I can’t help but love Hardwicke. The design is just so beautiful, as are the coaches it pulled. Despite being so small, it’s still a sight to behold at the York turntable or just sitting still in Shildon. One day I’ll get that Locomotion models version whenever it’s available for cheaper than £200.
Update: I should’ve mentioned this ages ago, but I was able to get the model for Christmas for under £200, and it’s just as beautiful and detailed as it’s real life counterpart.
Hardwicke is one of my most favorite of UK steam locomotives, and with a wonderful story in the races against the east-coast mainline's Singles and so on. I really love your focus on the more unusual, early locomotives, but these later engines are also fascinating.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Definitely a very impressive machine to have handled such a fast run with only six wheels. Speed records get a lot of attention and back-and-forth debate, but it's the record timings that are really astonishing, because they're not just trying to dash over a short stretch of line, they're trying to keep up that kind of speed all the time, actively fighting the clock, exciting stuff! Something I also find particularly exhilarating about this style of locomotive at such incredible speeds is the mostly open cab. I'm sure weather would be problematic, but imagine the (terrifying) thrill of being on a mostly open footplate!
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory during the races how far would a load of coal take this engine? her speed of 67 MPH is very amazing but I guess her crew knew what she capable of?
@@eliotreader8220 Well over a hundred miles. Non stop from Crewe to Carlisle over a very steeply graded line indeed. How much coal was left in the tender is not clear, but very likely it was pretty empty. The big limiting factor was water, not coal, which the LNWR got over by using water troughs to pick up water en-route.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory many years ago My mum asked a similar question to a traction engine driver at our local steam rally but she got a very rude reply to her simple question because the engine driver i understand then told her to simply "Clear off" She only wanted to know much much coal the Traction engine in question used while it was traveling along the Cornish roads. I guess the engine owner was having a bad day out at our Local steam show?
I absolutely adore this video! Very exciting and very well done indeed sir! Id love to see an account of CR 123s part in the race as well as the final leg of the Race to Aberdeen between the Caley & NBR which still causes so much controversy. - Kris
Excellent video. Those 1895 races were amazing as they achieved speeds and overall timings on some routes which remained unequalled for 60 years. Only stopped by public alarm at racing trains and the fear of accidents.
from Fraser, husband of Leslie The interesting bit in all this is that the LNWR never ran its trains much over 40 mph up until the 1890s. During the same time, the GWR regularly ran at over 60 mph. It was a policy followed by their chairman Richard Moon 1862 to 1890, when he retired. He realised speed costs money but didn't seem to realise that speed on its own, and hence journey times, would be attractive to passengers and higher revenues could result. Fortunately his engineers produced locomotives that could travel a lot faster. It is said that the smoke boxes on the engines would glow red from the heat during these "races" which, needless to say, took place after Moon had retired.
I was actually expecting this one after the comments in the last vid. Not disappointed! As well, for whatever it's worth, I think it is one of the prettiest locomotives preserved anywhere. As for Victorian locomotives I'd like to see... there is one English locomotive that has always seemed very mysterious to me, and it is the preserved J&A Blyth built "Sapucai" preserved in Paraguay. It is today a 4-2-2 tank engine, but it looks very much like it was originally a 2-2-2. Perhaps there is plenty of information about it available in Spanish, but for English speakers, it remains in obscurity. Or perhaps Derwent. Thanks!
It's been hinted at already, but I'd love to see a sequel to this video showcasing the East Coast lot's answer to Hardwicke, the GNR's Stirling Single and C1 Atlantic, ideally with their take on the Race to the North and how it was that despite having the shorter and flatter route the ECML was beaten so spectacularly. Aside from that, I'll reiterate my interest in the LBSCR's "Jenny Lind" 2-2-2 of 1847, claimed to be the first mass produced express passenger loco class. For other Victorian machines, perhaps a special video on the brief craze for 4-2-2 Singles between the 1870's and 1890's. If it's another specific class you're looking for, I'd have to ask for the GWR Dean Goods, the quintessential Victorian workhorse that followed the War Department around the world from the field of Flanders to as far away as China!
