drmditch

Difficult. Efficiency' - theoretical or in practical use? - consider 4CC Atlantic for the former T2/Q6 for the latter - or - now disregarded - the Shildon Electrics ! 'Longevity' - has to be the C/C1/J21 ( after major rebuilds) 'Looks' - either the V/C6 or Z/C7 - I prefer the former. 'Impact on future locomotive design' - perhaps the three cylinder principal - so first was the X/T1 from 1909 but that had divided drive so the Z/C7 from 1911 might be most significant. However, the 3CC/D19 might be seen as the prototype for the 'Midland Compounds' - and I think that there 240 of them! So - my choice - after a balancing of views - would be..... The Z/C7 Raven Atlantic. (But I do like all of the others as well!)

Fighting talk! Surely any crew can 'prove' a locomotive is 'useless', especially if it is a one-off and from a different railway/design background? Quite a lot of that after the grouping!

According to RCTS Vol 2A, bogie wheelbase for the Raven A2 was 6'6". Gresley A1 and A3 was 6'3". Doncaster seems to have preferred the smaller dimension, (Pacifics and B17 and even B1), and Darlington the larger (B16, D49) I don't know whether 1mm will make much difference to you - especially when trying to get the 'bowling alley' to go round corners. Do you know if the A2 kit is reasonably dimensionaly correct? I still hanker after a Z(C7), but don't know whether to trust the DJH kit!

Difficult this - because probably the 'most typical' goods/freight locomotive for the LNER (although perhaps not all areas) would be what became the O4 and it's derivatives. The one Gresley presumably liked best (because he wanted to build more of them even in the early days of the war) must have been the O2. So - I'll go for the O2 please. (I would have gone for the P1 if ever the Operating department had worked out how to use them properly!)

Has to be the V2 please. Probably the best product of the LNER design team under SNG. I do like the B16/2 as well. Sensible use of a pre-grouping design And then the J39 also, although why an improved K2 rather than a small-wheeled K3 wasn't suggested at that time makes for an interesting discussion........

V1 and V3 please. I've never (yet) found criticism of them as vehicles or traction units. Not sure what lubrication and maintenance would have been like. Best looking tank engines ever! (I do like the D49s as well. Unfortunately for my railway I need black Hunts rather than green Shires, and I actually prefer the latter.)

The A4 was designed using all the accumulated knowledge of running the A1s and A3s, information published by Andre Chapelon, and some interesting development and testing to produce the casing. It was designed for performance, rather than being modified for post-war conditions of maintenance. The A4 has to be the best high-speed passenger locomotive produced under the leadership of HNG. I do think however, that for a general purpose locomotive, the A4's younger sister in the form of the V2 may the best Gresley locomotive.

A1 (with roller bearings) please.

But what about the Coronation over Cocksburnpath? I think there is an analysis by Peter Townend of this, but I can't find it at the moment. Anyway, much though my loyalties are given to the NER/LNER, surely it is a matter of 'horses for courses'? I do think that the A4 shape is better and more effective at clearing the exhaust, after (perhaps) more time spent on research, and the effect of Mr Bannister's thumb! I like the 'Princess Coronation's best without the 'bathtub', but that doesn't denigrate the magnificent pictures above!

O1 (as using frames from an O4) please. I also like the O4/8, which looks very much as if it was the 2-8-0 the NER never quite built. If I understand correctly it was the condition of the cylinders which determined whether an O4 (in one of it's several variants) got given a new 100A boiler to become an O4/8, or also given the standard B1 type cylinders and valve gear to become a full-fledged O1. The O1s came out very well in the 1948 comparisons as well.

B1 please. I probably have some childhood memory of these. To me they look exactly as a steam locomotive should look! (It would be interesting to compare the maintenance requirements of the B16/2s and B16/3s)

Agree with the above, B12/3 please. (Weren't the L1s conceived as an MT locomotives?)

Can't recommend Corn Flakes. Wheetabix and Shredded Wheat have a lower sugar content, and better boxes. The large size Wheetabix (72 biscuit) box is particularly useful. I haven't built a card locomotive yet, just bridges, buildings and a snowplough!

'Black Five' please, although preferably with one of the later designs of boiler and higher superheat.

Right. To avoid upsetting people who live not so far from me, please may I also support the Princes Coronations; although I prefer those which were built un-streamlined and had a double chimney and smoke deflectors while still in LMS (red?) livery. I don't like the 'streamlined' versions though. If it wasn't the local risk, I would say that I see the 're-built' Royal Scots as a superb locomotive, even if they did develop a wobble at the rear end!

