Railway World
Volume 26 (1965)
Key file

Number 296 (January 1965)

G.M. Kichenside. Summer Saturday on the Isle of Wight. 2-9.

Cecil J. Allen. Great Western train services of 1905. Half-a-century of train travel—No. 35. 10-14.

C.W.R. Bowman. Two days with two "Northerns". 16-18.
Canadian National Railways preserved U-2e 4-8-4 No. 6167 and U-2g No. 6218 running between Toronto and Hamilton.

M.R.C. Price. The last railway horses. 18.
Used for shunting at Stoke-on-Trent and at Newmarket

Swindon shed—a 30 year contrast. R.C. Riley. 19.
Empty in 1964: in 1934 contained 0-4-2T No. 3580; 0-6-0ST No. 2007; 0-4-2T No. 4833; ex-MSWJR 0-6-0 No. 1008

John Marshall. Horwich Works — Part 1. 22-6.
Includes a table of locomotive types built at Horwich.

Michael Belshaw. Talyllyn progress, 28-9.

M.G.D. Farr. Stroud Valley railcars. 30-1

R.E.G. Read and Gordon Biddle. Around about our stations. 31.
Photograph of Eastern & Midland Railway initials cast into brackets suppoting platform roof at Yarmouth Beach station

Letters to the Editor. 33-5.

Garstang & Knott End Railway. G.H. Platt.
LNWR Special Tank 0-6-0ST worked on the line: F. Moore photograph provide evidence No. 1325 of this class in Knott End station with a G. & K.E. coach and their outside-framed four-wheeled van. The engine only carried this number from October 1907 to June 1919 which agrees with Bardsley's recollection of the date.
Platt spent two months in Garstang in 1920 and to the best of  his recollection the 2-6-0 tank engine Blackpool was painted black. He did not remember seeing any red locomotives either.

A Batignolles reminiscence . H. Fayle. 34
Referring to the article "A Batignolles Reminiscence" in the October issue, he feared that Mr. Ellis's memory must have failed him: his recollection of the Paris suburban trains went back to 1901 and while there were some double-deck 2nd/3rd class coaches between St. Lazare and Poissy and Nantes, they did not last after 1910. The suburban trains from St. Lazare to Versailles and St. Germain however did not have any 3rd class at all, although on the other railways serving Paris—the Nord, Est and PLM—all three classes were found on the suburban trains, and he believed this also was the case on the Orleans line.

Power loss in locomotives. D.H. Landau
Tuplin cast doubt on the accuracy of various locomotive resistances published in Landau's September letter. These figures were the result of the careful work of the Locomotive Testing Committee. They are the average results of several road tests with each class of engine. The climatic conditions were allowed for, and the figures adjusted, where necessary, to relate to a 7½ rnile/h. 45° headwind. Of course these figures can never be more than a useful guide because of the varying mechanical condition of individual engines, but I hardly think variations as high as 25 per cent are likely.
He must admit, that he was just as sceptical as Tuplin himself when he first became aware of the much higher resistance of the King in comparison to a Duchess . When the following differences in detail design are considered, however, the results seem far more likely than they first appeared.
1. The slightly smaller wheels of the King alone would mean about 3¼ per cent more loss at the pistons, valve gear, and driving wheels at any given speed.
2. The King also differs in having semi-plug type piston valves which detract to some extent from the low friction inherent with the orthodox type of piston valve. This feature, coupled to a heavier valve gear leads one to expect much higher losses in these components. That this is in fact so is fully confirmed by the test results. As the steam rate of an engine increases, the power loss also rises at any given speed. This is entirely because of the increase in valve travel; thus any such increase is a measure of the efficiency or otherwise of the valves and valve gear. At 70 rnile/h., as the steam rate is increased from 20,000 to 30,000 lb/hr. the power loss in the King rises by 50hp whereas the rise for the Duchess is only 15hp.
3. The King has a larger frontal area and the aero-dynamic 'shape' is less clean. (On test the King carried an indicator shelter and this may have inflated the losses a little.)
The high resistance of the King now seems less iuiprobable. It should also be noted that in the opinion of the testing staff the Duchess was one of the freest running engines ever tested. The above might well be the reason why the Kings never quite matched the sparkle of the converted Scots at their best.
John F. Clay is mistaken in thinking that the Duke and Duchess figures have been transposed. He has apparently been misled by certain figures published in a contemporary magazine on two occasions in the last few years. The dbhp values then given for 71000 were in fact the traction dbhp trailing gross weight ratio characteristics (Graph 40 Bulletin No. 15), something quite different. These are figures solely used for train timing purposes. If Mr. Clay still has any doubts, or wishes to know the correct dbhp figures for 71000 (Graph 11), I would willingly loan him the bulletin concerned.

