Worst looking locomotive topic. Antidote to Best Looking Locomotive topic.

[Michael Hodgson]

Why would a dome need to be dome-shaped?

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Why would a dome need to be dome-shaped?

It's a dome? 

 

A dome needs to comply with the laws of physics. They are extensions to highly stressed pressure vessels, fitted with covers and/or lagging for functional and cosmetic reasons. 

 

That's a tank, I think . 

Edited October 15, 2022 by rockershovel

[cctransuk]

45 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

It's a dome? 

 

A dome needs to comply with the laws of physics. They are extensions to highly stressed pressure vessels, fitted with covers and/or lagging for functional and cosmetic reasons. 

 

That's a tank, I think . 

 

I've never really thought of St. Paul's as a highly stressed pressure vessel. 😉

 

CJI.

[rockershovel]

11 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

I've never really thought of St. Paul's as a highly stressed pressure vessel. 😉

 

CJI.

In my days as a freelance engineering surveyor, I did sporadic work for an architectural consultancy who undertake ongoing inspection and monitoring for the Church Commissioners, including St Paul's. I can assure you that you don't know the half of it. 

[Steamport Southport]

59 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

It's a dome? 

 

A dome needs to comply with the laws of physics. They are extensions to highly stressed pressure vessels, fitted with covers and/or lagging for functional and cosmetic reasons. 

 

That's a tank, I think . 

 

Looks like an oil burner so tank is probable. Tank filler on the top of the tank I assume.

 

 

Jason

[rockershovel]

So this lead me down the rabbit-hole which is Festipedia.... and specifically to the mention of "a rather strange looking 0-4-0TG called Mole" apparently photographed in 1873.

 

Generally speaking the wheel arrangement gives some idea of what the original loco looked like, but 0-4-0GT doesn't seem to obey this rule of thumb. 

 

I suspect that it looked something like this (copyright as marked) 

 

.... but there's no real telling. Other locos so defined include the well-known Aveling Barford type, the Sentinel shunters or a geared-drive VB type with the vertical cylinders driving a jackshaft at one end (shouldn't this be 0-4-0VBGT?) 

Edited October 15, 2022 by rockershovel

[Steamport Southport]

ISTR there was a working model of Mole. Pretty sure it used to be in the museum.

 

 

Jason

[pete_mcfarlane]

3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Looks like an oil burner so tank is probable. Tank filler on the top of the tank I assume.

 

 

Jason

 

23 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

Didn't Triang have a clockwork loco with a box on the boiler like this?

Definitely an oil burner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBÖ_12

 

And that's an express passenger loco. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

3 hours ago, rockershovel said:

So this lead me down the rabbit-hole which is Festipedia.... and specifically to the mention of "a rather strange looking 0-4-0TG called Mole" apparently photographed in 1873.

 

Generally speaking the wheel arrangement gives some idea of what the original loco looked like, but 0-4-0GT doesn't seem to obey this rule of thumb. 

 

I suspect that it looked something like this (copyright as marked) 

That's Issac Watt Boulton's 'Rattlesnake', of 'The chronicles of Boulton's siding' fame. A lot of Boulton's engines (often cobbled together out of bits of engines) would fit right in on this page. 

 

 

[rockershovel]

6 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

ISTR there was a working model of Mole. Pretty sure it used to be in the museum.

 

 

Jason

It seems to be beyond the reach of the Internet!

 

I did find THIS, which seems to be by Boulton and possibly predates the England locomotives?

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

.... or the Byers locomotive, which seems to have been produced in small numbers for industrial use. Note the typically American T boiler.

 

 

On the whole I think these 0-4-0TG are rather quaint !

Edited October 15, 2022 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

Another 0-4-0GT, which looks like it has escaped from the thread about locos made from plastic toys - this Sentinel was formerly used at Cambridge Gas Works

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

Another 0-4-0GT, which looks like it has escaped from the thread about locos made from plastic toys - this Sentinel was formerly used at Cambridge Gas Works

 

Not quite - Cambridge Gasworks was not rail-served.

 

The geared loco was used at the gasworks reception sidings in Coldhams Lane; the coal was road transported to the actual gasworks in Newmarket Road, using steam lorries.

 

CJI.

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

Another 0-4-0GT, which looks like it has escaped from the thread about locos made from plastic toys - this Sentinel was formerly used at Cambridge Gas Works

 

I always thought Gasbag looks pretty cute.

 

Mustn't have had much fuel capacity. On the normal ones the central part of the body is mostly taken up by the tank and coal bunker, with the front part being the "engine" part.

 

 

 

Jason

[cctransuk]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I always thought Gasbag looks pretty cute.

 

Mustn't have had much fuel capacity. On the normal ones the central part of the body is mostly taken up by the tank and coal bunker, with the front part being the "engine" part.

