Favourite LNER Locomotive

[Spamcan81]

Anything not designed by Thompson gets my vote but if I have to pick but one, it just has to be 2001 in original condition. IMHO the most impressive looking piece of kit to ever grace the railways of Britain.

[Spamcan81]

I'm just taking their sounds into account here and from that point of view my clear favourite has to be the Gresley V2. In particular it would be on a summer's evening, listening to a 50A (York) V2 slogging up the 1 in 200 towards Greenwood box with the evening York Goods, a heavy train of 50 or more fitted vans and containers. We could hear it coming from the moment the train emerged from Oakleigh Park tunnel, which meant we would enjoy several minutes of that unforgettable 3-cylinder rhythm. To my ear that will always be the true V2 sound. The regular on the beat noise which 4771 Green Arrow produces now is too perfect. V2s just didn't sound that way in the 1950s.

If I can have a second choice it would be the moment when an A4 dives into a tunnel, say Hadley South or Potter's Bar, and the note from its chime whistle rises in pitch for a brief fleeting instant as the sound hits the roof of the tunnel and is reflected back again. Also unforgettable for those who were fortunate enough to hear and remember it.

If you haven't already got it, get a copy of Peter Handford's 'Railway To Riccarton,' some wonderful V2 syncopation on that album.

[Spamcan81]

Thought that I should have my 2 penerth worth My favourite is A4 2509 SLIVER LINK she must have looked magnificent when first introduced. I wish I could have seen her in all her glory but I have to make do with Sir Nigel.
Tonym

More's the pity that the temporary transformation of 60019 into 2509 wasn't longer lasting. I'd seen photos of 2509 but to see her in the flesh at the NRM fair took my breath away.

[Flamingo]

I'm just taking their sounds into account here and from that point of view my clear favourite has to be the Gresley V2. In particular it would be on a summer's evening, listening to a 50A (York) V2 slogging up the 1 in 200 towards Greenwood box with the evening York Goods, a heavy train of 50 or more fitted vans and containers. We could hear it coming from the moment the train emerged from Oakleigh Park tunnel, which meant we would enjoy several minutes of that unforgettable 3-cylinder rhythm. To my ear that will always be the true V2 sound. The regular on the beat noise which 4771 Green Arrow produces now is too perfect. V2s just didn't sound that way in the 1950s. .

If you haven't already got it, get a copy of Peter Handford's 'Railway To Riccarton,' some wonderful V2 syncopation on that album.

I have not heard that one but I do have another Transacord album which has similar Waverley Route V2 tracks. Unfortunately I no longer have the means of playing 12-inch LPs - is there a way of converting the discs to another more modern format? Not sure how true this is, but I read once that Canal shed were said to have unofficially 'adjusted' the valve settings in such a way as to increase the syncopation, because the crews believed that the engines steamed better that way. When the authorities found out what was going on. the practice had to stop.

To my mind the current vogue for running photo-charters with spotless engines hauling stock that looks as if it has just come out of the works paint shop has no appeal at all. Such efforts perhaps satisfy photographers who never saw or heard the real thing, but they are deluding themselve if they think that that is what it was really like.

[Spamcan81]

I'm just taking their sounds into account here and from that point of view my clear favourite has to be the Gresley V2. In particular it would be on a summer's evening, listening to a 50A (York) V2 slogging up the 1 in 200 towards Greenwood box with the evening York Goods, a heavy train of 50 or more fitted vans and containers. We could hear it coming from the moment the train emerged from Oakleigh Park tunnel, which meant we would enjoy several minutes of that unforgettable 3-cylinder rhythm. To my ear that will always be the true V2 sound. The regular on the beat noise which 4771 Green Arrow produces now is too perfect. V2s just didn't sound that way in the 1950s. .

If you haven't already got it, get a copy of Peter Handford's 'Railway To Riccarton,' some wonderful V2 syncopation on that album.

I have not heard that one but I do have another Transacord album which has similar Waverley Route V2 tracks. Unfortunately I no longer have the means of playing 12-inch LPs - is there a way of converting the discs to another more modern format? Not sure how true this is, but I read once that Canal shed were said to have unofficially 'adjusted' the valve settings in such a way as to increase the syncopation, because the crews believed that the engines steamed better that way. When the authorities found out what was going on. the practice had to stop.

To my mind the current vogue for running photo-charters with spotless engines hauling stock that looks as if it has just come out of the works paint shop has no appeal at all. Such efforts perhaps satisfy photographers who never saw or heard the real thing, but they are deluding themselve if they think that that is what it was really like.

There are turntables available that can be connected to a computer via USB and the vinyl tracks recorded that way. There are also turntable units with built in CD recorders to do the same job a slightly different way.

[52A]

Or you can feed your turntable through a pre amp. I have my PC connected to a Hi Fi amp and use Magix Audio Cleaning Lab, this removes all the crackles and pops and has a host of other editing gizmos.

[stembok]

The grossly syncopated exhaust beat of V2s on the Waverley route was much more likely to be due to maintenance deficiencies at St Margaret's shed, who provided much of the motive power on the route. St. Margaret's engines -unlike Haymarket - never gave much evidence, external or otherwise, of being well looked after. Possibly, the shed struggled with the sheer number and variety of locos it had allocated on a confined site and indeed its engines had to be outstationed all over at weekends due to lack of space. In addition the Waverley route was a hard, hard route for steam engines with its ups and downs, severe curvature etc, which soon led to leaking glands, motion knocks and all the other signs of a 'hard life'.