Power loss in locomotives. John F. Clay
My hasty assumption that the resistance figures for the Duchess and No. 71000 had become transposed in Mr. Landau's table was a regrettable over-simplification. The figure of 700hp for No. 71000, however, is at variance with the published 370hp at 70m.p.h. Such a figure seems to be incredibly low but it is supported by the published results of road tests. Compared with a King some improvement might be expected from poppet valves and roller bearings but it is difficult to accept the suggestion that the resistance of a heavier engine was less than half. Is there any logical explanation for such extreme variation? Despite the good test results of No. 71000, on a draw-bar h.p, basis, it was rare to find a practical footplateman with a good word for the engine and it rarely approached a Duchess in ordinary everyday service.

MS & L. locomotives and Ashbourne. Robert Keys. 35
If I may elaborate a little on this point, in view of the remarks made by Messrs. Read and Biddle in their letter in your current issue, in the words of a once-famous radio celebrity, " it all depends what you mean by "-in this case, summer excursions. The MS&L 1.30pm SO train from Manchester to Macclesfield was extended to Alton during the month of October 1882; commencing with the 1883 summer service, some equivalent service became a regular feature, and in July 1883 the running over NSR metals was extended to Ashbourne. The departure from Manchester was at 2pm, and arrival at Ashbourne 4.15; the return journey commenced at 8.15pm. Similar services ran in July, August and September 1890, and again in July 1891. All these were included in the normal summer timetables. Further services were given in later years, until, with the opening of the LNW Buxton to Ashbourne line, the field was yielded to that company, whose route was more direct; but in these cases it has not been established for certain that they were through workings, and not by connecting service from Rocester. There were also odd rogue excursions, and it was presumably one of these whose engine was derailed on May 29, 1894. One of them, at least, was for early risers, since it was due to reach Ashbourne at 7.40am, on June 3, 1882. There were three of these excursions in that year, and five in 1883.

Railway Songs. J.F. Burrell
The writer of the interesting letter on railway songs is in error over the Welsh railway song. The hero was Croshy or Crosher Bailey, a corruption of Crawshay Bailey, who was of the family of famous Iron Masters. It was not a Taff Vale railway song as Bailey's interests lay mainly in the territory covered by the former LNW line from Abergavenny to Merthyr, part of which was built on the site of Bailey's Tramroad.

Railway Songs . Peter L. Bainbridge.
Further to the reply by S. Alasdair Munns in the November issue, the 1964 Topic catalogue includes a record 12Tl04 Steam Whistle Ballads which replaces 10Tl3 and 10T25; the latter was called Second Shift. Included in 12Tl0 is the Song of the Iron Road which was written by Ewan MacColl for the BBC production Ballad of John Axon, first broadcast in 1958. It may be possible to obtain the other songs from this programme from the B.B.C.
Included on l0T25 is the Colour Bar Strike which was written by one of the firemen at Kings Cross mpd on the occasion of the strike in 1957. Although not included in the current lists, this record may still be obtainable.

Signaling miscellany an unusual B.R. signal. 35
Unusual signal illustrated was photographed by C.C. Thornburn, about 200yd west of St. Monance station on the Leuchars Junction-Thornton Junction via St. Andrews line in the Scottish Region. Enquiries reveal that it is a fog marker for use by the signalman in foggy weather. When the fog becomes so thick that the signalman cannot see the marker he must put into operation the signalling regulations for working during fog. Elsewhere, other physical objects, as for example, ordinary signals, telegraph poles or a building, may be employed for the same purpose.

Number 297 (February 1965)

Cecil J. Allen. Half-a-century of train travel—No. 36. LNWR train services of 1905. 42-6.
The complexity of the Anglo-Scottish trains is covered. For instance the 2pm departures from Edinburgh and Glasgow ran separately to Preston and conveyed portions for Manchester and Liverpool. Then they went forward as a single train. At Crewe a slip coach for Nuneton was attached which gave a service to Leicester. The service to Ireland was lavish and included several routes, including Holyhead to Greenore with a connection from there to Belfast.

