British Caproti Valve gear on Standard Class 5

Here Standard class five 73129 gets its train away

at Bridgenorth on the Severn Valley Railway

 

 

The very sharp exhaust brought about by poppet

valve operation is very clear to hear, even above the

interfering breeze across the camera mic

 

Many thanks http://www.svr.co.uk/

Caprotti valve gear

This slow pan allows you to look at the detail

 

 

This is of course 'British' Caprotti

 

 

If your wondering how it works then the

drawing above should give you an idea

 

Thanks to National-Preservation.com I include a description of

how this gear works.

Caprotti gear uses two cams per inlet valve, each with a constant profile giving lift over maybe 40% of a complete revolution. There's a rocker lever between the two of them, so the valve is only lifted if both the cams are lifting. By changing the phase angle of the cams relative to each other, you can get anything from 0% to 80% admission for a given power stroke. Numbers illustrative only. Anyway, because the cam profile is constant, it's nice and easy to keep contact stresses manageable. The complexity is in the cam phasing gear, although I suppose the rocker could be a weak point too.

 

 

 

The BR Standard class five with Caprotti gear

Drifts past its train at Bridgenorth station on the

Severn Valley Railway

 

 

Then runs down ready for the return journey to

Kidderminster Town

 

 

A lovely engine and you can really hear the difference

in that exhaust beat with the Caprotti gear

 

 

Moving off into the yard to be coaled and watered

 

 

You can see the Caprotti gear in more detail here

 

http://www.svr.co.uk/

A few more from the Severn Valley Railway

Sir Keith Park was looking good

 

 

Looked like it had just had a boiler

wash out

 

Bridgenorth has some very good workshop facilities

as I have seen from the Standard class 3 project

underway there and other places

 

The line was of course Great Western but there is

a multiplicity of types and companies represented

 

The 1500 class are amongst the most modern of

GWR engines and excellent workhorses they are

 

http://www.svr.co.uk/

LNWR Coal Tank 1054

Looking splendid at Oxenhope

 

 

A great deal of care and work has been put in by

the Bahamas society

 

It runs with the Vintage Coach set on some Sundays

'ISAAC' on the Lynton and Barnstaple railway, the detail.

 

A superb engine

 

In pretty much the same proportion as the original

L&B engines

 

Relatively new in terms of preserved locomotives

 

Outside cylinders and outside gear

 

 

Looks almost new

 

The air pump for the brakes

 

Can't praise the work enough

 

Plenty for power for the new carriage set there

 

Feels just like its big standard gauge sisters.

 

Take look for yourself at

http://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/

Loughborough Workshops GCR

Always a pleasure to have a workshop visit

 

 

Especially for an old engineer

 

There's usually a 'Jinty' about too

 

Excellent facilities, many thanks GCR

 

http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/

BR Type 20 diesel 'Chopper' in action

Moving empty stock a common scene in days gone.

Loughborough Great Central Railway

 

 

Not too sure it sounds like a helicopter though

Ivatt 41241 nicely posed

This is my favourite viewing spot

 

 

Having now crossed over 41241 backs down

 

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/

Ivatt Tank 41241 KWVR

Having run around and taken water 41241 now

prepares to cross over and run back down onto

its train at Keighley station

 

 

Must now be in workshops so hopefully soon back

in steam. I know you got a lot to do.

 

Don't forget the steam spectacular in a fortnights time

check at

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/

Great Central Railway

The old and the new.

 

 

An 8F LMS goods loco in crimson might be a bit

of a contradiction, but what they heck.

Great Central Railway diesels

What looks like a class 20. This was a past visit

to the Great central Railway at Loughborough

 

 

 

The British Rail (BR) Class 20, otherwise known as an English Electric Type 1, is a class of diesel-electric locomotive. In total, 228 locomotives in the class were built by English Electric between 1957 and 1968, the large number being in part because of the failure of other early designs in the same power range to provide reliable locomotives.
The locomotives were originally numbered D8000–D8199 and D8300–D8327. They are known by railway enthusiasts as "Choppers", a name derived from the distinctive beat that the engine produced when under load which resembles the sound of a helicopter.

 

The Class 45s, as they were to become known, were built between 1960 and 1962 at the British Railways works at Crewe and Derby and totalled 126 engines. They were externally similar to the earlier ten Class 44s but with a Sulzer 12 cylinder 12LDA28B engine uprated to 2500 hp. They were intended for express passenger work. The Class 44s were named after English and Welsh peaks and they, and the Class 45s, became known as “Peaks”. In fact a small number of Class 45s were named after British Army Regiments using names formally carried by the LMS Royal Scot steam locomotives.

Is it a Sulzer Brush diesel behind 123, tell me what you think

 

There's always a DMU somewhere

 

Many thanks to the Great Central Railway and

Wikepedia for the notes

Minehead on a quiet day

 

 

The Great Western Railway 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 mixed traffic steam locomotives designed by Charles Collett. A total of 259 were built, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and 6900–6958. The LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 and LNER Thompson Class B1 both drew heavily on design features of the Hall Class. After nationalisation in 1948, British Railways gave them the power classification 5MT.

Designed by G.J. Churchward for heavy freight work. They were the first 2-8-0 class in Great Britain.The prototype, originally numbered 97 but later renumbered 2800, appeared in 1903.Construction of the production series commenced in 1905 and continued until 1919.

