Gresley Mikado P1 & P2, 'Bantam Cock' 'Hush Hush' 'Cock O' The North' & Wath Banker

The London and North Eastern Railway Class V4 was a class of 2-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for mixed-traffic use. It was Gresley's last design for the LNER before he died in 1941. The V4s had similarities in their appearance and mechanical layout to the V2 "Green Arrow" class. The V2s, introduced some years before, were large and heavy locomotives, with very limited route availability. The V4 was a lightweight alternative, suitable for use over the whole of the LNER network.

wo locomotives were built at the LNER's Doncaster Works in 1941. The first engine, 3401 Bantam Cock, had a scaled-down version of the Gresley Pacific boiler with a grate area of 27.5 sq ft. Its tractive effort of 27,000 lbs was produced by boiler pressure of 250 psi and three cylinders of 15-inch diameter. The second locomotive, 3402, incorporated a fully welded steel firebox and a single thermic syphon for water circulation. It was not named, but was known unofficially as "Bantam Hen".
New collection of 19 photos starts with this colour photo
61701 nicknamed 'Bantam Hen'
https://tinyurl.com/y2a2czbd
LNER ERA numbers 1700/01 & 3401/02
https://tinyurl.com/y4lc4uuv
B.R. era numbers 61700/61701
https://tinyurl.com/y2uysr84

Neil

 

The LNER W1 No. 10000 (also known as the Hush-Hush due to its secrecy) was an experimental steam locomotive fitted with a high pressure water-tube boiler. Nigel Gresley was impressed by the results of using high-pressure steam in marine applications and so in 1924 he approached Harold Yarrow of shipyard & boilermakers Yarrow & Company of Glasgow to design a suitable boiler for a railway locomotive, based on Yarrow's design.
The locomotive was completed at Darlington Works in 1929.
The locomotive had a corridor tender and ran non-stop London-Edinburgh services to time in 1930; nevertheless steaming was relatively poor during test runs, and in spite of a number of modifications initially to the exhaust, boiler performance never reached the standards of an equivalent firetube boiler. A problem never fully solved was air leakage into the casing.
Rebuilding
When it was deemed that no further progress could be made, the locomotive was taken to Doncaster Works in 1936 and rebuilt with a conventional boiler and three simple expansion cylinders on the normal Gresley layout. A modified A4 boiler was fitted which had 50 sq ft (4.6 m2) of grate area and 20 in (508 mm) diameter cylinders. The valves were considered[by whom?] undersized for the large cylinder diameter and this somewhat limited the speed capabilities of the engine. Its haulage capacity was nonetheless appreciated The rebuilt engine still retained its additional axle, resulting in a more spacious cab for the driver and fireman.
No. 10000 never carried a name, although it did carry small works plates on the smoke deflectors bearing the number 10000. In its early form, it was known unofficially as the Hush-Hush as a result of the initial secrecy surrounding the project, and also the Galloping Sausage as a result of its bulging boiler shape. Plans in 1929 to name the original engine British Enterprise were dropped, although nameplates had already been cast;[6] a 1951 plan to name the rebuilt engine Pegasus did not come to fruition either. From 1948 under British Railways it was renumbered 60700.
On 1 September 1955, 60700 had just departed from Peterborough when the front bogie frame broke. The locomotive derailed at a speed of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) at Westwood Junction. It was recovered and repaired
60700 was withdrawn on 1 June 1959 and was broken up for scrap at the Doncaster Works later that year. One of its tenders did survive into preservation. Tender No. 5484 is now attached to No. 4488 Union of South Africa
I have added a large collection of photos featuring this loco in both guises
Including this photo of
60700 with a bit of bother at Hitchin 15th July 1954
https://tinyurl.com/y3t9vxk8
10000 as built
https://tinyurl.com/y52sz7sc
10000 now rebuilt
https://tinyurl.com/yxpha6dt
and as 60700
https://tinyurl.com/y2wnbnw9

Neil

 

Hi Neil,
10000 or 60700 did have an interesting history as a dead end of locomotive development.
I think image 30/32 is Bounds Green with the Down Hertford North line flyover.