J.W. Gahan. The "Super Ds" — the last LNWR locomotives on BR. 47-51.
From the Webb original simple which was considered to be an 0-8-0 extension of the 0-6-0 Coal Engine developed three and four cylinder compound versions, the latter including a 2-8-0 variant. Webb's successors gradually converted these to simple expansion, but the process was not complete until after the Grouping. Larger boiler versions were introduced and these were known as the G1 class; the G2 class was introduced shortly before the Grouping and these had higher boiler pressue (175 psi). All locomotives were fitted with Joy valve gear. Gradually all locomotives conformed to the G2 type

All in a day's work. 52-3.
Photo-feature: minor collision at Shepperton when EMU No. 4662 forced off leading bogie.

J. Spencer Gilks. The Reading, Guildford & Reigate. 54-8.
Surveyed by Francis Giles. At its western end it served the fringes of Aldershot at North Camp crossed the route of the Portsmouth Direct line at Guildford (using the LSWR between Ash and there. It was part of the South Eastern Railway and ran trains through to London.

West Country winter. 59-61.
Photo-feature:

John Marshall. Horwich Works — Part 2. 62-5.
Boiler shops, the forge, steel foundry, tinsmiths' shop, brass foundry, central power station, paint shop, testing shop, millwright's shop, fitting and machine shop and huge erecting shop

Michael Farr. GWR diesel railcars. 66-8.
Highly prone to catching fire (illustration of W10W on fire at Bridgnorth on 10 March 1956. Other illustrations show No. 18 at Lambourne with two trailing coaches in 1938; Nos. 35 and 36 with intermediate brake composite and No. 19 at York in May 1944. See also letter on page 281 from S.A. Staddon

R.E.G. Read and Gordon Biddle. Around about our stations: chimneys. 69.
Drawings of chimneys at Louth and at Waverton; photograph of Kings Sutton.

Britain's latest railway museum — Penrhyn Castle. 70-2.
See letter from J.M. Dunn p. 242

G.J. Hoare. Swiss steam special. 73.
Steam powered (2-6-0T) on Furka-Oberalp Railway between Andermatt and Gletsch through the Furka pass run on 27 September 1964.

W.J.K. Davies. Light railway notes. 74-5.
Sucrerie Agricole de Maizy S.A.: 60 cm gauge for harvesting sugar beet

Book reviews. 79-80

History of the Great Western Railway: Volume 2. 1863-1921, by E.T. MacDermot revised by C.R. Clinker. 362pp
Reviewed by HS

Number 301 (June 1965)

J.M. Tolson. The Wrexham & Ellesmere line— I. . 204-7.
The Wrexham & Ellesmere Railway ahd a long gestation period: it was authorised on 31 July 1885, but did not open until 2 November 1895. It was part of the Cambrian Railways which had reached  Ellesmere from Whitchurch on 4 May 1863 and extended to Oswestry on 27 July 1864. The branch was single track and connected with the Great Central Railway at Wrexham. Six 0-4-4T locomotives were ordered from Nasmyth Wilson with three delived in 1895 and the remainder in 1899. They were heavy locomotives by Cambrian standards : three were withdrawn by the GWR in 1923, one in 1928 and the final two in 1932. The Cambrian had introduced push & pull working in 1913 by building a bogie saloon coach using the bodies from two six-wheelers. This seated 10 first and 56 thitd class passengers and had a lavatory compartment. The author travelled in the autocar (as did KPJ in 1960).

Cecil J. Allen. Half-a-century of train travel—No. 40. L & Y train services of 1905. 208-12
Aspinall Atlantics and Hughes 4-6-0s and general survey of services.

Allan P. McLean. The end of Princes Street. 214-16.
Includes a picture of the Ross Fountain in Princes Street Gardens which was originally to have been situated between the Caledonian Hotel and a new station wwhich wads never constructed. It was purcahsed by Daniel Ross and the City of Edinburgh as reluctant to acquire it.

G.M. Kichenside. Back to the beginning – operation during signalling changeovers. 218-21+
With the introduction of power signalling on the West Coast Main Line the transition was carried out by applying hand signalling and absolute block working by telephone.

