Bill Bedford wrote:A1s had tapered boilers only because it was impossible to fit the middle cylinder with a parallel boiler.
That sounds to me like a fairly definite claim of an "only reason" in that particular case, which was the whole reason for the point being made, I believe.
My argument was not against Bill Bedford but against Saint Johnstoun, who attempted to cite GW 2-cylinder locos as proof that Bill was wrong to assert that accommodating the middle cylinder was the only reason for fitting a taper boiler, when he had claimed no such thing.
I thought I had made this clear in my post by quoting Saint Johnstoun's message.
