Locomotive Portfolios
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The Modified Bulleid Pacifics
by Tim Hillier-Graves
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Oliver Bulleid's Pacifics were perhaps the most controversial steam locomotives ever built in Britain. They seem to been loved and loathed in equal measure and the debate over their strengths and weaknesses took on a new dimension when BR decided to modify them in the 1950s. It was argued that they were too costly to operate and maintain by comparison to other types available. Their time out of service, due to breakdowns, was also increasing to an unacceptable level, and some of Bulleid's innovations were believed to be more hindrance than help. Rightly or wrongly BR were faced with a costly scrap and build program or seek to make the engines more reliable. To Ron Jarvis, an engineer of note, fell the job of saving Bulleid's enigmatic locomotives in a bid to satisfy the demands of the service. And he displayed a master's touch in the program that followed, saving the best of Bulleid's work and adopting other established design principles. What emerged was described by Bert Spencer, Gresley's talented assistant, as taking 'a swan and creating a soaring eagle.' This book explores all the elements of the lives of these Pacifics and their two designers. It draws on previously unpublished material to describe their gradual evolution, which didn't start or finish with the 1950s major rebuilding program.
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Great Western, Grange Class Locomotives
Their Design and Development
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Churchward proposed a 5ft 8in wheeled 4-6-0 for mixed traffic duties in 1901 and it was seriously considered in 1905, but it took until 1936 before his successor, Charles Collett, realized the plan by persuading the GWR Board to replace many of the 43XX moguls with modern standard mixed traffic engines that bore a remarkable likeness to the Churchward proposal. David Maidment has written another in his series of 'Locomotive Portfolios' for Pen & Sword to coincide with the construction of a new 'Grange' at Llangollen from GW standard parts to fill the gap left by the total withdrawal and scrapping of one of that railway's most popular classes — to their crews at the very least. As well as covering the type's design and construction, the author deals comprehensively with the allocation and operation of the eighty locomotives and in particular has researched their performance and illustrated it with many examples of recorded logs from the 1930s as well as in more recent times. As in previous volumes, the author has added his own personal experiences with the engines and has sourced more than 250 photos, over 40 of which are in color.
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The Metropolitan-Vickers Type 2 Co-Bo Diesel-Electric Locomotives
From Design to Destruction
by Anthony P. Sayer
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This book provides an in-depth history of the Metropolitan-Vickers diesel-electric Type 2 locomotives, more frequently known collectively as the "Co-Bo's" due to their unusual wheel arrangement. Twenty locomotives were, constructed during the late-1950s for use on the London Midland Region of British Railways. The fleet was fraught with difficulties from the start, most notably due to problems with their Crossley engines, this necessitating the need for extensive rehabilitation work during the early-1960s. Matters barely improved and the option to completely, re-engine the locomotives with English Electric units was, debated at length, but a downturn in traffic levels ultimately resulted in their demise by the end of 1968 prior to any further major rebuilding work being, carried out. Significant quantities of new archive and personal sighting information, supported by over 180 photographs and diagrams, have been brought together to allow dramatic new insights into this enigmatic class of locomotives, including the whole debate surrounding potential re-engining, their works histories, the extended periods in storage, together with in-depth reviews of the various detail differences and liveries.
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Great Western: The German Pacific Locomotive
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
The German Pacific Locomotive (Its Design and Development) is David Maidments fourth book in the series of Locomotive Profiles published by Pen & Sword. It is the first in the series to tackle an important range of overseas steam locomotives, the German pacific locomotives, which, with the Paris-Orleans pacific in France, were the first of that wheel layout in Europe and came to be the dominant type for express passenger work throughout Western Europe for the following fifty years, until displaced by diesel and electric traction. The German railways in the first two decades of the twentieth century were run principally as regional State railways, and two distinct styles of design developed, which were influenced by the natural terrain. In the south, in the mountainous foothills of the European Alps, four cylinder compound locomotives with comparatively small coupled wheels, most produced by the famous firm of Maffei in Munich, held sway from 1907 until the late 1930s, and in parts of Bavaria that were not yet electrified, even until the early 1960s. In the flatter lands of the north, Prussian 4-6-0s sufficed until Paul Wagners standard two cylinder simple pacifics came onto the scene in 1925, and were followed by the three cylinder streamlined pacifics at the start of the Second World War. After addressing the devastating damage to the German railways in the conflict, the book follows the modernization of the locomotive fleet in the postwar period until the elimination of steam in both East and West Germany in the mid-late 1970s. The book describes the design, construction and operation of the full range of pacifics that ran in both parts of Germany, and the large numbers of these locomotives that have been preserved, and is illustrated with over 180 black and white and 80 colour photos.
