Compound2632

It is generally believed that around 11:55am, with cloud overhead looking to turn to rain, the crew rigged up their tarpaulin cover between the engine and tender cabs. Shortly afterwards they got the bobby to telegraph for assistance as they were right out of coal.

No. I cringe at "Midlander". If you must, classify this as "Classic Johnson".

On the Midland in S.W. Johnson's day (sorry, I'm off again...) engines seem to have got "Rebuilt" plates for changes such as enlarged cylinders, Johnson in place of Kirtley boilers, etc. This seems to have happened most to 2-4-0s - "Rebuilt" engines invariably have the classic swooping curve between the splashers: in lieu of Kirtley's separate splashers/rectangular cab side-sheet or even the first, flatter, Johnson style: The plate over the leading axlebox of No. 1070 reads: MIDLAND RY CO REBUILT. DERBY, 1889. She'd started life in 1874 as a product of Sharp, Stewart, in very late Kirtley style with his design of boiler and holes in the splashers and a square sandbox built into the leading splasher, but with Johnson-style cab and chimney. She was rebuilt with 18" cylinders and a Johnson boiler in 1889. No. 1305 carries her original plate: MIDLAND RAILWAY Co MAKERS. 1876 [illegible] With MAKERS. in gothic script. A bit fictitious as she was in fact built by Dubs. She was rebuilt with 18" cylinders in 1891. Apologies for all that. Just felt we needed to see some properly-proportioned engines after all those fascinating long-boiler types.

I have found the recently produced batch of pressfix 4mm "LMS English pre-Grouping goods vehicle insignia (except LNWR)" sheets to be of particularly good quality. I just wish they'd thought of a snappier title, so often as I have had cause to mention it.

S.W. Johnson was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1898. From that period, the only locomotive engineer to become President of the Institution of Civil Engineers was Sir John Aspinall, in 1918-19; he had been president of the Mechanicals in 1910-11, making him, I think, the only person to have been President of both other than Robert Stephenson. The Civils infamously turned down George Stephenson's application for membership, an act which [is said to have] triggered the formation of the Mechanicals. Captain William Moorsom and his brother Admiral Constantine Moorsom were something of a duo as civil engineer and company secretary, both starting out on the London & Birmingham and after on the Birmingham & Gloucester. Admiral Moorsom went on to become Chairman of the LNWR in the early 1860s. William's training was in military engineering - fortifications etc.

Ah good. That gives me plenty of time to finish the D&S NER 6-wheelers I started in 1988.

The ends of the valve chests can be clearly seen on a front three-quarters view. Likewise on the Princess Royal and Coronation classes.

But (out of curiosity) is that the same as GNR livery in this respect?

Long live Slater's!

Some creep in size over the 7'3" + 8'3" of Ramsbottom's DX from which McDonnell's engines were derived.

If comparison with practice elsewhere is any indication it might be worth noting that the panel beading on the ends of Midland carriages was painted black, in the same way as for the sides, but the gold lining between the black and red was omitted. The LNWR went for plain brown or unvarnished lake ends without lining. So simplification seems likely. It looks to me as if the ends of the restored bogie and 6-wheel carriages are unlined but it's difficult to be certain from these photos. EDIT: on the other hand, the end in the photo in your earlier post is lined...

Aha. I'm not at all a DCC person but in analogue I could envisage a bit of circuitry which would link up the gear (a) depending on the polarity of the supply to the motor - so automatically set forward and reverse gear - and (b) set the cut-off as a function of the motor speed and current - so notching up at speed but in accordance with how hard the engine is working. Apologies for this diversion.

Rather obvious typo there - 2mm has to be a slip for Gauge 3. Seriously though, I get the impression that the position of the valve gear isn't actually controlling the direction of travel... Or is it?

Indeed, Pullman had cars. The Midland had carriages - so presumably an ex-Pullman in Midland ownership was a carriage. Coach seems to have come in with the LMS. (Vide the titles of the standard works on the subject!)

Thanks - I was writing from memory rather than going back and checking, I'm afraid. Pretty much everything I've learnt on this subject I've learnt from you, errors are all mine.

My understanding is that the 1887, 1907 and 1923 standards were progressively more prescriptive; wagons from different builders could have significant detail differences whilst still meeting the earlier specifications - as is evident from browsing the various series of illustrated books on the subject - whilst all 1923 wagons (of a given type, e.g. 7-plank end-door) were supposed to be the same. In the pre-1923 period that interests me, if a wagon operator (colliery, coal merchant, mustard manufactuer) had purchased a wagon from a particular firm, either outright or on hire purchase, they would likely start out with a repair contract with that builder but might later have the wagon overhauled by another firm, and then have a repair contract with them. That does indeed imply a degree of interchangeability of parts.

The Essery & Jenkinson book gives a good general survey but for complete coverage, try to track down R.E. Lacy and George Dow, Midland Railway Carriages (Wild Swan Publications, 2 Vols. 1986).

I have been known to kneel in front of certain layouts at exhibitions, purely for this reason - I hope my actions have not been misinterpreted. I perfectly well understand why most layouts are exhibited at the level they are. Could exhibition managers perhaps provide prie-dieux as well as step-up stools? They would form quite an effective barrier too.

Not for most 0-6-2s and 2-4-2s, where the trailing driving axle is behind the firebox. Nevertheless, as noted, most had radial axles.

D466 (p. 337 of Vol. 2). Two lots of 10 each, Lot 447 ordered Oct 1898 and Lot 517 of Aug 1901. There is a photo which I can't track down just now showing several of these forming an excursion at Cadbury's Bournville works. Several of the Midland's old Pullman cars were also converted to picnic saloons, before ending their days as grounded bodies at various engine sheds.

Aha that explains the "stern gallery" windows! I wonder if some mechanism could be devised that would enable a driver/guard figure to face out of the windows when the coaches are being propelled, but have his back to them and look as if he's about more guard-like activities when the coaches are being pulled?

Harumph! Wot's all this Wessy stuff doing 'ere?

And sound? A good Wiltshire accent.

I suspect in both cases the issue was making the engine short enough to fit on the available turntables. There were all sorts of infrastructure costs associated with bigger engines! The bridge issue is another case in point - it may, for a while at least, have been better economics to have two engines to a train than have the outlay of major civil engineering works. The sum required to strengthen bridges on the Midland main line for the compounds was pushing £100,000 (and at that time was forthcoming).

Jim, my apologies for not reading carefully enough. Grovenor, thank-you for pointing this out.