Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

There are also some line drawings of his proposed designs in H. A. V. Bulleid's "Bulleid of the Southern", and I've also seen a picture somewhere of a model of his intended 'austerity' Pacific based upon the Q1 concept. Now THAT would have been interesting had it come to fruition, and would have had everyone from Stanier downwards pulling their hair out in disgust, methinks...

 

I'm not sure if this has been posted before but I've found a photo of Port Line in BR blue livery that might be of interest to Bullied fans out there.
1950 - ''Port Line'' in Blue.. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

That was probably taken around the time that Richard 'Dick' Hardy arrived at Stewarts Lane. Looks almost ready for the shops, too. If only we could see such a sight again. BR Blue really suited them.

 

It is really quite interesting. Will wait for 35009 to emerge like that.

 

I can recommend 'Locomotives that Never Were' by Robin Barnes. Landscape A4, each 'chapter' is a double-page spread, with one page the story of the loco/locos in question and the other a watercolour by Mr. Barnes of the proposed loco, usually in an operating setting. There are about 40-odd, and it makes for interesting reading and viewing.

Bulleid crops up thrice:

An 0-6-0T version of the Q1 (basically looks liked he lifted the USA 0-6-0T chassis, fitted BFB wheels, and a boiler with Q1 style cladding)

A 4-6-4T version of a WC with inside cylinders - apparently one of the thoughts that culminated in the Leader

A 2-8-2 monstrosity with streamlining in the same vein as No.999, the School that had plywood experimental cladding (that strew itself over northern Hampshire). Shades of the P2 in that last one - he proposed using a method tried on the continent whereby the front driving wheel was on a bogie with the leading wheels, presumably with elaborate connecting rod fittings to allow for the movement.

Won't look much like that though. I think I'd rather see an original WC/BoB painted into blue - ok none of the class carried it, but it would be a more effective representation than on a rebuilt MN (as blue was long gone by the time rebuilding commenced).

 

Some good stuff about the 2-8-2 with drawing here .....

Bulleid's Revolution

 

It's a slight shame that 35009 won't be in Airsmoothed but I thought 35005 as rebuilt in BR Blue looked fantastic so 35009 will as well. Also is it just the images or my eyes but does the Blue on the Merchants appear darker than whats applied to 6023 and 60007.

 

Given the vagaries of colour film of the era; the lighting conditions of the photo; the age of the paintwork (and therefore how much it had weathered) and then multiply by the vagaries of colour reproduction on a computer, and I wouldn't want to pin it down much more than "it's blue"...

Tom

 

Did that actually run? I was under the impression it was a mockup in the workshop only, but never actually went out in anger - but would love to be proved wrong!

Tom

 

I think I have read in a Steam World article from a couple of years ago that '999' did run a couple of trial trips. However, there were no side-windows to speak of as these were painted onto the plywood cab side sheets. Hell knows how they spotted difficult-to-see signals without the fireman leaving his post... Incidentally, I believe the locomotive was 935 'Sevenoaks'.

 

I believe that it ran from Eastleigh to Basingstoke and back, or something approximating to that, and deposited most of the plywood in the Micheldever/Worting Junction area.

 

I've seen a lot of images of them in BR Blue and the colour to me seems darker but as you say lighting, the film etc may make it appear darker. They still looked great though.

 

That must have been a somewhat ... erm ... interesting trip for the crew! I don't suppose it was in gauge for the hastings line either, which afterall was the raison d'etre of the Schools class. But we've drifted onto the wrong Southern CME...

Tom

 

In my younger days I saw a lot of Merchant Navy's in blue and I can say that the photo' of Port Line looks very much like the real colour when it had been on a Loco's and in service for a year or so. Indeed; this is one of the best photo's I have seen in recent years of a wear worn Loco' in this wonderful colour.

 

Is the comment in there true, that the Bulleid boiler was used as the basis for the Britannias? I thought the Brits and 71000 had what was basically a Duchess boiler.

 

Yes, the boilers were pretty similar in terms of length and the use of Southern-type top-feed clack valves above where the injector delivered water into the boiler (ie. towards the smokebox end rather than near the centre). Also adopted was the wide firebox with rocking grate, which were not features of LMS practice. However, the firebox was not of welded construction, nor were thermic syphons used. The Princess Royal and Coronation-type fireboxes were shallower towards the back, thus making the back corners 'cool spots' when compared to the MNs, where you could completely fill the back corners without the disadvantage of a stepped profile at the bottom of the firebox to clear the trailing truck. However, I believe the LMS' use of hard coal (and shallower fire) compensated for this to some extent. Please correct me if I'm wrong on the technical details...

 

I bought Steam World today with article about John Click and that Air Smoothed Q1 is beautiful. The drawings are interesting and includes 21C101 Exeter in Q1 style rather than the airsmoothed casing and another using Leaders bogies but airsmoothed casing on the top and named Onward and finally a 4-6-2 that to me looks a bit like a Duchess without smoke deflectors, painted Blue with crimson frames, with straight nameplates, Southern Roundel on the smokebox and Bulleids wheels and a different style tender.

 

The Southern influences on the Britannia boiler design were, as you say, the use of Bulleid clack valves and the shape of the bottom of the firebox and foundation ring. This shape was adopted to accommodate a hopper ashpan similar to that on the Merchant Navy class. The actual size of the boiler itself was determined by the size to weight ratio the boiler could be to be within the loading gauge. In other words it was made as big as possible.
With regard to the Duchesses having a shallow firegrate, the actual difference between the distance from the centre of the firehole to the bottom of the rear of the foundation ring on the Merchants and Duchesses was only 2". Hardly shallower, but the rear portion of the Duchesses grate was horizontal rather than the sloping grate of the Merchants.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I think I was trying to say (unsuccessfully) that there were two stages to the base of a Princess Coronation's grate: level at the back and sloping towards the front, but I can see that I minced my words a bit. Either way, the MN and Britannia grates had a nice slope towards the boiler.

 

The June 1985 "Steam railway" had a spread on locos that never were. The caption for that 2-8-2 asks "What can it be other than a Bulleid"? Fitters would have cursed it though.