Condensing apparatus on steam locomotives.

I believe some of the earlier NLR 4-4-0T were fitted with condensing equipment. At least, David Smith in "The Little Railways of South West Scotland" states that, according to a reliable witness, the three sold to the Girvan & Portpatrick Junction Railway arrived with this equipment, or the remains of it.
The book is an excellent read, although very tangential to this thread!

 

Thanks for this information. An interesting point about condensing locos is that they "consumed" their own steam, but surely smoke was more of a hazard in tunnels, and particularly underground stations.

 

Not sure about that, at least from a 19th century point of view of having far less knowledge about the long-term health effects of smoke. Excess steam, on the other hand, would have had a direct, tangible impact on operations, firstly by restricting visibility, secondly by forming condensation that would drip down onto the walls and metalwork (and passengers!) underground.

Tom

 

I've been trying to find a quote I remember reading years ago (but failing) that said that some doctors recommended a ride in the smoke filled tunnels as a means of curing respiratory symptoms. In much the same way that it was once thought that smoking could help kill bugs that caused illness.

The idea of condensation dripping off soot covered ceilings in stations is one that I hadn't thought of!

Steve B

 

Waddon has the pipework still and so does Boxhill...

 

Waddon's is cosmetic and Boxhill's probably is too - see this post from a rather wonderful thread about Waddon's most recent restoration, which also tells us quite a lot about the original preservation and restoration of both locomotives.

 

The Wisbech and Upwell locomotives exhausted straight into the tank, which was a large rectangular box of the same 'footprint' as the loco, and something like 18" deep, presumably with a cut out for the ashpan and outer box. I understand that due to BoT regulations regarding not scaring horses there was no blast pipe, consequently the blower was used constantly (that wouldn't scare horses would it?) the water in the tank got so hot that it had to be drained every trip (about 7 miles) and refilled with cold, in the case of Upwell from an otherwise redundant tender.

Regarding the KESR Terriers, I understand that No.3 Bodiam (Poplar) had a pet cock on the pump, whilst No.5 Rolvenden (Wapping) had a copper pipe running back to the cab with the pet cock inside the cab. The existing No.3 was recovered from the Rolvenden scrap line in the 1930's and re-built using No.5 as a donor. In around 1947 it was re-built with an A1X boiler by KESR Men (possibly Nelson Wood and Monty Baker) at St Leonards shed, presumably losing the pumps and gaining injectors at the same time.