Merchant Navy class Pacific No. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co. heads down Waterloo to West of England express near Sutton Bingham. 222-3
Colour reproduction of V. Welch painting based on photograph by Clive Seaton.

A.M. Robertson. "Railway cases were seldom trivial" [Dr Watson]. 227-8
Identifies and tabulates the Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle which mentioned railway journeys: the most frequently used line was the London & South Western, then the South Eastern Railway and the Great Western Railway.

Michael Belshaw. Great Northern finale in Londonderry. 229.
A legal battle to keep the GNR(I) Derry Road open had been lost

D.H. Landau. A super "Black Five". 230-1. illustration, diagram
A highly realistic might-have-been of marrying the last Caprotti-fitted Class 5 chassis with the 250 psi No. 2A boiler would have produced a locomotive greater in power and reliability than the Jubilee class.

"Spinner". Spit and polish — 1908 style. 232-3.
Circular from R.M. Deeley, Locomotive Superintendent of the Midland Railway, issued 24 August 1908 announcing an awards scheme for good husbandry of locomotives leading to paid holiday.

W.J.K. Davies. Light railway notes. 236-7
Réseau Breton Mallet 0-6-6-0T 410 class built by Piguet et Cie at Lyon Anzin.

R.E.G. Read and Gordon Biddle. Around and about our stations: Booking halls. 237-8.
Drawing of Kenilworth; photographs of Wolverhampton Low Level and Nottingham Victoria

Book reviews. 239-40

Patrick Stirling's locomotives. L.T.C. Rolt. Hamish Hamilton. 64pp.
M.J. did not like the layout which led to bleeding out of the detail of the locomotives (chimneys missing, etc) and did not like the use of a second colour.

Railways, 1—to the end of the 19th century. T.M. Simmons. HMSO. 48pp. Reviewed by MJ
Guide, with colour illustrations to the railway exhibits.

Letters to the Editor. 240-2.

Penrhyn Castle Museum. J.M. Dunn
May I draw your attention to two points concerning LNWR engine No. 1054 in the excellent article in your February issue? No. 1054 is not fitted with Joy's Valve Gear but with Stephenson—or more correctly Howe's-link motion. No. 1054, as No. 7799 of the LMS was definitely stationed at Bangor in 1929 and would have taken its turn in working regular trains between Llandudno Junction and Afonwen. It was not fitted with the vacuum controlled regulator gear for push-and-pull working until April 1946.

The Locomotive Club of Great Britain: K.A.C.R. Nunn [obituary]. 242
It is with deep regret that we announce the death of our President, K.A.C.R. Nunn, on April 8, at the age of 73.He became our first President in 1949 and frequently attended meetings, dinners and rail tours. He was a keen rail way photographer all his life and a great enthusiast and well known all over the country for his railway articles and photographs. He often gave very interesting lectures which were illustrated by photographs from his famous and historic collection. He was also a great authority on the Great Eastern Railway on which he worked and he retired from British Railways, Eastern Region Public Relations Department in 1951. His helpful and cheerful personality will be sadly missed by all his friends and enthusiasts and the railway world has suffered a great loss with his passing.

Number 302 (July 1965)

J.M. Tolson. The Wrexham & Ellesmere line — II. 244-7+
Description of route as then extant for freight

Steam in Europe: Switzerland, photographed by Brian Stephenson. 248-9

Cecil J. Allen. Half-a-century of train travel—No. 41. Midland train services of 1905. 250-5.
Rather hectic dash through main express train services and associated motive power.

Campbell Highet. Reading in the 1920s. 258-61.
Family moved from Worcester to Reading in 1915. Acquired a quarter plate camera (some of his photographs reproduced). Saw ambulance trains, the Great Bear and was greatly impressed by introduction of 47XX and Castle classes.

Restored LNER Pacific No. 4472 Flying Scotsman approaching Devizes with Ian Allan Pullman: painting by V. Welch. 262-3.
Colour plate: special to Ilfracombe on 19 October 1963: reproduced permnission D. Seaton.

