Double headed goods trains in the 30's?
Moderators: 52D, Tom F, Rlangham, Atlantic 3279, Blink Bonny, Saint Johnstoun, richard
Double headed goods trains in the 30's?
How often (if ever) did the LNER double head goods trains in the 1930's?
-
jwealleans
- LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
- Posts: 4303
- Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:46 am
Re: Double headed goods trains in the 30's?
If photographic evidence can be taken as representative, very rarely. Gresley's big engine policy applied equally to freight and after the purchase of all the ex-ROD 2-8-0s the LNER was awash with heavy goods engines. Off the top of my head I can bring to mind one double-headed express fish working in Scotland and a pair of Claud Hamiltons on the outskirts of London on a fitted train. It's possible they were balancing/positioning workings rather than required to keep the train to time.
Dick Hardy talks about double heading a goods down the ECML during wartime, but with the additional traffic and generally poorly maintained motive power of the period, that's a much more likely accorrence.
Dick Hardy talks about double heading a goods down the ECML during wartime, but with the additional traffic and generally poorly maintained motive power of the period, that's a much more likely accorrence.
Re: Double headed goods trains in the 30's?
Doesn't it all depend which bit of the LNER you mean?
It may have been rare on the east coast, but it was not uncommon over Woodhead and 2 on the front and several on the back was usual up the Worsborough incline. Similarly if you include the CLC, where the big engine policy was not reflected in quite the same way as elsewhere, then double heading of J10s or the odd J10+N5 combo would not have been that rare, alongside LMS 3F and 4F combinations.
Simon
It may have been rare on the east coast, but it was not uncommon over Woodhead and 2 on the front and several on the back was usual up the Worsborough incline. Similarly if you include the CLC, where the big engine policy was not reflected in quite the same way as elsewhere, then double heading of J10s or the odd J10+N5 combo would not have been that rare, alongside LMS 3F and 4F combinations.
Simon
-
Hatfield Shed
- LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
- Posts: 1728
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:34 pm
Re: Double headed goods trains in the 30's?
Naturally, especially in respect of steep sections. But if we survey the constituents of the LNER, all had embarked on progressive enlargements of freight power to improve efficiency by handling heavier freight loads with one locomotive. The GCR, GNR and NER had all gone eight coupled, and the GER, NBR and NER had examples of some of the largest 0-6-0s then running in the UK.