Goggles?

[rockershovel]

I’ve seen pictures of French loco drivers wearing goggles; I’ve recently seen video of US drivers wearing them. 

 

It occurs to me that I’ve never seen pictures of British drivers wearing them? 

[jim.snowdon]

I'd put it down to one of those quirks that make up up any nation's customs and practices. In some ways you have to admire the early locomotive drivers in Britain for batting around at 40-50mph (and more) with no protection at all, yet question their sanity when some of them, at least, opposed the introduction of weatherboarded, never mind cabs.

 

Jim

[dagrizz]

In the Czech Republic, the locos wear goggles...…..

 

[luckymucklebackit]

As soon as I saw that picture I thought of the Bender, the robot from Futurama

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by luckymucklebackit

[JeremyC]

I can't find my copy of the book at the moment, but I think Norman McKillop (Toram Beg) mentions in 'Enginemen Elite' that he wore goggles when driving NER atlantics.

Edited March 26, 2020 by JeremyC

[The Stationmaster]

18 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I’ve seen pictures of French loco drivers wearing goggles; I’ve recently seen video of US drivers wearing them. 

 

It occurs to me that I’ve never seen pictures of British drivers wearing them? 

If you see any photos of the cr*p that passed for coal in the tenders of many French locos you'd soon understand why the Drivers wore goggles.

[rockershovel]

4 hours ago, dagrizz said:

In the Czech Republic, the locos wear goggles...…..

 

 

In Soviet Russia, goggles wear YOU!

[LMS2968]

4 hours ago, dagrizz said:

In the Czech Republic, the locos wear goggles...…..

 

Remins me of a minion on rails!

[jim.snowdon]

4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

If you see any photos of the cr*p that passed for coal in the tenders of many French locos you'd soon understand why the Drivers wore goggles.

Wouldn't that be a better argument for the firemen wearing the goggles?

 

Jim

[The Stationmaster]

17 minutes ago, jim.snowdon said:

Wouldn't that be a better argument for the firemen wearing the goggles?

 

Jim

They did too in some pictures you see.

[laurenceb]

At the Derby exhibition last year we were talking to an ex Saltley driver who said he wore goggles when driving the mechanical stoked 9F's because the coal was like dust.

[Steamport Southport]

There's this quite famous photograph. French driver on a GWR loco. No idea of what the context is though. Cultural exchange?

 

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/french-railway-driver-on-the-footplate-of-a-british-train-news-photo/107417030

 

 

 

Jason

[rockershovel]

8 hours ago, laurenceb said:

At the Derby exhibition last year we were talking to an ex Saltley driver who said he wore goggles when driving the mechanical stoked 9F's because the coal was like dust.

 

Thats an interesting comment, given that mechanical stokers were common in the USA at an early date. 

[TheQ]

All I can say looking at the pictures and comments is... 

 

 

 

 

Minions

[Fat Controller]

On 26/03/2020 at 15:28, The Stationmaster said:

If you see any photos of the cr*p that passed for coal in the tenders of many French locos you'd soon understand why the Drivers wore goggles.

They also tended to wear neckerchiefs, to cover mouth and nose in some of the longer tunnels; I remember a former colleague of Lynne's saying that when they work a heavy train with a 1-4-1R through the Tunnel du Sauvages (between Lyon and Roanne), they used to cover their faces with damp cloth before entering.

[rockershovel]

https://cabforward.com/tunnels-steam-locomotives/

[The Stationmaster]

On 28/03/2020 at 00:28, Steamport Southport said:

There's this quite famous photograph. French driver on a GWR loco. No idea of what the context is though. Cultural exchange?

 

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/french-railway-driver-on-the-footplate-of-a-british-train-news-photo/107417030

 

 

 

Jason

I was told by one of my Drivers that exchange visits had onc e been quite common but they were normally organised by the unions and tended to be somewhat hydraulic occasions (not of the diesel kind).   I suspect the one pictured was more official with a photographer there to record the event.

[rab]

11 hours ago, rockershovel said:

https://cabforward.com/tunnels-steam-locomotives/

I've often thought about whether a steam loco could have been designed with the cab at the front but couldn't see how it was possible. Obviously it was. I guess oil firing makes it easier.

Edited March 29, 2020 by rab
Damn predictive text

[jim.snowdon]

1 hour ago, rab said:

I've often thought about whether a steam loco could have been designed with the cab at the front but couldn't see how it was possible. Obviously it was. I guess oil firing makes it easier.

Bulleid's "Leader", and on a more mundane (and practical) level, any number of steam tram locomotives. The Americans got halfway there (sort of) with the camelback locomotives, although that was done out of necessity - the fireboxes required to burn the relatively poor coal that was available in some parts ofthe US were so wide as to preclude getting a cab to fit round them. (Some even had two firehole doors as a consequence of the extreme width.) A common, and undesirable, feature of all of them was the separation of driver and fireman, although that was probably tolerable on the tram locomotives, given their small size.

 

Jim

[pH]

2 hours ago, rab said:

I've often thought about whether a steam loco could have been designed with the cab at the front but couldn't see how it was possible. Obviously it was. I guess oil firing makes it easier.

 

There was at least one attempt at a coal-fired cab-forward:

http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/05003/05003.htm 

 

Seems to have been fast, if nothing else!

[Simon Lee]

When the Channel Tunnel first opened, one of the SNCF Calais drivers who worked through had started his career at Amiens around 1966, mainly on 141Rs. 

 

He was a great guy and a bit of a comedianand  would sometimes appear with a pair of goggles usually over a beret or a baseball cap. One of the T&RS supervisors eventually arranged a suitable railwayana swop and became the owner of the goggles. 

[Caledonian]

I have a recollection of a photie showing a fireman or a cleaner wearing goggles while digging the char out of a smokebox, although that's not the same as wearing them while driving.

[Steamport Southport]

There used to always be a spotter who wore goggles. And a balaclava and woolly bobble hat on top of that. 

 

You always saw him with his head out of the front window of trains in the North in the 1980s.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[BMacdermott]

Hello everyone

 

I emailed ex-Somerset & Dorset Line Fireman/Driver Peter Smith as I recall seeing a photo of him with goggles. That photo is plate 163 in Ivo Peters’ book, The S&D in the Sixties, Volume 3, 1960-1962.

 

Peter replied: “Sometime around 1960, BR issued goggles to all footplate crews and a few wore them for a short time. Donald Beale and I have worn them on the odd occasion with a West Country class on a heavy turn when cinders and sparks throwing from the chimney were commonplace. But, in general, they were hardly used by footplate crews in this country.

 

I have a photo of Donald and I taken on 12 August 1961 at Evercreech Junction. We were working the down Pines Express and recovered a prodigious amount of time on the run to Bournemouth West. The story was published in the Railway Magazine in two parts: January and February editions, 2012.”

 

For those who would like to read more about the S&D, Peter has recently had published a reprint of his book, The Somerset & Dorset from the Footplate, with photos by the late GA Richardson. See Crecy Publishing for details.

 

Brian

[rab]

13 hours ago, pH said:

 

There was at least one attempt at a coal-fired cab-forward:

http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/05003/05003.htm 

 

Seems to have been fast, if nothing else!

I guess it's mechanical firing that made it possible then.