The LNER Encyclopedia

Re. the posts above about chilly footplates, etc. I wonder how it was on some of the more open cabs like Ivatt Atlantics or some of the sparsely roofed GW locos of old.

It was no wonder that footplatemen were a tough breed .I remember a Skipton man telling me of working over the Settle & Carlisle with snow flakes blowing horizontally through the cab up in the fells. Of the pre-grouping railways the NER must have had some of the best cab protection, though on engines such as the J27s the low tender front meant you still got it if working tender first. On the Blyth and Tyne workings in bad weather the J27s would pass Central Station, Newcastle with a sheet from cab roof to tender and a piece of wood wedged in the space beteen engine and tender. Better than nothing, as long as the sheet didn't blow away!

I recently made a visit to the Alberta Railway Museum here in Edmonton and was surprised to see how open a cab was on one of the locos. Nothing as skimpy as on the UK types I mentioned, but when you consider the kind of winter temperatures we endure here (think minus 40C, and lower still when windchill is involved), you'd have thought that Canadian loco cabs would have been totally enclosed. Yikes!

Steam powered submarines?
Steam powered submarines?

Yes full title K Boats Steam Powered Submarines of WW1

Just a couple of slight design faults, like what happens when water comes down the chimney.

OK I sit corrected about footplates and I accept that. I still think though that you couldn't beat a well stoked pot-belly stove in an Eastern Region van for warmth. Give me one of those on a P-Way job anytime!

Keith

And a det to clear the chimney!

52A wrote:And a det to clear the chimney!

' The guard is the man who sits in the van...' - you know the rest....


No offence intended to guards, past or present (known as YC in LMS/LMR code, still used in my time - XC being loco - thought I'd throw that gem in!)

52A wrote:And a det to clear the chimney!

Guilty as charged, M'Lud.

Malcolm

Never suffered that fate but saw plenty of people that had!

Keith

The Deltics were the logical extension of the LNER high speed policy which saw the development of the A3s and A4s.They were the pinnacle of British diesel engineering ; 3.300 horsepower, a roaring super machine. Lower your voice when you speak of them.

Couldn't agree more.When i started spotting as a lad,Deltics were the A4's of the rails.I still love them to this day.Just wish i had seen them all.Sadly,the diesel gala at Barrow Hill starts the day i go on holiday-how's that for bad planning!

Well Ferrybridge i managed to see all of them the hardest one to see was D9015 Tulyar, I think she must of been in the works when i started spotting. I finally copped her on an up express through Alnmouth circa 1966.

A special moment when you got that,i'm sure.55002 KOYLI was my favourite,as that regiment used to be based in Pontefract barracks,so when it was saved i was chuffed.I cabbed said loco at the Knottingley depot open day,1981 i think it was.Happy days!

Possibly my favourite Deltic moment - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3491861291/

All Deltic moments are favourite moments!

Keith