Already on the sex-on-wheels which is the Stirling Single. It's sooo pretty. For me there's three absolutely iconic transport designs: Rocket, Stirling Single, Enterprise (no A B C D or E).
As a Canadian who many years ago worked on a cosmetic restore of my provinces steam locomotive CN 6060, a mountain type, and consider her really beautiful. I'd have to put Hardwicke in the same category and it's a beaut too!!
Hello Anthony, Excellent Channel and Excellent Videos mate! I've definitely subscribed and I try to hit the like button on every one of them. I'd love to see a segment done on William Dean's "Armstrong" Class 4-4-0's on the GWR if at all possible. Such Elegant Engines they were!
Why not do some videos on the origins and early years of British locomotive factories. Like Dubbs & co, The Vulcan foundry, Hunslet or Beyer Peacock? And the importance figures behind them
That was brilliantly narrated, many thanks! I've been seeing mentions of this race to the north in my researches into the railway mania and now I'm much better informed. One request I do have: John Ramsbottom is an underestimated engineer who built at Crewe for its time possibly the most successful freight engine ever - the DX-class 0-6-0 from 1855. I do believe sadly that not one has survived, but they were the Ford Transit of their day. If we could have a video on that please? BTW at 3:15 timestamp, we see the characteristic water spume from between the wheels of the tender as the engine takes on water from the troughs in the fourfoot - also a John Ramsbottom invention.
You're right he is underrrated as an engineer. As a manager and an organiser, however.... he wasn't great. His time in charge of Longsight for the Manchester & Birmingham and later L&NWR was marked by a strike and chaotic organisation: he didn't know how many men he actually had on the pay roll! I think his biggest achievement was his safety valve which improved railway safety no end.
Really? Because I've heard it said that the DX Goods were among the worst classes of British steam locos ever made; cheaply built to a bad design, an absolute nightmare for the crews, and the reason none lasted into preservation is because they basically all worked until they literally fell apart. I've heard them compared to the early designs of Liberty Ships; simple, cheap, built fast, not expected to last.
@@sirrliv Therein lies the LNWR locomotive policy: build them cheap, work them hard, then scrap them. Everything on the LNWR was about 'economy' about getting the maximum revenue and therefore profits for the shareholders. LNWR express trains jogged along at about 45 mph because that was the slowest speed they could be run at and maintain a reasonable public service/meet public expectation and was the speed at which the confluence of cost, time, etc all came together. It always paid a handsome dividend to its shareholders. LNWR engines, and running, was nothing very special, nothing amazing... it wa adequate. It did the job and made money. So in that respect many LNWR classes which were built cheap and flogged to death fulfilled their design criteria. They weren't building engines to last, and it was a policy inheritted from the London & Birmingham Railway and the Liverpool & Manchester.
@@sirrliv Indeed, what you say is not incorrect, but it can't change the fact that with their sister-classes (such as the LNWR Coal Engine), they were for half a century the backbone of Victorian Britain's energy supplies. And my comparison with the Transit van is not quite the highest of compliments which could be paid. Their "success" lay in the work they did.
What are you going to do in Aberdeen at 4:32am? Wait around the station for 3 hours until the cabs start running? :-) How about a sequel about why the Races to the North were abandoned?
My favourite writer, E.L.Ahrons wrote that on arrival at Aberdeen on one of the 'race' trains, he just managed to catch a southbound train (by running). A porter, he overheard, stated "Ye'll no be staying in Aberdeen the noo?". One of the 'race' trains left Euston in one of the most spectacular thunderstorms in living memory - What a picture! Those Jumbos could be thrashed like many Premier line locos. Which of the Precedents was a great survivor as 'Engineer Watford'?
The Tennant engine of 1885 on the North Eastern Railway was the same wheel arrangement as Hardwicke and participated in the east coast version of the Aberdeen trains between York and Newcastle. Maybe that is worth an historical treatise. Like Hardwicke one of the Tennant engines survives in the National Collection.
In all your readings on railway history have you come across any data as to the impact the improvement on speed had on passenger numbers for the respective railways? Always wondered how much these rivalries and the publicity around these achievements really boosted the fortunes of those involved.
