A Coarse Guide to the Steam Locomotive for 'N' Gauge Modellers - Part 10


Hello Chums

After a break to recover, I'm ready for what I thought would be the third part of this little series, but it turns out it's the tenth.  As for its subject matter, let's hear from GJ Churchward:

'The modern locomotive problem is principally a question of boiler.'¹

I suppose, with the fascinating exception of fireless locomotives, the defining characteristic of a steam locomotive is its boiler.  And, as regards time, trouble and expense, the boiler is the critical component of a steam locomotive.

A quotation from LTC Rolt serves to illustrate this point:

'... the heart of the locomotive, the boiler, had been entirely rejuvenated at a cost, as it subsequently transpired, of six hundred pounds.  Truly a magnificent contribution to the railway.²

Boilers had been around for many years, but our story starts in 1802 with Richard Trevithick's  Pen-y-Darren locomotive, generally accepted as the first steam locomotive to run on rails.  This set the overall pattern for the early 'steam dinosaur' locomotives built until 1829 and, in some instances, even later.  These early locomotive featured single flue boilers with the fire at one end and the hot gasses passing from the fire through a flue tube contained inside a horizontal boiler.

The flue was often 'U'-shaped, with the chimney at the same end of the boiler as the fire.  This is called a return flue and allowed the hot gasses to pass twice through the boiler, pretty much doubling the heating surface where the hot surface of the flue was in contact with the water in the boiler.

Return flues were not universally used, for example George Stephenson's Locomotion of 1825 for the Stockton & Darlington Railway used a single through flue of two feet diameter.

These early locomotives had high chimneys to help draw the fire.  Timothy Hackworth's Royal George locomotive of 1827, an 0-6-0, introduced an especially important feature; a blastpipe with a narrow orifice aligned within the chimney so as to use the exhaust steam from the cylinders to help draw the fire through the boiler flue.  The harder the engine worked, the stronger the blast and the more powerful the draw on the fire – a kind of magic.

Typically, these early locomotives had a boiler pressure of 50 pounds per square inch (psi).  This was a significant step forward from the near atmospheric steam pressure used by James Watt thirty or so years earlier.  Watt had declined to use higher pressure steam due to the risk of boiler explosions, given the primitive state of boiler making at the time.  Techniques had improved the intervening years which allowed higher steam pressures to be used.  Albeit, not always safely, as we shall see.





The picturingham shows a replica [note the LNER-style gauge glass] of Timothy Hackworth's Sans Pareil, the original of which was built for the Rainhill locomotive trials of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829.  This is a good example of a conventional steam locomotive of the time, with its return flue boiler pressed to 50psi.  The fireman stood at this end and the driver was at the far end, an arrangement dictated by the return flue.

Perhaps this is the most convenient time to mention that locomotive boilers are almost always placed horizontally, as seen on Sans Pareil, but vertical boilers have occasionally been used.  Braithwaite & Ericsson's Novelty, also built in 1829 for the Rainhill trials, was of this type.  Vertical boilers were commonplace for other applications for many years, but we won't consider them further.

I have mentioned two of the three Railhill contenders.  The next part will consider the role of the third contender in the development of locomotive boilers. And we will see the contribution made by Messrs Neville and Booth.

¹ GJ Churchward Large Locomotive Boilers paper read to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1906.

² LTC Rolt, Railway Adventure, The Country Book Club Edition, London, 1962, p144.

Mr John Alcock, Managing Director of the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds had joined the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and offered to help get No. 4 Edward Thomas, a former Corris Railway engine, in service.  She was built by Kerr Stuart and Hunslet had taken over the goodwill of that company when it closed.  She returned for the 1952 season.  £600 at 1952 prices would be around £15,000 in 2024.


'N' Gauge is Such Fun!

Many thanks for looking and all best wishes.

Toodle-pip

John

A first outing for 10001 running on DCC crossing Ballochmyle Viaduct on the layout "Mauchline" exhibited at Mauchline's annual Holy Fair last Saturday.

Who hid behind these layers of confident charm and hidden melancholy? The more the intricate tapestry of his past unfurled, the more her appreciation—her fascination—for its complexities grew.

