuilds The
weight involved in this and other outside driving the second axle outside cranks were set at 90
neer of all And this modifications meant the need for All were in line between the degrees to one another, as in a
icomotive was his an extra carrying wheel — hence bogie wheels.
France's first 4-8-4 tender loco- two-cylinder engine, the inside
greatest work motive The de Glehn arrange- Chapelon also moved away crank bisected the obtuse angle
What is now the Western ment with two low-pressure cyl- from poppet valves and used
inders inside would have involved double piston-valves to give Below: An overall view of the
Region of the French National a crank axle with two cranks and only standard-gauge European
Railways had had a bad experi- adequate port openings, as in his
ence with a large 4-8-2 locomotive 4-8-4 steam locomotive, SNCF
designed by a Government-
appointed central design corn- No.242.A 1

It was a three-cylinder
simple, but with poppet valve
gear intended to give an expan-
sion ratio equivalent to a com-
pound Alas, the mechanism
never managed to achieve this,
and moreover, there were other
defects in the engine which
caused bad nding and a te:

to derail No 241 101 was laid

aside after tests, an embarassment
to all, particularly as it had
announced with tremendous fan-
fare as marking a new •

steam locomotive construction
Chapelon had long wished to

get his hands on this machine
and to do to it what he had done

before to the Pans-Orleans 4-6-2s

Official opposition took some
years to overcome, but in 1942
his plans were agreed to, with a
view of building a prototype for
express passenger locomotives

,1

between the other two cylinders,

being set at 1 35 degrees to each

• ar for

de cylinder was mounted
partly outside - the eccentric rod

was attached to a return crank

on the 2nd left-hand driving
The bad nding was tackled

with a roller centreing device for

the front bogie as well as Frank-
lin's automatic wedges to take up

. the axlebox guides Both

were of USA origin

The boiler had

syphons in the firebox, cor.

(Houlet's) superheat

and a mechanical stoker f

Kylchap chimney and exhaust
system was provided When com-

pleted in 1946, the rebuilt loco-

motive (now No.242A 1 ) indicated
under test that it was by far the

most powerful locomotive existing

outside North A)
omission of the word steam is
deliberate It could develop a

maximum of 5,500hp in the cyl-
inders, compared with 2,800hp

before rebuilding This power ngaged in trying to per- Above: French Hallways 242 A
suade the French government, at 4-8-4 by Chapelon, a steam
woutput is similar to that of a time when the resources were payments for time regained locomotive which, when it was
at a premium, to underwnte a
USAtypical 4-8-4, perh vast programme of electrification, There was another potential mbuilt 1946, outperformed any
. and here comes a young man
(Chapelon was only 58) with an electnc or dieselm existence.
per cent, heer. engine which (a) could out- question mark standing over a
perform any electric locomotive
was capable of as so far built and (b) was so future for a production version of
economical in coal consumption
when driven hard as to nullify any potential coal 242 A 1 It has been mentioned
saving through electnfication that the rugged Amencan 2-8-2s
This sort of power And both of these items were the French Pacifies weighing 104

enabled then unheard-of things corner-stones of the railways' showed an overall economy over tons, but would have had a

to be done A typical performance case for electnfication the compounds because low ."
So it is not hard to understand
higher availability
why this great locomotive was
was to haul a of 740 never duplicated In fact it was maintenance costs more than Chapelon was countenng with
quietly shunted away to Le Mans
tons up a steady gradient depot where, turn and turn-about balanced the cost of the extra proposals for three-cylinder com-
125 (08 per cent), at a minimum
speed of 71mph (114km with lesser engines, it took over coal burnt Ironically, some of pound 4-6-4s and 4-8-4s for
express trains arnving from Pans express passenger work He
by electnc traction The potential this was due to Chapelon himself,
700-ton train was hauled from of the 4-8-4 was still appreciated who had improved the valve also had in mind a tnple-

Pans to Lille in 140 minutes for by its crews When such events and reduced the cylinder expansion compound 4-8-4 with

the 161 miles (258km), while the were delayed they could use its clearances of the 14 1R so that four cylinders, using steam at
great performance in earning
electrified line from Pans to Le the amount of this extra coal 584p?: generated in
Below: Chapeloris magnificent used was reduced from some 20
Mans (131 miles — 210km) was a boiler with a water tube firebox
242 A 1 4-8-4, which was
covered in 109 minutes with a percent to 10 The locomotive was intended to
the most powerful steam
test train of 810 tons weight, well locomotive to run in Europe. It should really then be no be capable of developing 8,000

under the electnc timings even surpnse that as revealed by hp. Confidently with the former,

with this huge tram On another Baron Gerard Vuillet and it was hoped with the latter,

occasion a speed of 94mph authontatve Railway Ht Chapelon expected that main-

( 1 50km/h) was reached; this was cences of Three Continents, there tenance costs of these modern
also a special test, as there was a
was an alternative proposal in compounds could be brought

120km/h) (75mph) legal speed the form of a two-cylinder simple down close to those of simple
locomotives Alas, nowall this is
limit for public trains in France at 4-6-4 with cast-steel locomotive academic — the great 4-8-4 was

that time frame, roller beanngs, mech-

Alas for the future of No 242A 1 anical stoker and a grate area of withdrawn in 1960 and quietly

the top railway brass of France 2m67sq ft (6 2 Vuillet remarks, broken up Nothing now remains
were even more embarrassed by )

"this 147-ton locomotive would but models, memones and deep

its outstanding success than they not have been much more power- regrets for what might have

were by its previous failure They ful at the drawbar than the best been

C62 ClcISS 4-6-4 aP
,:.ese National Railways (JNR), 1949

Tractive effort: 6901b

Axle load:
Cylinders:

Driving wheels: o9in

Heating surface*:

Superheater:
Steam pressure: '.'8psi

Grate ar 85m[ft (3 2
Fuel:
Water: )

,820 US)

Adhesive weight: 001b

Total weight: 356,0001b

Length overall: .

i:ng superheater) applied ever since Baldwin of sions, to a scale of about three- Above: A pair of Japanese
Philadelphia supplied Japan with
Before they became world leaders some 2-8-2s in 1897, thereby quarters, of the typical US two- National Railways' "C62" class
in so many branches of tech- giving the type-name Mikado to 4-6-4 locomotives head an
nology, the Japanese were famous the most prolific of the world's cylinder locomotive, to suit the
wheel arrangements mexpress tram Hokkaido island.
as imitators In some ways — 3ft 6in (1,067mm) gauge. The
So in recent years Japanese last word in express passenger Below: The bold lines of one of
railway safety and signalling was locomotives have usually been locomotives in Japan were these the Japanese railways "C62"
one— they took British ways as neat and elegant miniature ver- forty-nine 4-6-4s of the "C-62" class 4-6-4s, popularly known
their model, but as regards steam class and they were no exception as the "Swallows".
locomotives the basis of their
practice was American This has to the rule; yet in details they

Pt-47 Class 2-8-2 Poland
Polish State Railways (PKP), 1947

Tractive efiort: 42, 1 201b In their short life of 60 or so years
the railways of Poland have seen
(19,110kg). far too much history, yet their
locomotive history shows a sur-
Axle load: 46,5001b (2 It). prising continuity. The eight-
Cylinders: (2) 24^ x 27^in coupled express passenger loco-
(630 x 700mm). motive appeared early on in the
form of the three "Pu-29" 4-8-2s
Driving wheels: 72%^ built by the Cegielski Works of
Poznan in 1929. The number in
( 1 ,850mm) the class designation indicates
Heating surface: 2,476sq ft the date of construction; the "P"
(230m 2 ) stands for Pospieszny (Passen-
Superheater: l,087sqft ger) and the "u" means 4-8-2, "t"
means a 2-8-2 and so on.
(101m 2 ).
Steam pressure: 2 14psi Since general usage of these
lengthy locomotives would mean
(15kg/cm2 ) the renewal of many short turn-
tables, second thoughts prevailed
Grate area: 48 5sq ft (4 5m2 over making this 4-8-2 a standard
) class. It was considered that a
2-8-2 would do as well, the result
Fuel: 20,0001b (9t).