Cheers, Neil

 

https://railway-photography.smugmug...ey-Tender-engines/Bantam-Cock-Class/i-vMNcDmg = Ferryhill shed

https://railway-photography.smugmug...ey-Tender-engines/Bantam-Cock-Class/i-CvzZsk9 = Ferryhill shed

https://railway-photography.smugmug...ey-Tender-engines/Bantam-Cock-Class/i-xZv4bzc = Ferryhill shed - duplicates earlier images in this group

 

I have added some new photos of
10000 the Gresley designed ‘Hush Hush’ loco
https://tinyurl.com/y4m3572p
And 10000 rebuilt as a W1 4-6-4
https://tinyurl.com/yyxpnkp6
Gresley V4
1700 Bantam Cock at Fort William
https://tinyurl.com/yy5qyv8s
Gresley P2
2001 Cock o' the North at Kings Cross
https://tinyurl.com/y3v7mdbd
Gresley P2
2394 Langley water trough
https://tinyurl.com/y3dcjeof
‘Wath Banker’
2395 Doncaster works The Beyer, Peacock & Gresley U1 Garratt ('The Wath Banker')
https://tinyurl.com/yyky3q6b


Neil

 

Neil, I have a couple of V4 locations for you:-

2/20 1700 is the south end of Ardlui, with the A82 road on the left
10/20 61700 is on Cowlairs bank out of Glasgow Queens Street (you can just make out a banking loco at the rear).

Peter

 

The London and North Eastern Railway Class P2 was a class of 2-8-2 steam locomotives designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for working heavy express trains over the harsh Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line. As they were to serve on Scottish expresses, they were given famous names from Scottish lore.
Six locomotives of the class were built; introduced between 1934 and 1936. Between 1943 and 1944 the class were rebuilt under Gresley's successor Edward Thompson into the LNER Thompson Class A2/2 4-6-2 type. The locomotives were designed by Nigel Gresley to haul express trains over the difficult Edinburgh to Aberdeen section of the London and North Eastern Railway. In the design Gresley was influenced by recent French practice, in particular passenger locomotives of the Paris à Orléans railway.
The first locomotive of the class, No.2001 Cock o' the North, was introduced in 1934. It was built at Doncaster Works, with Lentz-type[citation needed] rotary-cam actuated poppet valve-gear supplied by the Associated Locomotive Equipment Company, and a double-chimney Kylchap exhaust, each chimney using four nozzle blastpipes. The chimney system was designed to take different fittings to allow experimentation with exhaust arrangementsThe boiler barrel was of the design used on Gresley Pacifics, fitted to a larger firebox. The front end design was of the same form as the Class W1 locomotive, No. 10000, derived from Dr. Dalby's wind tunnel research, and the attached tender was of the standard design used on Gresley Pacifics. The P2 introduced a vee-shaped cab front, designed to give a better view forward. (The same design was later used on the A4 and V2 express engines). No. 2001 was fitted with a Crosby chime whistle which Gresley had obtained from Captain Howey of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, and which was originally intended for one of that railway's Canadian Pacific style locomotives.The second locomotive of the class, No.2002 Earl Marischal was completed by 1935, also at Doncaster, and was fitted with Walschaerts valve gear, as used on Gresley Pacifics, and had a greater superheater heating area of 776.5 sq ft (72.14 m2), obtained by using larger diameter fire tubes. At low cutoffs smoke clearance on No.2002 was unsatisfactory: wind tunnel experiments led to an additional second pair of smoke deflectors being fitted inward of the first.No. 2002 proved to be more efficient than 2001, due to a lower cylinder clearance volume and because the stepped-cam cutoff modifications made to No. 2001 reduced economical working relative to the infinitely variable cutoff of No. 2002. Consequently, the following locomotives were built with piston valves.
By June 1936 the third engine had been produced: No. 2003, Lord President, based on the design of No. 2002 but with the external design modified to resemble the Silver Link locomotives. The locomotive weight was reduced to 107 long tons 3 cwt (240,000 lb or 108.9 t). The wedge-shaped front was found to lift the engine's smoke clear of the driver's view; No. 2002 was altered to this form in 1936, and No. 2001 in 1938.Three further locomotives, Mons Meg, Thane of Fife and Wolf of Badenoch, were under construction at Doncaster in 1936. No. 2004 was fitted with an experimental butterfly valve blastpipe bypass, manually activated to prevent fire-lifting at high cutoffs. This was later replaced with a plug valve and higher bypass pipe diameter, but both designs had problems with sticking due to carbonised deposits. No. 2005 lacked the Kylchap double chimney of the rest of the class and No. 2006 had a different boiler design, with a longer combustion chamber, and firebox heating area and volume of 253 sq ft (23.5 m2) and 319 cu ft (9.0 m3) respectively with a Robinson superheater. The production series was completed in 1936. The class was rebuilt into Class A2/2 4-6-2 'Pacifics' during 1943/4 According to B. Spencer, an LNER employee, the class was rebuilt due to reliability problems during the difficult conditions of the World War II period, and additionally to take the opportunity to try out a different valve gear arrangement. Other sources supposed that the rebuilding might be because the class's wheelbase was too long for the routes it worked, and that the railway would have been better served if the class had been transferred to more suitable routes. Railway author O. S. Nock suggested that Gresley's successor, Edward Thompson, may have made largely unsubstantiated criticisms of the class in order to justify the rebuilding.[26] According to O. Bulleid, the class were not an inefficient design but had been placed into services in which they were under-utilised, leading to poor fuel economy (From Wiki)

