Railway Oddities

[Rana Temporia]

One of my colleagues came back from a meeting at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in London and told me that Mr. Stephenson’s desk is on display there.

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Bee, I will try to upload a photo but will need to find instructions on how to do it because I have never done it before. The lathe was powered by a hand turned crank set at right angles to the lathe bed with a rope drive band to the lathe itself. According to the brass plate affixed, the lathe was used by George between 1812 and 1818 at Killingworth when he was building Blucher and Wellington.

I think the emphasis on displays is dictated by finance - the museum has received a £10M grant from the Lottery Fund to build a 1950s housing estate. I'm not sure that the Fund is too keen on industrial rather than social history.

Rana, any chance that your colleague could pay a return visit and take photos of the desk?

[Rog RJ]

Bee, I will try to upload a photo but will need to find instructions on how to do it because I have never done it before.

 

 

See "Important Information for New Members Registering for the Forum (Updated 29th March 2023)

 

 

[What About The Bee]

Hi ThreeLink

When you type text to be posted, it is in a box.

Right at the top of that box is a rectangle.

The icons in that rectangle, left to right, are Bold, Italic, Underscore, Strike through, Emoji, and Picture.

Just tap on "picture" and navigate to your image. Select it, and your image will appear in the text entry box

Easy Peasy!!

CAUTION: When you hit submit, your post needs moderator approval. It will NOT be displayed. Do not submit it twice!!! Look for the banner message saying "moderator approval", or words to that effect

Bee

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Here it is Bee

[What About The Bee]

Thank you ThreeLink, very much appreciated.

I must say, that was completely unexpected!

The size of the bed members is huge and it is surprising that they are of wood, not metal. I suspect that the legs are a later addition, as the channel iron they are made of would have been far more suitable for the bed. Perfect for vibration dampening though.

The lathe is a freehand lathe, meaning no lead screw driven cross slide or lead screw for feed. Being freehand, precision parts will be difficult to make and impossible to reproduce. Possibly a lathe for cutting wood, not metal, as controlling the freehand chisel on metal would be difficult, a function of feeds and speeds.

The pulley system is clever. High rotational speed of the turned part. Unexpected, but clever. I like it!

While Armengaud does show us hex nuts in the 1830s, I am always surprised by them. Coach builders forged their own nuts, making them typically square. Standard thread sizes simply did not exist. As such, the threaded rod (outside threads) and nut (inside threads) were cut to fit each other. Interchangeability did not exist. The time of lathe manufacture was also just when machine cut threads were first available. Those are cutting edge components for the day!

Bee

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Yes, Bee, I am sure it is a wood turning lathe. See note attached

[What About The Bee]

Welcome back to this month's installment of Railway Oddities, the result of my survey of early railway books.

During last month's discussion, Rana Temporia mentioned crank axle driven locomotives. Feast your eyes on the 1823 method of "propelling railway carriages"

In the front of the locomotive, observe the two vertical pistons and the crank axle below.  

The front axle appears fixed in angle relative to the carriage, but the rear axle rotates relative to the long axis of the carriage. There is a scissor type coupling to take up axial displacement, as the carriages are chained together. Additionally, a universal coupling is added to take up angular displacements.

When I first observed this image, the engineer in me started thinking about the torque being driven through the scissors coupling and the utter impracticality of the arrangement. However, in a moment of clarity, I remembered Shay Locomotives, which have just this arrangement, albeit without the scissors

While this has nothing to do with the LMR, RT's remark brought this image forward! 

Enjoy!

Bee

[Rana Temporia]

Vertical pistons were used on a number of UK locomotives, most notably on the Welsh narrow gauge. However, there were a number of standard gauge vertical boilered and cylindered locos. They differ from the picture and the shays in that rather than driving a longitudinal crankshaft they are mounted above and connected to a crank axle to drive the loco.

