P2 Locomotive Company and related matters

It would have been happier sitting on the ground . . .

 

Most of the W1's problems AIUI came from the matter that the boiler really didn't take to being shaken about on the railway; the design was more suited to land and/or sea. If you look at pictures of it, the boiler looks quite delicate in a way.

 

Its not even the only example of a failed experiment having a long second life as a stationary boiler. Some of the unsuccessful wide firebox/combustion chamber boilers from the GWR Krugers lasted around 50 years in the GWR wagon shop at Swindon.

 

A boiler is an expensive thing - so if the primary use is a failure but the physical condition of the boiler is still sound, not very surprising if the railway companies tried to find alternative uses so as to recover as much value as possible from the asset.

Tom

 

There are beautiful Gauge 0 and Gauge 1 models of the W1 here: http://www.loveless.co.uk/hushhush/index.html

Plus also a potted history of this unusual 4-6-2-2.

 

Also that it was less than ideal for coal firing from one end only, rather than, as in naval use, from both ends of the combustion chamber, or by oil firing. The difference in temperatures between the two ends of the chamber led to design alterations having to be made to compensate for this. It must have made one hell of a space heater, though!

 

Now there's an interesting WIBNI - an oil-fired W1.

 

Some beautiful models on that site.

 

I was very excited by the H2 groups intention to build aclass E basically visually similar to the class D at York. I was hoping that at its first major overhaul it could then be covverted into an E1, which along with the D1 class were surely the best inside cylinder 4-4-0s to work in this country !!
Read about Sammy Gingell and Richard Hardy.

A U1 and a W would also be nice.------------plus an A8 and an L1 (Thompson) its nice to dream !

 

I'm still holding out for a River class tank, they were handsome looking beasts, and at 25mph ought to be pretty safe.

 

Any of ex-SE&C 4-4-0 family would serve well. They successfully handled all but the very heaviest services until the bitter end. With D class 737 surviving at the NRM (and which I'm certain would survive any future de-accessioning as well as has T3 No.563), by personal preference would have been the later (Maunsell) E1 rebuild. Less brass to clean!

The reasons for not perusing a new build are completely understandable and I have to agree with the group's own ideas for keeping themselves usefully occupied, namely returning the Adams Radial to steam. IMO, it's been far too long since that very great beauty has hauled a train.

 

Sorry, keep up there, they're doing the Dukedog next, instead...

Steve B

 

Thats a pity, i was about to pencil in an Pre grouping gala, with 488, 499, 563, 263, 65, beachy head,

 

For pete's sake, can they make their minds up? So poor old 488 stays cold, while a modern GW design* gets the nod ......


*sort of!

 

Over on the GNR Society website I spotted someone building a live steam Gauge 1 P2.

 

OK, so it's the Bugatti styled look, but how about 3'36" of a 5in gauge edition of Wolf of Badenoch ?

 

That really is a thing of beauty

It's such a pity that, barring a windfall/bequest that the Doncaster P2 is unlikely to see the light of day. What price for 2001 and 2007 to be stood side-by-side at the head of trains at the Cross?

I always said that if I ever did the Euromillions lottery and won, a lot of new builds would be getting cash injections of a "get on and build it" nature; the sort of money the jackpots entail are there to be given away, not to be kept. Who really needs £120,000,000 personally?

 

The latest Mikado Messenger includes this little teaser referring to the cylinder block.

I wonder which locomotive(s) they have in mind.

 

WIBN

 

I sent an email to the A1 Trust asking them to consider the origins of the name of 2007 and how it is now regarded in Wales, when Prince William was given his new title back in September.

They didn't reply to my email which is really disappointing.