P2 Rebuilt with A4 front end styling
2003 Lord President
https://tinyurl.com/y2ulwb4x
2001 Cock O' The North
https://tinyurl.com/y4yult2d
and redesigned with A4 style front
https://tinyurl.com/y6fkxfjp
Full collection starts here with
2002 Earl Marischal before and after
https://tinyurl.com/yxoha3gu

Neil

 

The London and North Eastern Railway Class P1 Mineral 2-8-2 Mikado was a class of two steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley. They were two of the most powerful freight locomotives ever designed for a British railway. It was initially intended they be a more powerful 2-10-0 version of the earlier Class O2 2-8-0s. The design was submitted in August 1923, for use between Peterborough and London, and also between Immingham and Wath marshalling yard. The power was quoted as being 25% more than the O2.

The first P1, No 2393, was completed by Doncaster in June 1925 and was shown at the Darlington Centenary celebrations in July, with its sister No 2394 following in November 1925. Both were externally rather similar, although 2393 had a 32-element superheater while 2394 had a larger 62-element 'E' type superheater. They were the first 2-8-2 locomotives to be built in Britain for local use, although not the first designed. Both were allocated to New England shed after completion where they were subjected to regular testing.


In service, the P1s could handle 100-wagon coal trains, although these were an operational hazard due to their overhanging track circuits and being too long for many of the passing loops. They were also coal-hungry engines, with a 1926 Locomotive Inspectors Conference Report stating that the engines used 131 pounds per mile (37 kg/km) of coal. However, they were still thought of highly enough in 1926 that it was proposed to build another four P1s to replace an equivalent number of 0-8-0s.


The boosters

The P1 class engines were initially equipped with two-cylinder booster engines attached to the trailing axle. They were engaged using a Westinghouse pump mounted on the boiler to engage the cylinder clutch. The booster engine had a tractive effort of 8,500 lbf (38 kN) when used, increasing the tractive effort of the locomotive from 38,500 to 47,000 lbf (171 to 209 kN). It was intended by Gresley that these boosters would be used to assist the locomotive while starting, and in topping the banks over which they travelled.


The tenders attached to the P1s had a specially-designed dragbox to accommodate the booster equipment. In practice, the boosters were troublesome. When in operation, they filled the cab with steam, and the fireman's workload was doubled. The steam pipes from the boiler to the booster were prone to fracture, particularly on the sharp curves of the turning triangle at the New England shed. In 1938 and 1937 respectively, the boosters were removed from engines 2393 and 2394.


