Progress in Locomotive Design.

Looking back, it is pleasing to note how marked is the progress effected in locomotive design within recent years. A quarter of a century ago, the most favoured Home locomotive type was the 4-4-0 class. “Pacifies” then made their appearance, led by the Great Western “Great Bear.” “Pacifics” are largely employed for express passenger haulage to-day, although a tremendous amount of useful work is put in by 4-4-0 locomotives. An example of this class is the “Schools” series of engines of the Southern Railway, a 4-4-0 design almost as large as the “King Arthur” 4-6-0 type.

The year 1923 saw the introduction of the Great Western 4-6-0 four-cylinder “Castle” locomotives, and four years later the same railway gave us the first “King” class 4-6-0 engine, the most famous example of which is the far-famed “King George V.” About this time, too, there was born the “Royal Scot” class 4-6-0 express passenger locomotives of the L.M. & S. Railway. Innovations were the L. & N.E. high-pressure locomotive No. 10,000, with a 4-6-4 wheel arrangement and water-tube boiler with working pressure of 450 lb.; and the L.M. & S. high-pressure locomotive “Fury,” of which little, incidentally, has recently been heard. To-day, the most powerful Home passenger locomotive is the L. & N.E. “Cock o' the North,” a 2-8-2 engine weighing 1651/2 tons, and having a tractive effort of 43,462 lbs. Altogether, the four Home railway groups own about 20,400 steam locomotives.