Pretty much nill. What was more important was cost and comfort. In fact the races to the north, for all their thrilling headlines, terrified the public who were scared of accidents and were quite happy with the existing schedules.
@AnthonyDawsonHistory suspected as much, imagine it also resulted in other services being pushed to one side and other scheduling issues as per later introductions of faster services on the east coast. I've often wondered how much we as enthusiasts, and with a little help from the narratives put forward after the fact, exaggerate these things into being more than they were and look away from the overall downsides of a focus on speed for PR
I'm really enjoying your videos, and learning a lot! I'd be intrigued to see you do something about Crampton, and the early GWR experimental locomotives like Hurricane and Thunderer - which seem to me to be based on marine steam engines.
Sometimes, a part of me wishes that Charles Dickens (LNWR No. 955) was also preserved as it clocked up 1,000,000 miles in under 10 years and 2,000,000 miles in a little over 20 years. Still, I do believe Hardwicke deserves its fame, even if the engine is the sole survivor of Webb's Porter (2-4-0) tender engines.
Thank you so much for your 'steam locomotive' videos. Yes, I'm a RR enthusiast and a 'live steamer'.( I have built, own and run, my own coal burning 4-4-2 Atlantic, in 1/8th scale, USA).
This series sounds interesting. Getting a look at the 1850s-1890s, as opposed to the 1800s-1850s. Not that I'm bothered what you cover, you're always interesting. Am I allowed to ask if you'll do a video on the LBSCR Terrier? Or even earlier LBSC locomotives built by Craven?
It's probably been covered ad nauseam, and not sure if there's much of a dramatic story to her, but would love to see a Basics episode on City of Truro, possibly my favorite UK steamer.
I know more about ships than locos, but thanks for bringing me `up to date` with the past! My Dad was on LMS during WWII, BUT HE NEVER SPOKE OF IT IN ANY DETAIL.
Alot of the people riding these trains would have memory of stage coaches and "fast" was London to Manchester in five days. The leap in speed factor would be like if our modern trains suddenly increased 100 times in speed.
Great video... although I have to disagree with you on one point... I've also stood on Hardwicke's footplate, and there is NOTHING is wouldn't give for the chance to be on there at 74mph!!!!! :)
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory She was given a cobbled together small tender for the White City exhibition and then used it in the famous run to Stevenage with some GN coaches and then for nearly ninety years. A correct, larger tender had been discovered near Werrington in the 1960s and I wrote to the NRM about restoring it. I received a very haughty letter back saying that they had to accept a loco as they rec'd it. That did not stop Duchess of Hamilton being streamlined afterwards. I believe that now, she is carrying that correct, larger tender which, at some time, could well have been attached to her.
what kind of uniform would footplate crews have been wearing in the 1850s and early 1860s theres very little information in the Railway detective book series?
Other than a cap all year round and a greatcoat in winter, none. Footplatemen had to purchase their own footplate clothing and equipment out of their own pockets.
It has become the British standard since 1830 as it had been shown to work on Robert Stephenson's "Planet" and it helped improve thermal efficiency by keeping the cylinders warm to prevent any loss of heat from the steam and to prevent any condensation in the cylinders.
A wonderful series - and I love your French pronunciation! This vid mentions a Webb loco, 'Queen Empress' - completely new to me - any chance of a little mroe detail?
