Pannier Tanks

You could couple them nose-to-nose like the Class 20s years later. Would you get away with one driver and two firemen?

 

I have several "standard works” (as Paul Hitch puts it) which state that the 5700 class was rated 4F by BR. These include Fox and Pritchard’s “Preserved Locomotives of British Railways” and Keith Langston’s “British Steam Preserved” to name but two. However other sources go for 3F, including “Classic British Steam Locomotives”, Wikipedia and (I understand) Ian Allen. Two other current 'preserved locos' books I looked at yesterday were similarly divided.

There is an interesting comment in “The Pannier Papers No 2” which says “BR classified them 4F but for some reason when the LMR had control of some of the class they were regarded as 3F; it’s tempting to think that in LM minds they were now more strictly speaking shunters”.

Does anyone any definitive information on how they were classified?

Robin

 

Full details of the BR power classification system and how it is derived are given in the RCTS Book on BR Standard Locomotives, Vol.5. If you apply the formulae given to a 57XX, it comes out about mid way between the Cl.3 and a Cl.4 cut off figures so definitely a Cl.3 and not even borderline. However, there is the caveat that, if a locomotive was known to perform better or worse than classified in normal service the classification should be adjusted accordingly. I have been told that the GW management did not like some of the power classifications given to their beloved locos and so altered them upwards accordingly. It would seem that the LM management reversed that decision when these locos came under their jurisdiction.

 

What happened with parts & maintenance when a loco such as the Pannier came under a region that was not the successor of the pre group company that built it? The Clapham Junction & Scottish Region Paniers also spring to mind

 

Thanks. Clearly there was no direct mapping from the GWR classes to the BR ones. Jimc made the following useful point in the Power Classifications, how and why? thread:

In terms of the GW management not liking the BR classifications, in practice the Panniers were left labelled as Class C and presumably carried on doing the same duties as before. Would a strict interpretation of the 3F limits have prevented them carrying out some of those duties, and could that be why the GW management adopted 4F instead?