BR Standard Class 8

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BR Standard Class 8 [1]
BR Standard Class 8
71000 Duke of Gloucester as preserved.
Note the Caprotti valve gear.
Power type Steam
Designer Robert Riddles
Builder BR Crewe Works
Build date 1954
Total production 1
Configuration 4-6-2 (Pacific)
Gauge 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Leading wheel size 3 ft 4 in (1.03 m)
Driver size 6 ft 2 in (1.89 m)
Trailing wheel size 3 ft 6 in (1.09 m)
Length 67 ft 8 in (22.5 m)
Locomotive weight 154 tons 19 cwt (157.43 tonnes)
Fuel type coal
Fuel capacity 10 tons (10.16 tonnes)
Water capacity 4,325 imp. gal (19,661.83 litres) (with BR1J tender)
Boiler pressure 250 lbf/in² (11.97 kPa)
Cylinders 3
Cylinder size 19 in × 28 in (455mm × 710mm)
Tractive effort 39,080 lbf (173.836 kN)
Career London Midland Region of British Railways
Class 8P
Locale Great Britain

The BR Standard Class 8 was a class of 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for use by British Railways. Only the prototype was constructed, which was named Duke of Gloucester. Constructed at Crewe Works in 1954, the Duke, as it is also referred to, was a replacement for the destroyed Princess Coronation Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, which was involved in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952.[2]

The Duke was based on the BR Standard Class 7 Britannia design. It incorporated three sets of modified Caprotti valve gear, relatively new to British locomotive engineering, and more efficient than two sets of Walschaerts or Stephenson valve gear. The Duke was regarded as a failure by locomotive crews due to its poor steaming characteristics and its heavy fuel consumption. Trials undertaken by British Railways also returned negative feedback, reporting problems with the poor draughting of the locomotive having an adverse effect on adhering to timetables.

The result was an operational period of only eight years. This unique locomotive was saved from being scrapped at Woodhams' Scrapyard when it was purchased by a group of railway enthusiasts who restored it from scrapyard to as-built condition in 13 years. Since then, modifications have been made to the original design, resulting in one of the most efficient and powerful locomotives ever to run in Britain.[3] As a result, the Duke of Gloucester can frequently be seen on the mainline around Britain.

Contents

[edit] Background

Riddles had frequently argued the case for the inclusion of a Standard Class 8 Pacific into the standard range of locomotives being introduced by British Railways. However, these proposals were rejected by the Railway Executive on the grounds of cost in attempting to develop a form of steam motive power that was not necessarily required for use on Britain's railways, as there were enough class 8 locomotives available for use. However, opportunity came out of adversity when the short-lived rebuild of the The Turbomotive, 46202 Princess Anne, was destroyed in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952.[2] A gap now existed in the roster for locomotives with 8P power classification, of which the demand was high for the efficient operation of heavy expresses on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Scotland.[4] This presented Riddles with the perfect opportunity to press the case for his new design, a prototype of which was duly authorised for construction.[5]

[edit] Design details

At first, Riddles wished to develop an enlarged version of his Standard Class 7 Britannias, as the design still featured a two-cylinder layout.[1] However, the size of the cylinders in order to achieve the 8P power classification would have put the design over the British loading gauge limit, and so a reluctant reversion to the three-cylinder layout ensued.[2] This reluctance was borne from experience with the Gresley Pacifics, where the conjugated valve gear was difficult to maintain due to the location of the middle cylinder between the frames.[1] Therefore, an alternative type of valve gear had to be found.

The valve gear that was settled upon was a modified form of Caprotti valve gear, the novel rotary cam-driven British Caprotti valve gear with poppet valves.[6] This was based upon Italian locomotive practice, and allowed the precise control of steam admission to the cylinders, whilst improving exhaust flow and boiler draughting characteristics when compared to the more conventional Walschaerts and Stephenson valve gear.[6] On paper, this was to create a free-steaming, hard-working locomotive capable of hauling heavy loads over long distances, but in practice, fundamental design errors and undetected deviations from the drawings were made during construction, which combined to prevent the locomotive from ever achieving its expected performance during British Railways ownership.[7]

The main problem was known even when the locomotive was under construction, as Mr. L.T. Daniels, the representative of the British Caprotti company, recommended the use of the Kylchap blastpipe, which could have coped with the fierce exhaust blasts experienced with the Caprotti system.[1] However, a standard double chimney of the Swindon type had been fabricated in order to cut costs, and had been installed in the smokebox before Riddles could do anything to change this development.[1] As a result, the locomotive would suffer due to the choke area of both chimney and blastpipe being vastly undersized for the pressure created by the exhaust, leading to poor draughting when in everyday use.[8] Further problems regarding the firebox of the locomotive were only discovered during restoration, including a poorly-dimensioned ashpan and dampers that were vastly undersized, strangling the fire of air when operating at speed.[9]

[edit] Construction history

The opportunity to create an entire batch of locomotives within the 8P category was declined by the Railway Executive. This was because the design process had been highly expensive and complex, so that when the locomotive emerged from Crewe Works in 1954, it meant that such thoughts had been precluded, especially with the advent of the Modernisation Plan.[9] As a result, 71000 remained the solitary member of a proposed class of Standard 8P locomotives.