She was a member of the 'Greater Britain' class of Webb duplex compounds. She and a sister engine were specially done up for Victoria's Jubilee one in red and the other in white and blue. I'm going to go a video on the Webb compounds when I get the chance :)
@@johnclayden1670 I'd argue the opposite: they were a quest for efficiency and economy. And as such were a step in the right direction compared to simple expansion locomotives. One only has to look at De Glehn or Du Bosquet in France; Von Borries in Germany etc or the work of Wilson Worsdell and his succesful compounds or even the Midland compounds to see a move in the right direction toward a more efficient and powerful locomotive.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Thanks for the reply. To clarify, I have no issue with the principle of compounding, a very sensible development. I too admire the work of de Glehn (especially) and du Bosquet. (Of von Borries I confess ignorance). My reading of, inter alia, 'GWR Stars, Castles and Kings' by OS Nock led me to admire those French atlantics as GJC was developing his thoughts both on compounds and divided drive over 4 cylinders. Indeed, French railway engineering I have always held in the greatest regard culminating perhaps in that master of the art, Chapelon. In a small way, working for Alstom on railway projects around the world - TGV and metro - that regard has been in no way diminished. No, compounding is splendid. But I understand too the additional complications of construction, operation and maintenance mitigated against its large scale adoption on British railways. As you rightly say, Worsdell was more successful and the Deeley/Johnson compounds of the Midland/LMS in particular were fine locomotives, with efficiency above that of the comparable 4-4-0's of the time. Rather beautiful too they were. Seen as a step in a laudable move in search of power:efficiency, the Webb compounds can count as the bottom rung. Had he coupled a few more of the drivers, perhaps his engines might have been better received by his successor. BTW - Keep up the good work - I am much enjoying the series. I am seeing if I can get your books in Australia.
@@johnclayden1670 I think the problem with the adoption of compound locomotives in the UK was innate conservatism of Britishr aiway engineers, railway works and a lack of technical education for railway maintenance staff as well as a footplate crews. The big problem of the Webb compounds was, apparently, lack of starting tractive effort and that he, like Gresely after him, didn't properly understand how a compound worked. Having two sets of uncoupled driving wheels made sense from the rolling friction point of view, and indeed engineers from Robert Stephenson on had disliked coupled wheels; Patrick Stirling was not alone in his suggestion that coupled wheels were 'like a laddie runnin wit his breeches doon.' There's sound engineering sense there, but it also comes at a cost of tractive effort. I think the reason why most of Webbs compounds were rebuilt by Bowen-Cooke was due to him wanting to make his own mark; he didn't 'believe' in compounding and wanted to tread his own path.
Will you be covering locomotives such as the General and the Texas of America, the Great Locomotive chase, and the first Transcontinental railroad in this series?
I'd like to, and I am planning on some like on John Bull, but whilst I can pop to musuems in the UK to get images, video and research stories it's rather harder to hop accross the pond as it were. :(
As a singer once said
"Hell in damnation, the western train was at the station, she'd been there a quarter hour or more"
I can’t help but love Hardwicke. The design is just so beautiful, as are the coaches it pulled. Despite being so small, it’s still a sight to behold at the York turntable or just sitting still in Shildon.
One day I’ll get that Locomotion models version whenever it’s available for cheaper than £200.
Update: I should’ve mentioned this ages ago, but I was able to get the model for Christmas for under £200, and it’s just as beautiful and detailed as it’s real life counterpart.
Hardwicke is one of my most favorite of UK steam locomotives, and with a wonderful story in the races against the east-coast mainline's Singles and so on. I really love your focus on the more unusual, early locomotives, but these later engines are also fascinating.
My pleasure. Looking at her today she's so tiny but yet set that record. Amazing little machine.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Definitely a very impressive machine to have handled such a fast run with only six wheels. Speed records get a lot of attention and back-and-forth debate, but it's the record timings that are really astonishing, because they're not just trying to dash over a short stretch of line, they're trying to keep up that kind of speed all the time, actively fighting the clock, exciting stuff! Something I also find particularly exhilarating about this style of locomotive at such incredible speeds is the mostly open cab. I'm sure weather would be problematic, but imagine the (terrifying) thrill of being on a mostly open footplate!
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory during the races how far would a load of coal take this engine? her speed of 67 MPH is very amazing but I guess her crew knew what she capable of?
@@eliotreader8220 Well over a hundred miles. Non stop from Crewe to Carlisle over a very steeply graded line indeed. How much coal was left in the tender is not clear, but very likely it was pretty empty. The big limiting factor was water, not coal, which the LNWR got over by using water troughs to pick up water en-route.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory many years ago My mum asked a similar question to a traction engine driver at our local steam rally but she got a very rude reply to her simple question because the engine driver i understand then told her to simply "Clear off" She only wanted to know much much coal the Traction engine in question used while it was traveling along the Cornish roads.