Water: 7,000gall (8,500 US)

(32m 3).

Adhesive weight: 184,0001b

(83.5t).

Total weight: 38 1 ,5001b ( 173t).
Length overall: 79ft 7in

(24,255mm).

182

——

were very distinctive They were Japanese steam locomotive in- Hokkaido, working— often in Above: An express passenger
clude electric light and a feed-
the results of a rather substantial water heater complete with steam pairs and occasionally in threes tram being double-headed
the main expresses out of Hakko- by a pair of Japanese
rebuilding of some Mikados of pump There are disc wheels all National Railways' "C62"
Class "D52"— a heavier version date, the ferryboat port at its class 4-6-2 "Swallows"
of the standard "D51" class- round, the driving wheels having
constructed during World War southern tip When this finally main island, while the other (No
II The work was done by outside rather prominent lightening holes came to an end two of these C62-3) is kept at Otaro on the
firms, Hitachi, Kawasaki and Kisha northern island of Hokkaido and
The steam dome is inside the giants were set aside for preser- run on special occasions
Seizo Kaisha sand dome, the latter keeping
the former warm and dry There vation One (No.C62-2) is on
One suspects that this way of is no footplate at the front end of display at the Umekoji Museum
doing things was to circumvent Depot at Kyoto, on the Japanese
some government or accountant's the tender— the cab overhangs
restriction on building new pas- the leading pair of wheels, while
senger motive power— little of
a shovelling plate extends forward
the machinery could have been from the tender into the cab
re-used and the saving of actual
folding money must have been Twenty years ago they could
negligible. But such things are a be found hauling the top trains
such as the Hatsukan or Mi-
familiar feature of locomotive gratory Goose Express— out of
practice the world over and, Tokyo's main station, but now
anyway, no one can complain not only has steam locomotion
about the results, which were disappeared from these narrow
superb in both practical and (3ft 6in— 1,067mm) gauge lines
aesthetic terms Train worship is but long-distance daytime pas-
senger trains as well They have
even more of a religion in Japan migrated to the standard gauge
than it is in America or Britain electric Shin Kansen network on
and the "C62"s, "Swallows" as which the famous bullet trains
they seem to have been (rather provide lOOmph ( 160km/h) ser-
strangely) sometimes known,
were certainly enshrined at the vice start-to-stop several times

summit in this respect each hour
Features worthy of note pro- The 4-6-4s, however, for a

vided as standard on the larger number of years found a haven in

Japan's mam northern island.

was the "Pt-31", which had the "Pt-3 1 "s stayed in the area taken were as handsome as the old tall structure gauge Hence the
same cylinders, wheels and boiler over by Russia After the war ones and soon took over the "Pt-47" has an overall height of
pressure Like most Polish loco- haulage of Poland's principal 1 5ft 4in (4,668mm), representing
motives, they were simple un- Poland again became indepen- express trains on non-electrified extra space which gave a wel-
refined but rugged two-cylinder lines. All the 2-8-2s had a Krauss- come degree of freedom to the
machines reflecting a country in dent but not all the surviving Helmholtz leading truck, which designers
which coal is plentiful, so that the to some extent has the effect of
pay-off of complicated refine- 2-8-2s came back into Polish making the leading driving At the time of writing and by a
ments is at a minimum hands. Many remained in the wheels part of the guiding system factor of several times, Poland
territory permanently ceded to when running on curved track has more operational steam loco-
The German invasion of 1 939 Russia, while others worked in Without some device of this kind, motives than any other country
came before the whole 1 10 had the nding qualities of locomotives
been completed and the last 12 Austria for several years outside Africa or Asia No doubt
appeared as German State Rail- with only a single leading guiding
way class "39" Thirty of the The recipe was so effective wheel have always been regarded one factor in this decision to
that further similar 2-8-2s were as having a question mark applied electrify gradually while keeping
Left: A Polish State Railways introduced in 1947 These were steam, lies in a preference for a
the class "Pt-47", of which 120 to them— a number of serious transport system dependent on
"P-47" class 2-8-2 at the head were built by the locomotive Polish coal rather than some
of a local passenger tram. An building enterprise Chrzanow of derailments having occurred other nation's oil, but another
Warsaw and 60 by Cegielski
interesting feature is the set of The main changes were from a During the dawn of railways in factor is certainly the overall
double-deck coaches, in order nvetted to a welded firebox,
to maximise the seating capacity from a separate steam and sand their country, the Russian occu- economy and reliability of one
for a given length of tram. dome to a combined one and piers of Poland were responsible of mankind's most faithful
from hand stoking to automatic friends, the steam locomotive
stoking The new locomotives for not only the now defunct
broad gauge there but also for a in its simplest form.

183

Great Britain:

Class Al 4-6-2 Railways (BR), 1948

Tractive effort the problem had
much more serious
Axle load: ; I.500U ;ley was succeeded by
Cylinders:
mpson, one of his
i ssistants, who had a

Driving wheels:

i large

Heating surface programme of locomotive build-

ing would be needed after the

Superheater - make good the arrears
Steam pressure:
m, and
in fom programme

Grate area: he was particularly concerned to
Fuel:
Water: derived mot;

US) the large engines by fitting a

valve gear, and in the

Adhesive weight: 18,0001b smaller ones by eliminating the

third cylinder As he was already

Total weight: I aged 60 when promoted, he also
Length overall: -ttOin
felt the need to apply his ideas

with urgency

The opportunity to build a

When Sir Nigel Gresley died Pacific to his ideas arose from the
suddenly in office in 1941, The
London and North Eastern Rail- poor availability of Gresley 's "P2"
way had 1 1 5 Pacifies and some
600 other three-cylinder engines class 2-8-2 locomotives, one of

of his design, all fitted with his whose troubles was heavy wear
derived motion, in which the
inside valve took its drive from of axleboxes due to the long
the two outside valve gears In
peace time this derived motion rigid wheelbase on the sharp
had been prone to failure, but
under wartime conditions of curves of the Edinburgh-

Aberdeen line By rebuilding Above: A Darhngton-biult Below: British Railways

these as Pacifies he hoped to British Railways "A 1 " class 4-6-2 "Al" class 4-6-2 No.60 161
No.60149 Amadis ready to
improve their performance, and depart from Kings Cross station, North British, portrayed
London.
also to gain experience for further m experimental blue livery

new construction Elimination of during BR's early days.

