Pink engine?!

Yes I couldn’t fined my notes. Another good livery is the new Britannia they have built for mission impossible film

 

Wow! I wonder how much better the power-to-weight ratios would have been with the later steam engine enhancements: super-heated steam, long travel valves, higher pressures? Would it have worked OK in the limited UK loading gauge? There might not have been room for sufficient coal & water alongside a large-enough boiler but adding a tender would have made the whole contraption rather too long, and made "bunker first" operation much harder than the "tank loco" version. A 3rd generation version might have used a steam turbine instead of a reciprocating engine. That might have been more successful than the LMS Turbomotive, but would the advantages ever have outweighted the extra weight, complexity and cost, compared to the best conventional locos? The fact that no one ever built one (or did they?) suggests probably not...

 

Clearly, they would be a less efficient version of a later electro-diesel, but in the pre-war period, there would have been a point where it might have worked. Coal and water would depend on what it was used for.

How about an M7 with a power bogie replacing the rear truck? much cruder, you'd have to simply select one handle of the other, but if you could balance the fire so it was ready for shunting and then not burning too much when coasting, you'd have quite an interesting tool

 

A turbine version was what came to my mind. Relative to the LMS turbo motive, you’d save the complexity of clutches and having a separate reversing turbine that was redundant for 99% of the duty. You still wouldn’t have the optimal turbine efficiency of static plant with condensers etc, but maybe they’d be a compensating gain on reduced transmission losses through cables, as well as reduced infrastructure and “go anywhere” ability.

Tom

 

you'd be able to get some improved optimisation presumably (compared to the direct mechanical connection of turbomotive) through the genset. I think the advantage would be purely in go-anywhere capacity. But turbine and flash-boiler arrangements would mean you'd have a lot less wasted fuel when it was on tickover

Of course if you off-set the boiler to one side you could have more room for long kit...

 

Apologies if this has been posted before. On @timmydunn's twitter today.

 

Ah yes, they pop up every now and then - though it surprises me that it was more cost effective to retro-fit existing steam locos than build new electric locos. Maybe it wasn't and that's why they one converted 2?

 

Nice, and with an NBL Warship too...

Richard.

 

The Warship was D601 (Ark Royal).

 

If there was a shortage of coal I wonder if there was a shortage of other raw materials so it may have easier to convert than build a whole new loco from scratch? But that is just a guess.

 

Basically yes. The loco is Swiss; there was a wartime shortage of coal but ample hydro-electric power - so the conversion was quick and fairly low capital requirement (relative to building a completely new electric shunter). After the war, they were converted back to steam. One is currently preserved (but as a conventional steam loco).

http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/swisselec/swisselc.htm

Tom

 

Shame that one succumbed to the torch...

Richard.

 

It was, but doubt much could have been done with it after that long in the open air, our first gen diesel history has been neglected in certain parts, (I’ll pack up my soapbox now)
Wouldn’t it have been nice if the DTG had had their way and managed to save Falcon though?

 

Yes, and Kestrel too. I'd love to have seen that!

Richard.

 

I have a massive thing for Kestrel too, so near yet so far...

 

Me too, it was in a childrens' book of trains when I was a kid (I still have the book), and it looked really interesting with its bulbous cabs and large headcode display - And of course its livery. That memory stuck. I really must get hold of a Heljan model of Kestrel...

Richard.

 

Yes, another ‘Kestrel’ fan.

 

A rather well known photo of Kestrel at Barrow Hill in 1971, but I also love how a certain A2 is in the background. In all honesty this photo shows 2 of my favourite loco’s.

 

Were there any more engines named after birds

 

Kestrel, Falcon and Hawk all came from Falcon works Loughborough, but google is your friend if you want to know classes and names, Mallard and Bittern being the obvious ones.