Sir Keith Park

Martin - agree the name came about because of the casing. However this is the first time I have met a challenge that rebuilds did not perpetuate the name, purely by association. It might take a while but I will try to locate the Bluebell picture. I am not even sure of the decade let alone year. This of course will only be one example. The problem with nicknsmes is that there is no definative source to confim or otherwise ome view against the other. It will however make an interesting research project

Dave

 

http://www.semgonline.com/proto/srstmdir.html gives "Spamcan" for the originals only… Not that that is definitive, but I've never really associated Spamcan with anything other than an original.

Mind you, on nicknames: I can't find an origin for "Black Motor" to refer to a Drummond 700 goods (when built, they weren't black, and they were never equipped to run motor trains). So I asked on the LSWR Yahoo group, which is generally pretty knowledgeable, and so far that has drawn a complete blank. So there definitely are some areas for research - things you assume are common knowledge are maybe not so.

Tom

 

Anyway, SKP will no longer be attending the WSR gala, with 34070 going instead. The latter was on standby anyway.

 

the sobriquet 'Spam Can' is atttributed to LBSC (ala Lillian 'Curly' Lawrence) of the Model Engineer Magazine who first used it when the locos first appeared.
he had some very influential and high up contacts in the SR at the time including Harold Holcroft before he retired, plus roy donaldson in the Ashford drawing office. the first recorded usage of 'Spam Can' in print was in an article LBSC wrote in the above magazine in the later part of WW2. whether it was used as a nickname by 'spotters' and those in the SR shortly before isnt documented
cheers,
julian

 

Bulleidaholics should be grateful that the nickname was not as rude as that given to the LBSCR I1 class which is quite unrepeatable here!

(Come to think of it, the latter is a prime candidate for a new build project as it is even more unsuitable for purpose than some of those under way now).

P.H.

 

That name appeared in the 1948 Combined Volume at the end of the SR section. I wonder if it was considered as rude as it is today?

 

Most likely that the compiler didn't know its meaning!

P.H.

 

Same nickname was given to the Drummond T14.

 

Returning to SKP, reports elsewhere state that a new piston rod, presumably for the middle engine, has been obtained and is being machined in the Bridgnorth workshops. The inference has to be that the middle cylinder casting was not damaged in this incident, beyond the need for a new front cover.

46118

 

I believe a new piston head will also be required

 

A new head is definetly required. A few of us tried counting the pieces yesterday. A new cover and studs are required as well.

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

 

Or having a mischievous streak he did but the proof reader didn't.

 

And a bigger hammer for the new cotter pin!

 

Sorry to come late to the party, but the complete rule is: "i before e, except after c, if it rhymes with me"

This obviously doesn't apply to names!

 

Hope you brought the beer... we seem to have run out here (nearly a rhyme, too)!

 

Just adding a little fuel to the fire, Jackman in "Thirty years at Bricklayers Arms" says the shed staff called the unrebuilts "spams" rather than Spam Cans, so maybe the latter was more an enthusiast term?

Also somewhere I have read that the term "flat-top" was common, and as far as the original Merchant Navy class were concerned, Col. Rogers in his book about Bulleids out of Waterloo (sorry, cannot recall the exact title) says the loco crews referred to the Merchant navy class generally as "Channel Packets" after the first member of the class.

46118

 

On the platforms in Kent we always called them 'Packets'. The Light Pacifics we called 'Flat Tops'. As a spotter in the 50's i never once heard the term 'Spam Can' used by fellow spotters or railway staff.

 

I seem to recall reading in Bulleid - Last Giant of Steam by Sean Day-Lewis the MNs were sometimes disparaging referred to as "Flannel Jackets". If it originated from elsewhere perhaps Bulleidophiles/Bulleidophobes could correct me.

 

Probably a bit of both