Crimson Rambler

Many thanks for your efforts @Michael Hodgson and @Compound2632 on my behalf. I asked David Harris (Secretary of the MRS) and a signalling buff this question a little while back (just pre-Covid) and he too wasn't able to offer anything. Regarding the pre-RCH lamp irons on Midland engines - goods engines and tank engines were fitted with five irons - each end in the case of tank engines but being Midland there were exceptions such the open cab 0-6-0Ts and the extra irons fitted to London area tanks etc. Goods engines carried five irons only on the front while passenger engines were fitted with four. Crimson Rambler

Presented below are the Midland headcodes for 1897 - courtesy of North of Leeds and for the years 1880, and 1893 to 1897 - extracted from Midland Style together with the ones for 1910 from the same source. My understanding is that the codes of 1893 - 1897 remained in use until the move to RCH codes in 1903 - certainly photos seem to support that hypothesis - hence my comment in pencil! However, as it is out of my period (too modern!) I cannot say whether the codes between 1903 and 1910 were the same or exhibited small differences. These extracts cover the period immediately before the appearance of the Dubs Class H 0-6-0s, referred to by Ahrons hauling the London - Bradford express goods trains and Foxwell's equivalent ones between London and Manchester. The 1877 codes it will be seen, demanded in some cases three lamps to describe the train whereas the later codes, until the adoption of the RCH codes, only needed two lamps. This covers the period of classic-Midland when a locomotive's shed allocation was written on the lamps along with the driver's name and the engine number. Drivers carried their set of lamps when going to and from work - hence Ahron's delightful story of a 800 Class 2-4-0 that was lost after its driver logged off! The adoption of RCH codes and with it train descriptions requiring three lamps in some instances, ended the practice of drivers having their own lamps. Below is a photo of Midland Class A express train hauled by a Class M 0-6-0, which @Compound2632 has dated to mid 1899 - for more details of the train refer to April 10 2021 entry etc on his D299 wagon forum in Kitbuilding and Scratchbuiliding of this parish. The top lamp should be positioned on the lamp iron on the top of the smokebox but loco crews seem often to have preferred to use the one on the smokebox door instead. I guess it was easier to reach. This practice is also to be seen on contemporary express trains as well. Now may I finish with a plea please? Does anyone please have details of the signal box bell codes the Midland used in the 1890s? I'm guessing they differed from the ones used post-grouping. Many thanks. Crimson Rambler

The following extracts pre-date the introduction of fitted goods trains on the Midland, and I suspect possibly elsewhere. The first one is taken from E L Ahrons Locomotive and Train Working in the Nineteenth Century (volume II) and describes the work done by the Midland's first class of express goods engine. He states the Bradford London express goods trains - two per night each way - carried express passenger headlights. The above dates presumably from about 1880 onwards. The following is taken from E Foxwell Express Trains English & Foreign and provides an insight into contemporary express goods trains. The book appeared in 1889 so again I suspect there was little in the way of continuous brakes. I can see working 26 wagons to Manchester via Rowsley up and down the gradients could have been fun! Crimson Rambler

Many thanks @Compound2632 Crimson Rambler

Stephen thank you for your kind comment - just how please does one create the blue 'notification' thingy? Crimson Rambler

I'm afraid @Compound2632 credits me with more knowledge than I possess on headcodes, so I think the best thing is for me to refer you all to part of an article that explains this in Midland Record. The Manchester - London express goods that didn't get beyond Sharnbrook was hauled by a Class 2 4-4-0, so it was a Fitted Goods No. 2 - above an ordinary Class A fitted goods as Stephen has surmized. The latter class would be hauled normally by a goods engine - as it was on that fateful night. Regarding the 'G.C. Class “A” Goods' or 'G.C. Class “B” Goods' referred to by Nick Lawson, my interpretation (and it is only that) are that they are Great Central trains hauled by one of that company's engines running on the Midland system and their composition is equivalent to the Midland's Classes A and B. Crimson Rambler

A small point if I may, general arrangement drawing 91-3628 specifically concerns the batch of 0-6-0Ts Nos 1993-2012 (later 1825-1844) and referred to as the Class N, whereas the GA for the 1377 class is 78-1055. The clue is the prefix - it is the last two digits of the year in which the drawing was made i.e. 1891 for the Class N. Two immediate visual differences between the classes are the differing frame profiles and the absence of clack valves on the barrel, but being Midland there are others e.g. low cabs and boiler mountings etc. A photograph(s) of your chosen engine in the period being modelling is/are essential when attempting to model Midland engines! As it happens I am currently part way through building a S7 Class N. Crimson Rambler

"Lead grey and its behaviour - or rather the chemistry of white lead, reacting with hydrogen sulfide (present as an atmospheric polutant in those coal-burning days) to produce a black lead sulfate - was discussed very early on in this topic - starting round about page 3. Coming after the first round of discussion of Great Western wagon red, I'm afraid!" Excellent news Stephen. Crimson Rambler

