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Best looking locomotive


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56 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

Odd how they've shown the train in the other direction as steam hauled. I'd have shown them both as the shiny new type.

 

There was only 1 loco in service with the 12 cylinder supercharged Sulza engines 12-LDA-31. WWII put a stop on things...

 

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Edited by maico
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2 hours ago, Zomboid said:

Odd how they've shown the train in the other direction as steam hauled. I'd have shown them both as the shiny new type.

 

I think that's the point. My not very good French (and Googling one word) translates the caption to "Our new 4400 HP diesel-electric will dethrone steam traction?" It also might be intending to show which one's going forwards.

Edited by Reorte
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I started a World's Ugliest thread for this sort of thing!  Though the PLM Sulzer does have a sort of Citroen 2CV charm to it...

41 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I think that's the point. My not very good French (and Googling one word) translates the caption to "Our new 4400 HP diesel-electric will dethrone steam traction?" It also might be intending to show which one's going forwards.

Edited 33 minutes ago by Reorte

Note that the steam train is also shown as having to 'get out of the way'.

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12 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I started a World's Ugliest thread for this sort of thing!  Though the PLM Sulzer does have a sort of Citroen 2CV charm to it...

Note that the steam train is also shown as having to 'get out of the way'.

 

To my mind 2CVs have no charm in anyway shape or form, just an upturned pram with a lawn mower engine. As for that loco,.............

 

The steam loco has something of a resemblance to an A4. A dig at the British perhaps?

Edited by great central
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I was taking some pics yesterday of various loco’s and was suddenly stopped in my tracks by just how stunning the Midland Compound is. I only saw it once in a double header with City of Truro in a special back in the 60’s.....
 

image.jpeg.60f0a8f099153cdc25c6e567ed1b89e7.jpeg


 

image.jpeg.2e5f0ed8abea161e51575bf06561163f.jpeg

 

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50 minutes ago, great central said:

 

To my mind 2CVs have no charm in anyway shape or form, just an upturned pram with a lawn mower engine. As for that loco,.............

 

The steam loco has something of a resemblance to an A4. A dig at the British perhaps?

You see, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about.  All streamlined steam locos are an offence to my optic nerves, and one of the best cars I ever owned in terms of practicality, reliability and adaptability was a 2CV.  I worked with a BMW owner who constantly mocked it until I invited him to 'lose' me on Rover Way, a road notorious for it's uneven surface and punctuation with roundabouts.  He could barely keep his beamer in a straight line, and kept having to slow down for bumps, railway crossings, and the roundabouts, whereas I was able to maintain the legal limit of 40mph and never had to touch the brakes; my spine was in much better shape than his when we compared notes in Tesco's car park as well.  He never mocked it again, though he was at pains to point out that he'd probably need to carry a tray of eggs across a ploughed field.  The original version of the 2CV had seats that could be taken out for a picnic, with the boot floor forming the table, and could carry an upright piano or a fully rigged sailing dingy.  Brilliant piece of engineering, and tremendous fun, no protection at all in a crash, though.

 

If the CV was slow, why did everything get in my way...  If you want a car with no charm whatsoever, I give you the Morris Minor, an upturned blancmange that has flopped about a bit.

 

You may have a point about the poster, though!

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20 hours ago, great central said:

 

To my mind 2CVs have no charm in anyway shape or form, just an upturned pram with a lawn mower engine. As for that loco,.............

 

The steam loco has something of a resemblance to an A4. A dig at the British perhaps?

 

Looks more like a Nord Super Pacific. This one used by visting British Royalty

3_1280bml.jpg

Edited by maico
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On 05/05/2020 at 21:30, The Johnster said:

You see, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about.  All streamlined steam locos are an offence to my optic nerves, and one of the best cars I ever owned in terms of practicality, reliability and adaptability was a 2CV.  I worked with a BMW owner who constantly mocked it until I invited him to 'lose' me on Rover Way, a road notorious for it's uneven surface and punctuation with roundabouts.  He could barely keep his beamer in a straight line, and kept having to slow down for bumps, railway crossings, and the roundabouts, whereas I was able to maintain the legal limit of 40mph and never had to touch the brakes; my spine was in much better shape than his when we compared notes in Tesco's car park as well.  He never mocked it again, though he was at pains to point out that he'd probably need to carry a tray of eggs across a ploughed field.  The original version of the 2CV had seats that could be taken out for a picnic, with the boot floor forming the table, and could carry an upright piano or a fully rigged sailing dingy.  Brilliant piece of engineering, and tremendous fun, no protection at all in a crash, though.

 

If the CV was slow, why did everything get in my way...  If you want a car with no charm whatsoever, I give you the Morris Minor, an upturned blancmange that has flopped about a bit.

 

You may have a point about the poster, though!