I guess the engine owner was having a bad day out at our Local steam show?
I absolutely adore this video! Very exciting and very well done indeed sir! Id love to see an account of CR 123s part in the race as well as the final leg of the Race to Aberdeen between the Caley & NBR which still causes so much controversy. - Kris
I concur with this, would be great to see a video about the early Caley railway or the evolution of the single wheedlers.
The whole Race to the North deserves a much, much longer video. I'd love to see a film of it. Who'd watch it I don't know but it would be amazing.
Excellent video. Those 1895 races were amazing as they achieved speeds and overall timings on some routes which remained unequalled for 60 years. Only stopped by public alarm at racing trains and the fear of accidents.
I love this locomotive and it's history and she could run again due to her parts like her boiler which she got in 1926 from the LMS
Wonderfully simple and elegant design. No waste, but what a beautiful finish.
Interesting point about rebuilds charged to revenue account. Never knew why they used this ploy. You learn something new each day.
This is a lovely & exciting tale of Victorian derring-do, told in the delightfully precise articulation of Mr Dawson. Well done, sir!
from Fraser, husband of Leslie
The interesting bit in all this is that the LNWR never ran its trains much over 40 mph up until the 1890s. During the same time, the GWR regularly ran at over 60 mph. It was a policy followed by their chairman Richard Moon 1862 to 1890, when he retired. He realised speed costs money but didn't seem to realise that speed on its own, and hence journey times, would be attractive to passengers and higher revenues could result.
Fortunately his engineers produced locomotives that could travel a lot faster. It is said that the smoke boxes on the engines would glow red from the heat during these "races" which, needless to say, took place after Moon had retired.
I was actually expecting this one after the comments in the last vid. Not disappointed! As well, for whatever it's worth, I think it is one of the prettiest locomotives preserved anywhere.
As for Victorian locomotives I'd like to see... there is one English locomotive that has always seemed very mysterious to me, and it is the preserved J&A Blyth built "Sapucai" preserved in Paraguay. It is today a 4-2-2 tank engine, but it looks very much like it was originally a 2-2-2. Perhaps there is plenty of information about it available in Spanish, but for English speakers, it remains in obscurity.
Or perhaps Derwent.
Thanks!
A very elegant engine
Very!
Really enjoyed this having read a book about the Race to the North some years ago
Something Broad gauge perhaps? Like Fire Fly, North Star and Iorn Duke. The 'freak' locos
And the very early days of the GWR.
It's been hinted at already, but I'd love to see a sequel to this video showcasing the East Coast lot's answer to Hardwicke, the GNR's Stirling Single and C1 Atlantic, ideally with their take on the Race to the North and how it was that despite having the shorter and flatter route the ECML was beaten so spectacularly.
Aside from that, I'll reiterate my interest in the LBSCR's "Jenny Lind" 2-2-2 of 1847, claimed to be the first mass produced express passenger loco class. For other Victorian machines, perhaps a special video on the brief craze for 4-2-2 Singles between the 1870's and 1890's. If it's another specific class you're looking for, I'd have to ask for the GWR Dean Goods, the quintessential Victorian workhorse that followed the War Department around the world from the field of Flanders to as far away as China!
Already on the sex-on-wheels which is the Stirling Single. It's sooo pretty. For me there's three absolutely iconic transport designs: Rocket, Stirling Single, Enterprise (no A B C D or E).
As a Canadian who many years ago worked on a cosmetic restore of my provinces steam locomotive CN 6060, a mountain type, and consider her really beautiful. I'd have to put Hardwicke in the same category and it's a beaut too!!
Hello Anthony, Excellent Channel and Excellent Videos mate! I've definitely subscribed and I try to hit the like button on every one of them. I'd love to see a segment done on William Dean's "Armstrong" Class 4-4-0's on the GWR if at all possible. Such Elegant Engines they were!
Ooohhh we are starting look into a bit more modern looking engines
Why not do some videos on the origins and early years of British locomotive factories. Like Dubbs & co, The Vulcan foundry, Hunslet or Beyer Peacock?