Class WP 4-6-2 India:
Indian Railways (IR), 1946

Tractive effort: 30,6001b Of only three classes of express experience with the American and the production version dif-
locomotive amongst those de- locomotives supplied to India
(13,8841 scribed in this book can it be said during the war, coupled with fered in minor details During the
(with much pleasure) that most
oAxle load: 5001b (20 70 remain in service, doing the job unsatisfactory experience with next ten years further members
for which they were made. One
Cylinders: )20 : 4x28in of them is this massive broad- the Indian standard designs of of the class were supplied from
(514x7: gauge (5ft 6in— 1,676mm) the 1920s and 1930s.
Driving wheels: o7in Amencan-style 4-6-2, the standard foreign countries as follows:
express passenger locomotive Naturally, the locomotives sup-
plied were built to the usual USA -Baldwin 100
of the Indian Railways. Class
rugged simple basic USA stan- Canada — Canadian
"WP" compnses 755 locomotives,
Heating surface: 2,257sq ft built between 1947 and 1967, dards The provision of vacuum Locomotive Co 1 00
with running numbers 7000 to brakes, standard in India, made Canada — Montreal
them even simpler, because a
Superheater: 725sq ft (67m2 ) 7754. vacuum ejector is a vastly less Locomotive Works 1 20
Steam pressure: 210psi The prototypes were a batch complicated device than a steam
air-pump. An air-smoothed ex- Poland — Fabryka
cm 2 of 16 ordered from Baldwin of terior was provided for aesthetic
(14.7kg. ) rather than aerodynamic reasons, Locomotywim, Chrzanow 30
Philadelphia in 1 946, well before giving a solid dependable look
Grate area: 46sq ft (4.3m 2 ). Independence, so the decision to to some solid dependable loco- Austria — Vienna Lokomotiv
go American was not connected
Fuel: -3.0001b (150 with the political changes. It was motives. Fabnk 30
taken as a result of the satisfactory
Water: 6,000gall (7,200 US) The original batch were desig- There was then a pause until
nated "WP/P" (P for prototypes)
Adhesive weight: 21,5001b 1963, when India's own new

Chitteranjan locomotive building

plant began production of the

Total weight: 380,0001b remainder Some further small

Length overall: 00ft OOin modifications to the design were

(00,000n made to facilitate production at

this works

184

the Gresley gear involved arrang- The "Al"s proved to be fast
and economical engines, and
ing the inside cylinder to drive they took a full share in East
Coast locomotive workings, ex-
the leading axle, and as Thomp- cept for the Kings Cross-
son insisted on all the connecting Edinburgh non-stops, for which
rods being of the same length, an the streamlined "A4"s were pre-
awkward layout was arnved at, ferred Their maintenance costs
with the leading bogie ahead of were lower than those of other

the outside cylinders BR Pacifies, and they achieved

Trouble was experienced with notable mileages Over a period
of 12 years they averaged 202
flexing of the frame, and loosening
miles per calendar day, the highest
and breakage of steam pipes, figure on BR, and the five roller
bearing engines exceeded that
but nevertheless the arrangement average, with 228 miles per day
was applied to the "P2"s and to a Their riding was somewhat in-

further 19 mixed-traffic Pacifies ferior to that of the "A4", as they
had a tendency to lateral lurching
with 74in (1,880mm) driving on straight track, but nevertheless
wheels Before this programme
was completed, Thompson also they were timed at lOOmph plus
(160+km/h) on a number of
took in hand Gresley 's original
Pacific, Great Northern, and re- occasions
These engines were a worthy
built it similarly, with separate rod was shortened to make the Above: "A 1 " class 4-6-2 No.
front of the engine more com- 60139 makes a fine show with climax to Doncaster Pacific de-
valve gears, larger cylinders, and pact Fifteen new Pacifies with sign, but unfortunately they came
74in wheels were built to this the "Yorkshire Pullman". too late in the day to have full
a grate area of 50sq ft (4.6m 2 ), in design, classified "A2", and then economic lives. By the early
49 more with 80in (2,032mm) double blastpipes, and five of 1960s dieselisation of the East
8mplace of the 41 3sq ft (3 2 wheels were ordered, classified them had roller bearings to all Coast main line was well ad-
"Al" The Great Northern was axles. At first they had stovepipe vanced, and the "Al"s were all
) absorbed into this class under chimneys, but these were re- withdrawn between 1962 and
placed by chimneys of the normal
grate with which all the Gresley the sub-classification "Al/1". Doncaster shape. They had as- 1966. None of them was
These engines were not built sorted names, including loco-
Pacifies were fitted. motive engineers, the constituent preserved
until after nationalisation, in railways of the LNER, some
Before Thompson's retirement, traditional Scottish names, some
1948-49, Nos.601 14-27/53-62 at birds and some racehorses
his successor designate, Arthur Doncaster, and Nos.601 30-52 at
Darlington They all had Kylchap
Peppercorn, put in hand quietly

in Doncaster drawing office a

further revision of the Pacific

layout, in which the outside cyl-
inders were restored to their

position above the middle of the

bogie, and the inside connecting

The fleet of "WP"s work in all
parts of the broad gauge network
and find full employment on
many important express pas-
senger trains, although they have
been displaced from the very top
assignments by diesels and elec-
trics, also Indian-built Enormous
trains, packed with humanity,
move steadily across the Indian
plains each headed by one of
these excellent locomotives A
crew of four is earned (driver,
two firemen and a coal-trimmer)
but even with two observers on
board as well there is ample
room in the commodious cab

Left: An Indian Railways class
"WP" 4-6-2. The letters "CR"

on the tender indicate it is
allocated to the Central Railway

185

ClaSS 241 P 4-8-2 rend?Nationa] Railways (SNCF), 1948

Axle load for a new fleet of

Cylinders, HP i steam engines,
onhdently expected
Cylinders, LP:
n large num-
Driving wheels:
tjood the arrears of
Heating suriace:
:ion, and to provide
Superheater e speed and

Steam pressure: i the heaviest

Grate area: :n 2 ) 8-4 was pro-
Fuel:
Water: ©0 US) posed, but construction of an
prototype by the
Adhesive weight: 180,9001b
.
Total weight: 4 72,5001)
Length overall: ' 'it 1 1 in if an old 4-8-2 was
slow In the meantime construction
mm)
modernised version of a
Dunng the period in which Andre
on was achieving un- PLM 2-8-2 was undertaken, and
dented results by his re-
large numbers of 2-8-2s were
building of Pans-Orleans Railway ordered from North America.

Pacifies, the total construction of Unfortunately in 1946 a national

new engines in France was small coal shortage caused the govern-

in proportion to the size of country ment to instruct SNCF to reduce

During World War II plans were its coal consumption, and the
way was paved for a policy
decision to electrify all main lines.
Further development of steam
engines was cancelled, but a
case was made for the construc-
tion of a limited number of large

passenger engines, particularly
to cope with increasing loads on

the old PLM mam line to Mar-

seilles, on which Chapelon 4-8-0s

UlaSS 4-6-4L-Zcl Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O), 1948

Tractive effort: 52,10001b Baldwin of Philadelphia for five he believed the passenger tram C&O streamline project had been
had a future The Chessie ran
4-6-4s and to the Lima Loco- through the big coalfields and at scrapped, but not before some
that time hauled more coal than
Axle load: 73,5001b (33.5t) motive Co of Lima, Ohio, for five any other railroad It was therefore older 4-6-2s (the "F-19" class)

Cylinders: 2)25x30in 4-8-4s They were to be the last unthinkable that anything but had been converted into stream-
coal-burning power should be lined 4-6-4s to handle the new
(635 x 762mm) steam express passenger loco-
Driving wheels: 78m used. Amongst his plans was train over part of its route.
motives supplied for home use one for a daytime streamline
(1,981mm) by any of the big USA construc- service actually to be known as Furthermore, in the grand man-
The Chessie— and three steam-
Heating surface: 4,233sq ft tors, although naturally neither ner of a great and prosperous
turbine locomotives with electnc
(393m 2 ) the customer nor the builders drive and 16 driving wheels C&Orailroad, considered hand-
Superheater: l,810sqft were built in 1 947-48 to haul it on
realised it at the time. me-downs not be good enough
the mam stem and over the
(168m 2 ) C&OThe divided its routes for a prestige train and so had
Steam pressure: 255psi mountains Conventional steam
into mountain and plains divisions was to haul connecting portions ordered these "L-2a" Hudsons,
and provide back-up Alas, those
(17 9kg/cm2). and the eight-coupled engines whose concept it was had thrown intending them to be streamlined.
away the steam locomotive's best
Grate area: 90sq ft (8 4m2 were for the former, the six- card, that is simplicity, and in a Running numbers were 310 to
). short two years the turbo-electrics
(Class "M-l", Nos.500-502) had
Fuel: 60,0001b (27.5t) coupled ones for the latter There been scrapped as hopelessly 3 1 4 and fortunately they were as
uneconomic. trouble-free as the turbines had
Water: 17,500gall (21,000 US) was, therefore, scope for the
In the meantime the whole
(80m3 ). 4-6-4s, both north-west of the been troublesome.
Adhesive weight: 219,5001b
Allegheny mountains on the On various important counts

