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Peterborough North


great northern
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Poll result. Well I suppose given the ECML nature of this thread the fact that the A4 won with ease for good looks comes as no surprise. There was a closer race when it came to, shall we say er less harmonious efforts. That French loco with the huge nose got 5 votes, but the GWR's attempt at streamlining a King and a Castle got 8, and thus came out as the winner.

 

OK, first question now has to be - Do you want more polls, or have you had enough of them? I'll do one for today anyway, but then see what reaction there is to my question before setting up any more.

 

So, we have discussed the looks of various categories of locomotive, but so far ignored the things that really mattered when it comes to running a railway. It don't matter to the driver how nice the thing looks if it won't steam, and shakes his fillings out at anything over 50 mph.  Let us then turn our attention to the more mundane but vital aspects such as efficiency, all round usefulness, route availability , mixed traffic capability, longevity etc.

 

0.6.0s were the most numerous type in the UK, so let's start with them. The best all rounder I think is what we are looking for, the loco that the shed foreman could turn to for passenger freight or shunting work, and know that within its power classification, or maybe even a bit above, it would do the job well. Add to that how restricted its area of use was, and how long it was able to carry on doing the job. Go anywhere, do anything, and be easy to maintain and mechanically reliable. What was best at that?  Limited to steam though, I think, for the time being anyway.

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Morning all!

 

0-6-0s - well so many to choose from.  I think, based on what I've read and also appearance I'd go for the ex GE J15.  Long lived, Victorian engines that saw in the diesel age, reliable and well regarded as far as I know, and able to shift big load when called upon (albeit probably not very fast).

 

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Today's poll has caused me a bit of s dilemma, which do I say a Deeley/Fowler class 3 0-6-0 goods or a Deeley/Fowler class 3 0-6-0 goods. That is the 5ft 3 ins wheeled variety the 4ft 11ins ones were best at mineral working.

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8 minutes ago, LNERandBR said:

I think I'll jump on the J15 bandwagon there too. One of my favorite classes of loco.

 

I do think though that the vast majority of 0-6-0 types would fit the 'all rounder' category. 

I agree that they should, unless they were designed for a specific purpose, such as shifting coal. That's what a J27 for example was designed to do, and it did it manfully for very many years. Which was most versatile and perhaps for longest is what we are looking for.

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J11, Pom Pom, call it what you will, a superb all-rounder. Although some of their later work was not taxing, in their prime they tackled heavy freight, passenger etc.  and were fitted with water scoop tenders for work on long distance jobs. 1901 - 1962. 

 

Alastair M 

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I think, as much as I’d like to vote for an LNER engine, the most versatile 0-6-0 would have to be the LMS 4F. They were very widespread, working in as far away places as East Anglia and Somerset for several decades.

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1 hour ago, great northern said:

OK, first question now has to be - Do you want more polls, or have you had enough of them?

See, I was right! Now we've got past 1000 he's not interested in the post count any more...

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1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

See, I was right! Now we've got past 1000 he's not interested in the post count any more...

I wuz only asking if you have had enough of polls. One has to be inclusive these days, you know.

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J15 for me too.

 

Though I do like a 4f especially when heading across Norfolk and even a Southern Q1 though not sure how I would justify one of those on an East Anglian branch!

 

Martyn

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2 hours ago, A Murphy said:

Personally, I would have to admit to being polled out at this stage! I like watching the trains go by.

 

Best,

 

Alastair M

There will still be plenty of those Alastair, polls or no polls.

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4F for me , based on childhood memories of them running through Market Rasen summer evenings in fading daylight on freights from Grimsby to the Midlands with the firebox glow stretching back way over the tender and a wonderful smell of smoke hanging in the air.

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