Norman Harvey. Secondary routes in the North East. 266-70+
Performance recorded by Herbert Gelder: D17 No. 1633 hauled Leeds to Bridlington express in 1933; D20 class between Scarborough and Bridlington and reverse in 1931. Records of runs between Bridlington and Hull behind B1 and D49/1 made in 1948. Detailed logs of Driffield to Bridlington trains hauled by K3, D49 and LMS Class 4 2-6-0, and fast running between Hull and Selby behind D49 No. 62722 Huntingdonshire on 20 April 1953.

R.E.G. Read and Gordon Biddle. Around and about our stations: Signs past and present. 274-5.
Includes Staleybridge Joint Railway Station sign which survived into British Railways ownership.

Gatehouse of Fleet church. 275.
Grounded Caledonian Railway carriage.

Book reviews. 279-80

British railway tunnels. Alan Blower. Ian Allan. 108pp. Reviewed by HS
Some mis-spellings noted by reviewer.

The Reseau Breton. R.G. Harman. Branch Line Handbooks. 40pp. . Reviewed by HS
Translation of a French booklet written by Rozé

Swiss motive power survey. C.W. Sex and B.J. Prigmore. Electric Railway Society. 36pp. Reviewed by MJ
Despite the virtual demise of the steam locomotive in Switzerland the country has a considerable attraction for railway enthusiasts who can combine alpine holidays with explorations of the modern and highly efficient Swiss railway network, which features integrated services between the nationalised Federal Railways system and the many private railways. A few years ago the Electric Railway Society produced a booklet Swiss Loco Survey; the present title is an enlargement of the earlier edition brought up-to-date and broadened to include motor coaches and railcars of the principal standard and metre gauge lines. Among the standard gauge railways included are the Swiss Federal, BLS, South Eastern, Bodensee-Toggenburg, Emmental-Burgdorf-Thun group and the Gruyere-Fribourg-Morat, The metre gauge lines include the Rhaetian, Furka-Oberalp, Visp-Zermatt and the Brunig line of the Swiss Federal also such local lines as the Lucerne-Stans-Engelberg and the Montreux-Oberland-Bernois, but not for example the comparable Bernese Oberland Railway from Interlaken or purely mountain railways. Details for each class include the numbering series, wheel arrangements, horse power and thumbnail historical details. The book is sufficiently up-to-date to include the Swiss Federal's new Zurich suburban stock which is only now being delivered. The booklet is a duplicated production but is not illustrated.

The Glasgow & South Western Railway. Campbell Highet. Oakwood Press. 92pp. Reviewed by MJ
The popular series of Oakwood Press railway histories is normally confined to the smaller companies unsuited to treatment in a major history. The latest in the Oakwood library, is devoted to a relatively small company but one which was among the five major Scottish railways, the Glasgow & South Western. It was a compact system, with a virtual monopoly in most of the area it served, although it was in competition with the Caledonian for Clyde Coast and Ardrossan traffic and, in alliance with the Midland, rivalled the West Coast partnership for Anglo-Scottish traffic. Indeed the emnity between the GSW and the Caledonian was considerable and was doubtless behind the GSW's association with the Midland rather than the Caledonian's English partner, the LNWR. In fact the GSW's adoption of Midland red for its coaching stock in 1884 made it seem that the Midland had extended its territory into Scotland. The author describes in some detail the historical develop ment of the GSW and the rivalries with the Caledonian which lasted until the grouping in 1923. The story of the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Joint is itself fascinating especially in the early stages when the Great Northern (of England) and the Belfast & County Down were involved. Like all Oakwood histories, various aspects of the railway are described, including locomotives, rolling stock, signalling engineering works, train services and, in this case, steamer services also. Particularly interesting are the ramifications of the Midland Scottish Joint stock coaches used for Anglo-Scottish services running over the GSW. The Glasgow & South Western was also in the forefront of carriage design and, like its neighbours, produced some of the largest non-corridor stock in the country, 68-70ft in length and carried on 12 wheels. Sixteen pages of half tone illustrations, which have suffered from poor printing, maps and appendices listing mileages, chief officers and dates of openings and closures, but not an Index, complete a compact and entertaining account of one of the lesser publicised railways, which can be recommended without reservation.

Letters to the editor. 281.

