P2 Locomotive Company and related matters

Looking forward to it! They should arrive today.

 

A short update on the P2 via the ever-excellent Tom Ingall:

 

You had me under false pretences there, I was expecting Tom to appear ….

 

Its somehow like having a racing Bentley from the early 30s, with a set of drawings for a supercharger which was never built. Only much, much bigger.
I find it incredibly exciting, and I think the wallet will have to be getting an airing, even if just to say "I was there".

 

That's why I said "via".

 

It's good to see the P2 now moving in a positive direction. But it's just occurred to me that it's gone very quiet on the other boiler(s?) at Meiningen. What's the latest on that?

 

Good question ! I’d sort of lost the will, so I’ve not grilled my sources for a while….

 

Just for the record, I certainly did! Surprisingly quaffable for something with such an alcoholic punch.

 

The P2s were not born under lucky stars.
They were all rebuilt during WW2 and two teams of full scale live steam builders dream of new and better versions these days .
A two cylinder version with long connecting rods ,Krauss-Helmholtz boggie and a safety mechanism that prohibits more than 6 rps
can maybe be safer,lower cost, have better thermal efficiency pull more wagons etc and need less maintenance work.

 

,,,, but then it wouldn't be a P2!

 

Presumably you have in mind something like the Polish Pt31 and Pt47 2-8-2s? Express passenger locos very similar in overall size and dimensions to a P2, but with only 2 cylinders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKP_class_Pt47

However, the Pt31/Pt47 cylinders at 630mm x 700mm (24.8in x 27.6in) would be very difficult to fit within the British loading gauge. Even if cylinders are inclined and raised above station platform levels, we are limited to about 9ft (2744mm) width. If a Krauss-Helmholz bogie is used, the width constraint becomes even more difficult as the cylinders need to be further apart to accommodate the sideways movement of the forward driving wheels. Oliver Bulleid did consider a 2-8-2 with Krauss-Hemholz bogie for his Merchant Navy class, but the MNs had cylinders of only 18in (457mm) diameter.

 

Many UK locomotives had two cylinders sitting 6 feet 8inches apart and boiler pressure of 250 psi.
P2 as twin-cylindered can have 22.5 * 30 inch cylinders and tractive effort as 1934 P2
Krauss Helmholts on UK 2-6-0,2-8-0 , 2-10-0 and 2-8-2s needs care at the drawing board.
Front driver coupling rod pins and crossheads pin and slide barrs must not colide of course,,and with inclined cylinders and long conrods its doable.
Front driver lateral freedom 25mm left and right will be Ok.

 

We’re into fantasy land now.

Let’s stick to the P2 on this thread.