We all of us have to eat! There also a suitable flight path into and out of my garden. I first saw the sparrow hawk on a sunny and warm spring day last year. I was sitting outside at the north end of the garden, when there was a whirl of grey and brown feathers, and then my favourite male blackbird (it had some white feathers on it's right wing) was struggling for it's life. The blackbird escaped, and the hawk used it's exit flight path and I rushed round the corner and just managed to see it's wing shapes against the blue sky. I didn't know whether to be happy for the blackbird that had survived, or sorry for the hawk that had missed her lunch! Later in the year the hawk was on the lawn eating a kill. I didn't want to disturb her, because I read that they only succeed in 20% or less of strikes and that doesn't give a good energy balance. I did manage to get a (poor) picture though: I think that my hawk was/is female. They are browner and larger than the males. I hope it has survived the winter and I will see it again. I don't think they live more than three years or so, and it must be a highly stressful life being a solitary hunter. (Edited after consulting the RSPB website)

Thank you. I wasn't aware of that these Webb locomotives were 'undivided'. I will have to check the dates to see if the apprentice HNG might have seen these 'in shops'. I wasn't sure about the Midland/LMS compounds. How far, do you think, these were carrying on the W M Smith design concepts? Would the Deeley/Fowler 4-6-0 have had the same arrangements? I'm always interested in concepts and continuity within and across companies and works, as opposed to labelling everything by the name of the chief engineer at that time.

Re: Gender of steam locomotives. I'm sure I have posted on this before, but this issue was resolved by Miss F Kemble and Mr G Stephenson in 1830. 'All the little fire horses are made mares.' Re: Fastest ducks. Again I have posted on this before, but I understand that the fastest British duck is the Eider. Re: Sparrow Hawks Not sure that they are actually that fast in a straight line, but are very good at manoevering, and striking suddenly. They are also magnificent, and I am honoured that one sometimes visits my garden.

I did ask this question a few pages ago, but no-one appears to have replied to it. Were there any British steam locomotives with 3 or more cylinders and 'undivided drive', other than those of Raven/Darlington and Gresley/Doncaster?

A couple of quick pictures of WIP on the upper station approaches and the locomotive facilities. I will take some better ones later. I will be asking for help and/or comments on the signalling plan when I've got the terminal station wired and basically functional. Sorry for all the mess - it's amazing how tools and materials migrate to a work area!

Re: Any Questions I'm sure you have planned access and lighting for your 'hidden tracks', but it would be useful to know your thinking on this. One thing I have done, but not fully implemented, on my railway is to paint the woodwork white around and above my storage tracks. This has the advantage of sealing the wood and providing some light reflection. I did do this with the new structural elements, but omitted to re-work my re-used top-level boards. I just keep wanting to 'get on' and wire up tracks to get them operational! Re: Large locomotives on the N&C. There is a picture in G Whittle's 'Newcastle and Carlisle Railway' of a V2 arriving at Hexham from Carlisle in 1956. Presumably you will have V2s for the Waverley route? I'm sure I have seen somewhere a picture of a Gresley Pacific on the N&C, but can't find it at the moment.

Please could you quote your sources for this view of the J39s? Everything I have read suggests that they were powerful and useful engines, thus leading to their use on services for which an 0-6-0 would not have been the best vehicle, and leading to excessive wear in the front axleboxes. The valve gear, although drawn at Darlington, was derived from a mixture of pre-grouping practice. I understand that it was influenced by GC practice (as in the A5s). (This is largely based on RCTS Green Books) One aspect of LNER three cylinder design which has not been discussed above is that Gresley preferred to avoid a divided drive. This would seem to be very sensible to me, but as with all engineering design lead to other compromises. I don't want to spend time looking this up at the moment (my soldering iron is on and I have connections to make), but can anyone think of any other engineering school (other than the NER and Raven) who used consolidated drive for multi-cylinder locomotives?

Good Afternoon. Has anybody had/found news of the LNER liveried A2/3s? I have an 'Edward Thompson' on order and have not received any updates. Could they be :- Stuck in the Great Bitter Lake? Delayed in arrival in European ports by the congestion around the Suez Canal Diverted around Cape Agulhas? (Also posted on another thread on this subject)

Good Afternoon. Has anybody had/found news of the LNER liveried A2/3s? I have an 'Edward Thompson' on order and have not received any updates. Could they be :- Stuck in the Great Bitter Lake? Delayed in arrival in European ports by the congestion around the Suez Canal Diverted around Cape Agulhas?

Thank you. I am nowhere near achieving your overall standards in modelling, especially as regards locomotives and coaching stock, and have been rather pre-occupied for the last seven years in dismantling and rebuilding my railway. However, I do find that building freight stock, together with the appropriate research, provides a useful diversion from wiring etc. I did try once to modify Mainline/Bachmann ex Midland Cattle Wagons to produce a more accurate model (it takes two mouldings to get the correct length), however when Parkside produced their kit for the D 1661 vehicle, it made mine look like rubbish! The kit can be modified to represent some of the variations. (Sorry for the couplings etc. These are be best ones for my railway.) I find it quite surprising that there is relatively little LMS freight stock available RTR, but since I like making things that's not really a problem! Thank you for providing inspiration, and instruction. Edit - just realised that these are old pictures, and are missing the vacuum pipes. (These are piped and not fitted vehicles.) I will try to take some proper pictures.