I have seen a photo of one standard gauge loco with a vertical boiler but what looks like a standard tank loco chassis with almost horizontal cylinders, it would make an interesting model.

I think all the Sentinel geared steam locos had vertical cylinders.

[What About The Bee]

Palmer's diagram is far more than vertical pistons.

The unique feature set is the longitudinal drive axle and bevel gears.

The Shay locomotives have just that, but instead of the scissors coupling, they used a splined axle coupling to take up the longitudinal flexibility. The front and rear biggies rotate just like any other on the Shay.

While Palmer may not have physically realized his design, the design is actually functional

Bee

[Rana Temporia]

Having driven site plant/4x4 wagons (Bedford RLs which were probably older than me…but superb at getting around difficult terrain) and land rovers for the early part of my adult life I can just imagine crawling along under the length of the train with a grease gun on every moving part of the shaft and scissors couplings. At least the Shay would be easier to get to the splined sections. I would suspect that the original lubricant would be tallow rather than an oil derived grease.

I can’t tell from the drawing if there is a differential gear in there somewhere to cope with curves which admittedly would be much less severe than road vehicles. Maybe it wasn’t a problem.

[What About The Bee]

I have seen a photo of one standard gauge loco with a vertical boiler but what looks like a standard tank loco chassis with almost horizontal cylinders, it would make an interesting model.

 

 

On my make list is the LMR locomotive known as "Twin Sisters". Twin Sisters never had a number assigned. Twin Sisters was a Maintenance of Way locomotive, used in the construction of the LMR and MOW duties after opening, just like the Lancanshire Witch.

 

 

Twin Sisters , drawn by Issac Shaw, known good observer

Vertical boilers, plural. 0-6-0. Angled pistons.

 

[Rana Temporia]

Great picture! Are the wheels solid wood with iron spokes and tyres? Where did the driver and fireman go, was it stoked from front and back or from one side like the Ffestiniog Fairlies? I’ve not seen this one before.

[What About The Bee]

Hello Rana

Twin Sisters had wooden wheels.

It was driven from the tender end. As expected given the time frame, the tender is a generation 1 tender: wooden barrel.

It had two fireboxes, one under each vertical boiler.

The small horizontal cylinder between the smoke stacks collects steam from both boilers before delivery to the pistons. We do not have a terrific amount of information as to controls. I expect a simple steam valve for admission to steam chest but not much more.

The slide valves were coupled to eccentrics on the driven axle.

George Stephenson was told by the board to get a locomotive to work the construction. Twin Sisters was the result of that order.

It moved along at about 10 mph, just a little faster than a bicycle, but Twin Sisters could pull 50 tons! Not too shabby.

Simple to model, just put the motor upright, worm gear down. Engage the worm wheel directly on the wheel axle. Plenty of room in that vertical boiler, especially when the rivet counters have never seen it before! 🙂

I am afraid there isn't too much more information. Dawson did a video, but brief would be an apt description of that video.

Bee

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Well, that is the most random thing I ever saw. I had not heard of Twin Sisters until reading this thread. She's a fascinating thing - wooden wheels and twin vertical boilers. Whatever next? Keep it coming, Bee.

[Rana Temporia]

I knew I had a picture somewhere………….

In Industrial Steam Album by M J Fox and G D king there is a photo of the Head, Wrightson and Co Ltd no 13 of 1873 which is a ‘single sister’ version. I am on my iPad and links don’t work but if you google Head Wrightson 13 you’ll get several photos (with No17 on it). There are also some photos of a couple of their standard gauge vertical cylinder locos coming up with this search.

[What About The Bee]

Thank you Rana! The  Wrightson and Co Ltd no 13 will serve as inspiration when I get around to Twin Sisters. I did have a look, and the views give an arrangement of controls and guages, mounted around the upright boiler.

I don't know why I expected a backhead like plate, when the arrangement shown is much more practical.

