Here is a photo taken in Exeter St. david's in August 1963 of a Bulleid 'Battle of Britain' pacific, affectionately known as "Spam cans"
Many were rebuilt into more 'conventional' locomotives, note that the rebuilds retained the unique smokebox door.
Cool pics alan, ive always thought those locos looked kinda weird with their streamlining. i guess you would call it that. somethign ive noticed is that british locos have very small headlamps, i have to wonder how bright they were, they dont look like you would be able to see much in the dark with them.
Such big, powerful machines ... and then they have that "peanut roaster" whistle I'm still trying to figure out how they make the brakes work from a vacuum; and how or what creates the vacuum?
Steve, the original built locomotives were designated as having "air-smoothed casing" rather than streamlining They had chain-driven valve gear, and the chain ran in an oil bath, which sounds like a good idea, but in the harsh environment of steam engines running express passenger trains at 90mph things don't always work as planned. Often the oil bath would leak, and cause fires under the boiler With all this located between the frames, it was a fitters nightmare to do any servicing. So the decision was taken to rebuild with two sets of outside Walschaerts valve gear and remove the casing. They were very successful in this guise, and a rather handsome machine Steve, the headlights were only marker lights, to denote the type of train, and on the southern where these ran, indicated the route. The small lights you can see are actually electric powered by a steam generator, but these rarely worked, so the conventional headlamp was placed on brackets near the lights! During daylight hours, white disks replaced the headlamps as seen on the first pic. Bill, vacuum brakes suck instead of blowing I think there was a steam exhauster or something which caused the vacuum. [ 04. March 2003, 08:20: Message edited by: Alan ]
Alan .. with vacuum brakes, are the locomotives fitted with tank(s) to store the void of vacuum, as American locos have air tanks to store the volume of compressed air? In the U.S. locos will have a varied amount of compressed air stored in the main reservoir: (125 - 150 psi on our YWRR steam loco) with 90 psi brake pipe pressure. How much vacuum does it take to stop your train? I really find the concept of vacuum actuated brakes interesting. [ 04. March 2003, 16:16: Message edited by: Ironhorseman ]
Alan, Not sure if this event was on your mind when you started this thread but here is a photo of B of B no.34067 "Tangmere" on test last Monday on the West Coast Main Line. On this occasion the loco suffered a hot tender axle box and had to return to the East Lancashire Railway's workshops. It made a repeat run on Thursday and was given the OK to haul it's first mainline train in 40 years last Saturday. It was scheduled to make a return journey over Shap but sadly it was failed at Oxenholme with an overheated big end bearing. John [ 04. March 2003, 20:51: Message edited by: John Whitby ]
Alan, I am curious as to how those locomotives got the "Spamcan" nickname. Is Spam (the meat product of questionable origin, not the computer type) marketed in the UK? Did Americans coin the name?
Fitz- This has me a little bit curious as well. I'm guessing that somehow the shape reminded people of a Spam can outline. I'd guess that we sent a lot of Spam over to the UK during WWII. Spam, allegedly a "luncheon meat" is the property of Hormel Foods Corporation. (Located in Austin, MN.) It dates to pre-WWII. Seems to me the word luncheon is slightly abused.... Boxcab E50
Yeah, these locomotives were built during WW2 so being box-shaped, I guess the name came naturally. Yes, we still can buy Spam here (if we were so minded) Must find out more about vacuum brakes. The locomotives usually had steam brakes, with vacuum brakes for the passenger cars.
I'm just amazed there's been no Monty Python references yet.... I'll look for some info on Vac brakes as well...I'm sure I have some somewhere.
Scrub that, I've just found a really good vac brake primer here: http://www.trainweb.org/railwaytechnical/vacuum.htm
John- Was looking at this photo again. At the ties (sleepers?) used. What are they made out of? Looks as though they could be concrete? Is this the most common material now in the UK? Boxcab E50
John- Thanks. Am asking, as I wonder how these are holding up, versus the wooden treated types. I don't believe I've yet seen a study with a conclusion on life spans and/or cost effectiveness. I see so many wooden treated ties still being installed new here in the states. That I wonder if there is a specific reason. Concrete expenses? Wear and longevity issues? Sorry to drift off the original topic guys..... Boxcab E50
Thanks for finding the vaccum brake info. Martyn. Very informative. I think in our climate, the concrete sleepers (ties) last longer than wooden ones, and think all new ones are concrete. My father during the latter period of his working life, worked at a concrete plant near us which made thousands of concrete sleepers, and on each the name Dow-Mac was embossed!
I have read that concrete sleepers have a life expectancy of 60-70 years in the U.K. This compares to 35-45 years for hardwood sleepers. I suppose that climate and availability of suitable wood must be influencing factors. It is pretty important that Britain's railways continue to convert to concrete sleepers in order to provide a plentiful supply of old wooden ones for television garden and home makeover programs Incidentally.....I also like SPAM.....am I beyond help ? John.
Ah John .. we are brothers! I like Spam too (the kind one would fry, not the stuff we get in our e-mail ) I found the information about vacuum brakes very interesting too, Martyn. Thank you.