(lOOt) routes to Louisville, Cincinatti, the 4-6-4s were the top six-

Total weight: 839,0001b (38 It) Chicago and Detroit, as well as coupled locomotives of the
Length overall: 108ft0m
south-east of them in the direc- world— in engine weight, at

(32,918mm). tions of Washington and Rich- 443,0001b (20 It), IVz per cent
mond, Virginia.
above those of the nearest rival,
In 1 947 a man called Robert R
It was a case of "last orders Young was in charge at C&O Santa Fe. In tractive effort, both

please" when in 1947 the Chesa- headquarters at Richmond and with and without their booster in
peake & Ohio Railway went to
action, the latter worth 14,2001b

186

1

of Class "240P" were achieving 4-8-2 of a type of which one only creased greatly the time between they could achieve 60mph (96
prodigious feats of haulage How- had been built in 1930, but which boiler washing out km/h) from start to stop on short
gave the nght basic layout and runs, and could reach the speed
ever, to reach this standard of boiler size for the new class. This Nevertheless the design was a limit of 74mph (120km/h) with
engine had the high-pressure compromise, a number of the
performance with a grate of cylinders inside the frames parts which it inherited from the this load in six minutes Their
between the first and second old design were overloaded at other speciality was the Bour-
40sq ft 7m(3 2 required a high coupled axles, and driving the the power outputs which were bonnais line of the old PLM, on
third axle The low-pressure cyl- now possible, and the mech-
) inders were outside driving the which they worked loads of up to
second axle The high-pressure anical performance left something 800 tons until displaced by diesels
standard of fuel, and it was clear and low-pressure valves on each to be desired. Despite the in 1968

that for post-war conditions an side were driven from a common measures taken to accelerate Although their power output
valve gear on the von Bornes production of the new class,
engine with a much larger grate which was numbered from 24 1 P in relation to their size never
principle Into this design were to 241P35, the engines were not equalled that of the Chapelon
was desirable Furthermore, the incorporated as many as possible delivered until 1948-9, by which 4-8-0s, it was at its best magnifi-
of Chapelon's ideas on large time electrification of the ex-PLM cent They were worked more
ex-PLM engineers who now in- superheaters and generous steam main line was well in hand intensively than previous French
fluenced policy on SNCF pipes and ports, whilst at the Initially they worked on the former passenger engines, and two of
them once ran 19,900 miles
favoured the simplicity of piston same time the PLM frame struc- PLM and on ex-Northern main (32,000km) and 18,578 miles
valves, rather than the poppet (29,874km) in a month on trains
valves which were used in most ture was strengthened in places lines from Pans to Lille and averaging 585 tons, whilst work-
where it was known to be weak Belgium As electrification ad-
of the Chapelon 4-8-0s Authority Mechanical stoker, feed water vanced, some of them moved to ing from Lyons Mouche depot
was therefore given for the con- heater, and the French TIA system the Western Region, where they The 24 1 Ps managed a working
of water treatment in the tender
struction of thirty-five 4-8-2s, in were fitted, the TIA system in- took over the heaviest trains to life of nearly twenty years before
they were finally displaced by
place of the last forty 2-8-2s- on Below: The complexity of the the Brittany coast from Le Mans diesels Four of the engines have
onward Under the enthusiastic
order impressive SNCF class "24 IP" been preserved, including No
Time was short for the produc- mis well brought out this regional mechanical engineer they
were driven to their limits on 241 PI 6 in the French National
tion of a completely new design, superb drawing. these services, on trains which
and Chapelon's 4-8-4 was not could load to 950 tons at busy Railway Museum at Mulhouse
times With loads of 650 tons
even completed, still less tested, where the locomotive is one of
so the only possibility was to the main exhibits
modify an existing design The
design chosen was an ex-PLM

Left: French National Railways

class "24 IP" 4-8-2, a design

based on some older 4-8-2 PLM

locomotives of the same type.

(6,443kg) of thrust, and adhesive C&Ounusually clean lines. The
weight, the figures are records
once even had liked to hang a
C&OThe massive qualities of pair of air-pumps in the most
prominent possible position on
track are illustrated by the fact the smokebox door; now even
the headlight was cleared away
that their adhesive weight is also
unmatched elsewhere and mounted above the pilot
beam
Technically the engines rep-
resented the final degree of The advantages of poppet
sophistication of the American valves have been mentioned else-
where in this narrative, as have
steam locomotive that came from
nearly 120 years of steady the problems involved in their
development of practice and de- maintenance It would appear,
tails upon the original principles though, as if manufacturers on
The "L-2a" class was developed both sides of the Atlantic had
from the eight "L-2" class 4-6-4s begun in this respect to offer a
of 1941 (Nos.300-307) and dif- viable product— now that it was
fered from them mainly in having just too late to affect the outcome
Franklin's system of rotary-cam
poppet valves instead of more of steam's struggle for survival
conventional Baker's gear and
By 1953 Chessie's passenger
piston valves These locomotives service had become 100 per
also were notable for having cent dieselised Accordingly
there was little work for the
Left: Although seemingly new 4-6-4s and all had gone
for scrap before their seventh
C&Ocomplicated, the class "L-2a
birthday
4-6-4 was fundamentally simple

Germany:

Class 01.10 4-6-2 German Federal Railway (DB), 1953

Tractive effort: 2001b
.

Axle load: ;; .i
Cylinder s

Driving wheels: 78 7in

Heating surface: , ' .V

Superheater: 1 035sq ft

Steam pressure: 227 6psi

Grate area: 42 6sq ft (3 96m 2)

Fuel:
Water: 8.400gall (10,000 US)
(38m 3)
Adhesive weight: 133,0001b

Total weight: 244,0001b Above: Recently re-coaled
German "01 "class 4-6-2 surges
lout tender) through the countryside.