And the importance figures behind them
That was brilliantly narrated, many thanks! I've been seeing mentions of this race to the north in my researches into the railway mania and now I'm much better informed. One request I do have: John Ramsbottom is an underestimated engineer who built at Crewe for its time possibly the most successful freight engine ever - the DX-class 0-6-0 from 1855. I do believe sadly that not one has survived, but they were the Ford Transit of their day. If we could have a video on that please?
BTW at 3:15 timestamp, we see the characteristic water spume from between the wheels of the tender as the engine takes on water from the troughs in the fourfoot - also a John Ramsbottom invention.
You're right he is underrrated as an engineer. As a manager and an organiser, however.... he wasn't great. His time in charge of Longsight for the Manchester & Birmingham and later L&NWR was marked by a strike and chaotic organisation: he didn't know how many men he actually had on the pay roll! I think his biggest achievement was his safety valve which improved railway safety no end.
Really? Because I've heard it said that the DX Goods were among the worst classes of British steam locos ever made; cheaply built to a bad design, an absolute nightmare for the crews, and the reason none lasted into preservation is because they basically all worked until they literally fell apart. I've heard them compared to the early designs of Liberty Ships; simple, cheap, built fast, not expected to last.
@@sirrliv Therein lies the LNWR locomotive policy: build them cheap, work them hard, then scrap them. Everything on the LNWR was about 'economy' about getting the maximum revenue and therefore profits for the shareholders. LNWR express trains jogged along at about 45 mph because that was the slowest speed they could be run at and maintain a reasonable public service/meet public expectation and was the speed at which the confluence of cost, time, etc all came together. It always paid a handsome dividend to its shareholders. LNWR engines, and running, was nothing very special, nothing amazing... it wa adequate. It did the job and made money. So in that respect many LNWR classes which were built cheap and flogged to death fulfilled their design criteria. They weren't building engines to last, and it was a policy inheritted from the London & Birmingham Railway and the Liverpool & Manchester.
@@sirrliv Indeed, what you say is not incorrect, but it can't change the fact that with their sister-classes (such as the LNWR Coal Engine), they were for half a century the backbone of Victorian Britain's energy supplies. And my comparison with the Transit van is not quite the highest of compliments which could be paid. Their "success" lay in the work they did.
Harwicke was used on some ordinary service trains in 1976, standing in for DMUs.
hardwicke is a legend, and i respect it deeply. could you maybe cover the LNWR greater britain class? if so thanks it means a lot.
What an engine!
Beautiful loco & the best of the preserved North Western loco! Have you covered the Midland Johnson Spinner yet or the Sterling Single?
What are you going to do in Aberdeen at 4:32am? Wait around the station for 3 hours until the cabs start running? :-)
How about a sequel about why the Races to the North were abandoned?
Basically going too fast for the track - crewe approaches.
My favourite writer, E.L.Ahrons wrote that on arrival at Aberdeen on one of the 'race' trains, he just managed to catch a southbound train (by running). A porter, he overheard, stated "Ye'll no be staying in Aberdeen the noo?". One of the 'race' trains left Euston in one of the most spectacular thunderstorms in living memory - What a picture! Those Jumbos could be thrashed like many Premier line locos. Which of the Precedents was a great survivor as 'Engineer Watford'?
The Tennant engine of 1885 on the North Eastern Railway was the same wheel arrangement as Hardwicke and participated in the east coast version of the Aberdeen trains between York and Newcastle. Maybe that is worth an historical treatise. Like Hardwicke one of the Tennant engines survives in the National Collection.
I imagine a handful of people being not happy about the train fanging it so hard that they get there over 3 hours early
In all your readings on railway history have you come across any data as to the impact the improvement on speed had on passenger numbers for the respective railways?
Always wondered how much these rivalries and the publicity around these achievements really boosted the fortunes of those involved.
Pretty much nill. What was more important was cost and comfort. In fact the races to the north, for all their thrilling headlines, terrified the public who were scared of accidents and were quite happy with the existing schedules.
@AnthonyDawsonHistory suspected as much, imagine it also resulted in other services being pushed to one side and other scheduling issues as per later introductions of faster services on the east coast.
