Best British Locomotive

the Kruger would do me fine.

 

I'm an LNER man through and through but I would be extremely hard pressed to call any of the original P2s as potentially "Britain's best loco". High rate of crank axle failures in a class, cracked frames, high fuel consumption, and many more issues that the P2 Trust is looking to (and probably has actually) eradicate.

If I was putting forward three designs from the LNER for "best loco" I think the Gresley V2, Thompson B1 and Peppercorn A1 would be my perfect trio based on reliability, length of time in service and fuel consumption. One from each CME as it happens.

 

much as it pains me to say so..... Black 5 for the win.

 

HST?

 

Its as if a fowler 4F and an 08 cuddled up one dark winters night and that was the resulting love child.

Ach yer richt! It has to be the V2. Or maybe even an A3, or the V4 better still!

There is so much choice! (I think its obvious where my votes lie )

 

If we're going diesel, class 37. Incredible longevity, excellent RA, pretty good at everything from freight work to fairly fast passengers duties (I still remember how much fun the N. Wales coast was in their swansong in the late 90s).

 

The 37s are quite remarkable machines, but N.Wales their swansong? What with the evident shortage of useful locos across the land and the lack of anything vaguely resembling a coherent transport strategy from the incumbent Idiocracy, I'm not 100% convinced we've seen that yet!

While we're on diesels, who'd have thought thirty years ago that the once unsung 20s would've still been finding gainful employment this deep into the 21st century? And is there anyone who wasn't caught on the hop by the rebuilding of those electro-diesels into class 73/9 so late in their lives?

If they were a tad faster, the 08s would have to be on the list too. Their origins go right back to pre-war LMS days!

Of course, to steam types, none of the above can ever sound or smell right, can they?

 

Class 66?

 

Best- Most reliable, most powerful,fastest, plodding 0-6-0.
I have it on the highest authority that the 3MT 2-6-0 77000 were the finest locos ever built. From a man who drove in service A4s, A3s V2 Castles and Kings.
Best pound for pound loco perhaps? In terms of Swindon type boiler, ease of maintenance, LMS standard fast running equipment.
Diesel fan? 37.
GWR?Castle.
LMS BLack 5, 44871
LNEr? V2
Southern, Any of the above!

 

Very true. They pretty much saved long distance cross-country services in the process.

 

The Black 5 was an excellent all-round performer, but I'd argue that it was fundamentally a small-wheeled Saint (or, if you prefer, a Hall with outside Walschaerts gear). To take the question seriously, the great leap forward, and the most significant influence on the development of British steam locomotives in the 20th century, was the Saint.

As others have pointed out, it's a ridiculous question - how do you define 'best'? But the correct answer is Churchward's Saint class, and anyone who disagrees is simply wrong.

And that's final.

 

Really...?

I just thought that fleet availability, reliability and ability to do most of the work required might be the reason why class 66 almost monopolised general freight haulage. Rather than be under repair, class 66 is at work.

Its not that what it does couldn't be done by another - passengers were hauled by Deltics and A4s before HST. Its the impact that the class has had - and 66s have revolutionised freight in terms of reliability, replacing all those class 31, 37, 47, 56, 58, 60 that were used beforehand.

 

Yes everyone there are two ways to look at this ; the Great Western way, or the wrong way.

Is a class 66 British ?

 

All I can say quoting a certain Minister of the Clothe........"Never trust a Domeless engine.........! Said a voice from the back of the shed. For me I'd pick a Gresley V2, or something a little a North Eastern M1 [LNER D17] .

 

So the question's crazy? So what! We've had some jolly good fun and thrown up some fascinating considerations, but like Bill says [post#134] the unquestionable definitive one-and-all-time answer is obvious ...... except for loading gauge, inaccessible inside motion, low superheat, an arguable over reliance on first class coal and - lest we forget "the other thread" - slight hammer blow issues at 135mph ......

 

Best to ease things off around the 120mph mark....

 

If that's a response to my post about the Saint, you do realise that my resolute certainty at the end was ironic?

(I resist using those little smiley face things, because I tend to think that any humour that needs them has failed. Like this example, apparently.)