35011 "GSN" to be restored

"Air smoothing" was OVSB's description according to many august works including "Bullied - Last Giant of Steam" by Sean Day-Lewis.
Whilst it certainly might have made it possible to pass them through carriage washing plants I can find no record of it ever being done. I am, however, open to correction. Bullied's use of the phrase "Air Smoothed" was primarily thought be used to overcome any objections to such fancy things as "Streamlining" during wartime conditions.

Many considered the chain drive to be the Achilles Heel of these engines however Bullied's original design called for a geared drive that wasn't available under those wartime conditions.
And noboby criticises that boiler's steam raising capability.

Those that wish to take the "what if" debate further may care to ponder the result had the seals on the oil bath been as good as those available today.

 

Weight-saving was a far greater influence on the casing design; it was lighter than conventional boiler cladding.

 

I have to say I find that hard to believe, unless it's made out of ally (which I doubt). Weight-wise, cladding is of hardly any consequence, and with the amount of screws used, I wouldn't be surprised if it weighed more!

 

My father who was a fitter at nine elms when the first one Channel packet arrived, told me that the casing was made from some kind of hardboard/cardboard composite material, I recall him telling me that the cladding frequently cought fire, weather this was whilst in service or from the fitters flare lamp I don't Know!
Terry

 

Cardboard & steam engines... oh dear.

 

I have a book called Bulleid locomotives by Brian Haresnape last published in 1985 which covers all locomotives designed by the great man lovely pictures of MNs in their unrebuilt form.

 

Asbestos actually, and it was the lagging that occasionally caught fire due to it becoming soaked with oil thrown up from the driving wheel pockets/motion after leaking out of the breathers/cracks in the oil bath. The ignition source was thought to be sparks from heavy braking. Only a few of the first-series MNs had the asbestos cladding, and these can be identified by the extra horizontal strengthening rib that ran down, and stood proud of, the boiler cladding.

 

My point exactly James. Just look how "dry" the outside of transmission systems for cars, trucks and trains are today compared with 20 years ago. Ergo; excellent oil sealing. No oil, no fire!

 

Getting round to the practicalities of an "un-rebuilding".

I'm guessing that the valve gear for a MN would be very similar to that on a WC?

So there should be no shortage of originals to copy from, or even act as donors?

Would be great to see one as originally built, complete with "widow's peak" front casing. Of course the original problem of drifting steam would return, but that shouldn't be a problem at preservation speeds.

 

The design principles are the same, but there are many dimensional differences between the two classes. I should think there are plenty of drawings available though, since they are a comparitively modern class.

 

I don't know about other vehicles, but I worked in the Bike trade for a while, and it was easy to understand why Japanese bikes were oil tight and Brit ones weren't - the Jap bikes simply had twice the density of case screws... Bad design on the Brit bikes, nothing else.

 

Jimc. Didn't we stop building bikes 20 years ago, or more?

Back on topic.
I'm pretty confident modern materials and design refinements would allow an un-rebuilt MN to be reconstructed today which would suffer far fewer of the ills that beset OVSB's original yet would retain the original essence.

Isn't 71000 a far better machine now than its original manifestation? But nobody says it isn't a BR Standard class 8.

Subtle design changes can make a massive change in performance.

 

That's easy: No. 8000 "Lord of the Isles". Very nice choice of boiler too. Mind you, I wonder what the Hawksworth-designed wide firebox boiler would have been like if it had been given thermic syphons and a double (copper capped) chimney?

8001 onwards could have been named after Cathedrals as per the 6000 class before it was decided to name them after Kings.

Ah, I can dream....

 

Wasn't it known as Limpet Board?

Very Best Wishes,
Bob.

 

That's the one.

 

I passed 35011 heading north up the M5 towards Birmingham just over an hour ago.

I'd heard a few months ago it might be staying at Williton, but is it now on it's way back to Binbrook?

 

What a shame. So much promise but now it's back to the airfield to rot away to nothing. It's sad really as merchants are lovely engines, a bit big for preserved lines but still a wonderful bit of engineering.

 

You can't say for sure that is definately going to happen! Talk about looking too much into something! ](*,)

 

That's certainly true. I was told that the wheelset taken out of 35011 and put in Braunton was in absolutely excellent condition, which surprised them no end. And they also reckoned that 35011 was better than 34046 was when they started on it.

 

I have recently been in contact with the owners of 35011, and the latest I'd heard from them was to say that they were "probably looking at a time in early 2009 before we can further progress matters with the funding and the associated restoration of 35011".

There is also a rather basic website, which will hopefully be expanded over time.

http://www.generalsteamnavigation.co.uk

This also features the Crab.