Best British Locomotive

And there's me thinking that was "Baltics".

 

You do realise that The Great Bear is a constellation?

 

Really ? are you Sirius ?

(sorry, ill get coat)

Duchess/ A1/a2 50sq feet Duke / Mm about 48 IIRC

 

'Spose we should be thankful the GW didn't get round to extending their astronomical naming policy to a sequential boogie through the "New Galactic Catalogue". Good for a class of 7,840 locos, but if you thought the "Hall" theme got tedious .....

 

Do you mean the New General Catalogue?

 

Completely off topic, had a meeting with a guy at a country house this week. Wandered into the main hall and there on the wall was the nameplate off the relevant Hall Class, made my day.

 

"Entrance Hall" presumably.

PH

 

Yep ..... that'll be the one!

 

Mr Riddles was not impressed by LNER Pacifics in a foreword for a Pacific book 1961.To big wheels and boiler.Is a book from 1961 still copyrigth?

 

Yep. (70 years after author's death or 25 years after first publication, whichever is the later). There's no problem with quoting very short extracts though if you give the source.

 

I'm green with envy! The only one of them that I've driven and fired is Tornado. I could keep up with its demand for coal quite easily, but then we were only doing 25mph!

If you feel like expanding a bit, I would find it fascinating to read your comparative assessment of the others you mention, from a driver's point of view.

 

Hear,Hear, Me too

 

OK Will start new thread and see if I like prison food.

 

I'm sorry old chap; I'm afraid that's classified, in order to protect the guilty, you understand!

 

Can we use a boy scout code?
British unbraked goods is 15 mph
Half CoT is 50 mph
Half down Duck is 62 mph Etc?

We die without a steady supply of real steam information?

 

Sorry,

I was not attempting to excite envy; it's just what happened. You have actually answered your own question above. I, too, was limited to 25 mph (ish) and, mostly, with loads well below the engines' capacities. Comparisons are, necessarily, a tad irrelevant due to the aforementioned, and to the general state of the engines themselves, which are maintained to extremely high standards by their respective support groups. This, in my experience, has meant that they are all dreams to drive.

I have written articles for the SVR News magazine about several of them, some of which have been printed:-

To summarise:

46229. I drove the Duchess at the Great Central Railway as a Christmas present from my wife, and reached 55 mph on their billiard table. This was a dream come true. I felt totally at home on the footplate. It was like a very big Black Five.

46201. True LMS royalty. I collected this from the main line at Kidderminster, turned it on the turntable and took 9 coaches, plus a Black Five to Bridgnorth, with consummate ease. Sheer elegance personified - and it is big - very big. I loved it.

60009. My one and only A4. I was expecting an 8f, and got this on a 10 - coach train on a 1940s weekend. Somewhat scared at first, totally in love after 5 miles. What a machine, and what a Kylchap rasp. I get it. I completely get it.

60153. This machine has just done 100 mph on the main line. It has nothing left to prove. I had it on a photo charter last year. My fireman and I loved it, had no difficulty keeping it in steam, and it just goes into the "I can't believe I'm doing this," category.

6023. I copped for this on an ASG a couple of years ago, to my surprise. What a sweetheart!. I fired it from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, so my fireman could drive it - and so I can say, "I've fired a King." That 11' 6" firebox is seriously long! It is docile in first valve, but open it into main valve and it accelerates like a Saturn V rocket. Silky smooth ride.

7029. I fired this to my mate, Gerry Carter, in the 80s. What a machine! "Halls,""Manors," 73XXs, are all great to work on, but "Castles," are Bentleys to Ford Granadas, Cortinas, etc.

So, There you have it. All of them are kept in tip - top condition by dedicated crews, and there is little to choose between them. As always, in steam days, crews may make the difference.

Enjoy our abundance!

Regards,

jtx

 

Much appreciated!

 

No I did not.

Where did you learn No.111 was to be named after one of the constellations?

 

How about Google or any of the other search engines out there. Or The Sky at Night as the Great Bear along with Orions belt, the Plough and many others to numerous to mention here. So .

 

The Plough and Orion's Belt are groups of stars within constellations Ursa Major (Great Bear) and Orion.

Quite a few constellations had previously been used to name broad gauge locos, probably because they are also signs of the zodiac or Greek mythical figures.