With the best view of Twin Sisters the Issac Shaw drawing, zero controls shown, you may understand why the guidance is needed

Bee

[What About The Bee]

While I was investigating another issue, I just happened to notice this vertical boiler locomotive in 

Nouveau Manuel Complet des Machines a Vapeur¹ ;Jean Louis Janvier 1838. 

In light of the interest shown with some other vertical boiler engines, I thought to bring it forward here.

Janvier, sadly, does not tell us which railway utilized this engine. 

Figure 97 shows us the side elevation.  

The chimney has a spark arrestor. I think the front of the locomotive is to the right, the hook on the left to draw carriages and wagons being the giveaway. The pistons are mounted vertically and there appears to be a gear (!) peeking out of the frames.

Figure 98 shows us a top view

There are three (!) pistons. The driving axle has two gears on it. Note that the driving axle is not a cranked axle.

Figure 99 is a sectioned elevation view.

I found this most interesting, as it shows the internal arrangement of a vertical boiler. The internal steam dome is superheated by the flue which surrounds it. The boiler tubes work like any other steam locomotive, yet the arrangement deserves a bit of study. Note the horizontal tube to take steam from the steam dome and the diagonal tube returning exhausted steam to the chimney, proving to be the blast tube. Further, we see that the gears below the pistons and the gears on the main axle mesh, making this a gear driven (!) locomotive. The regulator control crank is shown on the footplate (right, about mid boiler high).

Figure 100 is a plan section.

Note the boiler tubes. We can see the gears and the main axle. That makes perfect sense.

And then I am completely confused by the crank. I expected three crank webs, 120° apart. I see three crank webs, but not at 120°. It looks quartered.  

I do suppose I am asking too much. Janvier presents us with other drawings which have some issues. An example would be a bell crank locomotive we saw earlier, which could not function as drawn by Janvier. Is this another copy of a plagaristic copy, in which the mechanical detail is lost? I do think so. 

Yet the details of an 1838 vertical boiler are fairly interesting, making this worth a look

Bee

¹New Complete Manual of Steam Engines

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Hi Bee,

What a peculiar contraption. Absolutely fascinating. I can't wait to see the next mechanical monstrosity.

[What About The Bee]

In this month's edition of Railway Oddities, I take a look at an image of Victoria Station, in Manchester. Victoria Station was the junction of two railways: the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with the Manchester and Leeds Railway.

The date of image creation is of great interest to me, 1844.* The reason is straightforward. We have many illustrations of the LMR, but they are primarily of the early days. The grand experiment was of great public interest, which resulted in a plethora of books and art. Yet very few illustrations or contemporary books are available from the later days, as the LMR sought to protect its secrets from other railways. This image of Victoria Station was created at the very end of the LMR, consolidated in 1845.

In studying the carriages in the image, we find this on the far right

These two odd carriages hold great interest, because of the Railway Regulation Act of 1844.

Parliamentary Trains

If your railway interest includes anything before 1956, then you may be puzzled by the lack of 2nd class carriages. There certainly are 1st class, and oddly 3rd class, but no 2nd class carriages. What "oddity" is that? In 1844, Parliament made it law that there was to be an affordable train for the poor and working class. The railways complied by making 1 train each day in either direction.  Early in the morning or late at night, so as to not undercut their existing 2nd class service. If the mandated class was available, a 2nd class passenger might save money by riding 3rd class. We can't have that, now can we?

The LMR reacted like many early railways did to the Railway Act of 1844. The LMR had 4 inside and 6 inside 1st class carriages. The LMR also had seated 2nd class carriages. But no 3rd class carriages**.

Accomodation for this mandated service was fairly crude on most railways, sometimes called "Standups" because the passengers weren't seated. We do know that the existing 2nd class carriages on the LMR were demoted to 3rd and new enclosed 2nd class carriages were constructed. Sadly, no images exist. No Standups either on the LMR, no matter what the LMS constructed in the late 1920s for Lion's celebratory parade and that Hornby reproduced.

