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Kevin Jones' Steam Index

Journal Institution Locomotive Engineers Volumes 31 &
32 (including some key Discussion recorded in Volume 33)

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Journal No.159

Watney, N.C. (Paper 421)
Application of Gantt Charts to running shed management. 9-36. Disc.: 36-42.
Twelfth Annual General Meeting of the Indian and Eastern Centre held at the Hotel Imperial, New Delhi, on Friday, 9 February 1940, at 6.15 p.m.,: chair taken by Mr. L. N. Flatt.
Gantt charts were perfected by H. L. Gantt in 1918 and enabled the recording of facts, etc., to be carried out in a clear and definite manner. Furthermore they presented them in their relation to time. By this unique combination in one chart they became of notable assistance to a management. The complete methods of drawing charts were described by Wallace Clark, but briefly the principle was that a division of space represented both an amount of time and an amount of work to be done in that time. Lines drawn horizontally through that space showed the relation of the amount of work actually done in that time to the amount scheduled, which feature distinguished it from all other charts.

Woodbridge, E. (Paper 422)
Industrial standardisation with particular reference to the Argentine Republic. 44-76. Disc.: 76-89.
First Quarterly Meeting, 1940 Session, of South American Centre held in Buenos Aires at Centre of British Engineering and Transport Institutions, on Friday, 12 April 1940: chair taken by Mr. J. Mailer, Acting Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Centre.
Notably the activities of Instituto Argentino de Racionalizacih de Materiales (IRAM) and its relationships with other national standardising organizations, such as British Standards Institution and the International Standards Association.

Journal No. 160

Renwick, H.P. (Paper No. 423)
Some practical reflections on locomotive axlebox design. 99-137. Disc.: 138-46.
Paper read on 9 December 1939, at Dohad, India, also on 4 January 1940, at Calcutta.
Engine failure data on the GIP Railway for ten years showed failures caused by hot axleboxes as percentage of total failures:
1929-30 13.3%
1930-31 18.4%
1931-32 9.5%
1932-33 16.0%
1933-34 27.6%
1934-35 22.6%
1935-36 19.1%
1936-37 20.7%
1937-38 25.12%
1938-39 12.6%
The heated bearing problem in India has been with us for so long and has hitherto proved so intractable that it ceased to be a subject of active concern, and had come to be regarded by many as an inevitable concomitant of railway operation.