Regarding Precision Paints Midland wagon grey certainly the shade produced by the original company was, according to Richard Betts who questioned the proprietor, matched to George Dow's memory of a Bassett Lowke tinplate Midland wagon model! I was told this in the mid 1980s and RB at the time was very much into wagons - he reminds me of someone who posts on wagons today! The shade then seemed too dark and with a distinctly green tinge - it caused much discussion in the MRS at the time and since GD had given the recipe for the colour in Midland Style (earliest known official July 1888 - page 131) viz 112lbs white lead, 9lbs linseed oil, 9lbs turps, 30lbs driers, 4lbs black and 36lbs boiled oil, we couldn't see why it wouldn't just be a light grey. It seemed to us at the time that the 'colour' of new Midland wagons, when photographed, was not that different from early LMS painted grey wagons, so apart from the 'smudge' applied to post Great War repaired waggons we reckoned that the then Precision LMS wagon grey was a better bet than George Dow's memory. However, it is clear that Midland waggons could weather to become quite dark in service - there is a well known photo of a Kirtley 0-6-0 in the yard at Beeston, Nottingham and this effect is clearly seen amongst the different Midland waggons. It also pre-dates the First World War so it is not ex-RN paint. I leave it to others to say if the above recipe might weather to a greenish grey, but I somehow doubt it - says he with next to no knowledge on paint behaviour! Crimson Rambler

A view of the real No 1077 passing through Harringay about 1907 in original form on a horse and carriage train. Crimson Rambler

Earlier today while looking through a old BRJ - Special London & Birmingham Railway Edition - I stumbled on a picture of Harrow goods yard. An extract appears below - looks like a bit like a D299fest to me. The photo was dated to before 1910 as, according to the caption, it predates the construction of the New Line that started in that year. Hopefully there is something of interest. Crimson Rambler

As David Tee remarked to me on more than one occasion:- "I often wonder how the L&NWR and the Great Western, with their small engines, were able to haul their express trains in the late nineteenth century" Crimson Rambler

Now this is a main line - the down fast through Elstree around 1900. One can see the sleeper ends by the cess do not have a full depth of ballast so the ends are partially exposed. I have noted this 'defect' in several photos of this section of line around this time but following relaying, which occurred not long afterwards, the new sleepers were 'properly' ballasted. Whether or not the ballasting in the photo was preparatory to relaying I cannot say - maybe it was. As it happens its my Avatar! Crimson Lake

One aspect of Midland operation that maybe has not received the attention it warrants is the company's policy for having extensive separate goods and passenger lines. Connected with this was its practice of widening existing lines. Attached are two extracts of a proposal to sextuple the lines out of London - between Hendon and St Albans. The date I seem to recall is 1912 but I have currently mislaid the other half of the drawing. This incidentally is a scanned portion of an OPC micro print. For background Elstree was my local station as a youngster. A willingness or even perhaps a preference by the board to invest in infrastructure rather than in larger locomotives in order to increase line capacity is another influence that has perhaps not been considered. The London Extension opened in 1868, was originally two-track, by the late 1890s it was four-track throughout and some way beyond. Indeed at one time this portion of the Midland comprised around 75 miles of continuous four-track - the longest such length in the world. Yet these extracts suggest in the years before the Kaiser's War the Midland was actively considering adding another pair of lines - I suspect they were to be for goods. It is perhaps not incidental that the date of this drawing coincides with the last years of Mountford Deeley/ first years of Harry Fowler which also mark the start of the period when many enthusiasts consider Midland locomotive development ceased. Crimson Rambler

Stephen - I think this is an interesting idea. Somewhere I have a photograph of a 4-4-0 on I think the traverser at Kentish Town - it would interesting to see how much space there is available for 'engine growth'. Tried to find it just now but it is proving elusive. Crimson Rambler

As Compound2632 has deduced with inside keying a ganger could observe both rails in one walk in the four foot - facing oncoming trains. Initially engineers were very concerned about outside keys falling out and the rails subsequently spreading. Inside keying ensured that the outward sideways thrust generated by the coning of the wheels would always be resisted directly by the chair jaw whether the key was present or not. However, it was found that inside keying tended to promote noisier running whereas the wood of an outside key provided a degree of noise discontinuity and resilience. This resilience reduced the incidences of jaws fracturing. Once the size of the key jaw was no longer being constrained by the need for the wheel flange to pass over it meant both jaws could be made more solid, larger and longer - most useful with larger locomotives hauling heavier faster trains. Crimson Rambler

If we look at the key plan Technohand has kindly provided of the 85lbs outside key trackwork introduced by the Engineer Alfred Langley we can see that the first pair of timbers laid at the toe of each set of points have two possible positions (and dimensions) depending on whether the point is to be an 'ordinary point' or a facing one laid in the main line. In contrast the three-throw has no provision for facing point locks. Crimson Rambler