Coronation" Class Performance. H.F. Maybank 
In his interesting article" For the Last Time?" in your March issue Norman Harvey mentions the running between Banbury and Paddington on a Locomotive Club of Great Britain special of June 21 last year, by "Coronation" Pacific No. 46251 with an eight-coach train. I was on this special myself, and can confirm from my own observation the high maximum and minimum speeds recorded by Mr. J. G. McEwan. I think, however, that the most remarkable feat by No. 46251 on this occasion was on the Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton section, where we ran the 10.60 miles from Upton Magna to Hollinswood summit (service slack to 45 m.p.h. at Wellington included) in l 0min 3sec. Even with a train of 290 tons only, this was a remarkable performance, if one considers the gradient profile of this stretch-about three-quarters of it uphill at gradients varying between 1 in 220 and 1 in 120. We also touched 90 m.p.h. before making a stop at Cosford. However, I have experienced an outstanding run with a " Coronation" Pacific even more recently than this; the occasion was the Ian AlIan Locospotters' Excursion to Crewe on September 1, this time with No. 46245 and a 10-coach train of about 370 tons gross. Particularly striking was a net time of 82min or less for the 84.10 miles from High Wycombe to Birmingham. From Princes Risborough to. Bicester we averaged exactly 80 m.p.h., and we had minima of 63+ at Ardley and 53 at Hatton.

GWR Railcars. S.A. Staddon
With reference to the recent article in which was mentioned the loan of two railcars to the LNER and to Mr. Bertram's letter on this subject, I recall seeing car No. 19 at Newcastle Central on April 18, 1944; it was then working the Newcastle to North Wylarn service in place of a G5 on a push-and-pull set. This was the type of service on which one would expect a railcar to be tried out and I doubt if it ever worked to Consett. I have never seen a G5 working to Consett and certainly not 1737 which at that time was a Hull engine and has never subsequntly been in the Newcastle district. The Consett line was worked by A8s, N8s and VIs. After a week or two at Newcastle No. 19 went to Starbeck and was tried out on a number of G5 turns from Harrogate—I do not think it ever worked from York. Of railcar No. 6 which was stated to be on loan at the same time I have heard no mention. Perhaps some other reader can say where it worked. The railcar on loan in 1952 was W20W which was on trial around Leeds in August and then in Lincolnshire in September. This would appear to have been in connection with the later introduction of diesel multiple units to these areas.

Number 306 (November)

