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Broad and Narrow - 2


MikeOxon

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I visited the Swindon Railway Festival yesterday (15th Sep). It's always good to study prototype fittings, such as the sand boxes on the Dean Goods. In model form, these often show a 'draw' from the casting process, so it was useful to be reminded of the shape and details of the original.

 

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Dean Goods no.2516 - Sand Box

 

There was also a sizeable model railway exhibition and I got talking on the Broad Gauge Society stand. I mentioned that I had recently photographed BG and NG models together, and had been struck by how the BG locomotive 'towered over' the other. The person on the stand was rather dismissive of this idea, saying that BG engines were actually quite small and could not have been taller because of loading-gauge restrictions. This prompted me to re-check the dimensions from various books and I made the following diagram, for study purposes, from small sections of two scale drawings. The BG single is from Alan Prior's 19th Century Railway Drawings and the Dean Single is from C.J.Freezer's Locomotives in Outline GWR (both drawn to 4mm/ft scale):

 

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Broad and Narrow - Head to Head

 

The height from rail to chimney top of the BG engine is shown on the drawing as 14' 6", whereas the Dean measures 52mm on the drawing, or 13' at full-size. I feel that my 'towers over' description was pretty apt!

 

The Swindon Steam museum also houses the North Star replica, which I photographed:

 

NorthStar_Swindon.jpg.82b5e64cd33eedbe379b89535c5166fd.jpg

 

 

From the drawing in Russells GW Engines, the original measured an even more impressive 15' 2" (rail level to top of chimney). Engines like these must have made a very strong impression during the first half of the 19th century! For comparison, a 'King' only manages a height of 13' 4 1/2".

 

Mike

Edited by MikeOxon
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