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Silliest locomotive?

Vanders

By Vanders,
in Modelling musings & miscellany

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Pacific231G

Pacific231G

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Well Belgian though lots of them worked in France.

Here's one that worked a shuttle between the station at Pacy and the sports hall where the model railway exhibition was being held at the CFVE's RailONorm weekend in 2008.

 

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Not so silly perhaps. More of these vertical boiler Cockerill 040s seem to have survived than almost any other SG steam locomotive. There are several in Britain and the Surviving Steam Trams page on the international steam website lists 34 of them around somewhere ranging from fully restored to  plinthed in a town centre.

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Pacific231G

Pacific231G

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I still think the silliest locomotives were the ones Brunel built beside the line (atmospheric railway pumping houses). The concept of not carrying the plant around was sound, but attempting to keep miles of tubing evacuated was a bit silly.

 

Adrian

I'd always known the atmospheric railway as Brunel's unworkable folly- what a silly idea etc.- but the system was used for ten years at Dalkey in Ireland and for thirteen years  from 1847-1860 on the final extension of the Paris- St. Germain railway. A modern version went into commercial operation last month!

 

 

The last section to be built of the line from Paris St.Lazare to the centre of St. Germain-en-Laye was only about a mile and a half long but a mile of that was at a gradient of about 1in 28 (3.5%),  This was beyond the capability of the steam locos of the time for the service required. The extension was made feasible by the atmospheric system developed by Clegg and the Samuda brothers (first used in Ireland and then by Brunel) which went on to operate a busy passenger service reliably with an uphill speed of 32-70 km/h. Trains changed between steam loco and the "wagon directeur" at Le Pecq the last station before the incline.

 

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Eventually more powerful steam locos became available but loco hauled trains still needed a banking loco for over sixty years until the whole line was electrified during the 1920s. Today such a requirement would probably be met by a rack system as on a section of one of the Lyon metros that used to be a stand alone funicular.

 

I don't think the atmospheric railway was so much silly as overtaken by the rapid development of locomotives. Had these not become available so soon no doubt the difficulties that Brunel encountered with his much longer line could have been overcome.

 

(update)

A modern version called Aeromovel was developed during the 1980s by a Brazilian inventor and a 2 mile loop line opened in 1989 to serve a theme park in Jakarta, After 24 years of service, it is now the longest operating atmospheric railway in history though it does use higher than atmospheric pressure behind the train as well as a partial vacuum in front of it.

 

The concept has now been developed further as a people mover and a short line started operating at the Porto Alegre airport in Brazil last month. There are plans to build more. These are railways (steel wheels on two steel rails) rather than monorails or non railway guided systems though building points into the system might be equally difficult. 

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Dunsignalling

Dunsignalling

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I still think the silliest locomotives were the ones Brunel built beside the line (atmospheric railway pumping houses). The concept of not carrying the plant around was sound, but attempting to keep miles of tubing evacuated was a bit silly.

 

Adrian

An idea that was implemented before the advent of non-organic materials and lubricants that might have given it a decent chance of success.

 

John

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OFFTHE RAILS

OFFTHE RAILS

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With hindsight, building 748 BR standard class locos was possibly "silly".

After a little mental arithmetic I realised that 999 - 251 = 748. S obviously you reckon that building the 251 9F 2-10-0s wasn't silly!

 

Seriously, following nationalisation BR had to build new to replace numerous classes of worn out old steam locos and keep the BR workshops and employees going until there were credible alternatives and infrastructure to support them. What I still find incredible is the haste to build very expensive diesels some of which barely lasted 10-15 years in service.

The 9Fs and a few other standard or semi-standard (like the Black 5) classes should have continued in use until all non steam  traction needs had been satisfied.

Ian

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Satan's Goldfish

Satan's Goldfish

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I've always wondered if the design of the A4 was sponsored or inspired by an Ann Summers product.

Probably a very limited market for an Ann Summers product in that exact shape......but the Bradford Exchange will have the full limited edition 5 part collection at a massive price soon. Batteries not included.

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Mallard60022

Mallard60022

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OK a bit off topic but my daughter in law came up with a gem yesterday on seeing a pic of Union of South Africa I had sent to my Grandson.  "... why has that engine got a bent front?" Perhaps she thinks it looks 'silly', where as we all love the A4 face don't we! So, beauty (or silliness) is in the eye of the beholder as the old saying goes.

P

P.S. at least she called it an engine and not a train and soon she may call it a locomotive if I keep working at it..... :rtfm:

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