Journal No. 161

Fairburn, C.E.  (Paper No. 424)
Diesel shunting locomotives. 175-202. Disc. 202-25.
Second Ordinary General Meeting of Session 1940-41 and the 29th Annual General Meeting of the Institution was held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, Westminster, on Wednesday, April goth, 1941, at 5 p.m., the President, Mr. O.V.S. Bulleid, occupying the chair.
To end this Paper it is proposed to sum up the main conclusions reached regarding the application of Diesel traction to shunting on the L.M.S. Railway, and to consider briefly possible future developments. A locomotive weighing about 50 tons and having an engine of certainly not less than 350 h.p. with electric transmission and capable of a maximum speed of about 20 m.p.h. appears to meet all requirements. Such a locomotive is able to show economies when compared with steam when it can be worked a sufficient number of hours per year. This economy arises mainly from reduced fuel costs, due largely to the reduction of standby losses, the quicker handling of traffic and reduced labour costs as there is no fireman.
It had been decided to build a further 20 locomotives similar to those designed in 1937, but this programme has been hindered by the war. The only alterations decided upon were in matters of detail. The use of several.small high speed engines of a standard design instead of a single engine has been considered. Designs, using three or four engines, were worked out and there would be no difficulty of accommodation. The first cost lvould not be substantially cliffereut and the main advantage claimed would be increased availability, due partly to the ability of the locomotive to continue in service with one engine out of commission, and partly to the facility with which ,a defective engine generator unit could be replaced by a stand-by set. Euel costs would probably be about the same, and by using standard engine generator sets maintenance costs might be no greater. Weighing all the circumstances, however, there was no gain in changing, and at this juncture a standard engine is an asset from the maintenance aspect.
Having decided on a single engine, the layout of the locomotive is settled to a large extent. For example, the driver’s cab is most conveniently situated at one end of the frame, and this appears to be the best position from the operating point of view. It has already been explained that the traction motor or motors should be force ventilated and should drive through double reduction gears. With a single motor mounted on the frame, the most convenient drive is by means of a jackshaft and coupling rods. This entails some heavy and expensive mechanical construction and also necessitates the use of side rods, which require accurate maintenance to ensure satisfactory working. The difficulty, however, is not so serious in low speed shunting units as it is in high speed locomotives, and in actual fact the maintenance of this form of drive has not given rise to any trouble.
However, a design of locomotive with nose suspended motors and double reduction gears has certain advantages. If the design of the jackshaft locomotive is analysed it will be seen that there is little latitude in the position of the motor in relation to the wheel base. The position of the driver’s cab being fixed, the position of the Diesel engine and generator must follow, with the result that the balance of the locomotive is bad, and unless the body is long as compared with the nose suspended motor type, the machines in the body are cramped. Further, the frame of the locomotive has to take the reaction of the drive and has consequently to be stiffened ; the wheel base, too, must be long enough to permit the accommodation of the jackshaft and the springing arrangements are not too good. The gear case for the second gears is a difficult and expensive piece of work and the load on the final gears is high. The jackshaft locomotive at the time it was introduced had certain merits however. A forced ventilated motor with double reduction drive must be used, this limits the maximum speed at which the locomotive can be moved, and when a jackshaft locomotive has to be hauled dead the connecting rods can be removed and the locomotive attached to an ordinary freight train. The development of similar facilities with double reduction nose suspended motors has now been achieved the motor is forced ventilated, and the intermediate shaft carrying the first gear wheel and the second pinion can be drawn out of mesh, incidentally, in much shorter time than is required for dismantling the connecting rods of the jackshaft type.
With the nose suspended motor the position of the engine generator unit is not limited and it can be placed to give good balance and accessibility. The body can be shorter, the wheel base is shorter, and the springing arrangement is simple. The large gear and gear case of the jackshaft type is avoided, and as two motors are used the loading on the gears is lower.
A locomotive has been fitted up for trial to try out the arrangement fully. The locomotive chosen is one of the type listed under 1 2 in the Appendix, the only change being the substitution of force ventilated double reduction motors for those existing. Trials have shown that the limitations of this type in comparison with the jackshaft locomotive have been overcome. The first cost of a new locomotive would not be greatly altered by the change in design, and the total weight would be somewhat less, which would be an advantage.
Having settled the main features of a design it is necessary to concentrate on the details in order to secure simplicity and reliability, so that capital and maintenance costs can be reduced and the avajlability increased. It is on this that the extent of future development mainly depends.
One point to which considerable thought has been given is the method of starting the engine. The method adopted on all the units with electric transmission of motoring the generator from the battery is technically satisfactory, provided the battery is maintained in good condition and is kept sufficiently charged. A few cases have arisen where, due to a faulty or incompletely charged battery, coupled possibly with some mistake on the part of a driver, an engine has failed to start. But the good results from battery starting have been obtained only by making the rather severe stipulation regarding starting, mentioned earlier in the Paper ; this necessitates a heavy battery which has often to deal with only one heavy call per week, i . e . , when starting after standing over the weekend. Starts during the week are not only small in number, but also require only a short discharge. To meet this duty a lead battery costing about £200 or an alkaline battery costing about £300 is needed. The former has a life of, say, four years and the latter should last appreciably longer; but in either case an annual cost of about per locomotive is incurred, which makes the battery the most expensive single item on the locomotive.