[edit] Naming the locomotive

Upon emerging from Crewe Works, the locomotive was named the Duke of Gloucester in 1954, prior to entering revenue-earning service. As a result, had further locomotives been constructed, they would have belonged to the Duke Class, standing alongside the sister locomotives of the Britannia and Clan Classes. Since then, the locomotive has colloquially been referred to by generations of steam enthusiasts and crews as the Duke.

[edit] Operational details

71000 Duke of Gloucester inside Crewe North shed 29 September 1963.
71000 Duke of Gloucester inside Crewe North shed 29 September 1963.

The Duke was highly unpopular with crews, who regarded it as something of a liability due to its poor steam production.[1] Inefficiencies caused by the aforementioned problems regarding the draughting abilities and firebox design meant that no further examples were constructed.[10] The fact that no effort was made to rectify these issues indicate the change in policy regarding steam locomotives, with the Modernisation Plan entering circulation as the 'Duke' entered service.[1] Based for its entire working life at Crewe North depot, the locomotive was utilised in hauling boat trains on the undemanding North Wales Coast Line between Crewe and Holyhead.[1] All of this culminated in the locomotive having a short service life of only eight years, being finally withdrawn from service in 1962.[2] However, the reputation of the locomotive as being a poor steamer amongst its crews was to eventually disappear, but only after it was rescued from a scrapyard during 1974.

[edit] Livery and numbering

The livery of the 'Duke' was a continuation of the standard British Railways Brunswick green applied to express passenger locomotives after nationalisation. This was lined in orange and black, whilst the class was granted the power classification 8P.[11] Following on from the 'Britannias,' Duke was numbered under the British Railways standard numbering system in the 71xxx series.[12] The 'Duke' was granted the number 71000, and featured brass nameplates with a black background, located on the smoke deflectors.[13]

[edit] Preservation

No 71000 'The Duke of Gloucester' on the East Lancashire Railway
No 71000 'The Duke of Gloucester' on the East Lancashire Railway

After withdrawal, the Duke was initially selected for the National Collection, though it was later decided that only the cylinder arrangement was of interest.[2] One of the outside cylinders was removed for display at the Science Museum, whilst the other was removed to restore balance in readiness for scrapping. The locomotive was purchased by Dai Woodham, though was initially sent to the wrong scrapyard. After retrieval, the Duke languished for many years in Woodhams' Scrapyard at Barry Island, South Wales, before enthusiasts purchased the locomotive in 1974, forming the Duke of Gloucester Steam Locomotive Trust.[14] Restoration began in earnest, though with many components missing, the most expensive of which being the Caprotti valve gear, it took 13 years of effort on the part of enthusiasts, with assistance in the guise of sponsorships from industry, to return the locomotive to as-built condition.[14]

Two significant construction errors were discovered during restoration:

  • The chimney was too small compared to other locomotives of similar size, resulting in poor boiler draughting at times of high steam demand.[15]
  • The firebed (grate) air inlet dampers had not been built to the drawings, and were too small, resulting in poor oxygen supply and inefficient combustion.[16]

These were corrected, and the opportunity taken to incorporate some other improvements, including the previously recommended Kylchap exhaust system, which had finally unlocked the locomotive's true potential as a powerful express passenger locomotive.[1] When the Duke was first allowed to haul a full load on the main line, it became immediately obvious that the boiler was now producing steam at a more efficient rate, and that the re-born Duke was unrecognisable from the failure that was experienced under British Railways ownership[17] With these modifications, the Duke is now the most powerful steam locomotive ever to run on Britain's railways past or present, and ironically, is also more powerful than the English Electric Type 4 diesel locomotives which replaced it in service.[1] The locomotive can be regularly seen hauling enthusiasts' special trains around the country.

