Modern High-pressure Steam Locomotives.

Steam locomotive development nowadays proceeds apace. Quite recently there was recorded in these Letters the putting into traffic of new high-pressure locomotive giants on the two largest Home railway groups. Now Germany comes to the front with another type of high-pressure steam locomotive, claiming to be Europe's most powerful railway engine; while on the Southern Railway of England a most interesting new class of steam locomotive has been brought into passenger service.

Many noteworthy locomotives have been turned out at various times from the Eastleigh shops of the Southern Railway. The “Lord Nelson” and “King Arthur” engines had their birth at Eastleigh, and now these well-known locomotive shops have produced a batch of interesting 4-4-0 three-cylinder passenger engines styled the “Schools” class, each locomotive bearing the name of a famous public school situated in Southern territory. The locomotives have cylinders, motion, bogie. etc., practically identical with those of the “Lord Nelson” four-cylinder machine, While the boiler corresponds to that of the “King Arthur,” but has a shorter barrel and a working pressure of 220lb. persquare inch. The new locomotives are actually the most powerful 4—4—0 type engines on the Home-railways, and in order to enable them to run over sections of the Southern Railway, where the loading gauge is somewhat restricted, the sides of the cab and the top of the tender have been set in somewhat. The “Schools” class of locomotives each have a built-up single-throw crank axle, and the 8in. piston valves are driven by three sets of Walschaert gear.

The principal dimensions of the new Southern locomotives are as follows, viz:–Cylinders, 16½ in. diameter, 26in. stroke: bogie wheels. 3ft. 1in. diameter; coupled wheels, 6ft. 7in. diameter; total wheel-base, 25ft. 6in.; boiler, diameter .5ft. 6in., length of barrel 11ft. 9in.; heating surface, 2,049 sq. ft. (including 283 sq. ft. superheater); grate area, 28.3 sq. ft.; boiler pressure, 220lb. per sq. in.; tractive effort, 25,130lb.; water capacityof tender. 4,000 gallons, coal capacity 5 tons; total weight of engine and tender in working order, 109½ tons. These locomotives are intended for fast passenger haulage between London and the various seaside resorts situated on the English South Coast.