W.A. Tuplin. The ill-fated "Leader". 413-15.
Someone once said that Bulleid's Southern Region Leader class 0-6-6-0 locomotive was intended as a replacement for the Drummond M7 class 0-4-4T but this may have been just a joke. Yet it is interesting to consider in what field of railway service the special characteristics of the Leader class might have justified themselves.
Its first uncommon characteristic (for such a large locomotive) was that the whole weight including that of fuel and water was carried on driving wheels. The ratio of adhesion weight to total weight was 100% and this cannot be beaten, but in what circumstances is this ratio more valuable than the 0.4 that is representative of steam locomotives for main line passenger service? Only where the resistance to motion is so much greater than usual that the full power of the engine can be demanded at low speed. This is the case either on very steep gradients or during acceleration, that is on mountainous routes or in suburban service with heavy trains and short distances between stops. Great Britain has no busy main lines of the first type, and the other class of service is better covered by multiple-unit electric traction which has the great advantage that the load itself contributes to the adhesion weight.
The problem of designing a long locomotive in such a way that it can run round sharp curves has been tackled in various ways during the history of the steam locomotive, and the one devised by H. W. Garratt in about 1910 is probably the best. At all events, its principle was adopted by Bulleid, and the description by H.A.V. Bulleid in Master Builders of Steam of the Leader as a "sophisticated Garratt" is a good one. In details, however, the " Leader" was well distinguished from all other Garratts, and the "aims" behind the special features were admirable. The welding of joints in the boiler avoided the need for rivets and the "water-legs" or "water-walls" that surround the firebox in the conventional locomotive boiler were abandoned in the Bulleid boiler with the advantage of eliminating hundreds of stays, many of which are prone to fracture. The water-walls were replaced by thick fire-brick walls, but the loss of heat through them was noticeable, without using any measuring instrument, by anyone standing close to them, and one must suspect that the boiler-efficiency was low. To offset this feature were four thermic syphons, which must surely have had stays approximating in total number to those in a conventional boiler of the same size. There have been many attempts in the past to achieve the ideals sought by Bulleid in designing the boiler of the Leader, but none gained lasting success and it may be doubted whether the Bulleid boiler would have proved superior to any of them.
Lubrication of the mechanism of the conventional steam locomotive is wasteful because oil, once used by passing between sliding surfaces, is allowed to leak away beyond recovery. Bulleid was acutely conscious of the difference between this "total-loss" system and the lubrication of a motor-car engine from which, at least until it is considerably worn, the escape of oil is very small indeed. In the Southern Pacifies he attempted to achieve total-enclosure of the running gear of the inside cylinder and of all the valve gear. To make such an assembly oil-tight would be very difficult; indeed the oil-consumption of the Pacifies was as high as that of conventional locomotives of similar size on other lines. Conditions in the Leader may have been more favourable but the engine did not run far enough to demonstrate how efficient it was in this respect.
Each bogie had three cylinders—50% more than was necessary. Each piston worked in a sleeve moved by the valve gear in such a way that holes in the sleeve admitted steam to the cylinder-ends in appropriate relation to the movements of the piston.
Sleeve-valves of this general type were used in motor-car engines about 50 years ago, with the advantage of avoiding the noise made by poppet-valves and their mechanism, but there is no possible gain of this kind in relation to conventional piston-valves in steam engines. The cylinders of the Leader were made to use steam on the Uniflow principle, the exhaust being through a belt of ports spread round the circumference of the cylinder at its middle, and exposed by the piston to the steam in either end of the cylinder when the piston was near the opposite end of its stroke. The system offers the advantage that incoming steam is not cooled by metal exposed to exhaust steam; although this feature has been of use in stationary steam engines, trials of the Uniflow system in locomotives were not sufficiently successful to justify extensive adoption of the principle.
In each power-bogie the three pistons drove cranks in the middle axle, from the outer ends of which chains conveyed torque to the adjacent axles. Chain drives, probably never previously used in an installation of this type and size, were thus employed as an alternative to the well-tried coupling rods.
In place of the conventional axle-boxes sliding vertically in horn-blocks, Bulleid fitted the Leader with axle-guides in which the relative motion was accommodated by shear-deformation of rubber elements. This had the great advantage of avoiding the wear that occurs in conventional hornblocks and the harsh vibration resulting from the fore-and-aft play in running. The elasticity of the rubber is in elementary principle advantageous in diminishing the ill-effects of inaccuracies in chains or coupling-rods but only experience in service could make one quite confident about this.
Long before Bulleid joined the Southern Railway, that company was making much use of electrification and was extending the system. Multiple-unit electric stock was naturally used for the suburban services but electric locomotives seemed likely to be adopted for longer distances. Bulleid was, perhaps, influenced by some idea that compliance with conventional ideas of appearance of electric locomotives might please the management and, if so, this might explain why he enclosed the Leader in a casing of uniform cross section with a passageway connecting driver's compartments at each end. To provide the passageway the boiler had to be offset laterally from the natural central position and ballast had to be added to bring the centre of gravity back to the central longitudinal plane of the locomotive. The enclosure of the boiler in the casing made conditions unbearably hot for the fireman, and a concession was made to him by thickening the brick walls of the firebox and this considerably reduced the grate-area.
It seems that the casing might have been better omitted and that the conventional housing of both men in a central cab would have been a more satisfactory arrangement. Contrary to the opinions of a tramcar-driver, the projection of 40ft of locomotive ahead of the driver does not seriously impede his safe handling of the train and it does give him protection in any head-end collision.
Before there had been sufficient time to test the Leader thoroughly, nationalisation set in and the new regime was not enthusiastic about the sophisticated Garratt. Its design was certainly opposed in many ways to the current concepts of what a steam locomotive should be and it is not surprising that the project was allowed to die. How might an effort have been made to ascertain whether the Garratt had a place in British Railways operation? How might one have tried out the Garratt principle separ- ately from the sophistications that Bulleid built into the Leader? By building a Garratt with no other unconventional feature.
For simplicity each bogie should have two outside cylinders and no others. If the six wheels are to be coupled, the cylinders must be placed either ahead of the wheels or behind them and in either case the overhang is excessive unless a pony truck is added. In that case the wheel- arrangement naturally becomes 2-6-0+0-6-2 which is that of the LMS Garratts of which 33 were in service for almost 30 years. They were used almost exclusively in freight service but after nationalisation they were abandoned in favour of 2-10-0s.
The enclosure of the mechanism had not been successful in the Southern Pacifies and nowhere had the conventional locomotive boiler been superseded by any other type in locomotives with more than 45ft² of grate area. It is thus hard to criticise the BR decision not to press on with trying to perfect the Leader. Before doing so it would have been useful first to see what could be made of the LMS Garratts by remorseless testing in all service conditions and correcting the deficieucies thus revealed. Simultane- ously, the other special features of the Leader might have been tested one at a time in otherwise conventional locomotives, This would have taken time—but time was what Bulleid did not have.
Illustrations:  first of Bulleid's Leader class locomotives. No. 36001 the only one to undergo trials, heads a special train from Eastleigh in August 1950. (S.C. Townroe); first Leader class 0-6-6-0Ts, No. 36001, stands at Eastleigh shed on 21 October 1950. (H. C. Casserley); close view of bogie of Leader class locomotive No. 36003 at New Cross Gate in 1950. On the extreme right can be seen the front of No. 36002.  (K.S. Dobson); partly completed third Leader No. 36003. (H.M. Madgwwick)