Utterly transfixed, Eli listened as Giles revealed heartrending hints of love and loss, inscribing indelible scars on his soul. Each tragedy seemed to thicken the melancholy surrounding them, his sorrow and longing an almost palpable weight.

As the final tale ebbed, Giles's gaze grew distant, the Christmas festivities' warm glow fading into irrelevance. He had come unmoored, cast adrift on memory's storm tides into some desolate past.

Eli could not bear to see this passionate man capsized by yesteryear's tempests. Setting her wineglass aside, she reached across to lay her slim hand atop his. Giles started, pale eyes refocusing on Eli's freckled, concerned features.

Swallowing hard, Eli mustered an empathetic smile. Having lost her despairing mother then her first transcendent love, Elaouen, in devastating circumstances, reminded her—those taken from us too soon became seared into our soul. "Those we've loved and lost, Giles... They live on to shape who we are... guiding our steps after they have departed."

Her partner nodded and gently squeezed her hand in silent understanding.

The loss still haunted Eli's blue eyes, a lingering ache from the day Elaouen's life was cut short by a heart attack in Paris. Though already an adult, Eli had been shattered by the death of the older woman who had rescued her from a violent, drunken father and, as her lover, muse, and dearest friend, first nurtured her talents as a painter. Their plans to embrace the city's bohemian lifestyle together had ended almost before they had begun.

In the aftermath, Eli fled to London, desperate for a fresh start. It was there, in the 'Café Bohème' on Carnaby Street, that she met Sylvia. Together, they founded their advertising agency, and through that endeavour, Giles entered their lives. How unpredictable the workings of fate!

Holding Giles' gaze, the young Breton rose in one fluid, unhurried motion. "But sometimes joyful music must lead us back into the present." With a sweet tilt of her auburn head, she extended her delicate hand. "May I have this dance, sir? A gentle one, to restore lightness to your stride."

At last, something settled within Giles. A muscle twitched along his strong jaw as the storm clouds parted, his knuckles rubbing away the tears suspended in the corner of his glacial eyes, revealing his unmistakable heart-stopping smile.

"With you?" His voice carried a rugged warmth as scarred fingers met her slender hand. "There could be no greater honour, my mysterious muse."

As he stood, Eli felt buoyed by the first hint of revitalised energy pulsing between them. She led him toward the crowded dancefloor with an easy grace, dimples winking alongside her engaging smile.

"Then let's chase joy for a time, my dear. Allow me to soothe your soul with something... gentler."

Gathering him in a loose embrace, she coaxed them into an unhurried waltz-foxtrot hybrid, each turn answered by melodic refrains. Her limbs flowed with the featherlight confidence of an artist cradling inspiration anew. Every subtle step, gentle turn—a masterclass in guiding her partner through nurturing attunement and intuitive precision, aided by the celestial powers of the 'Pochette Constellation Poussière d'Étoiles' wondrously crafted by Mademoiselle Élise.

Eli's heart clenched at the rawness of Giles's pain. Without a word, her fingers softly caressed the intricate silver beading of her clutch, forming twinkling constellations—Orion, Cassiopeia, and Draco—woven into the fabric of destiny itself. Answering her unspoken plea, the talisman's energies thrummed with otherworldly vigour. Gradually, the potent enchantments flowed from Eli's fingertips into Giles, gently infusing him with rapturous, revivifying vibrations.

She moved as one composing living poetry, sculpting Giles's wounded spirit into renewed wonder and delight with the deft surety of her skilled artist's hands. As their bodies converged in sinuous tandem, the music's swells and cadences intertwined with the celestial harmonies awakened by Eli's spellbinding midnight blue silk clutch. Slowly but irreversibly, the transcendent notes lifted Giles's heart from its depths of haunted anguish, restoring joy to their souls.

In that moment, Eli knew with profound, cosmic certainty that this enigmatic man's fragilities and emotional scars had awakened a deeper yearning within her very core. Not merely to commit his authenticity to pigment and canvas but to love him unconditionally. To breach the granite bulwarks around his psyche through the intimacies and vulnerabilities only rapture's spellbinding energies could unlock. To heal and restore him as, first, Elaouen, then Sylvia, had done for her.