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Stanier
Black Five Locomotives
by Keith Langston
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
It is possible that in the history of British steam locomotives no class of engine was ever more universally popular than the Stanier 5MT 4-6-0 class, which were generally referred to as Black Fives. This informative book includes numerous images of the class at work, many of which are published for the first time.
Introduced by the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1934 the building of the 842-strong class was shared between the locomotive works at Crewe, Horwich and Derby and also by the private builders Armstrong Whitworth Ltd. and Vulcan Foundry Ltd. With the exception of a pause in production during the war time years Black Five locomotives continued to be built until May 1951, when the last example was out-shopped from BR Horwich Works. Only four examples of the class were named, but a fifth locomotive was allocated a name which it reportedly never carried.
They were often referred to as the finest mixed-traffic locomotives ever to run in Britain. William Arthur Stanier joined the LMS in 1932 having previously served the Great Western Railway (GWR) at Swindon Works, doubtless his LMS 2-cylinder tapered boiler Class 5 4-6-0 design reflected his Swindon experiences.
This highly efficient and reliable general-purpose design (in several variants) could generally be seen at work over all of the former LMS network, from Thurso in the north of Scotland to Bournemouth (Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway) in the south of England. They became the ultimate go everywhere steam locomotives, working all manner of trains from slow goods to express passenger services.
In 1967 just prior to the end of steam, British Railways remarkably listed 151 Stanier Black Fives as serviceable locomotives. A total of 18 Stanier Black Five locomotives survived into preservation, with the majority of those having been returned to steam.
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Oliver Bulleid's Locomotives
Their Design & Development
by Colin Boocock
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
A history of the man who served as Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Southern Railway and the many locomotives he developed.
Oliver Bulleid's locomotives guides the reader in the quest to understand what motivated Mr. Bulleid in his work as a senior engineer and manager, and tries, with as little bias as is reasonable, to make sense of some of the more controversial aspects of his activities. For example, why did OVB not pursue the ideal of a 2-8-2 for the Southern Railway? How did the 'Leader' project go so much out of control? What role did Bulleid play in the massive dieselization program in Ireland when he was CME there? How did the 0-6-6-0T turf-burning steam locomotive fit in with Ireland's traction policy, or did it? And why did ninety of his steam locomotives and ninety-four of 'his' diesels have to be rebuilt to make them either more economical or more reliable?
These are fundamental questions to which the book provides the reader with answers based on the author's experiences or on those of people who knew Bulleid. OVB's undoubted successes are illustrated in words and photographs, too, to provide a hopefully balanced picture of one of Britain's more exciting railway engineers.
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Great Western Pannier Tank Classes
An Overview of Their Design & Development
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This comprehensive and fully illustrated history presents an in-depth look at the Great Western Railway's various pannier tank engines.
Though hauling freight was a vital part of Great Western Railway's history-and where it made the majority of its profit-there are few books devoted to the stout, powerful engines that did the work. In Great Western, Pannier Tank Classes, British Railways expert David Maidment corrects that oversight. This volume explores the large number of 0-6-0 saddle tanks built for both the Great Western Railway and the independent railway companies in South Wales, most of which were converted to pannier tanks in the Churchward and Collett eras.
While covering the Armstrong and Dean engines in detail, Maidment goes on to describe the design, construction and operation of the largest class of steam engines built in the UK in the last century: Charles Collett's GWR 5700 class, examples of which were still being built after nationalization. Collett also designed pannier tank engines for branch passenger and freight work, and his successor Frederick Hawksworth continued the GW tradition with a tapered boiler version. All of these are discussed in depth in terms of their design and service. A concluding chapter covers further designs that were never built.