Cecil J. Allen. Half-a-century of train travel—No. 45. Great Eastern summer services of 1905. 416-22.

C. Hamilton Ellis. Bavarian baroque. 423+
Cartoon (superior drawing) of locomotive with Hall cranks

J.S. Curtis. Old Euston. Part 3. The new rises from the old. 424-7.
LNWR electrification and BR electrification; chronology and photographs of devastation.

Margaret Wilson. Some impressions of New Zealand Railways. 428-31.
Impressive stations in Aukland and Wellington and suburban electric services at latter.

The Cowes and Ventnor lines. 432-6.
Black & white photo-feature

L.J. Thompson. Northamptonshire tunnels. 437-9.
Kilsby, Catesby and Hunsbury Hill plus completre list and map

J. Graeme Bruce. Q stock metamorphosis. 440-4.
Formed in 1938 from C, D and E classes of District line stock in M-T-T-M-T-M formations where M=motor and T=trailer. There wereo some 2 car units which were added to the east end of the Q sets.

Letters to the Editor. 445

L & Y Club Trains. John Marshall.
Re June issue the reference to the construction of the L&YR Club Train, questioned by Mr. Bardsley,  The answer is that the design work was carried out at Horwich and the coaches were built at Newton Heath, apart from various steel parts such as wheels, axles, springs and drawgear which were made at Horwich. It was a period of administrative change on the L&Y. On July 1, 1899, John Aspinall, who had been in charge of the carriage and wagon department since 1896, became general manager and was succeeded as CME by H. A. Hoy, J. Howarth was works manager at Newton Heath until March 26, 1902, when he was succeeded by H. N. Gresley. There can be little doubt that the design and construction of the Club Train were influenced more by Aspinall than by anyone else.

Reseau Breton. C.F.D. Whetmath
With reference to the review in your July issue of our recent publication" Reseau Breton ", I was surprised to see your reviewer cribbing at the use of the term "narrow-gauge" to describe the metre gauge. As the book does not describe a line in the British Commonwealth the reviewer's comment that it caused confusion to a Commonwealth reader is hardly relevant. All other sources refer to the Reseau Breton as being narrow gauge; I would refer the reviewer, inter alia, to "Railway World" August 1962, "Narrow Gauge Railways in Europe" by P. B. Whitehouse, and" French Light Railways" by W. J. K. Davies, a recent book in which your reviewer failed to comment on the fact.

Reading in the 1920s. E.S. Youldon..  
The article" Reading in the 1920s " suggests that all the 47XX class were turned out with the No. 1 boiler. In fact, only the first, No. 4700 itself was so equipped and ran thus from 1919 to 1921. The remainder, Nos. 4701-8, were built from the start with the larger No. 7 boiler in 1922-23.

R.E.G. Read and Gordon Biddle. Footbridges—1. 450-1.
Photographs of concrete bridge at Wood End platform in 1952; braced girder structure at North Walsham, M&GN in 1954; plate girder structure at Warmley; close-up of GWR maonogram at Box and drawing of ornamental work at Daybrook.

W.J.K. Davies. Light railway notes. 452.
Aberford Railway: private railway which ran from junction with Leeds & Selby line from Garforth. Collieries were served en route.