BR Standard class 6 No. 72010 'Hengist' and Clan Discussion Thread

Hot off the press!

Assembly of the bogie wheelsets has started today at South Devon Railway Engineering. See https://www.theclanproject.org/Clan_News.php

 

This is a really bizarre question, but since Scotland and it's traction has captured my imagination [for now, at least], there is something that has just been bothering me.

Why is it called "Hengist" not "Clan Hengist"?
I'm pretty sure that's why they were called "Clans" not "BR Std 6's".

 

Because the second batch of locos was intended for the Southern Region. They were due to have the following names:

72010 Hengist
72011 Horsa
72012 Canute
72013 Wildfire
72014 Firebrand

"Hengist" and "Horsa" were by tradition the first Kings of Kent. "Canute" first landed in this country in Sandwich, Kent, before moving to Wessex.

All five names were used by early locomotives in Southern England: "Hengist", "Horsa" and "Canute" were Nos. 1, 2 and 9 respectively in the SER / London & Brighton / London & Croydon Joint Locomotive Committee list. When that committee disbanded and the locomotives were distributed between the respective companies, they became SER Nos. 9, 10 and 17 respectively. "Firebrand" and "Wildfire" were originally LSWR Nos. 74 and 77.

Tom

 

Only one Brit was named Britannia.

 

I see. Which part of the Southern were they going to be shedded at?

Yes, that is true.
Then again, many were named (except 70047 strangly) after very historic figures or in the Western regions case, former members of the "Star" class.
Though "Venus" and "Mercury" were a strange choice, maybe someone at Crewe liked planets?

 

Look at what the planets are named after...

 

Two possibly three were destined for the Somerset & Dorset, but as for the other two?
Anyone able to help out please?

 

Kent coast expresses according to Wiki, including the Golden Arrow.

 

...because there were never enough pacifics on the Southern [1]

I do wonder why that was done. Where was actually short of such a power class? If anywhere wasn't it was the short runs and imminent electrification of the eastern division of the Southern.

[1]obv, you can never have too many pacifics, but still...

 

Think they were intended to do the work that the Standard (Arthurs) fives ended up on...

 

Do we know to what end was that? To improve schedules or train size? It would seem that there is a vanishingly small window between light pacifics and std 5s for an, erm, lighter Pacific?

 

A west Country Pacific 34004 Yeovil had shown what a Class 6 could do on the Highland line - "Allen estimates the net gain on schedule by Yeovil and her crew to be 20½ minutes, “a first class performance” - see https://svsfilm.com/nineelms/srexch.htm and scroll down a bit

There must have been a bit of a debate about what to do about the Merchant Navys and Wes Countrys in the early 1950s. One option could have been to substitute Standard Class pacifics but the decision was taken to rebuild the SR Pacifics.

 

Was not the original Standard 5 proposal for a 'pacific'?

 

Indeed.

 

Yes, correct. The original proposal was for a Standard Class 5 Pacific. Bond, in his autobiography says that "the new 4-6-2 was going to weigh 11.5 tons more tan the average of the existing Class 5 engines" He says that the saving in coal from the larger grate area would be almost exactly balanced by increased annual charges due to the higher first cost. He says he suggested a larger boiler to increase the free area through the tubes as a Class 6.

 

You could soon shave that off with some bfb wheels and a non-metallic air-smoothed casing...

 

Cool.

 

Prefer the Southern Standards, Ivatt Tanks and Non-BP power types to the BP's.

 

.... plus nice alloy nameplates .... if we're heading down that route.

 

Always wondered why, with the Bulleid Pacifics as an obvious inspiration for the Standard Pacifics, BFB wheels were not adopted for the standards - perhaps they simply didnt look Horwich enough, similarly why design a new boiler for the Brit when the Light pacific one was so good ?