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Southern Maunsell 4-4-0 Classes
(L, D1, E1, L1 and V)
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This book is one of the Pen & Sword Locomotive Portfolio series and covers the rebuilding by Richard Maunsell of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway 'D' and 'E' 4-4-0s as 'D1' and 'E1' locomotives with higher pressure boilers and long-travel valve events following the Churchward principles. The book also covers the SE&CR 'L' class designed by Maunsell's predecessor, Harry Wainwright, with modifications made by Maunsell just before their delivery in 1914. Maunsell then designed a further 2 cylinder 4-4-0, the 'L1' for the Victoria — Folkestone 80-minute expresses of the mid-1920s and finally the 3-cylinder 'V' (the 'Schools' class), his masterpiece, for express services on all three constituent parts of the Southern Railway. Design, construction, operations and performance of these locomotives are described and profusely illustrated with over 300 black & white and color photos from their construction right through to their final demise in 1962, together with an update on the three 'Schools' that have been preserved and operate on Britain's heritage steam railways.
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The North British Type 2 Bo-Bo Diesel-Electric Classes 21 & 29
Design, Development and Demise
by Anthony P. Sayer
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This book covers the history of the early diesel classes 21 and 29, which were constructed by the North British Locomotive Company in the early 1960s for the Scottish region of British Railway. Both classes were not very successful and were all withdrawn within ten years of entering service.
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The Lms Princess Coronation Pacifics
The Final Years & Preservation
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This book follows on from the author's book on the Princess Coronation pacific locomotives from their construction in 1937 to their operation in 1956. It picks up from the story in 1957 with their operation and performance on the 'Caledonian', 'Royal Scot' and 'Midday Scot' accelerated services of the late 1950s, their continuing heavy work as dieselization of the West Coast mainline is implemented and the sudden withdrawal of the remaining examples at the end of the 1964 summer timetable. Included are the author's personal experiences and photographs and the descriptions by three Crewe men who fired these engines on the heavy overnight Crewe – Perth sleeper services in the late 1950s, two of whom, Les Jackson and Bill Andrew, drove 6229 and 6233 in the preservation era. As well as their stories of their experiences in BR days, they describe runs with the preserved locomotives and have included photographs from their personal collections. Crewe Works fitter, Keith Collier includes his experiences of their maintenance and the author in conclusion compares them with the finest steam locomotives of France, Germany and the USA.
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L & S W R Drummond Passenger & Mixed Traffic Locomotive Classes
A Survey & Overview
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
A detailed look at the nineteenth-century steam locomotive engineer and the ups and downs of his career, with numerous photos throughout.
Born in Scotland in 1840, Dugald Drummond had a long career in locomotive and railway engineering, including prominent positions on the Highland; London Brighton & South Coast Railway, North British, and Caledonian Railways, before arriving on the London & South Western Railway in the mid-1890s. There he replaced his mild-mannered and better-liked predecessor, William Adams.
His locomotives were a mix: His 4-4-0 tender and 0-4-4 tank classes were very good, but his 4-6-0 tender locomotives proved a disappointment, with the exception of the T14 class, which lasted in service until 1951. Many of his 4-4-0 tender and 0-4-4 tank locomotives, the T9 and M7 classes, lasted until the early 1960s on British Railways.
As a result of his stubborn nature, Drummond died in 1912 after an accident that scalded his feet, having refused to get proper treatment. But much of his work lived on for decades, and examples are preserved today in the National Collection and on the Swanage Railway.
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Great Western, 0-6-2 Tank Classes
Absorbed & Swindon Designed Classes
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Descriptions and hundreds of photos of these tank engines that played a major role in Welsh coal mining and passenger rail.
After tackling the Great Western Railway's pannier tanks in a previous Locomotive Portfolios volume, David Maidment seeks out descriptions and photographs of the GW 0-6-2 tank engines, the majority of which were built by the Rhymney, Taff Vale, Barry, and other Welsh railways from the last decade or so of the nineteenth century onward. The engines of eight different companies, absorbed by the GWR in 1922, are described and illustrated, as well as the way in which many were modernized and rebuilt at Swindon or Caerphilly Works in the 1920s.
GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles Collett was, however, faced with a motive power crisis in the mining valleys at the Grouping, as many of the companies had economized on essential maintenance as the GW's takeover drew near, and he had to hurriedly design a standard 0-6-2T to complement and bolster their work as the powerful GW 2-8-0Ts were too heavy and wide for many of the Cardiff valleys. These engines, the 56XX & 66XX classes, became part of the South Wales scene between 1925 and 1964, mainly running the coal traffic between pits and docks, although they dominated Cardiff Valley passenger services until the influx of BR 3MT 2-6-2Ts and GW 41XX 2-6-2Ts in 1954 and 1955. With around 300 black & white photographs, this book takes a wide-ranging look at these locomotives.
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Great Western, King Class 4-6-0s
From Construction to Withdrawal
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
An in-depth look at the British railway company's celebrated class of steam locomotives, with more than three hundred photos.
Built by Collett in 1927 after pressure to restore the Great Western Railway's pre-eminence in motive power and cope with increasing postwar traffic to Devon and Cornwall holiday resorts, the thirty Kings were the final development of the Churchward Stars and the 1923 Castles and remained on top-link main line duty until their final replacement by the 'Western' class 52 diesel hydraulics in 1962.
This book includes an insight into the thinking of some of Collett's senior staff at the end of the 1930s and the eventual transformation in the latter years with redraughting and double chimneys. As well as describing their design and construction, the book comprehensively covers their operation and performance, backed up by many recorded logs on all main GW/WR routes over which they were permitted. The author had close experience of the class when working at Old Oak Common between 1957 and 1962, and includes a chapter of his experiences with them, including many footplate trips (as a management trainee, he was greeted with glee by firemen who would hand him the shovel).
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Southern Railway, Lord Nelson Class 4-6-0s
Their Design & Development
by Tim Hillier-Graves
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
A pictorial history of the sixteen-member British steam locomotive class all named after famous admirals.
The Lord Nelson Class has come to be viewed as an "also ran" amongst express locomotives and is largely overlooked for that reason. It had the misfortune to be sandwiched on Southern metals between the classic and much revered King Arthurs and Schools and by Bullied's controversial Pacifics. In such company any design might suffer by comparison. And yet when first appearing they attracted plaudits from railway professionals, including the footplate crew, and the public alike. But with only 16 being built their impact was muted and any faults in their design were magnified beyond their actual impact. In truth they deserved far better than this and were, in fact sturdy, reliable performers that served the company well on the heavy boat trains for which they were designed and across their other passenger services for 30 years and more in peace and war.
Much has been written about these locomotives, but no story is ever complete, with new information and photographs emerging to deepen our understanding of them. This book provides an in-depth view that re-examines these impressive engines using, new material, eyewitness accounts, contemporary assessments and more than 200 photographs and drawings.
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Great Western, 0-6-0 Tender Goods Locomotive Classes
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
A comprehensive history of all the 0-6-0 tender locomotives built by the Great Western Railway or by railways absorbed by the GWR. This book is a comprehensive history of all the 0-6-0 tender locomotives built by the Great Western Railway or by railways absorbed by the GWR from the very earliest broad gauge engines designed by Daniel Gooch to the Collett 2251 class of the 1930s some of which were still under construction at nationalisation. It includes the Joseph Armstrong 'Standard Goods' and the famous Dean Goods, many of which served overseas in the two world wars. The text of 40,000 words describes the design, construction and operation of eight GW and five 'Absorbed' broad gauge classes, and thirteen GW and thirteen 'Absorbed' standard gauge classes. The book has over 250 black and white and 30 color photos, weight diagrams and drawings.
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Colonel Stephens Light Railway Locomotives
by Brian Janes
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Holman Fred Stephens (1868-1931) set himself up in the 1890s as an engineer and manager of the complete light railway as evolved by Victorian theorists to serve rural districts as yet bereft of the benefit of cheaper transport. To them, a light railway was not an assemblage of second-hand mainline equipment of dubious merit but of fit for purpose, new material. This ideal theory did not survive the near universal inability to raise sufficient capital to build and equip a light railway that would give a reasonable profit. Recourse was therefore made to the second-hand market.