I've often wondered how much we as enthusiasts, and with a little help from the narratives put forward after the fact, exaggerate these things into being more than they were and look away from the overall downsides of a focus on speed for PR
I'm really enjoying your videos, and learning a lot! I'd be intrigued to see you do something about Crampton, and the early GWR experimental locomotives like Hurricane and Thunderer - which seem to me to be based on marine steam engines.
Sometimes, a part of me wishes that Charles Dickens (LNWR No. 955) was also preserved as it clocked up 1,000,000 miles in under 10 years and 2,000,000 miles in a little over 20 years. Still, I do believe Hardwicke deserves its fame, even if the engine is the sole survivor of Webb's Porter (2-4-0) tender engines.
Thank you so much for your 'steam locomotive' videos. Yes, I'm a RR enthusiast and a 'live steamer'.( I have built, own and run, my own coal burning 4-4-2 Atlantic, in 1/8th scale, USA).
Hello
Anthony,
Could you please look into doing a video on the LBSCR ‘Jenny Lind’ Singles?
Handsome little things, especially 5036 in LMS's lined maroon/red, whichever word the color purists lean toward, there after the 0:15 point.
This series sounds interesting. Getting a look at the 1850s-1890s, as opposed to the 1800s-1850s. Not that I'm bothered what you cover, you're always interesting. Am I allowed to ask if you'll do a video on the LBSCR Terrier? Or even earlier LBSC locomotives built by Craven?
I would love to see a video on the aussie A10s (fairlie, neilson)
I love this engine, I made it as my Thomas OC named Darius.
Excellent video as always. How about a narrow gauge or industrial themed episode ?
It's probably been covered ad nauseam, and not sure if there's much of a dramatic story to her, but would love to see a Basics episode on City of Truro, possibly my favorite UK steamer.
City of Truro falls well outside the scope of this channel due to being built in 1903. She's too modern I'm afraid.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory for whatever reason I believed she was an 1870's product! I let the 4-4-0 design fool me.
@@frankdestefano5697 Oh no. She's twentieth century. If she was 1870s Great Western would be Broad Gauge. Or at least a convertible.
I know more about ships than locos, but thanks for bringing me `up to date` with the past! My Dad was on LMS during WWII, BUT HE NEVER SPOKE OF IT IN ANY DETAIL.
That's the same with a lot of veterans. Sadly. Either don't want to re-live it, or don't want to talk about, or think it was just ordinary.
Alot of the people riding these trains would have memory of stage coaches and "fast" was London to Manchester in five days. The leap in speed factor would be like if our modern trains suddenly increased 100 times in speed.
Oh absolutely. Getting to Edinburgh from London *in less than a day* was miraculous. Today it's slow but then, world changing.
Could you do a video on early compounds?
Working on it! Already covered one early compound - if not the first - La Jumelle ua-cam.com/video/x7D0pTVJuVQ/v-deo.html
Must've caned her the whole long way, wouldn't be surprised if they were touching 80 at times with those averages.
theres a song called Race To The North by Dave Goulder
excellent, as usual. at 1:20 you compare to logan's run. to me i think of trigger's broom from only fools and horses.
Genuine LOL moment. Thanks :)
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory ,what was it? 14 handles and 17 heads? but its still the same broom!
can you do a video on the early midland railway?
Great video... although I have to disagree with you on one point... I've also stood on Hardwicke's footplate, and there is NOTHING is wouldn't give for the chance to be on there at 74mph!!!!! :)
Have you covered the Stirling Single No.1 in this series ?
Not yet, but we will be.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory She was given a cobbled together small tender for the White City exhibition and then used it in the famous run to Stevenage with some GN coaches and then for nearly ninety years. A correct, larger tender had been discovered near Werrington in the 1960s and I wrote to the NRM about restoring it. I received a very haughty letter back saying that they had to accept a loco as they rec'd it. That did not stop Duchess of Hamilton being streamlined afterwards. I believe that now, she is carrying that correct, larger tender which, at some time, could well have been attached to her.
what kind of uniform would footplate crews have been wearing in the 1850s and early 1860s
theres very little information in the Railway detective book series?