Length overall: 79ft 2in Left: German State Railway
rebuilt class "01" 4-6-2 ready
mm). to leave Hamburg with a cross-
border express for Dresden.
At the end of World War II in
1945 the railways of Germany class was given heavy repairs, in the fitting of Heml feedwater fitting to all the large Pacifies, a
were devastated, and a large the course of which the stream-
lined casing was removed, and heaters, with a raised casing smaller version of the same boiler
proportion of the express pas- ahead of the chimney. was produced for the "03" and
senger locomotives were out of the engines acquired an appear- "03. 10" classes. This new boiler
service By the end of the decade Deterioration of the alloy-steel
services were largely restored, ance m accordance with post-war "
fireboxes of the "01. 10 " and
but by that time the partition of standards. Compared with the "03. 10" Pacifies then led to the was fitted to all the "Ol 10
Germany had been formalized, design of a new all-welded boiler engines between 1954 and 1956,
and the railway system of the non-streamlined pre-war Pacifies, with tapered barrel, suitable for and to the 26 "03. 10 " engines
Federal Republic had adopted there was no sloping plate con-
Below: German Federal Railway which had come into DB owner-
the name German Federal Rail- necting the side running boards
way, whilst that of the German with the buffer beam, and the converted oil-burning class ship between 1956 and 1958 At
Democratic Republic used the full-depth smoke deflectors were the same time new front end
old name of German State Rail- replaced by the small Witte pat- "012" 4-6-2 No .012077-4.
way The locomotive stock was tern on the upper part of the systems, with larger chimneys,
divided between the two systems smokebox. Removal of the casing were fitted, and a Heinl feedwater
on the basis of where the loco- around the smokebox revealed
motives were located at the end heater, with its tank concealed
that the cylinder of the feedwater within the smokebox The outline
of hostilities heater was mounted externally in of the boiler was simplified com-
a recess in the top of the smoke- pared with the pre-war types, as
By 1950 it was clear that both there was only one dome, and
systems would extend their elec- box, instead of being buned in the sandboxes were on the run-
trified networks, and introduce the smokebox as in the "01" and ning plates. The dimensions given
diesel traction on non-electnfied "03" engines. The North Ameri-
lines, but both systems also made can touch in the lineaments of the above refer to these rebuilds
engines was thereby increased. The rebuilt "01. 10 " engines
plans for limited construction of Vanous parts which had been
made of substitute materials dur- became the mainstay of heavy
new steam locomotives for the ing the war were replaced by steam passenger workings on
interim period In the event, new normal parts
construction was confined to DB As electrification spread
mixed-traffic and freight loco- The next rebuilding involved
motives, and only two completely fitting new welded fireboxes with northwards, they too moved
new express passenger engines combustion chambers to five of north, and most of them ended
were built These were two three- the "01" Pacifies, the existing their days at Rheine, where they
cylinder Pacifies completed by
parallel barrel being retained.
DB in 1957, by which time the The original fireboxes without
combustion chambers had been
progress of electrification was so troublesome to maintain, despite
rapid that it was clear that there Dr Wagner's intentions. The
was no prospect of the class modified boiler could be detected
being extended. by extra firebox washout plugs,
but even more conspicuous was
Steam-hauled passenger trains
therefore continued to be worked
by the stock of pre-war Pacifies
To prolong their lives, many of
these on both systems were
rebuilt to varying degrees Al-
though each railway adopted its

own scheme of rebuilding, they
had much in common, and where
any renumbering was involved, it
was arranged that there was no

duplication between DB and DR

The first engines to be altered
were the 55 three-cylinder Pacifies
of Class "01 10 ", all of which

came into DB ownership. These

engines had been built in 1939
and 1940 with full streamlining,
but by the end of the war parts of
the casing had been removed,
and many of the engines lay
derelict for up to five years
Between 1949 and 1951 the

188

Class 231U1 4-6-4 France:
French National Railways (SNCF), 1949

were amongst the last DB steam Axle load: 5 1,0001b (23t) The rotary-cam poppet valve to Lille main line. Although the
Cylinders. HP: (2) 17% x 27^in gear (instead of the oscillatmg- engines were designed for better
engines to finish work in 1975. (450 x 700mm) cam gear used by Chapelon) things, the maximum permitted
Cylinders, LP: (2) 26% x 27^in was troublesome and failed to speed was kept at the standard
To increase the availability of the (680 x 700mm) meet its promise as regards
engines, 34 of them were con- Driving wheels: 78^in economy in the use of steam French value of 75mph (120
(2,000mm) Even so, France was reluctant to
verted to burn oil in 1957-58 Heating surface: 2, lOOsq ft abandon the compound principle km/h).
These engines became class (195m 2 ) and it was decided to finish off
"01 2" under the 1968 renumber- Superheater: 690sq ft (64m2 ) the chassis originally intended Efforts had also been made to
Steam pressure: 286psi —simplify the controls the com-
ing, whilst the remaining coal- (280kg/cm 2 ) for the turbine locomotive in this
burners were "01 1 " In the latter Grate area: 55 7sq ft (5 17m2) manner The result was the plications of those implicit in the
"232U1", completed in 1949 by de Glehn system of compounding
days of steam operation on the Fuel: 20,0001b (9t) the firm of Corpet-Louvet have been referred to earlier. In
Water: - 370gall ( 1 0,000 US) the "232S" and "232U" loco-
Hamburg-Bremen line, these en- (38m 3 ) The purposeful clutter that motives the changeover from
Adhesive weight: 152,0001b was the Chapelon outline had simple working (used at starring)
gines were hauling 600-tonne been covered by a streamline
(69t) shroud Beneath it poppet valves to compound was arranged to
trains at speeds up to 80mph had been replaced by piston happen automatically, according
Total weight: 467,5001b (212t) valves The four sets of valves
(130km/h), and were achieving Length overall: 87ft 4^in were worked by two sets of to whether the reversing lever
(26,634mm) was set to give more or less than
monthly mileages of 17,000 outside Walschaert's valve gear. 55 per cent cut-off So perhaps
This great engine was the result In an effort to reduce maintenance the supply of footplate wizards
(27,000km). of the Northern Company's desire costs roller bearings had replaced able to cope with the complexities
to improve upon their Chapelon plain ones on the axles, grease of the typical French express
It was planned to fit the same 4-6-2s An attempt was made to lubrication had largely replaced passenger locomotive was not
type of boiler to 80 of the "01" overcome the weakness of the oil and again cast bar-type frames
plate frames by adopting cast so inexhaustible as their admirers
Pacifies, but due to the increasing were used. The engine was suc- across the Channel thought!
steel bar-type ones A higher cessful; it was able to develop
pace of electrification, only 50 4,500hp measured at the cyl- By the time the virtues of the
power output was envisaged inders, about half way between design had been assessed and
were converted Externally the and this was taken care of by a that for a Chapelon 4-6-2 and the the question of a repeat order
engines were conspicuous by wide firebox (instead of trap- ultimate power of his "242A1" arose, French Railways had
ezoidal 1 ) and a mechanical stoker class 4-8-4 One drawback was
the large-diameter chimney, but Eight streamlined and partly ex- the heavy axle load, this effectively turned to electrification So No
as these engines worked over perimental 4-6-4 locomotives were confined the locomotive (and its 232U 1 remained a solitary and is
planned, four compounds (class fellow streamliners of the "232R" now displayed in superbly re-
lines with a more restricted load- 232S), three simples (class 232R) and "232S" classes) to the Pans
ing gauge than those on which and one turbine. The idea was to stored condition at the National
the "01 10 "s worked, the chim- work 200-ton trains at speeds up
ney was much shorter, and gave to lOOmph (160km/h). Before Railway Museum at Mulhouse
the engines were completed in
the engines a very massive ap- 1940 the railways had been Below: SNCF class "232W
nationalised and a disastrous
pearance. war with Germany had begun, 4-6-4 232U1 at the Gare du
so the light high-speed trains Nord, Pans in October 1959.
In East Germany, too, the envisaged for these locomotives
to pull were replaced by immense
slower pace of electrification led slow ones The turbine locomotive
was never completed
to the extensive rebuilding of 35
"01" Pacifies between 1961 and After the war the performance
of the 4-6-4s was re-assessed In
1965 New all- welded boilers the case of the compounds the
were fitted, but whereas on DB designers had unfortunately tried
to re-invent the wheel and had
the new boilers had slightly smal- not been completely successful

ler grates than their predecessors,

those on DR had larger grates to

cope with inferior coal The ex-

ternal appearance of the engines

was changed greatly by the

fitting of a continuous casing
over the boiler mountings, and a

deep valancing below the foot-

plating (later removed). Eight of

the rebuilds were given Boxpok
driving wheels, and 28 of them

were later converted to burn oil

The rebuilt engines were classified
"01". The rebuilding was so

extensive that little of the original

engine remained. They took over

DRthe heaviest steam workings,

which included the international

trains into West Germany, and

they could be seen alongside the Below: French National Railway! mm
4-6-4 No.231 Ul as restored
DB variants of Class "01" at for display in the museum.