Stephens became a master at the art of building and running railways with the minimum of capital. The history of the mechanical performance of his railways was also nearly always handicapped with inadequate engineering facilities. This left staff struggling, often surprisingly successfully, with a menagerie of locomotive types.
Limited standardization was practiced but most often expediency ruled. This gave rise to a glorious kaleidoscope of locomotives the history of each of which is outlined This variety was further colored by Stephens generally regarding a locomotive name as far more important than its number.
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Four-Coupled Tank Locomotive Classes Absorbed by the Great Western Railway
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This book is a comprehensive history of the four coupled tank engines absorbed by the Great Western Railway – locomotives of nine Broad Gauge companies, nineteen Standard Gauge companies, mainly in the South West which became part of the GWR between the 1870s and 1914, and a further eighteen companies, mainly in South Wales absorbed by the GWR in 1922 and 1923 at the formation of the 'Big Four' Grouping. The locomotives described and illustrated range from the 4-4-0 Broad Gauge saddle tanks of the South Devon and Bristol & Exeter Railways to the large 4-4-4 tank locomotives of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway, not forgetting the numerous and varied 0-4-0 pug saddle tanks of the Swansea Harbour Trust and the Powlesland & Mason company. The book includes thirty-two weight diagrams and nearly 200 photographs, many of exotic and rare locomotives.
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L N E R 4-6-0 Locomotives
Their Design, Operation & Performance
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
L N E R 4-6-0 Tender Mixed Traffic Locomotives covers the design, construction, operation and performance of all 4-6-0 locomotives that ran on the London & North Eastern Railway between 1923 and 1947 and the LNER designed engines that ran on BR's Eastern Region until the end of BR steam in 1968. This includes the former Great Central 4-6-0s of classes B1—B9 (the B1 and B2 later reclassified B18 & B19); the North Eastern Railway B13-B16s; the Great Eastern B12s; and the LNER B17s, the Thompson B1s and rebuilds (B2 and B3/3). The book has over 60,000 words and 350 black & white and color photographs, many previously unpublished from the archives of the Manchester Locomotive Society at Stockport. It will be of particular interest to railway modelers and enthusiasts of locomotive running and performance as well as those seeking more general locomotive history. The book is designed and written in the same style as David Maidment's previous Locomotive Portfolio books on engines of the Great Western and Southern Railways, and includes where possible his own experiences, seeing and traveling behind engines of these classes in the 1950s and early 1960s, especially the B1s, B12s and B17 'Sandringhams'.
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Locomotives of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway
A Definitive Survey, 1854–1966
by Tim Hillier-Graves
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Although closed to traffic in 1966, with most of its infrastructure swiftly destroyed by British Railways, this unique railway line still lives in the minds of many, some too young to remember it in its heyday. For more then a hundred years it courted disaster and could on a number of occasions have succumbed to overpowering financial pressures, but it survived with the help of partnerships with larger, more secure companies, namely the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway. Later on, after the grouping in 1923, the line came under the control of the L M S and the Southern Railway. It was unfortunate that the line suffered in later years, from inter regional rivalry between the Western and Southern Regions of British Railways, which led to its eventual closure. The variety of companies involved in its running meant that during its lifetime the small pool of locomotives needed to service the line was supplemented by the best each partner could offer. So from the beginning to the end there were a myriad number of types of locomotive running over the Mendips providing a lively variety of motive power. This heavily illustrated book traces this unique and fascinating history and brings to life this singular, much missed and loved railway.
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North Eastern Electric Stock, 1904–2020
Its Design and Development
by Graeme Gleaves
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
The north east of England was the cradle of Britain's railways in the 19th Century. It was here George and Robert Stephenson would shape the steam locomotive. Then in the early 20th Century a second transport revolution took place around Newcastle when the suburban lines from the city to the coast were electrified in response to competition from the electric trams. What was created became the blueprint for modern day commuting. This book tells the story behind the creation of that network, the trains that served it. The narrative goes through the success and expansion years and ultimately the troubles that led to its demise. Our story comes full circle with the creation of the Tyne & Wear Metro, a ground breaking transport system that, like the electrified lines nearly 80 years earlier, set a new standard for suburban rail that would be the inspiration for schemes in many other parts of the country.