To add to Regularity's observation regarding the Great Western and the Furness using inside keys, I know the Great Northern, North Eastern, South Eastern and the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire railways also used inside key chairs before later changing, like the Midland, to outside keys. I'm sure there will have been other companies who adopted the practice as inside keying versus outside keying was a 'hot topic' amongst permanent way engineers for much of the nineteenth century - old photos especially of sidings can be revealing. Incidentally the Furness may well have been the last to make the change not doing so until 1896. Crimson Rambler

The picture of the 11ft - 4ins and 14ft - 4ins switches that Technohand has posted represent an earlier design than the 12 foot outside key design illustrated at St Pancras and also in the view of Sheffield. I believe they together with a third length - 17ft - 4ins from memory - were the final inside key point design the Midland used before it adopted outside keying in 1884. Crimson Rambler

A couple of corrections if I may to yesterday's offering. Along with omitting the photo I lost the 'n' from Mr Prince's name and called the poor chap 'Price'. The absence of a photo was sufficiently large an omission for me to notice, the n was not. I can confirm the single slip was extracted from a photograph of Sheffield and was taken before 1906. A similar arrangement may be seen elsewhere - Leicester being another instance with published pictures. Today's piccy is an extract from a published print of a '2183' class 4-4-0 No. 2193 taken outside St Pancras between say 1895 and the first year or two of the twentieth century. Please excuse the poorer reproduction my copy of the original photo is too big for my scanner! Hopefully it will still serve the purpose. Featured are a pair of 12ft loose heel switches laid to form a tandem turnout. Both lifting bars are outside - for the further point I think that is because of the close proximity of the check rail for the diamond crossing in the foreground. At this date I believe the Midland had not yet introduced check rail chairs modified to receive an inside lifting bar. In the case of the nearer point it is the presence of the preceeding switch that has dictated the use of an outside lifting bar. What is interesting in this instance is quite how it was secured. Normally the bracket is in two halves which are bolted together at the foot of the rail and just under its head as may be seen in advance of the heel chairs. However for the three brackets positioned between the slide chairs the bottom bolts have been omitted. What I don't know is whether there was a special inside bracket used in such cases or if they just relied on the top bolt and/or a modified pivot - any observations gratefully received. Crimson Rambler

Eldavo I like your rendition of Messrs Langley and Price's Economical Point Lock - are you going to add the lifting bar? Hopefully this photo may be of interest - it's of I believe Nottingham but that could be wrong, taken around 1900. The single slip in the foreground is fitted with a lock while its lifting bar has been placed outside the rail. The Midland did this quite often in this situation - whereas the lifting bar for the point has been placed in the more common location within the four foot. If I may make an observation regarding the track plan, three throws were not normally used on main lines, indeed they were I believe banned by the BOT from passenger lines. I suggest it would be better, if space permits, to substitute a double turnout aka interlaced turnout. Crimson Rambler

Fair comment Stephen, I stand corrected - my 'some exceptions' therefore comprises thirteen in number! Crimson Rambler

I beg to differ and suggest the work was done at a works level rather at sheds as the Deeley smokebox was of a different design from the Master's although of course the overall lengths were the same. RMD's front plate was flanged to fit inside the wrapper whereas SWJ employed an angle iron giving its characteristic sharp corner. Although the insulated smokeboxes had a somewhat different construction the sharp corner was retained. I believe replacing smokeboxes would have been considered beyond the capabilities of most sheds with some exceptions such as Kentish Town but I'm happy to be corrected. As a rule of thumb engines received works attention roughly every seven years so David's suggestion of the work being completed by 1910 or thereabouts more or less ties in from when RMD took control. Crimson Rambler

Another successful AGM was held by the Midland Railway Society yesterday. As was the case last year it was 'virtual' but all being well we will meet in person next year albeit with a Zoom or similar facility to allow our more remote members enjoy the proceedings. I strongly recommend those of you who are interested in the Midland - presumably to a greater or lesser extent all who read this topic - to join the Midland Railway Society. It has a wealth of information for the modeller and with the Silk Mill Museum (aka The Museum of Making) opening later this year more of the goodies it contains will become available. Crimson Rambler

Stephen - it was scanned from BRJ issue No 26, page 267. Just to be pedantic if I may, port is not a relative term like left and right. In the case of Midland locos port would be synomymous for the fireman's side. Incidentally for this particular code, at night the top lamp would shew a blue light while the lamp on the driver's side was the normal white. According to Midland Style a class B cattle and goods train exhibited lamps in the same position, differing only in that blue and white lights changed position. As Compound 2632 has observed crews often used the door lamp iron in place of the correct one on top of the smokebox - very common on express trains. Incidentally, if a tender engine ran tender first it could only imply it was an ordinary passenger train! Crimson Rambler