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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 8 (November 1, 1934)

Our London Letter

page 15

Our London Letter

The Supremacy Of The “Iron Horse.”

Leicester Goods Station, a typical L.M. and G. freight terminal.

Leicester Goods Station, a typical L.M. and G. freight terminal.

For long-distance main-line haulage, steam locomotives still remain supreme. Electrification continues to make steady progress, but when consideration is given to motive power improvements in main-line services it is to the trusty steam-operated “Iron Horse” that railway engineers and operating officers normally turn.

In Britain, and especially in the mountainous districts of the north, exceptionally severe demands are made upon locomotives, in handling heavy loads over the steeply-graded tracks, which, in many ways, remind one of the mountain sections on some New Zealand routes. Unusually powerful steam engines have for some years been utilised on the Scottish main-lines. Now, the London & North Eastern Railway has stepped into the limelight by putting into traffic, between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, an exceedingly interesting new 2-8-2 type express passenger locomotive.

Built in the Doncaster railway shops, the new engine, aptly named “Cock o' the North”, strikes quite a new note in several of its features. On top of the boiler barrel there is a steam collector (integral with the dome) formed of a steel pressing riveted to the top of the boiler, on the outside. A number of slots in the top of the boiler barrel admit steam to the collector, and prevent water being carried over with the steam. The three cylinders and valve chests are in one casting, steam admission and exhaust being controlled by poppet valves operated by rotary cam gear. To maintain boiler pressure in the steam chest, unusually large regulator and steam pipes are introduced; while with the idea of reducing back pressure there is fitted a double blast pipe with a pair of chimneys, on somewhat similar lines to the design of certain French locomotives. Special wing plates ensure the smoke being thrown clear of the cab, and the front of the cab itself is V-shaped, on stream-lined principles.

The working pressure of the new locomotive is 220 lb. per sq. in.; grate area 50 sq. ft.; total heating surface 2,714 sq. ft., or with superheater 3,349 sq. ft; cylinders, 21 ins. dia. by 26 ins. stroke; tractive effort 43,462 lb.; total length of engine and tender over buffers, 73 ft. 8 1/2 in.; and total weight, with 8 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water aboard, 110 1/4 tons.

Goods Train Services.

Like the L. & N. E. Railway, the London, Midland & Scottish serves some exceptionally mountainous territory, and on this line, too, many locomotive improvements have recently been introduced. It is not generally known, but the L. M. & S. operates the greatest passenger mileage at a start-to-stop speed of 55 m.p.h. or over, of any railway in Europe. Now this progressive line is claiming notable achievements in respect of the speeding-up of goods train services and terminal operations.

During the past two years over 300 important L. M. & S. goods trains have been accelerated, notably between London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. During 1933, an aggregate reduction of 204 hours per day was made in the journey-time of important goods trains, following a cut of 312 hours per
Express Passenger Locomotive “Cock o' the North,” L. and N.E. Railway.

Express Passenger Locomotive “Cock o' the North,” L. and N.E. Railway.

day in 1932. The longest distance L. M. & S. goods train is that running from Aberdeen to London - 545 miles covered in 13 hours 40 minutes, with six intermediate stops. The longest non-stop goods train run on the Home railways is the L. M. & S. London-Liverpool trip -191 miles in 294 minutes.

With the idea of securing the fullest advantage from faster freight train timing, the principal goods stations on this, the largest Home railway group, have been reorganised, and the depots at cities like Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and Leicester represent the last word in scientific design.

Prevention of Waste.

Hard times suffered by railways all over the world during recent years have naturally resulted in widespread campaigns to prevent waste in every form. On the London & North Eastern line, in England, an interesting development has been the establishment at Darlington of a big permanent-way material reclamation depot, serving the whole of the system. The work carried out consists of the examination of all used permanent-way page 16
A corner of the York Signalling School.

A corner of the York Signalling School.

material, and its classification as between serviceable stuff and scrap; the reclamation of all material fit for immediate re-issue and the reconditioning of other still serviceable material; and the sale of scrap, either in its original form or by its being converted into some other form in which it is more readily marketable.

Rails, chairs, points and crossings, spikes, fishplates and fishbolts, points levers and sleepers, are the principal materials handled. A separate area or dock is provided for dealing with each particular article, and each distinct section is equipped with modern magnet cranes and other convenient handling appliances. Classification has been reduced to a very fine art. Used rails, for example, are examined and classified under five heads A,B,C,D, and E, according to whether they are fit for re-use on primary tracks, secondary, tertiary, or sidings, or merely as scrap. As a result of the operations carried out in the reclamation depot, a great deal of work has been saved in the various district engineers' stores, while the centralising of reclamation activities facilitated operations generally and enabled better markets for scrap to be secured.

Staff Education in Britain.

Ambitious plans for the education of their employees in railway and allied topics are now being perfected by the Home lines. Staff education in Britain is not alone concerned with the mental improvement of the 90,000 clerical workers employed by the four groups: it also covers the education of almost all grades of the uniformed staffs, from crossing-keepers to station-masters. For the benefit of the lower uniformed grades, classes are conducted at selected centres in such subjects as arithmetic, English composition and geography; while for each distinct class of employees, such as platelayers, signalmen, signal-fitters, telegraph linesmen, and so on, theoretical tuition is given in their own particular field. Locomotive workers have their own special lecture courses, covering almost every phase of locomotive design, construction, maintenance and running.

Employees at out-stations enjoy the benefit of carefully prepared correspondence courses, while at selected points special schools have been established for the training in their spare time of all classes of workers. One of the largest and most successful of these schools is that of the L. & N. E. R. at York. In the signalling section, special training is given in the principles of electrical and mechanical signalling, and of telegraphy and telephony. The syllabus for this course embraces (1) general principles of signalling systems; (2) mechanical signalling; (3) fundamental principles of magnetism and electricity; (4)
Quai D'Orsay Terminal, Orleans Railway, Paris.

Quai D'Orsay Terminal, Orleans Railway, Paris.

electric signalling; (5) telegraphy; (6) telephony; and (7) special studies associated with printing telegraphs, automatic telephones, telephone repeaters, traffic control systems, A.C. track circuits, etc.

Leaves From an Old Rule Book.

One of the first studies that has to be undertaken by every railwayman is the careful digesting of the mass of instructional material contained in the official Rule Book. The 300-page Rule Book in operation in Britain covers almost every phase of operation, and has rightly been termed the “Railwayman's Bible.”

The Rules and Regulations of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, dated August, 1851, is a particularly interesting publication dealing with the duties of railwaymen of an older generation. Here we find one of the duties of permanent-way men defined as follows: “To scrape and sweep the rails, so as to keep them clean.” Every guard of those days had to find security for £50 “for the honest and faithful discharge of his duty”; while guards, drivers, “stokers” and pointsmen were instructed “to apply, not later than the last day but one of the month, at the superintendent's office, for a time-table of such Companies' workings as affect their part of the line for the ensuing month.” Should it be necessary for an engine to travel along the wrong line, the engineman was instructed to send his fireman or “stoker” back for some 600 yards, and the fireman had then to run or walk at such a speed as to maintain this distance between himself and the locomotive, stopping any train approaching from the opposite direction. “Good old days,” indeed, were these; but in 1934 railway working is certainly both safer and saner!