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The Clayton Type 1: Bo-Bo Diesel-Electric Locomotives-British Railways Class 17
Development, Design and Demise
by Anthony P. Sayer
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
The Claytons were originally conceived as the British Railways "standard" Type 1 diesel-electric locomotive, superseding other Type 1 classes delivered as part of the 'Pilot Scheme' fleet. The early classes suffered from poor driver visibility, and the plan from 1962 was for subsequent trip-freight and local yard shunting locomotives to be center-cab machines with low bonnets to dramatically improve visibility. To this extent the Claytons were highly successful and popular with operating crews. However, the largely untested high-speed, flat Paxman engines proved to be highly problematical, resulting in deliveries being curtailed after 117 locomotives. Further requirements for Type 1 locomotives after 1965 were met by reverting to one of the original 'Pilot' designs! Deteriorating traffic levels ultimately led to the Claytons being withdrawn from BR service by December 1971. Considerable amounts of archive material have been unearthed to enable the issues surrounding the rise and fall of the 'Standard Type 1' locomotives to be fully explored. Further sources provide insights into the effort and money expended on the Claytons in a desperate attempt to improve their reliability. Individual locomotive record cards, together with personal sighting information, allow histories of each class member to be developed including allocations, works visits, liveries and disposal details. Supported by over 280 photographs and diagrams, dramatic new insights into this troubled class have been assembled for both historians and modelers alike.
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Southern Railway
Maunsell Moguls and Tank Locomotive Classes
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Southern Maunsell Moguls and Tank Engines is a volume in the series of Locomotive Profiles being published by Pen & Sword. It describes the conception, design and construction of the two- and three-cylinder 2-6-0s initially the Ns constructed at the end of the First World War, many at government initiative by the Woolwich Arsenal and their three-cylinder variants, the N1s. It also describes in similar fashion the class K River 2-6-4 tank engines, their riding problems and the decision to convert them as class U two-cylinder moguls after the disastrous Sevenoaks derailment in 1927. The solitary K1 three-cylinder 2-6-4T was similarly converted as the prototype three-cylinder U1 with new build Us and U1s following in the early 1930s.
The moguls, originally built by Richard Maunsell for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, became the standard mixed traffic locomotives throughout the Southern Railway for virtually the whole of its existence and many remained until near the end of BR Southern Regions steam stock in 1965/6. After the experience with the passenger 2-6-4 tank engines, Maunsell restricted his larger tank engine designs to freight work the class W for heavy cross-London interchange freight traffic and the Z0-8-0T for heavy shunting and banking work. Maunsell also redesigned some elderly LB&SCR E1 0-6-0Ts for branch line work in rural Devon and North Cornwall, providing a radial axle as 0-6-2T class E1/R. The book covers the allocation, operation and performance of these classes and includes some personal reminiscences of the author who experienced the moguls at first hand. It also covers the sale of some of the Woolwich moguls to the CIE in Ireland and the conversion of a number to 2-6-4 freight tank engines for the Metropolitan Railway. The book is lavishly illustrated with over 300 black and white and thirty color photographs.
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Great Western: Halls & Modified Halls
by Laurence Waters
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
The gradual growth of the railways in Britain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in both passenger and freight traffic, saw the requirement for a more powerful and versatile type of motive power mixed traffic locomotives. The construction of Great Western Halls and Modified Halls gave the Great Western a superb all round locomotive, and for thirty-six years they operated passenger and freight services over the Great Western, and later Western Region. The Hall class were among the largest mixed traffic steam locomotives that ran throughout this country, and this is the first serious volume to focus on them in fifty years. The book charts the history of both classes, from their construction and withdrawal, to their design, development and eventual scrapping. With over 200 black and white, and colour photographs, accompanied by informative captions, each member of the classes is excellently illustrated. It will appeal greatly to those interested in the history of Great Western Locomotive development.