Other than a cap all year round and a greatcoat in winter, none. Footplatemen had to purchase their own footplate clothing and equipment out of their own pockets.
What was the British fixation on inside-drive cranked axeles?
It has become the British standard since 1830 as it had been shown to work on Robert Stephenson's "Planet" and it helped improve thermal efficiency by keeping the cylinders warm to prevent any loss of heat from the steam and to prevent any condensation in the cylinders.
Would these have been sleeper trains? If so, the passengers would probably not have been impressed by having their sleep cut short.
They were. But I dont think many people would've been able to get much sleep rattling along at that speed.
A wonderful series - and I love your French pronunciation!
This vid mentions a Webb loco, 'Queen Empress' - completely new to me - any chance of a little mroe detail?
She was a member of the 'Greater Britain' class of Webb duplex compounds. She and a sister engine were specially done up for Victoria's Jubilee one in red and the other in white and blue. I'm going to go a video on the Webb compounds when I get the chance :)
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Thanks - look forward to it.
I always thought the Webb compounds were a bit of an evolutionary blind alley.
@@johnclayden1670 I'd argue the opposite: they were a quest for efficiency and economy. And as such were a step in the right direction compared to simple expansion locomotives. One only has to look at De Glehn or Du Bosquet in France; Von Borries in Germany etc or the work of Wilson Worsdell and his succesful compounds or even the Midland compounds to see a move in the right direction toward a more efficient and powerful locomotive.
@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Thanks for the reply.
To clarify, I have no issue with the principle of compounding, a very sensible development. I too admire the work of de Glehn (especially) and du Bosquet. (Of von Borries I confess ignorance).
My reading of, inter alia, 'GWR Stars, Castles and Kings' by OS Nock led me to admire those French atlantics as GJC was developing his thoughts both on compounds and divided drive over 4 cylinders. Indeed, French railway engineering I have always held in the greatest regard culminating perhaps in that master of the art, Chapelon. In a small way, working for Alstom on railway projects around the world - TGV and metro - that regard has been in no way diminished.
No, compounding is splendid. But I understand too the additional complications of construction, operation and maintenance mitigated against its large scale adoption on British railways. As you rightly say, Worsdell was more successful and the Deeley/Johnson compounds of the Midland/LMS in particular were fine locomotives, with efficiency above that of the comparable 4-4-0's of the time. Rather beautiful too they were.
Seen as a step in a laudable move in search of power:efficiency, the Webb compounds can count as the bottom rung. Had he coupled a few more of the drivers, perhaps his engines might have been better received by his successor.
BTW - Keep up the good work - I am much enjoying the series. I am seeing if I can get your books in Australia.
@@johnclayden1670 I think the problem with the adoption of compound locomotives in the UK was innate conservatism of Britishr aiway engineers, railway works and a lack of technical education for railway maintenance staff as well as a footplate crews. The big problem of the Webb compounds was, apparently, lack of starting tractive effort and that he, like Gresely after him, didn't properly understand how a compound worked. Having two sets of uncoupled driving wheels made sense from the rolling friction point of view, and indeed engineers from Robert Stephenson on had disliked coupled wheels; Patrick Stirling was not alone in his suggestion that coupled wheels were 'like a laddie runnin wit his breeches doon.' There's sound engineering sense there, but it also comes at a cost of tractive effort. I think the reason why most of Webbs compounds were rebuilt by Bowen-Cooke was due to him wanting to make his own mark; he didn't 'believe' in compounding and wanted to tread his own path.
How about "Cardean"..........
nice
I love your accent, pronouncing the "r" ...
Will you be covering locomotives such as the General and the Texas of America, the Great Locomotive chase, and the first Transcontinental railroad in this series?
I'd like to, and I am planning on some like on John Bull, but whilst I can pop to musuems in the UK to get images, video and research stories it's rather harder to hop accross the pond as it were. :(
the end of this nonsence was the Crew smash!
Which Crewe smash? Don't you mean Preston in 1896?
Like the Flying Scotsman the worlds famous express train first ran in 1862 by Thomas Cook