Flying Scotsman

If it wasn't a problem it was certainly a matter of concern as Gavin Morrison (in The Power of The A3s pub Oxford Publishing 2002 / ISBN 0 86093 573 6) notes in the caption details of 60097 Humorist that "An official photograph of Humorist in early 1933 with the top of the smokebox cut away and wind vanes fitted. The authorities said that this had solved the drifting smoke problem, but no other members were thus converted, and at its next overhaul in January 1934 Humorist was returned to normal".

In February 1938 Humorist was re-fitted with vanes to overcome the drifting smoke , although for how long is uncertain but in May 1947 Peppercorn fitted the large smoke deflectors as fitted to his Class A2 design although, yet again, it was the only class member so fitted; in April 1951 its plain double chimney was replaced by the lipped double chimney that it retained until withdrawal in August 1963.

In an interesting side note IIRC V2 60813 was also later fitted with wind vanes in December 1946 which it retained until withdrawal in September 1966.

Tangential to your Thomson epistle perhaps but I hope it casts a light on the potential differences between depot procedures in the light of operating conditions and the CMEE procedures based on statistics; the thought being that criticisms of CMEEs based on lineside observations could / should be more precisely directed at maintenance staff who adopted different maintenance procedures.

 

I agree completely. They gave the A3 's a more powerful appearance, although as built they were a truly beautiful locomotive.

 

Fred Kerr is correct about the draughting experiments on Humorist. See some photos in the green book.
Also, single chimney Coronach was altered in 1931 for an experiment in smoke lifting.

 

Isn't 1947 when Humorist received its double chimney, the only A3 to do so until 1958? My reading of Townend is that drifting smoke may have been a concern with the single chimney locos but was a very definite problem which needed to be addressed with the Kylchap double.

 

Humorist was fitted with a double chimney in 1937.

 

I`m agree with you

 

The Carlisle Canal A3s never had deflectors fitted but that may have been something to do with the wide open regulator, long cutoff working needed on the fearsome gradients of the Waverley route lifting the exhaust effectively

 

And me, not that an A3's a bad looking machine but they do give them a more purposeful look. As an aside I never had a Hornby 4472 as a kid I did however have 2 A4's 60019 and 22 both in Racing Green, so guess what colour I prefer?

 

I had a triang Hornby 4472 bought at a toy fair. Loved it.

 

Do you mean full height? These are full length!

 

H.C. Webster's 2750 - Legend of a locomotive (a fictionalised version of the assorted exploits of the titular A3 in the '30s, and no doubt several others rolled in) was published in 1953. H.C. Webster was on the motive power side at Kings Cross in the '30s and on the footplate for several of the high speed runs. In that book, the main (human) protagonist specifically draws an inspector's attention to the problem of drifting exhaust on a high speed test run, saying (approximately) that you can't expect us to do this sort of thing routinely when we're running blind for miles. The A4 arrangement is later explained as an attempt to deal with this (Webster was clearly not a fan of the A4 aesthetic, but that's by the by). The book ends with the arrival of the first A4 at Kings Cross, so the period covered includes no Kylchap fitted engines and even at the time of publishing there was only one Kylchap A3, so it seems likely that drivers had indeed complained of such problems with single chimney A3s.

 

This is the Wagner smoke deflectors, nicknamed "elephant ears" ?

 

Lynch Bridge by Nigel Pitt, on Flickr

 

'Flying Scotsman' during the Nene Valley Railway's Scotsman event, filmed between 28th-30th Sept.

 

Glad to see the Old Girl (I say that with affection, my Grandad fired her from Manchester London Road to Wembley once), in good form.

I was at the NYMR Gala this weekend gone and I was told that she was limited to 5mph because of some problem with a wheel (or something). Delighted to see that this is not the case....

 

Gossip heard at galas makes NatPres look reliable!

 

The headline says it all!
Fantastic to see the interests from people!
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwall-gives-flying-scotsman-one-2081363

 

I like the blinkers, pleased to see them back on 60103. I only ever saw it in its Peglerised version as 4472 from my first sighting of it in May 1964, but I was in time to see a lot of other A3s with the deflectors and I loved them. I think my failure to see 60103 pre-withdrawal was a motivation to buy this print at York many years ago, described as being taken at Doncaster in 1962.
.

 

Lovely pic. Wonder if it's early June 1962?
Both 60103 and 60034 were ex-works after 'Generals' then.

 

You're bang on. Dated 3rd June 1962.

Maybe that's when it picked up the blinkers.