Hamburg and Bebra

P36 Class 4-8-4 USSR' Above: A class "P36" 4-8-4

Tractive effort: of the Soviet Railways "on
shed" somewhere in Russia.
Axle load
Cylinders: The episode was typical of a
sensible and logical attitude to-
Driving wheels: wards the needs of the railway
system, in respect of which the
Heating surface new socialist regime hardly dif-
fered from the old Czanst one
Superheater One small prestige extravagance
did follow, however, with the
Steam pressure: building in 1937-38 of the first
three of a class of ten high-speed
Grate area streamlined 4-6-4s for the Red
Fuel: Arrow express between Moscow
Water: and Leningrad It was hoped to
raise the average speed for the
Adhesive weight: 404-mile (646km) run from about
40 to 50mph (64 to 80km/h) The
Total weight: first two had coupled wheels
Length overall 78 34in (2,000mm) diameter, but
the third had them as large as
it back 86!ain (2,197mm) The latter ma-
: long- chine again had boiler, cylinders
and much else standard with the
iffic at "FD" class In the end the war
put an end to the project, but not
Passenger traffic had so before the first prototype had
ken second place to achieved 106mph ( 170km/h) on
.as recognised that test, still a record for steam
higher speeds and traction in Russia
;able (and therefore
i would be needed World War II for the Russians
: ovietgovern- may have been shorter than it
was for the rest of Europe, but it
tted to travel in the was also a good deal nastier So it
was not until five years after it
rototype came in ended that the first of new class
of passenger locomotive ap-
I peared from the Kolomna Works
near Moscow This prototype
vas a logical enlarge- took the form of a tall and
)f the 2-6-2 into a 2-8-4, handsome 4-8-4, designated class
•ung an extra driving axle "P36" The new locomotive was
to give extra tractive effort and similar in size and capacity to the
tra rear carrying a)
give extra power from a larger "JS" class but the extra pair of
firebox The class was given the carrying wheels enabled the axle
designation "JS" (standing for loading to be reduced from 20 to
18 tons This gave the engine a
Stalin) and some 640
were built between 1934 and much wider possible range of
action, although this was never
: today needed, as we shall see

but a freight equivalent w Whilst the locomotive was very
same boiler, cab, cylinders ' much in the final form of the
and other parts was the
class 2-10-2, many of which are Left: Soviet Railways ' class
"P36" 4-8-4 No.P36-0 148
still in service in southern China, arrives at Leningrad.
conversion from 5ft

I mm) gauge to standard

Right: Two class "P36"4-8-4s

. .,

steam locomotive, one :• streamlined
which it had in commc: looked smart enou
many modern Russian engines
was particularly striking and un- |
usual, this was an external main
steam pipe enclosed in a large green passenger colour
casing running forward from cream stripes and red

dome to smokebox along the top centres

excellent from the point For some
handled the famous
of accessibility, is only made
possible by a loading gauge Siberian express, the leg-
which allows rolling stock to be
Russia
(in (5,280mm) abt \ cation to the Pacific Ocea:.
level Roller bearings were fitted
in took 70 he i
—to all axles for the first time on 9 changes c:
ussian locomotive — and
motive, so Siberia was pai
..as a cab totally enclosed sst one clas-
against the Russian winter, as
Steam enthusiasts had to
:al stoker for some subtle:

Many of th< objects of th<
were oil-bun use of miniature camera

those in the west of the cc . very dangerous, but some suc-
After a cautious period of cess was achieved by ;.
who set up a huge plate
testing, production bega:
nearest policeman and den
omna and between 1954 and
re were Steam enthusiasm was n

built, making them the world's out its dangers for those a:
most numerous class of 4-8-4 Of
course, compared with other In 1956 Lazar Kagar.
classes in Russia, which num-
bered from more than 10,000 Commissar for Transpc
examples downward, the size of i
the class was i
and Heavy Industry, who had
pact upon Western observers
was considerable because they long advocated the retention of
were to be found on lines visited
by foreigners, such as Moscow- steam traction with such words
Leningrad and between Moscow
and the Polish frontier Some of as "I am for the steam loc
the class were even finished in and against those who imagine
the blue livery similar to the
that we will not have any in the
—future this machine is si

stubborn and will not giv<

was summanly deposed and

disappeared Steam construction

immediately came to an i

the Soviet Union Some Above: Below: Soviet 4-8-4 No.P36-0223
I at the head of a local tram (of
demonstrates the striking
years later steam operation of appearance of the "P36" class the Trans-Siberian hne) from
4-8-4s, the last word in Soviet
passenger trains also ended and steam locomotion. Blagovetshensk, Siberia, to

with it the lives of these superb Vladivostok m November 1970.

locomotives

Gelsa Class 4-8-4 Brazil:
National Railways, [951

Tractive efJort When it was formed in 1948, the When it appeared that 24 of burning Brazilian coal of low

Axle load: 29 Brazilian National Railways con- the locomotives were to be two- —calorific value about half that of
Cylinders: sisted of a grouping of various cylinder 4-8-4s, two treats were best Welsh steam coal — and with
previously independent lines Of
Driving wheels: 59in in store. First, of course, there large ash content. The ash-pan
.'. route length of 24,000 floor had to be steeply inclined
mm) was looking forward to seeing and there were four exterior
Heating surface: i B2I :3,500km) existing in 1950, what the master rebuilder of chutes as well as a normal one in
qauge accounted for 93 compound locomotives would
Superheater: V (67msq. 1 2 do when he tackled a brand new the middle to dispose of the
ft ) per cent Two world wars and a simple one. Second, there was to amazing amounts of clogging
long period of slump between
Steam pressure: 284psi them meant that much of the be the pleasure of seeing the residue formed A mechanical
locomotive stock on these lines world's first metre-gauge 4-8-4
Grate area: 55 5sq ft (5 4m 2 ) stoker was needed.
were obsolescent locomotive in action. Other equipment included
Fuel ;0.0001b(18t) In 1 949 a consortium of French Very great care was taken not
Water: 4.850gall (5,850 US) power reverse, Worthington's
locomotive manufacturers known only with the theoretical design feed water heater and pump and
Adhesive weight: 1 15,0001b a double Kylchap blast-pipe and
as GELSA (Groupment d'Expor- but also with practical points chimney According to the prac-
Total weight*: 05,0001b (930
Length overall: 8 1 ft 7in tation des Locomotives en Sud- such as the need to include many tice of the particular line on
Amenque) was formed to tender which they were to work the
'mm) for replacements and, having parts standard with existing engines were fitted either with
ut tender obtained a contract for 90 large spares and stores already used steam brakes with vacuum for
and in stock in Brazil.
metre-gauge locomotives, they the trains or, alternatively, with air
engaged Andre Chapelon to The Belpaire type boiler was
take charge of design intended to provide steam for a brakes. Rail greasing apparatus
power output of 2000 hp while

Class YP 4-6-2 India:
Indian Railways (IR), 1949

Tractive effort: 18,4501b

(8.731kg)

Axle load: 23,5001b ( 10 7t)

Cylinders: , x 24in

(387 x610mm)

Driving wheels: 54in

(1,372mm)

Heating surface: 1,11 2sq ft

(103m 2 )

mSuperheater: 33 1 sq ft (3 1 2
).