Various alternatives have been considered. A separate starting motor or motors, driving through Bendix or other high ratio gear systems, would reduce the size of battery needed owing to the higher electrical efficiency so obtainable, or the battery might be still further reduced by using it to start an auxiliary Diesel engine which would in turn start the main engine. A petrol engine would be cheaper for such a purpose, but it is not desii-able to carry petrol on the locomotives, quite apart from the added complication of having separate tanks to keep filled. An air motor might be used, but even with a large reservoir a separate enginedriven compressor would be desirable. Direct air starting is not favoured.
Experiments are being made with different materials for cylinder liners, valves, bearings, etc., but it has not jet been found possible to come to definite conclusions. The problem of wear is also being tackled by improving the cleanliness of the lubricating oil and of the engine generally. By-pass filtration circuits have been added to the lubrication system of some engines, and various proprietary filters, including tnagnetic filters, are being tried. Again, it is difficult to come to any quantitative conclusions, although it can be said that filtration is very desirable. For new locomotives it is intended to adopt a modified ventilating system in which the air passing through the engine radiator is isolated from the engine compartment. This compartment will then have a common ventilating system with the electrical equipment, taking in air through a filter. Filters on the engine inlets will, of course, be retained.
Certain points of engine design are still under consideration. One of these is the use of valve seats integral with with the cylinder head, instead of the caged valves, i . e . , valve and seating withdrawable from the cylinder head as a unit, used on the majority of the engines now in service. The integral seat obviously lends itself to better port design and is cheaper in first cost, but unless the valves can be left without attention between major overhauls, the caged valve must be employed owing to the delay and cost of removing the cylinder heads to attend to non-caged valves.
As the periods between overhaul are lengthened the caged valve becomes more advantageous and the solution will probably be to use the caged type with the stellite or chromium treated valves which are being tried at present. Another matter to which thought is being given is the use of over-size pistons. Although at first sight it would seem an obvious economy to bore out worn liners and to have a system of purchasing over-size pistons which would be turned down through a series of standard sizes as they became worn. In the Author’s opinion, the complication of maintenance procedure and store keeping and the change in engine conditions makes them undesirable, especially with the rate of liner wear it seems will be obtained. It will be seen from this brief resume that the Diesel electric locomotive for shunting duty has come to stay, but there are still many points where improvements can be hiatle to cheapen maintenance costs and to lessen capital charges, and wider experience will give the data to deal with these adequately. The L.M.S. Railway expect to get this expericnce rapidly as the number of locomotives in service is to be substantially increased.
Discussion: W.A. Stanier (202-4) said that while from the Author’s concluding remarks in presenting his Paper, one might wonder whether there was any hope at all for the steam engine; in the Paper itself it was made perfectly clear that it was no use considering Diesel traction unless the locomotive could be used for six days a week and for a big proportion of the twenty-four hours in each day. The L.M.S. Kailway had learnt that on a three-shift shunting job they could employ a Diesel locomotive costing a certain amount, and with only two shifts it would pay to do so, but with a single shift it did not pay, even though two men had to be employed on a steam locomotive instead of one.
Reference was made in the Paper to the use of the jackshaft drive and to the reasons for its adoption in the case of twenty locomotives. Since then, developments had taken place, and it had been found that the great virtue of the jackshaft drive was that it was driven with a double gear reduction and the motor was artificially cooled, so that it stood up to hard shunting, whereas the ten locomotives with nose-suspendcd motors, with single gear reduction and cooling with a fan on the armature, were not nearly good enough. As a result of further developments, however, there was now running on the L.M.S. Railway a locomotive with double gear reduction on the nose-suspended motor. The motors were artificially cooled, and, if it was desired to take the engine from one depot to another, it was possible to rack the gear out of engagement. That arrangement was quite as satisfactory as and made a much simpler assembly than the jackshaft drive.
In designing a unit of the kind in question, it would be appreciated that if in addition to the generator and Diesel engine it was necessary to find room for motordriven gearing and jackshaft it took up a good deal of space in the engine compartment, whereas if the driving motors could be suspended on the axle it lessened the demand for space in the engine compartment and gave more room for the auxiliaries, which was an important consideration. What they had perhaps not realised at the start was that, as the Author pointed out, creeping a load over a hump meant using a good deal of current and heated up the motors very considerably, so that it was essential to have artificial cooling. One of the great advantages to be looked for with the Diesel locomotive was availability, and that was its high fuel capacity, the oil capacity, the water capacity, and so on, were arranged so that the unit could stop out in the yard for a long time; he believed that the latest engine could be left out for a fortnight without any servicing. That gave considerably greater user from it. A problem which had still to be studied mas the eimplest and best means for filtering the air, the oil and the fuel.
A study of the photograph of the locomotive with jackshaft drive (Fig. 2 ) would reveal another small detail which had been of some advantage to the operating department, namely, the use of thin brake blocks. That gave a much better braking surface, and the brake block surface settled down on the wheel very much more easily.
J.S. Tritton (204-6); J.E. Calverley (206-8); E.P. Paxman (208-9);