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Gresley's Silver Link
The Evolution of the A4 Pacifics 1911–1941
by Tim Hillier-Graves
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
Gresley's A4 Pacifics are arguably the most famous locomotives ever built, a status cemented by Mallard's record breaking run on the 3rd July '38. And yet only a year later the glamorous 'streaks' seemed likely to be cast into obscurity by the coming of another world war. So, for only four exhilarating years they were allowed to flourish as their creator had intended and in that time captured the imagination of railwaymen and public alike. With the help of previously unpublished material the author analyses the complex evolution of the A4s - a project that began in 1911 when Gresley was appointed as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Northern Railway. It is a story with many strands to consider – war, peace and war again, engineering and art, politics and business, recession and social change, the growth of the media and consumerism, the struggle for professional reputations and a growing, deeply damaging international rivalry. All these elements are captured in the story of the A4s in the heady days before conflict ended their brief golden age and Gresley's life came to an end.
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Great Western Castle Class 4-6-0 Locomotives, 1923–1959
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
The Great Western Castles were one of the most successful locomotive designs of the twentieth century in terms of both performance and efficiency. Designed by Charles Collett in 1923, based on the 1907 Churchward 'Star' class, 155 were constructed almost continuously, apart from the war years, between 1923 and 1950, in addition to fifteen rebuilt 'Stars' and one rebuilt from the Great Bear pacific. Many were modernised with increased superheat and double-chimneys in the late 1950s and the class continued to be the mainstay of all Western Region express passenger services to the West Country, South Wales, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and the West Midlands until replaced by the WR diesel hydraulic fleet in the early 1960s. This book covers their design in a chapter written by Bob Meanley, who masterminded the restoration at Tyseley Works of the Castles Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and Clun Castle, and their history, operation and performance from the high speed of the 1930s through to their rejuvenation in the 1950s, leaving experience of their last years and preservation to another volume. David Maidment had close experience of the class when working at Old Oak Common between 1957 and 1962 and includes his personal experiences there and on the road from his first encounter with one as a six-year old boy. The book includes 350 photographs, some 40 in color, and 23 detailed Swindon technical drawings.
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Great Western Castle Class 4-6-0 Locomotives
The Final Years 1960–1965
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
The author's second volume about the Great Western's classic express locomotives covers their final six years in British Railways service. In 1960 the Castles, many now modernized with double chimneys and 4-row superheaters, were still in charge of most of the Western Region's expresses, but by the summer of 1963 their regular express work was limited to the London – Worcester route. Their declining numbers in the last couple of years covered special summer and relief trains, parcels and freight work, deputizing for failed or unavailable diesels and a flurry of excursions and railtours where their prowess could still be demonstrated. The author worked and lived alongside them in these years and the book includes much of his own personal experience on the footplate, on their trains and on shed. The book recaps briefly their first 25 years and covers their history, operation and performance in their final years and is copiously illustrated including over 100 color photographs.
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Four-Coupled Tank Locomotive Classes Built by the Great Western Railway
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This book is a comprehensive history of all twenty-six classes of four coupled tank engines commissioned by the Great Western Railway or built at their Wolverhampton and Swindon Works, from the Broad Gauge 2-4-0 and 4-4-0 tanks of the 1840s and 1850s to the well known Collett 0-4-2 branch line engines of classes 48XX (later renumbered 14XX) and 58XX of the 1930s. As well as the Broad Gauge engines, the strange looking 'Covertibles' of William Dean, a number of experimental 'one-off' designs, the numerous Wolverhampton 0-4-2Ts of the '517' class and the Swindon built '2-4-0 'Metro Tanks' are described with – where known – their allocation and operation. The book includes twenty weight diagrams and nearly 300 photographs, over 50 in color. The four-coupled tank engines absorbed by the Great Western from other companies at or before 1923 will be featured in a separate volume to follow.
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Great Western Castle Class 4-6-0 Locomotives in the Preservation Era
by David Maidment
Part of the Locomotive Portfolios series
This third volume in the series on the Great Western Castle class locomotives focuses on the eight that have been preserved and goes into depth on the reconstruction of three of them, the two Tyseley ones, 5043 and 7029 described by Bob Meanley and Didcot's 4079 recounted by David Maidment from the records of the Great Western Society, including the full story of 4079's prolonged stay in Western Australia, its return to the UK and subsequent restoration. The history of all eight is covered and copiously illustrated, including over 100 color photographs, with many during the restoration work by Bob Meanley and in operation by David Maidment. The book includes records of their operation and performance since restoration when some of the most remarkable performances of these locomotives were achieved.
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