 

 

 

Jason

 

As the purpose of the yard was the receipt of coal in large quantities, carrying it around on the loco was not an issue!

 

CJI.

[rockershovel]

3 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Not quite - Cambridge Gasworks was not rail-served.

 

The geared loco was used at the gasworks reception sidings in Coldhams Lane; the coal was road transported to the actual gasworks in Newmarket Road, using steam lorries.

 

CJI.

I remember seeing the loco at Coldhams Lane. We moved to Cambridge in 1963 but were regular visitors since as early as I can recall, my mother had family there. It seems to have been sold into preservation in working order around 1967.

 

I have no recollection of the Sentinel lorries. One apparently survives at Beamish, having passed out of use in 1957 or so. 

 

There was a scrapyard opposite the gas siding, by the railway; there were a row of traction engines awaiting scrapping there, well into the 1960s. 

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

More photos here including its rather fetching silver and blue Eastern Gas livery.

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/sentinel-works-no-8024-gas-bag-no-7-0-4-0-vbgt/

 

 

 

 

[Flying Pig]

Gasbag looks as though it was constructed to appear as much like a conventional steam loco as possible, which ironically makes it seem very odd and rather fake to me.  This is a more conventional Sentinel, if that word can really be applied to any of their locos:

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/sentinel-works-no-7492-fry-0-4-0-vbgt/

 

They excuse their unusual appearance imo by being effective machines.

[petethemole]

On 15/10/2022 at 23:33, rockershovel said:

.... or the Byers locomotive, which seems to have been produced in small numbers for industrial use. Note the typically American T boiler.

 

 

On the whole I think these 0-4-0TG are rather quaint !

 My son wants this as a pet!

[rockershovel]

10 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

Gasbag looks as though it was constructed to appear as much like a conventional steam loco as possible, which ironically makes it seem very odd and rather fake to me.  This is a more conventional Sentinel, if that word can really be applied to any of their locos:

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/sentinel-works-no-7492-fry-0-4-0-vbgt/

 

They excuse their unusual appearance imo by being effective machines.

How is the drive usually transmitted? The bearings and suspension look quite different

 

* the answer was, of course Douglas Self .... surprising how much the styling varies, there seem to be several variants, for no obvious reason. There are mechanical variants with one or two engines, single or two-speed transmissions. 

 

I can't imagine any modern design being accepted with a high-pressure steam boiler INSIDE the cab!

Edited November 6, 2022 by rockershovel

[rogerzilla]

Steam:

 

SR Q1, obviously.  Models don't look too bad, just like clockwork toys, but the originals always had rippled cladding and looked ready to fall apart.

 

SR Leader.  1938 Tube stock on monster truck suspension.

 

LNER Thompson Pacifics.  Those cylinders!

 

GWR 94xx.  I know the smokebox would heat the tank water, but yuck.

 

LMS Big Bertha.  Headlamp from the Hogwarts Express.

 

Diesels:

 

So many nasties to choose from, most boring rather than ugly, but:

 

Class 28.  So ugly, it transcends ugliness and becomes cute.

 

Class 16.  Let's get the designer's toddler to do the external looks.

 

Class 14.  The kind of teddy bear that should be zip-tied to the radiator grille of a bin lorry.

 

The Fell diesel.  Like a Chinese toy train made by someone who has never seen a train.

 

Anything in HNRC livery.

 

 

[Ramblin Rich]

7 hours ago, rogerzilla said:

.....

SR Leader.  1938 Tube stock on monster truck suspension.

.....

Class 28.  So ugly, it transcends ugliness and becomes cute.

 

Love that description of the Leader!

 

I always say the Co-Bo was crashed into a very ugly wall. At high speed.

[rockershovel]

I don't really feel that diesels qualify, with very few exceptions. A lot look nondescript: the American F3 is a genuine classic, especially the "warbonnet" livery; the Fell looks odd because it was just about the last example of an engineering concept that failed to establish itself, but they are all basically boxes on wheels. They just don't have the potential to look disproportionate, freakish, misconceived or assembled from mismatched or unrelated parts that steam locos do.

Edited November 8, 2022 by rockershovel

[rogerzilla]

Some classes of British diesel look very similar because the BTC, BR or whoever decided that flat fronts were compulsory at about the same time that gangway doors were dropped.  So a 47, 50 and 56 look pretty similar - the 50 only looks different because of the roof headcode box.

 

The gangway door requirement forced most older diesels to have three front windows, but getting rid of them meant that two would suffice.

[Ramblin Rich]

On 09/11/2022 at 12:02, rogerzilla said:

  ....

 

The gangway door requirement forced most older diesels to have three front windows, but getting rid of them meant that two would suffice.

Or 2 steeply curved as per NBL type 2s (later class 21 & 29) and the previously mentioned Metrovick CoBo class 28s. Which all look sad or even saggy eyed.