I'll never forget my metalwork teacher at school calling the 2CV a "French Peasant Wagon", and a couple of weeks later turning up with a slightly superior version. Stick duly given!

 

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He had a point; the original 2CV was designed in the late 30s after Citroen had sent what we would now call market research material to French farmers asking what it was they wanted in a vehicle, as this market had proven resistant to exchanging it's horses for a motor.  They wanted a car that could plough a field, drive back across the field it had just ploughed without breaking any eggs in a basket, take the family to church on Sunday and then for a picnic after, carry a piano, and be capable of being maintained by a shepherdess.  It had to do the work of two horses, hence the 2CV (deux chevaux) power rating.  It was about to be released to sale when the Germans invaded, took one look, and reckoned the Volkswagen Beetle was a better option.  Given the beetle's hopeless road performance and inability to go offroad, this is debatable; you can't plough a field with a VW beetle...

 

The version we know is a post war adaptation, and is more powerful than the original and with a modified bodyshell for extra rigidity, a bar between the rear window and canvas roof.  There was no rear window on the original and the canvas folded down to the boot sill, enabling the car to carry an upright piano and, in one photo, a fully rigged sailing dingy.  The canvas deck chair seats and picnic table remained but were much more awkward to set up.  The final version abandoned this for 'proper' seats, electric start, and a restyled front.  There was twin engined 4 wheel drive version for the West African market, not the open top 'Mehari' but the saloon with a second engine where the boot was.  

 

The 2CV was the only car I ever owned where the headlights could be adjusted manually from the driver's seat.  It also had a trouser singeing heater comparable to a blast furnace, necessary because it was a bit draughty.

 

Did your metalwork teacher have the Dyane or the AMI?

Edited by The Johnster
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On 05/05/2020 at 21:30, The Johnster said:

Brilliant piece of engineering, and tremendous fun

 

And the great motoring journalist LJK Setright called the 2CV 'the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car'.

 

Just as a little aside to your 2CV conversation, here's a little known story about the car.  After the last 2CVs were built (in Portugal in 1990), British Motor Heritage entered into negotiations with Citroen to become custodians of the body tooling.  The former Rover Group subsidiary already manufactured MGB, MG Midget and Triumph TR6 panels and complete bodyshells, using original tooling to make them, for the classic car market.  Eventually, in the early 2000s, they would go on to make classic Mini panels and bodyshells too, but in the early 1990s an opportunity was seen to do the same with the Citroen 2CV; after all, a fair part of the 2CV's early production history had taken place in Slough, so the car had significant British heritage, so to speak. 

 

Unfortunately the negotiations came to nothing in the end.  A few years later, though, the boot was on the other foot when British Motor Heritage was invited to produce body panels for the Citroen DS model.  That proposal came to nothing as well, in the climate of uncertainty during BMW's later period of ownership of Rover Group.  It was, however, just as serious a proposal as the 2CV one had been and a lot of goodwill was involved. 

 

Pete T. 

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Please excuse my way off-topic digression above - but I thought those talking about the 2CV would probably like to know the story.

 

I'll let you get back to the best looking loco now...

 

Pete T.

 

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The S 2/6 of the Royal Bavarian State Railways (K. Bay.Sts.B.) in Rhineland-Palatinate livery around 1910 to 1912.

 Recent Trix catalogue image

 

5b97652454059b4d25938b1b10c56fb31541778664.jpg.f803457f1b2c506f3162ead45f770851.jpg

Edited by maico
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On 08/05/2020 at 17:53, The Johnster said:

He had a point; the original 2CV was designed in the late 30s after Citroen had sent what we would now call market research material to French farmers asking what it was they wanted in a vehicle, as this market had proven resistant to exchanging it's horses for a motor.  They wanted a car that could plough a field, drive back across the field it had just ploughed without breaking any eggs in a basket, take the family to church on Sunday and then for a picnic after, carry a piano, and be capable of being maintained by a shepherdess.  It had to do the work of two horses, hence the 2CV (deux chevaux) power rating.  It was about to be released to sale when the Germans invaded, took one look, and reckoned the Volkswagen Beetle was a better option.  Given the beetle's hopeless road performance and inability to go offroad, this is debatable; you can't plough a field with a VW beetle...

 

The version we know is a post war adaptation, and is more powerful than the original and with a modified bodyshell for extra rigidity, a bar between the rear window and canvas roof.  There was no rear window on the original and the canvas folded down to the boot sill, enabling the car to carry an upright piano and, in one photo, a fully rigged sailing dingy.  The canvas deck chair seats and picnic table remained but were much more awkward to set up.  The final version abandoned this for 'proper' seats, electric start, and a restyled front.  There was twin engined 4 wheel drive version for the West African market, not the open top 'Mehari' but the saloon with a second engine where the boot was.  