Catching his gaze, she flashed an impish grin. Part of her longed to explain this dance sorcery—how she channelled celestial energies to restore equilibrium between them. But another part knew such communion needed no clarification. So instead, Eli arched one teasing eyebrow, weaving a playful challenge into their lilting choreography.

With each shared step, she could feel that dark melancholy fading away like old scars only distantly remembered. By her side, Giles was rediscovering life's perpetual dance, basking in the resilient wonder of beauty and youthful reinvention. As they turned and swayed, Eli embodied art's greatest paradox—that deepest sorrow can birth supreme illumination when sparked by empathetic motivation.

Gazing up at him with sparkling eyes, Eli dared hope this first healing dance was merely the overture to an extraordinary opus yet to unfold between them.

But what a great find! 

At my previous house, the cupboard under the stairs was the black hole. Generally anything house related went in there - decorating equipment, cleaning stuff, vacuum cleaner, paperwork. A general dumping ground. Never model railway stuff - that went in the spare room. When I moved and had to sort it out, I found a brand new Farish Black 5 in there that I'd apparently bought about 3 years earlier. Absolutely no recollection of buying it, or why it was in that cupboard!

Giles paused, visibly weighing what more to disclose. When he continued, his tone took on a melancholic lilt. "There was Charlotte, the ambassador's daughter I fell hopelessly for in the Middle East. A true desert rose, and my sternest critic." A rueful smile. "'The most handsome man I know', she'd declare, 'but also the worst dancer!'"

Giles's jaw tightened, the memory searing his soul anew. "She wanted to surprise me one day – foolishly venturing from the embassy compound hoping to reach me at the airfield." He exhaled. "Her car was blown to smithereens as an insurgent's mine detonated. I lost her in that searing instant. A plume of dark smoke against the Mediterranean blue sky."

Eli's throat constricted as empathetic tears glazed her marigold eyes. Resting a hand on his arm, she murmured, "Oh, Giles... How awful!" The naked pain flickering across his features revealed how deeply that loss had marked him.

After a weighty silence, Giles seemed to rally himself, though melancholy clung to him. "In the aftermath, an obsession with becoming the most devoted dance partner consumed me. If I could not have Charlotte back, I would pour her passion into my every step, my every turn."

His moving words unlocked a fresh upwelling in Eli's chest. This mysterious man's emotional depths mirrored the meticulously layered paintings she poured her soul into. Each new revelation was another nuance, unfurling the true essence behind his beguiling complexities.

Refocusing into the distance, Giles continued, "Years later, amidst Tuscany's sun-drenched hills, my dance mastery ensnared another ill-fated love... I tasted anguish's bittersweet wine again with Alessandra..."

As Giles spun his tale of the beautiful young Italian noblewoman whose father ensured they could never be united, Eli fell deeper under his narrative spell. His words carried the heartache and beauty of the Renaissance paintings she had so admired in the Uffizi Gallery's halls, where she had sketched portraits of tourists to survive.

Sounds like it! Only explanation! 

Quote from: dannyboy on Yesterday at 06:10:56 PMOenophile was a new one on me - you learn something new every day! 

A term which Giles no doubt informed Eli of as she would not have known it otherwise (English being her third language after Breton and French). 8-)

Oenophile was a new one on me - you learn something new every day! 

Quote from: JBQFC on May 13, 2024, 07:17:52 PMI have just started a TPM 442 kit i have had for years i was sure i had got transfers for it but could not find them so i order some new ones guess what the new ones arrive I open a draw to put them away to see the missing set looking at me I looked in that draw twice oh well i have spares if i muck the job up

Last year we spent weeks looking for my passport. We emptied cupboards and draws, searched through bags, cases and pockets. In the end we gave up and I went through all the hassle and cost of getting a new passport.

A couple of weeks later, we found the old one, which was right at the front, in plain view, of the bottle cupboard - where we had each searched, multiple times, as we often keep documents and letters in there.

There is no way that we each missed it multiple times, having gone through documents that were stored in there, individually and more than once - yet the passport was found right at the front, in plain view. We have had this happen with multiple things and are convinced that we have poltergeist moving things around.