Service and withdrawal

The two P1s were only ever used between New England and Ferme Park, the only route deemed suitable for them by the Operating Department. In practice there were issues with running such large trains with such powerful engines. The large three-cylinder engines required a considerable effort on the part of the fireman and the booster was known as particularly hungry for steam requiring even more coal. As a result turns firing the P1s were considered as ones to avoid. It was also found that the heavier trains that the P1s could handle were too long for many of the passing loops resulting in delays to passenger trains. The result was that they were considered uneconomic as they were generally used in hauling trains of less than the 1,000 long tons (1,020 t; 1,120 short tons) for which they were built.[citation needed] In 1934 No 2394 was experimentally tried on the 07.45 am semi-fast passenger train from Kings Cross to Peterborough as part of the planning stage for P2 class locomotive 2001 Cock o' the North. Although the engine was able to reach a maximum speed of 65 mph (105 km/h), this put too much stress on the fireman who later commented that he was thankful not to have been going beyond Peterborough.


In 1942, both engines were overhauled and their original boilers, then in very poor condition, were replaced with A3-type 220 lbf/in2 (1.52 MPa) boilers and their cylinder diameter was reduced to 19 inches (483 mm), leading to an increased tractive effort of 42,500 lbf (189 kN) The valve motion was retained in its original short-lap travel configuration. This rebuilding, which took place in November and January 1942 for engines 2393 and 2394 respectively, saw them reclassified as Class P1/2.


Due to the reduction of heavy freight trains after the Second World War, both engines were withdrawn by Edward Thompson in July 1945 and scrapped, the first Gresley locomotives to be withdrawn and scrapped by intention. The six-wheeled tenders were modified with standard dragboxes to run behind new Thompson Class B2 4-6-0s Nos 2815 and 1632, while the boilers were removed and fitted to Gresley A1s No 2557 Blair Atholl and 2565 Merry Hampton during their conversion from Class A1 to Class A3.

From Wiki


I have added new photos of the P1 Mikados
2393 start here
https://tinyurl.com/y5udpy7j
2394 start here
https://tinyurl.com/yytn58ao
Neil

 

I have added 4 new photos of Gresley’s Hush Hush loco rebuilt as a 4-6-4 looking like a streamlined A4
10000 Gresley rebuilt W1 4-6-4 Hush-Hush Locomotive
https://tinyurl.com/3b5cnwm9
60700 at various locations
https://tinyurl.com/a6rscxdc
https://tinyurl.com/y9baken3
https://tinyurl.com/3hf8m3w3

Neil

 

The London and North Eastern Railway Class U1 was a solitary 2-8-0+0-8-2 Beyer-Garratt locomotive designed under Nigel Gresley for banking coal trains over the Worsborough Bank, a steeply graded line in South Yorkshire and part of the Woodhead Route. It was both the longest and the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run in Britain. It was built in 1925 with the motion at each end being based on an existing 2-8-0 design. The original number was 2395, and it was renumbered 9999 in March 1946, and then 69999 after nationalisation in 1948, although it retained its cab-side plate bearing its original number throughout its life. The locomotive ran for some time as an oil burner, and was tried out on the Lickey Incline in 1949–1950 and again, after the electrification of its home line, in 1955. These trials were unsuccessful, and so the locomotive was withdrawn in 1955 and scrapped.
2 photos of the loco on a trial run to Woodhead
69999 passing Newton station on a trial run to Woodhead Gresley built by Beyer, Peacock. class U1 Garratt ('The Wath Banker')
https://tinyurl.com/x9xe64n7
69999 on a trial run to Woodhead unknown location Gresley U1 Garratt ('The Wath Banker')
https://tinyurl.com/7ax6tsbc
LNER era photos start here
https://tinyurl.com/yk39ec8s
B.R. era photos start here
https://tinyurl.com/37dmtzbb

Neil