Steam pressure: 210psi

(14 8kg cm 2 )
Grate area: 28sq ft (2 6m2)

Fuel: 2 1,5001b (9 75t)

Water: 3,000gall (3,600 US)

(13 6m3 )

Adhesive weight: 69,0001b

(31 5t)
Total weight: 218,5001b (99t)

Length overall: 62ft 7! ;n
(19,088mm)

A total of 871 of thes beautifully Britain's principal achievement The strictures rightly applied Above: Indian Railways' class
in India was the construction of to the standard "XA", "XB" and "YP" 4-6-2 No.2630. Note the
proportioned and capable loco- the railway network the greatest "XC" 4-6-2s of the 1920s and four-man engine crew leaning
motives v/ere built between 1949 fault in what was done was the 1930s were not deserved by out of the cab.
and 1970 for the metre-gauge division of the system into broad their metre-gauge counterparts,
network of the Indian Railways and metre gauge sections of not the handsome "YB" 4-6-2s sup- American. Jodhpur, one of the
The newest members of the far off equal size. Even so, 1 5,940 plied between 1928 and 1950 princely states, in those days had
class, which soil remains virtually miles (25,500km) metre-gauge Nevertheless Indian Railways still its own railway, and they had
intact, were the last express railways, including many long- decided to do what they had received ten neat 4-6-2s from
passenger locomotives to be built distance lines, required to be done on the broad gauge and go Baldwin of Philadelphia in 1948.
in the world worked and power was needed Baldwin was asked to produce

It could be said that whilst

-—

HH n 2,624ft (80m) radius (22 degrees) Above: 4-8-4 No242N4 metre-gauge lines of the Bnttany
. The prototype was tested in system Brake locomotives were
on test in Bnttany with brake-test used to simulate the design loads
was provided, automatically com- Bnttany on the heavily engineered loco behind the tender. and both French and Brazilian
ing into use on curves, which coals were tried The results
could be negotiated down to were excellent and by the end of
1952 all the locomotives had
been delivered In the meantime,
Chapelon himself had visited
Brazil— and been appropriately

feted as the high priest of steam

to see the new locomotives into

service

Since that time all has been
silence— and such small pockets
of steam operation using large
engines as now exist in Brazil
seem to favour older US-built
power, possibly just that bit more
rugged than these otherwise
superb and technically further
advanced French machines

20 prototypes of class "YP", locomotives can be found in all Railway —101, North-Eastern Above: An Indian Railways'
areas of the metre gauge system, Railway —235, Northern Frontier class "YP" 4-6-2, allocated to
similar to those locomotives but this stretches far and wide from Railway— 98; Southern Railway
Tnvandrum, almost the southern- the Southern railway system,
slightly enlarged The new locos most point of the Indian railways, - 199: South Central Railway
were also a little simpler, with to well north of Delhi, while both lays down a fine pall of black
the easternmost and western- 72, Western Railway— 155. The smoke at the head-end of a
plain bearings instead of roller most points on Indian Railways two missing engines were with-
ones and 8-wheel instead of are served by metre gauge lines drawn after accident damage metre-gauge express tram.
Recent allocation was as follows;
high-capacity 1 2-wheel tenders Central Railway— 9, Northern Diesel locomotives are now Below: Indian Railways'
Production orders for the " YP" arriving on the metre-gauge net- class "YP" 4-6-2, the last express
work of India, but the "YP" class passenger-hauling steam
were placed overseas Krauss-
Maffei of Munich and North still hauls important trains mlocomotive to be built the world.
Bntish Locomotive of Glasgow
got production orders for 200
and 100 respectively over the
next five years, but the remainder
were built by the Tata Engineering

& Locomotive Co of Jamshedpur,

India Running numbers are 2000

to 2870, but not in chronological
order The engines could be
regarded as two-thirds full-size

models of a standard USA 4-6-2.

If one multiplies linear measure-
ments by 15, areas by 1.52 or
2.25, weights and volumes by
1 53 or 3.375 the correspondence
is very close Non-American fea-
tures include the use of vacuum
brakes, chopper type automatic
centre couplers in place of the
buckeye type, slatted screens to
the cab side openings and the
absence of a bell

With so many available, these

193

Class 11 4-8-2 Angola:
Benguela Railway (FCB), 1951

Tractive effort: 36 1001b the world It was the result of the continuous supply of logs to fire cation was met by taking the
enterprise of an Englishman standard South African Railways
Axle load: 29.0001) called Robert Williams, who saw the locomotives " 19C/ 1 9D" class 4-8-2 and mak-
Cylinders: (2) 21 x 26in As in the case of other southern ing some modifications, mostly in
that a railway from the Atlantic connection with the burning of
60mm) port of Lobito Bay was the best African lines, the first miles out of wood The smokebox was fitted
Driving wheels: 54in way of transporting the copper the port are the worst, concerned with an efficient spark arrester—
as they are with scaling the for once without spoiling the
mm) mined in Katanga (in what is now African plateau at a height of
Heating surface: l,777sqft elegant simplicity of the appear-
called Zaire), instead of sending 5,000-6,000ft ( 1 ,500-2,000m). The
Superheater: 420sq ft (39m 2 ) it east across to the Indian Ocean steep grades of this section came ance of the front end — and a
Steam pressure: 200psi to involve the use of Beyer-
at Beira for shipment. Garratt locomotives, but there Kylala-Chapelon (Kylchap) ex-
7mGrate area: tOsq ft (3 2 was also a requirement for some haust system was provided The
Work began at Lobito Bay in boiler is pitched 7in (178mm)
) 1904 and the 837 miles (1,340 smaller locomotives for the easier
km) to the border at Dilolo was higher than on the SAR proto-
Fuel (wood): 650cu ft completed in 1929 Through sections, particularly for hauling
the passenger trains In the early type, as permitted by the Ben-
(18.5n communication with the rest of days 4-8-0s had been used, but guela Rly loading gauge, and
the 3ft 6in (1,067mm) gauge in 1951 the Benguela Railway this gives room for a larger
Water: 5 OOOgall (6.000 US) southern African network was went to the North Bnhsh Loco- ashpan, for which drenching
established in 931 1 , by this route pipes are fitted. There was a
(25m 3) motive Co. of Glasgow for six large timber-holding cage on top
Adhesive weight: 1 16,0001b Lobito Bay is 2,464 miles (3,965 4-8-2 passenger locomotives,
km) from Cape Town designated class "11", of the tender.
Total weight: 295,0001b
Steam traction was (and largely The requirements were that That such sophisticated fittings
Length overall: 69ft 3in is) used. In order to provide fuel, trains up to 500 tons should be were provided for an African
(21,107mm) hauled up gradients of 1 in 80
the Benguela railway planted ( 1 .25 per cent) and that curves of railway may come as a surprise
The Benguela Railway of Angola 300ft (90m) radius could be to people used to the primitive
was one of the most remarkable eucalyptus forests close to suit- negotiated Axle loading was not equipment provided as late as
(although not one of the most able wooding points These trees, to exceed 13 tons This specifi- the 1950s on new locomotives
for BR back home in Britain
rapid) feats of railway-building in imported from Australia, grow
well in Angola and a sufficient
area was planted to keep up a

Selkirk Class 2-10-4 c
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), 1949

Tractive effort: 76,9051b for freight movement, in fact, the

(34,884kg) monly steam locomotives quan-

Axle load: 62,2401b (28.25t) tity production in the world today

Cylinders: (2) 25 x 32in are 2-10-2s in China Because
(635 x 813mm) the length of a rigid wheelbase
has to be limited, five pairs of
Driving wheels: 63in
coupled wheels implies that they
(1,600mm). are fairly small ones and this in
turn means (usually) low speeds.
Heating surface: 4,590sq ft It is true that British Railways had
some superb 2-10-0s that were
(426m 2 ). occasionally used on passenger
Superheater: 2,055sq ft trains "in emergencies" and, in

(191m)m 2). spite of having only 62in
Steam pressure: 285psi ( 1 575mm) dia meter wheels, were

(20kg/cm 2 ). timed up to 90mph (145km/h)
whilst so doing, but these were
Grate area: 93.5sq ft (8 7m2
). exceptional. Perhaps the ten-
coupled engines with the best
Fuel (oil): 4, lOOgall (4,925 US) claim to be considered as express
passenger locomotives were the
(18.6m 2 ). 2-10-4 "Selkirk" class of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. Not
Water: 12,000gall( 14,000 US) only were they streamlined (in

(54.5m 3 ). the way CPR understood the
Adhesive weight: 3 1 1 ,2001b
term) but the coloured passenger
(141t)

Total weight: 732,5001b (332t)

Length overall: 97ft 10%in

(29,835mm).

