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Whoops! Forgot the poll. Looked like there might be a surprise early on, but the A1 pulled away to win by 10 votes to 4 for A2 and 3 for K1.

 

And finally we come to Sir Nigel Gresley. How am I going to do this? Well, we will start with a two horse race. Which was the most successful express passenger design, A3 or A4? I will allow a vote for a tie this time.

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A4, merely on the grounds that one of its number was recorded going faster than anything else, which is what express passenger engines are supposed to do. 

 

But would the A4 have happened if the A3 hadn't happened before it?  (Genuine question - I don't know enough about the detailed history of LNER locomotive development other than what I read on this thread...)

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Well, I'm gonna vote for the A3! By which I mean the post 1928 so-called 'Super Pacifics' with long travel valves and improved superheating - to which spec all original Gresley A1s were - of course - subsequently rebuilt to.

 

It was the A3s that really proved the Gresley large loco pacific concept (not everyone was convinced that it was the right way to go in the late 1920s) and, whereas A1 4472 barely got to 100mph in March 1934, A3 2750 comfortably exceeded it 7 months later in one of the classic high speed test runs of the steam era, thereby paving the way for the A4s the next year.

 

Yes, the A4s are unquestionably a stand out, successful design - but only because of what went before.

 

(I also - whisper it in hushed tones - have a bit of a 'blind spot' for the A4s when it comes to aesthetics. An A3, in original LNER livery, is the epitome of grace and power combined. I'd even put it ahead of an LMS Duchess in that sense. 

Nurse! The medicine - quick! He's really lost it this time...)

Edited by LNER4479
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5 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Well, I'm gonna vote for the A3! By which I mean the post 1928 so-called 'Super Pacifics' with long travel valves and improved superheating - to which spec all original Gresley A1s were - of course - subsequently rebuilt to.

 

It was the A3s that really proved the Gresley large loco pacific concept (not everyone was convinced that it was the right way to go in the late 1920s) and, whereas A1 4472 barely got to 100mph in March 1934, A3 2750 comfortably exceeded it 7 months later in one of the classic high speed test runs of the steam era, thereby paving the way for the A4s the next year.

 

Yes, the A4s are unquestionably a stand out, successful design - but only because of what went before.

 

(I also - whisper it in hushed tones - have a bit of a 'blind spot' for the A4s when it comes to aesthetics. An A3, in original LNER livery, is the epitome of grace and power combined. I'd even put it ahead of an LMS Duchess in that sense. 

Nurse! The medicine - quick! He's really lost it this time...)

^ Basically my argument, 5 minutes before I could make it!

A3 for me.

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20 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Well, I'm gonna vote for the A3! By which I mean the post 1928 so-called 'Super Pacifics' with long travel valves and improved superheating - to which spec all original Gresley A1s were - of course - subsequently rebuilt to.

 

It was the A3s that really proved the Gresley large loco pacific concept (not everyone was convinced that it was the right way to go in the late 1920s) and, whereas A1 4472 barely got to 100mph in March 1934, A3 2750 comfortably exceeded it 7 months later in one of the classic high speed test runs of the steam era, thereby paving the way for the A4s the next year.

 

Yes, the A4s are unquestionably a stand out, successful design - but only because of what went before.

 

(I also - whisper it in hushed tones - have a bit of a 'blind spot' for the A4s when it comes to aesthetics. An A3, in original LNER livery, is the epitome of grace and power combined. I'd even put it ahead of an LMS Duchess in that sense. 

Nurse! The medicine - quick! He's really lost it this time...)

Yo Red Leader

 

Staff Nurse Mortimore to the rescue...a good dose of this should bring you back to your senses. 

 

D1000 Western Enterprise at Shrewsbury

 

Edit, to make things even better an early Mk2 FO is the second coach.

Edited by Clive Mortimore
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27 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Yo Red Leader

 

Staff Nurse Mortimore to the rescue...a good dose of this should bring you back to your senses. 

 

D1000 Western Enterprise at Shrewsbury

 

Edit, to make things even better an early Mk2 FO is the second coach.

 

Sorry nurse, you've lost me there. I'm looking for one of these in your picture ....

image.png.63f9f5256e4e5f791e95f14273bd1a3f.png

 

... but there's a smelly (and drippy) box on wheels getting in the way? Non comprende ... :dontknow:

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7 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

 

Sorry nurse, you've lost me there. I'm looking for one of these in your picture ....

image.png.63f9f5256e4e5f791e95f14273bd1a3f.png

 

... but there's a smelly (and drippy) box on wheels getting in the way? Non comprende ... :dontknow:

Beast.        Strangely I really like that having hated forrin stuff when I wuz a spotty yoof.

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2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

 

Sorry nurse, you've lost me there. I'm looking for one of these in your picture ....

image.png.63f9f5256e4e5f791e95f14273bd1a3f.png

 

... but there's a smelly (and drippy) box on wheels getting in the way? Non comprende ... :dontknow:

See it worked, the sight of a (Great) Western Region diesel has helped you.

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