Because these trains were mandated by Parliament, they became known as Parliamentary Trains. By 1875, accommodation on the Parliamentary Trains had improved and there was little differentiation between 2nd and 3rd. The railways saw little point in 2nd class and simply dropped the class. Viola, 1st and mandated 3rd, but no 2nd! An oddity explained.

Back to the Carriages

As I studied those two carriages in the image, my first thought was Railway Act compliance. The timing is right. The LMR ended in 1845 and the image was created in 1844. The base carriage was of the original 2nd class type, with 3 scalloped bays. The carriages are in an LMR serviced area, Victoria Station. A contributing thought was that these were very early composite carriages, with the outside compartments being 3rd, the center inside compartment being 2nd.  My excitement was palpable.

8999 returned searches later, we have: The Builder, Volume II, issue XLVIII, January 1844, page 21.

This architectural digest describes Victoria Station. A few details from the article: Victoria Station was 852 feet long by 130 feet wide. The lanterns are gas, controlled by a central valve, which illuminate the station for arrivals and departures. We can see those lanterns in the image. The center span is 59 feet 6 inches wide. The Builder claims that the roof "forms the largest extent of railway roofing in the kingdom". 5 main lines of rail from end to end.

And then, The Builder describes the two carriages! They have names, to wit: The Tourist and The Gondola. The carriages were constructed at the direction of the board of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, for the inspection of the line. The interior spaces communicated with the outer spaces, such that a person could walk between compartments. The carriages have the look and feel of very early observation carriages, but alas, not composite carriages. Not part of the LMR. Not carriages in public service. Sad noises and disappointment from the LMR enthusiast.

The article itself is linked below. There are details vis the gas lighting, track sidings and the carriages which I didn't repeat here. You may view the article, starting on the far left column, titled Victoria Station. Its not very long, and could be well worth your time, if your interest is early railways.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=gri.ark:/13960/t9188674x&view=1up&seq=25

Bee

*The artist, Arthur Tait, passed in 1905. Copyright extends for 70 years after the death of the copyright holder. This image has only been in the public domain for 48 years. Rather surprising for a period image of the LMR.

**Walker, 1832, shows only 1st and 2nd Class fares on the LMR.

[RB51]

A fascinating read Bee. The Builder is reserved for later consumption. Thank you. R-

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Interesting as ever, Bee. Many thanks.

[Brew Man]

That was really interesting, Bee, especially (for me) the paragraph on the, 'Parliamentary Trains'. I Model 1923-1947, 'The Big Four' and have many times wondered about the absence of 2nd Class carriages, so thanks for clearing that up. If I may, though follow in Topcat's pedantry, it's 'Voila', not 'Viola' as you have put at the end of the paragraph. Sorry joy.

A big thanks from me for your continuing and very interesting articles.

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As I understand it, "Parlies", as they were known to railwaymen, were always third class because the railway companies of the mid 19th Century really did not like running them so were keen to make them as unappealing as possible. The Midland Railway pulled a blinder by abolishing second class, leaving a choice only between third and first. Many passengers apparently regarded third class travel as socially unacceptable, so went first even though the third class carriages had been upgraded. Sales of first class tickets rose, adding to profits. Other companies followed suit, hence the comparative lack of second class carriages.

[What About The Bee]

Three Link: I claim no special knowledge of how this situation came to be. My interest fundamentally ends after 1845. Your explanation certainly makes sense. Forcing a passenger to choose between 3rd (oh the horror!) or 1st, in combination with class consciousness, could certainly work the way you say.

Brew Man: I was unsure of how the oddity of the missing 2nd class carriages would be received. If it helped you, then I am happy. The only reason I discovered this was because of those 2 carriages on a siding in Victoria Station.

RogerB: I had no idea what I would discover when I was looking through the (literal) 8999 books online. There are many more oddities to come. Next month I focus on what may be the oddest railway thing I have ever seen. Do not miss it!!

Bee