[Flamingo]

I believe it was the people at St Margarets shed who first discovered the unofficial adjustments that Carlisle Canal were making. Canal had no V2s of its own, so it would have been 64A's engines that they were tweaking. Both sheds had K3s, so I wonder if they sounded the same or different.

Also the lower speed at which freights tackled the 1 in 75 Waverley route climbs compared to the 1 in 200s of the GN main line could have accentuated any syncopation due to the valve gear settings. I regret never having heard a V2 on the Waverley, though I did get one run over it behind 60079 before the double chimney was fitted. But to this day whenever I want, with no tape recordings or LPs to remind me, I can summon up the sound of a V2 coming through Greenwood on the 660 York Goods. They were doing perhaps 30-35 mph by that time. A few times I heard that train at Finsbury Park, where the speed was a lot lower, and the V2 rhythm was much more noticeable than at Greenwood.

[stembok]

Does anyone happen to know the name and date of the publication which mentioned the valve setting 'modifications' on the V2s carried out at Carlisle Canal? Was it the valve setting or was it, perhaps, some unofficial 'work' on the blastpipe/chimney orifices to improve the steaming? Putting a loco's valves deliberately 'off beat' seems a strange way of improving its performance and if it happened the powers that be don't seem to have been amused. In general in BR days sheds had enough to do trying to maintain their own allocated stock without tinkering with anyone elses, except in case of failure and even then they would sometimes try to ship out a "foreign" lame duck loco so that they did not have to repair it. Moreover, did this'tweaking' extend to the four Canal A3s? In fact 'tweaking' may not even have been necessary, a little judicious neglect of the grease lubricated pin joints in the 2 to 1 gear would soon achieve the desired result, soundwise.

[Flamingo]

I am fairly sure that this story appeared in an introduction written by Derek Cross, that appeared in whichever issue of Locomotives Illustrated it was that dealt with the V2s. I don't have a copy to hand to check though.

As to the Canal A3s, I don't remember much about my one and only Waverley route run with Bayardo. But again, somewhere in one of Ossie Nock's books, he describes a run with Coronach in which it made plenty of noise on the long climbs.

[stembok]

If the information did indeed come from Derek Cross it must presumably be pre-mid 1980s. Any single chimney A3 or V2 would raise the echoes on the Waverley route with those tough, long climbs. The single chimney A3s were not at their best on this route, depite their long service, and maintenance of steam and water levels could evidently be a problem at times. Harry Knox in his recent book on Haymarket shed 64B mentions firing experiences on the Waverley route and the great improvement brought about in free steaming by the fitting with double Kychap blastpipe and chimney. The V2s tended to be better suited than Pacifics to many of the Scottish routes. The steaming of the single chimney A3s,A4s and some of the Peppercorn A2s could at times be a problem post-war with the decline in coal quality and action was finally taken, but late in the day. Supporters of other railways tempted at times to crow forgot that the Duchesses, Royal Scots and Bulleids were fitted with multiple exhausts. Had they too had single chimneys the story might have been different.

[woberty]

Id have to say the A3s as my favourite LNER loco. Not the glamour of the A4s but a good all round loco all the same.

[BarryH]

Having spent my early teenage years near the Haltwhistle - Alston branch, my inclination is to the J39 and the G5's.
However, having browsed the locomotives section of this site, I have to admit to liking the looks of the A1, A2, A3 (but I am not a fan of 4472 due to the over exposure of that engine.
A4's are of course brilliant but the P1 and P2 both really caught my attention.
I also like the V2, the Thompson B1, the K3, the O7; darn, I think I like them all!

[kudu]

I suppose I should nominate 61008, though tbh I only selected my name on the criterion of brevity. And anyone who read my piece here "A Place by the Railway" (in general railway chat) will realise I shouldn't really be here at all.

That said, the LNER loco I would have loved to see is Cock o' the North. Of those I did see, maybe the A1s best combine power with handsome lines, though the A3s win on grace and elegance.

But right now I'm going to nominate something completely different: Hill Y4 0-4-0T no 8129. I first saw this loco while standing at Stratford Station in its last BR guise as no 33. It was the first Service Loco I had ever seen, and indeed until then I was not even aware there were such things. The loco itself, hauling a few wagonloads of unidentifiable loco parts, looked at least 100 years older than its mere 30-plus years and was one of the most ramshackle pieces of equipment still capable of movement that I had ever seen, being plainly about to collapse in a hissing heap at any moment. For me this engine revives fond memories of what to me was one of the most special places in the country - the maze of railway lines, sidings, workshops that constituted Stratford shed and Works, now only to be visited in the photographs of such excellent books as the Irwell Press Great Eastern in Town & Country Vol 1.

Kudu

[JustinTime]

60530 Sayajirao. Various reasons for picking this. Chief of which, I could never pronounce it, still can't!

As recently as the 90s during the conflict in the Balkans, whenever the city of Sarajevo was mentioned in news bulletins, I always made the phonetic connection to Sayajirao, I don't know why.

If I'm allowed to make a 2nd choice, it would be an unknown St Margarets J36 which In late 1963, I think, someone had scrawled in chalk on the offside of the tender, the legend 'Mandy Rice Davies'. Only days later, 'Stephen Ward' appeared underneath the still visible Mandy.

Forum members will have to be of a certain age to appreciate this.