The 2884 Class which appeared in 1938–1942 was developed from the 2800 class and

 is sometimes classified with it.

 

 

9351 'mogul' 2-6-0

Great Western locomotives were built from a range of standardised components, which were assembled in different ways to suit different traffic needs. The basic parts of the 'large prairie' 2-6-2Ts were considered at different times as being the possible basis of a small 2-6-0 'mogul', but this was never followed through. 5101 Class number 5193 was purchased by the WSR in 1998 when its owners were unable to complete its restoration after its rescue from Barry in 1979. Because of the degree of work needed to restore it as a tank locomotive, and because a small tender locomotive was thought more useful on the lengthy railway, it was decided in 2000 to convert it to this mooted 2-6-0. Work was completed in 2004 when it appeared in plain GWR green livery.

Most grateful to Wikipedia for the above notes

 

 

Keighley Worth Valley Railway

The yard was nicely crowded that day with plenty

to photograph and look at

 

 

I am hoping the 4F might be in steam again soon

 

The Autumn steam spectacular is only

a couple of weeks away

 

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/

Black Five 45305 at Howarth yard KWVR

Resting this day

 

 

The class fives of Stanier were magnificent beasts

 

Of course as LMS it would have simply been 5305

 

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/

Black Five 45305

I am informed 45305 is to be repainted

as LMS 5305

 

 

Will that be black lined out I wonder

or are we in for a surprise

 

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/

Lest we forget

Conflict is always with us somewhere and in these

days of further conflict it is right to remember the

sacrifice made in WW1 and WW2 for the freedoms

 we enjoy

 

 

Everyday scenes in the 1940's

 

Yes the kids did find it all a bit of a game other

than those directly affected due to bombing or

displacement as evacuees.

 

The railways were crucial in the effort

 

Both moving men and supplies

 

 

During the early dark days when invasion was a

real possibility the stations were fortified

 

I well remember and older colleague telling me

that war was a very boring business with from  

time to time spurts of deadly activity 

 

Lets us be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy

 

http://www.embsayboltonabbeyrailway.org.uk/

 

Wartime on the railways Embsay Station

Very atmospheric

 

 

The uniforms make it

 

Very realistic they were

 

An everyday scene in the 1940's

 

http://www.embsayboltonabbeyrailway.org.uk/

L&Y Pug

One of the first locomotives purchased by the new

KWVR it did sterling work in the early days

 

 

Now an exhibit at the Oxenhope exhibition hall

 

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/

GWR 6619 rests at Embsay

Tea break for the crew between runs

 

 

When the GWR took over the Welsh valley lines, they discovered that the Welsh locomotive crews liked their 0-6-2T locomotives. Rather than a new design the 5600 Class was a "Swindonised" version of the Rhymney Railway M class and R class locomotives. The 1904 M class (and the similar 1909 R class) were successful designs ideally suited to hauling heavy coal trains a relatively short distance.
The 5600 Class was specially designed for work in South Wales, replacing the elderly, worn-out locomotives that had been 'inherited' in 1923, when the smaller railway companies were forcibly merged into the GWR at The Grouping. Contrary to this trend, the Rhymney Railway's more modern 0-6-2s were in generally good order and had proved successful. Thus they became the blueprint for the 56xx.
The first of five R class locos was re-boilered by the GWR in 1926 and a single M class was upgraded in 1930. In this form, both were visually almost indistinguishable from the 56 Class.

The design of the 5600 Class followed Great Western Railway practice as far as possible, by utilising many standardised parts. Included in Collett's innovations was a Standard Number 2 boiler which was suitable for the 5600 Class, and the M and R class Rhymney locomotives, complete with the traditional brass GWR safety valve casing and copper-capped chimney.
They were substantial sized tank engines, 37 ft 6ins in length and weighing 62 tons. The side tanks were capable of holding 1900 gallons of water. The high domed cab, bunker and tanks were closely related to the 31xx and 42xx classes. One hundred of the class were built at the GWR workshops in Swindon from 1924-1927.
In 1927 another 100 similar engines were constructed – these were slightly heavier and numbered in the 66xx series. Nos 6600-6649 were Swindon-built in 1927-1928, but due to the pressure of work 6650-6699 were built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1928. This resulted in some minor design differences from the Swindon locomotives.

My thanks to Wikipedia for the above.

 

GWR 5101 class

Here 4106 rests at Minehead

 

Known as Large Prairies they were built for suburban

 and local passenger services all over the Great Western

 Railway system. The class was an updated version,

 by Collett, of Churchward's 1903 3100/5100 Class.

 

http://westsomersetrailway.vticket.co.uk/

GWR 6619 at Embsay station on the Yorkshire Dales Railway

A lovely engine and with as has been commented

on in National-Preservation.com what sounds like

an A4 chime whistle

 

 

It was always great to go along to the YDR and see

this loco on duty

 

I used to visit family in a small suburb of Cardiff

as a youngster and you could always see this class

around there as they were the Great Westerns answer

the poor motive power on the South Wales lines when

they took them over in 1924. There were a good many

of the 5600 class built to serve this coal trade

 

http://www.embsayboltonabbeyrailway.org.uk/