Ten-coupled locomotives were
used in most parts of the world

Above and below: Two views They included a pyrometer to speedometer. Particularly impor- steam operation that had become
check the steam temperature tant was the compensated spring-
of the class "1 1 " 4-8-2 of the and a power reversing gear of ing, this feature avoided the chronic in Britain
the Hadfteld steam-operated trailing wheels stealing adhesive The Benguela line had the
Benguela Railway in Angola. type The firedoor was also steam weight from the driving wheels
operated, electric lights were at small track irregularities and good fortune for many happy
The photograph above shows fitted and there was a recording years to carry (mostly) one com-
—so causing slipping a facet of modity, copper, from one source
that the appearance of these to one destination Railways that
do this tend to be prosperous
engines m normal service came and this was reflected in the fact
that the locomotive fleet was well
close to the ideal as drawn below. looked after and kept in first-rate
condition, both mechanically and
visually Hence the fleet was very
economic to run and so did its bit
to make the concern even more

prosperous — a benevolent rather

than a vicious circle, in fact
Independence from Portugal

was followed by a civil war which
is still continuing in 1 98 1 and this
has for some years now halted
the copper traffic. Forestry op-
erations have also been halted by
guerilla activity, such trains as do
run are mostly hauled by oil-fired
steam locomotives, since the
country does at least have its own

oil supplies

livery was also used for them, enlarged and equipped for oil- haul loads up to about 1 ,000 tons tiate these sharp curves by dint
burning, since all locomotives on the steepest sections Typically of widening the gauge on the
also, of course, they handled when hauling a capacity load up
used on the mountain division a bank of 20 miles mostly at 1 in curves from 4ft 8i^in to 4ft 934in
CPR's flag train, then called the had been fired with oil since 45, (2.2 per cent) the average ( 1 ,435mm to 1 ,469mm), an excep-
1916 speed would be lOmph The tional amount, and by giving the
"Dominion", across the Rockies booster would be cut in if speed leading axle nearly an inch
When one crossed Canada by fell below walking pace and cut (25mm) of side-play each way as
and the adjacent Selkirks CPR the whole 2,882 miles out when the train had reached
the speed of a man's run Fuel well as providing it with a pair
The overall story was very (4,61 1km) from Montreal to Van- consumption would be of the
ouver was reasonably easy going order of 37 gallons per mile up of flange lubricators In other
CPRsimilar to that of the "Royal apart from a section along the grade ways standard North American

Hudson" First came the slightly north shore of Lake Superior In the mountains downhill practice was applied, including a
and, more notably, the 262 miles speeds were limited to 25-30mph
more angular "T-la" batch, 20 (420km) over the mountains bet- (40-50km/h) by curvature, fre- fairly early application of the cast
ween Calgary and Revelstoke quently as sharp as 462ft ( 1 40m)
(Nos 5900 to 5919) were built in Until the 1950s CPR's flag train, steel one-piece locomotive frame,
the "Dominion", could load up to radius, but passengers hardly and the class stood up well to
A1929 further ten ("T-lb") with 18 heavyweight cars weighing robust usage
some 1,300 tons and to haul — —found or find this portion of
softer and more glamorous lines these up the 1 in 45 (2.2 per cent) In 1952 diesels took over the
inclines required some fairly the )ourney tedious having regard running across the mountains
were built in 1938 and, finally, heroic measures There was very and after the 2- 10-4s had done a
little difference in the timings and to the nature of the views from stint on freight haulage across
another six ("T-lc") came in 1949 the praines, they were withdrawn
No 5935 was not only the last of loadings of the various types of the car windows On the few The last one was cut up in 1959,
straight sections of line 65mph
the class but the last steam train, even the mighty "Dominion" except for No.5931 (numbered
( 108km/h) could be achieved by
locomotive built for the company made 23 stops over this section 5934) in the Heritage Park,
The 2- 10-4s were permitted to these locomotives
and, indeed, for any Canadian The 2- 1 0-4s were able to nego- Calgary, and No 5935 at the
Railway Museum at Delson,
railway The "Royal Hudson" Quebec

boiler was used as the basis, but

Left: A Canadian Pacific

Railway "Selkirk" class 2- 10-4
runs alongside a turbulent river
on the fabled Kicking Horse
Pass route.

195

Class 8 4-6-2 G
British Railways (BR), 1953

Tractive effort: 39,0801b

(17,731kg)

Axle load: 49,5001b (22.5t).
Cylinders: (3) 18 x 28m
(457 x711mm).
Driving wheels: 74in

(1,880mm)

Heating surface: 2,490sq ft

(231m 2 )

Superheater: 69 1 sq ft (64m2 )
Steam pressure: 250psi

(17 6kg, cm 2
)

Grate area: 48 5sq ft (4.5m2).

Fuel: 22.0001b (lOt)
Water: 4,325gall (5,200 US)
(20m 3 )
Adhesive weight: 148,0001b

(67 5t)
Total weight: 347,0001b

(157 50
Length overall: 70ft Oin

(21,336mm)

The railways of Britain became A total of 55 "Bntannia"s were Above: "Britannia" class 4-6-2 Below: "Britannia " class 4-6-2
British Railways on 1 January
1948 and naturally there was built between 1951 and 1953. No, 70039 climbing Snap m No. 70020 Mercury hauling the
much speculation concerning the They met their designers' goal of
kind of locomotives that would a locomotive that was easy to September 1965 with a eastbound Capitals United
maintain, and also showed that
succeed the "Duchess", "King", they were master of any express Liverpool to Glasgow express. Express m May 1 959.
"Merchant Navy" and "A4"
classes of BR's illustrious pre- passenger task in Britain at that
decessors In early 1951 it was time They were allocated to all
announced that none was plan- the regions, but the one that
ned but instead, the first full-size
made the best use of the new
Pacific for any British railway to engines was the Eastern. Their
have only two cylinders was "Britannia"s were allocated to
one line and put to work on a
unveiled This locomotive class new high-speed train service
was intended to displace such specifically designed round their
second-eleven power as the
"Royal Scot", "Castle" and "West abilities During the 1950s in
Country" classes rather than the most of Britain it could be said
that 20 years progress had meant
largest types journey times some 20 per cent
Britannia was a simple, rugged
longer. On the other hand the
4-6-2 with Belpaire firebox and new 4-6-2s working this new
roller bearings on all axles, as
well as many other aids to cheap timetable between London and
and easy maintenance. It was Norwich meant a 20 per cent
designated class "7", and had a acceleration on pre-war timings,
capacity to produce some 2,200 in terms of the service in general.
hp in the cylinders, at a very fair
consumption of coal, amounting In spite of being simple engines
to some 5,0001b/h (2,270kg/h)
This was well above the rate at in both senses of the world, the
which a normal man could shovel "Britannia's displayed economy
coal on to the fire but the large in the use of steam. In fact they
firebox enabled a big fire to be were right in the front rank yet
built up in advance when some there was always the nagging
big effort of short duration was fact that the great Chapelon
required
compounds across the Channel
could on test do about 16 per
cent better This figure would be
diluted in service by various

196