 

The 2CV was the only car I ever owned where the headlights could be adjusted manually from the driver's seat.  It also had a trouser singeing heater comparable to a blast furnace, necessary because it was a bit draughty.

 

Did your metalwork teacher have the Dyane or the AMI?

Can't remember, as it's over 50 years ago now. This time 50 years ago, I was resitting my final O-levels; by a couple of weeks later, I'd finished with school for good

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've noticed I tend to like anything with four driving wheels (esp. 4-4-2s and 4-4-4s). To be a bit more specific, on the UK side the Sharp K2s and LNER C1s/LBSCR H2s, though the latter definitely had a bit of a glow up with the addition of the Gresley cab, as pictured. They used to be my favorite, and still rank up there, but something else took its place as we'll see shortly. Honestly, the Furness had a bunch of heavy hitters. Here's another K2. The C12 tanks are cool too, and it's probably cheating to mention the Stirling single, but I want to give appreciation to the less appreciated (or, less overtly appreciated) domed Stirling single. Though double the driver count (and for that matter, double the fireman count) and you get my new favorite, the P2. Late Humorist also contends for that title, as you may have been able to tell from my... to be nice, "modest" effort at cutting and shutting a Humorist Atlantic.

 

On our side of said ocean, the NYC 999 is probably one of my favorites from the company. I like it more than the streamliner at least. The PRR E6s is also pretty nice, in a different less elegant way. Speaking of PRR, the A5s and D16 both had appeal, the former for being cute (seriously, it looks like a non-prototypical model) and the latter for being about as muscular as 4-4-0s got, at least for the PRR. And go way further to the west, and you end up in Lithuania where they got the quite nice TK. Reading's 4-4-4 had an even look to it, which I like. Milwaukee's A2 gets to be on the list too.

 

Favorite tank engine goes almost certainly to the LNER H2. Honorable mentions to the SR USA class, LBSCR L class, and LSWR C14 class for being absolutely hilarious and G16 class for being elegantly muscular.

 

In terms of diesel, probably either the Class 25 or 37, with the Deltics being close competitors. The Class 37s with split headcodes sort of look like someone with really thick glasses, which I can relate to given how powerful my own prescription is. And man, I just realized how much of a wall of text I make these, but I really just can't pick one.

 

Also, the GT3. The GT3 looked really cool. Though the better half said the face of it makes it look like a Railway Series character, and I kind of agree...

Edited by lepidotos
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On 17/05/2020 at 01:42, LNWR18901910 said:

The Pre-Grouping steam locos are a win-winn for me.

image.png.f56bf853a252e0c44f78806ceaff89b8.pngimage.png.0f0d7bdaea9a2fd17804ba53bc34f419.png

The two other locos top my list:

image.png.c531e41dcb80501d323d3bc2d92d7ecb.pngimage.png.3e0d4d7834073f75e4df30192d3008e6.png

 

Bottom two I would agree with.

 

Top two, not really.

 

At least the GWR rebuilt the M&SWR thing into something normal looking. Definitely on my list of future purchases.

 

https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/293/4l4-galloping-alice-mswjr-2-6-0-gwr-rebuild/

 

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Jason

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Well, I like all sorts, including the worst looking ones. 

 

But for elegant proportion and clean simplicity of line to my eye the late nineteenth century produced some timeless classics. 

 

bc_2.JPG.96b98d057889a91495e560cad80c1e0f.JPG

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Quote

    "pregrouping locos for me are win win"

 image.png.9b2360d9cd8fcca0bc864c84b5867c2b.png

 

Isn't that top one a US Baldwin 2-6-0 ? One of a whole bunch of foreign locos bought by the Midland and others as stopgaps in the early 1900s. 

And didn't the SE&CR buy some Gorman built L class 4-4-0s, only a few of which got delivered before the Kaiser war?

 

Edited by runs as required
my post made no sense without that pic
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1 hour ago, runs as required said:

  

 

Isn't that top one a US Baldwin 2-6-0 ? One of a whole bunch of foreign locos bought by the Midland and others as stopgaps in the early 1900s. 

And didn't the SE&CR buy some Gorman built L class 4-4-0s, only a few of which got delivered before the Kaiser war?

 

Not a Baldwin. Built by the  Schenectady works, and much more attractive as they added British touches, including a Midland style tender. 

Not sure if Dave Gorman built any locos, but at least the L Class was designed in Britain, and was not Germanic.

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Only ten were ordered from Germany and they turned up well before the war started. Ordered as parts and assembled at Ashford. I think the main reason was to test out the different design of superheater.

 

If anything it was the British built ones that were late. The Borsig built ones were running about in June/July.

 

I suppose it's a case of a bit of jeopardy beloved of writers.

 

 

 

Jason

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