The LNER Encyclopedia

I have an on/off project building an A8 (I will put a post in the Modelling forum eventually). There is one mystery I have not yet found an explanation for, and I wonder whether anyone can help.

As built as H1 and converted to A8, there seems to be some kind of circular housing immediately behing and co-axial with the outside cylinders. The only drawing I have is the RM/Beattie one for the H1. This can't be part of the cylinder itself, because it would make them far too long. (They had a 26" stroke according to the RCTS book.)

A detailed study of Yeadon seems to show these housings disappearing in the late 30's or 40's. This doesn't seem to be coincident with re-boilering, and shows with all types of boiler.
(This is as well, as my model will have a 63 or 63a boiler - the one flush with the smokebox.)

Does anybody know what this housing was, and when or why it was removed ?

What you see was simply a cover over the cylinder ends which served no purpose other than to protect the packing glands and other components and give aesthetic detail to the locomotive - the B16s and C7s also had this feature.

It was not a necessity so in the later years these covers were dispensed with. In the locomotives heyday it was one area which could receive the attentions of the crew in burnishing the metal to a shine.

Thank you very much. I suspected it might be something like that. My model will be 1947 condition so I can leave them off. This is as well, because I need all the space I can to get the bogie to go round curves !

I would add that the covers were a nuisance when attending to gland packings etc. and I suspect that when taken off to attend to cylinders they were in later years not replaced.

Further to my previous query I would be grateful for further advice to assist me with my model.

I note from Yeadon Vol21, that some some 63 (and apparently 63A) boilers carried a circular safety valve casing, even in 1947 condition.
I can find no apparent link between this and boiler type.

At present I am planning to model 9870 (ex 1517) which was a West Auckland engine in 1947, and carried a bunker and not a coal cage.

I will put a posting in the Modelling area shortly. I'm taking it slowly but am quite pleased so far. I have got proper cylinders in the correct place, and it goes round 24" radius curves !
If I can do this with an A8 then perhaps I can also do it for other NER three cylinder engines !

My A8 is in it's final stages. (See modelling forum).
I would be very grateful if anybody could tell me what the arrangements were for cab doors, and the interior painting of the cab.
I was planning to use the same colours as for tender engines, ie wood colour above waist height.

Doors were hinged at the back either side of the bunker - quite a resticted entry. Interior of cab was just painted plain black apart from the wooden seat. 69856 (2149) was another 51F allocation for most of its life under LNER and BR up to its scrapping. 69856 was my dads favourite as he was its regular fireman for two or three years in the mid 50's.

Thank you for the information. I've just posted some pictures in the Modelling section. I've shown the doors closed on the driver's side, but open on the fireman's. Thank you for the details of the internal painting - but I'd already painted the cab brown above waist height - and fitted the roof!

My model A8 has been in the shops recently to have an annoying intermittent short-circuit attended to. While being worked on I thought I would take a fresh look at the cab roof because I've been worried that the kit-supplied one is too thick.

Yeadon Volume 21 appears to show three variants.
1. The original (wood and canvas?) roof as fitted to the H1 class, with a short curved rain-strip. This has a two-layer edge profile and two cross straps and shows on the picture of 2162 as first rebuilt in 1931, and on 2143 rebuilt in 1933.
2. As above, but with a longer rain-strip. This shows on locomotives rebuilt in 1933/34 and possibly 1935.
3. Single-layer edge profile (steel?) roof with no cross strapping and a higher arch to the curved rain-strip. This shows on rebuilds in 1936.

I suspect that 1. was replaced by 2. quite quickly. The final picture of 2162/69878 in the scrapyard shows what appears to be a 2. Next to her is 2153/69860 rebuilt in 1934 but with a variant 3. roof. This would suggest a roof replacement subsequent to the rebuilding, but there is little other evidence of this being done. Boiler and front-lookout changes don't seem to coincide with roof changes. Did it depend on whether the older roofs caught fire?

My model is of 9870, which definitely appears to have a 3. style, but I would be grateful if one of the very knowledgeable people on this forum could explain more about Darlington's practice in this regard. I seem to remember a similar progression with the J21s, but can't find the reference just at the moment