The Duke has held an impeccable operational record for reliability, however on June 9th 2007 the engine operated a railtour from Preston to Carlisle returning via Settle, where, due to operational reasons, the locomotive's start position was changed to Carnforth.[18] Little over 30 miles (48 km) into the engines journey, the locomotive was stopped at Penrith with leaking tubes in the firebox, and removed from the train.[18] The engine was then withdrawn for overhaul before a return to service in January 2008.[18] As the locomotive now bears little mechanical resemblance to that which operated under British Railways, it has also been used as a test bed, incorporating several other modifications and innovations.[14] These are intended to investigate how much further the locomotive's performance can be enhanced, therefore raising speculation surrounding the capabilities of an entire batch of Standard class 8 Pacifics had history been different.[1]

[edit] Gallery

Duke of Gloucester on an enthusiast railtour at Carmarthen railway station, 26 May 2007

71000 on the 9th of June 2007 approaching Shap at slow speed, taken just 5 minutes before the locomotive failed at Penrith. The locomotive was approaching the hill at slow speed and incapable of much traction.

[edit] Sound

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Herring, Peter: Classic British Steam Locomotives, Section: Standard Class 8, pp. 188–189
  2. ^ a b c d e Langston, Keith: Made in Crewe: 150 Years of Engineering Excellence,p. 64 ISBN 0955286808
  3. ^ The Duke of Gloucester Locomotive Trust (2007)The changes of the locomotive's characteristics retrieved August 30, 2007
  4. ^ 'British Railways prototype class 8 express passenger locomotive' (Railway Magazine), p. 490
  5. ^ 'British Railways prototype class 8 express passenger locomotive' (Railway Magazine), p. 491
  6. ^ a b 'B.R. class 8 4-6-2 locomotive No. 71000' (Locomotive, Railway Carriage and Wagon Review), p. 88
  7. ^ 'British Railways standard class "8" locomotives' (Engineer: 1954), pp. 8–19
  8. ^ 'British Railways standard 3 cylinder 4-6-2 express passenger steam locomotive No. 71000' (HMSO, British Transport Commission), p. 29
  9. ^ a b 'British Railways standard 3 cylinder 4-6-2 express passenger steam locomotive No. 71000' (HMSO, British Transport Commission), p. [58]
  10. ^ Nock, O.S.: 'Performance and efficiency tests on B.R. class 8 locomotive' (Engineer: 1957, 204), pp. 293–294
  11. ^ Clarke, David: Riddles Class 6/7 Standard Pacifics, pp. 82–83
  12. ^ Clarke, David: Riddles Class 6/7 Standard Pacifics, p. 82
  13. ^ Clarke, David: Riddles Class 6/7 Standard Pacifics, p. 84
  14. ^ a b c Langston, Keith: Made in Crewe: 150 Years of Engineering Excellence,p. 65 ISBN 0955286808
  15. ^ The Duke of Gloucester Locomotive Trust (2007) Problems discovered with original features retrieved August 30, 2007
  16. ^ The Duke of Gloucester Locomotive Trust (2007)Problems discovered with original features retrieved August 30, 2007
  17. ^ The Duke of Gloucester Locomotive Trust (2007)The changes of the locomotive's characteristics retrieved August 30, 2007
  18. ^ a b c Hopkins, Danny and Streeter, Tony: 'The Duke's Bad Day' (Steam Railway Magazine), p. 89

[edit] References

  • 'British Railways standard 3 cylinder 4-6-2 express passenger steam locomotive No. 71000' (HMSO, British Transport Commission: London, 1957), p. [58] (Performance and efficiency tests, Bulletin No. 15)
  • 'British Railways standard class "8" locomotives' (Engineer: 1954, 197, 81)
  • 'B.R. class 8 4-6-2 locomotive No. 71000' (Locomotive, Railway Carriage and Wagon Review: 1954, 60)
  • 'British Railways prototype class '8" express passenger locomotive' (Railway Magazine: 1954, 100)
  • Clarke, David: Riddles Class 6/7 Standard Pacifics (Locomotives in Detail volume 5) (Ian Allan: Hinckley, 2006) ISBN 0711031770
  • Herring, Peter: Classic British Steam Locomotives (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "BR Standard Class 8" ISBN 1861470576
  • Hopkins, Danny and Streeter, Tony: 'The Duke's Bad Day' (Steam Railway Magazine: 2007, 338)
  • Langston, Keith: Made in Crewe: 150 Years of Engineering Excellence (Mortons Media: Horncastle, 2006), ISBN 0955286808
  • Nock, O.S.: 'Performance and efficiency tests on B.R. class 8 locomotive' (Engineer: 1957, 204)

[edit] Further reading

  • Gilbert, Dr. P. T. (Ed.): A Detailed History Of BR Standard Steam Locomotives. Volume 1. Background to Standardisation and Pacific Classes (Railway Correspondence & Travel Society (RCTS): 1994) ISBN 0-901115-81-9

[edit] External links

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