A. Gordon Wilson (209-10) remarked that the Paper drew attention to the difficulties experienced when hump shunting, even uith electric transmission, and it had been interesting to hear Mr. Stanier's statement that there was under consideration the use of some additional mechanical means of changing the ratio in order to overcome that shortcoming. Personally, he would venture to suggest that that was a fruitful line of development. Electric transmission had so many advantages for shunting that it was very difficult indeed to visualise a purely mechanical drive entirely taking its place, but there was no reason why there should not be a simplification of the electric drive by the addition of a simple mechanical drive. What he had in mind was that if a two-speed mechapical gear were used in. addition to the electric drive, it might be possible to overcome some of the heating and other difficulties attendant on hump shunting and at the same time to have a higher gear ratio, to enable the locomotive to run.efficiently at higher speeds. In that way it might be possible to hump shunt more efficiently and with less loss electrically, and to work at a more economical engine sp’eed by working at a greater gear ratio. What he suggested would be an additional complication, but it might be found that simplification would result in other directions, and it would be interesting to know what the Author thought of that suggestion.
J. Pelham Maitland (210-11); E.S. Cox (211-12) who was somewhat carping;
K.R. Cameron (212-13); was glad to note that Mr. Stanier favoured the nose-suspended motor rather than the jackshaft drive, and said that before the war he had had something to do with the latter, and he remembered the difficulties that there were with oil leakage from the gcm-case sealing ring, which was about 10 feet in length and ahnost impossible to make oiltight. Grease was tried instead of oil, but other difficulties arose and thc results were not satisfactory.
He had at present ?? Iliesel locomotives, of which one had nose-suspended motors and 'the other jackshaft drive; and he found that the teeth on the jackshaft gear wore unevenly. He thought that that was due to occasional high speeds — 15 to 20 m.p.h. — when running light, and to the fact that thc balance of the jackshaft was not exactly right. In fact, he did not think that the balance of such an arrangement could be right ; the large counterbalance weight caused a hunting motion in the jackshaft and uneven wear on the teeth when running fast at very light load.
It would be of interest if the Author could give any indication of the quality of metal which had been found satisfactory for big-ends. In his own early experience there had been perpetual trouble with big-ends, no matter what metal was used, and unfortunately he was finding the same difficulty at the present time. Personally, he was of the opinion that much of the trouble was due to the bearing surfaces being inadequate in area for the very heavy shock loading produced by running for long periods at widely varying speeds. The Maintenance Schedule set out in Appendix I1 provided for taking the big-end bearings down for examination every 800 miles, which meant about every four or five weeks in the case ol full availability, three-shift working. It meant, in fact, that the engine had to undergo what was almost’ a major overhaul at very frequent intervals. If big-end bearings could be made more reliable, the mile examination could then become one of more moderate proportions taking very niuc-h less time to carry out.
For hump shunting, his own preference would be for nose-suspended motors rather than jackshaft drive.
R.J. Welsh (213-14);
H.G. McClean (215-16); said that on the first page of the Paper the Author mentioned that use was made in America of the three-power locomotive “ in which the traction motors can be supplied from a 1)iesel engine or a battery on the locomotive, or by power picked up by a shoe from a conductor rail.” I.ater in the Paper reference was made to the battery as ‘the most expensive single item on the locomotive.” It would be of interest to know, therefore, whether any consideration had been given to the use of a Diesel electric battery locomotive, using the battery to take the peak loads, and thereby, perhaps, reducing the annual cost. He said that because he understood that the electrical connections were such that the battery was charged across the main generator.
Reference was made in the Paper to de-rating the engine. It was important that there should be some standardised method of correlating the engine rating with the electric equipment rating. If every buyer was going to adopt some arbitrary rating of engines, it would be very difficult to achieve any standardisation or to correlate with electrical or other transmission ratings.
Reference was made to the maximum acceptable engine running speed, and presumably that mas dictated largely by maintenance costs. Should that also be a function of the length of stroke? He thought it might be assumed that certain fuiictions, such as valves, were tied to the engine speed, but cylinder wear would be a function of piston speed. Those concerned with the electrical equipment liked to see a higher engine speed, so as to be able to reduce the weight and cost of the electric equipment. There seemed to be an implication in the Paper that if a two-stroke engine had been available when the L.M.S. commenced their investigations, they might have been attracted by it. It would be interesting to know what the Author thought about that.
It was stated that generator ratings were on a traction basis. Did that refer to BSS 173 of 1928, or to the new specification? It would be very interesting if in connection with the Author’s formula there could be given a rough ingication of how the total annual cost for the L.M.S. was split between capital cost and operating and Maintenance costs.
In the comments towards the end of the Paper, describing the new design of locomotive, reference was made to a locomotive weighing 50 tons, whereas previously the reference was to 54 tons. Perhaps the Author would say whether in any of the designs the question of weight transference affected the figure generally accepted for the maximum locomotive weight.
The layout of the locomotive did not appear to give very good visibility. It seemed reasonable to assume that the locomotive had to operate with equal facility in either direction, but with the cab at one end of the locomotive presumably the driver was handicapped when looking along the length of the engine. A high speed “V” engine would have made it possible to reduce the height of the engine compartment by round about two feet, thus giving much greater visibility. The President (Mr. 0. V. Bulleid) commented
O.V.S. Bulleid (216-17); commented on the almost contemptuous way in which the Author dismissed anything in the nature of mechanical drive. Personally, he thought that the Author should be called upon to give in detail his reasons for not liking mechanical drives, instead of making the bland assumption that mechanical engineers would appreciate the drawbacks of mechanical drive, whereas they really appreciated the drawbacks of the electric drive, which in conjunction with the Diesel engine involved the use of batteries costing £200 to £300, filters, double gearing and much else beside, simply to give a little extra availability. If equal attention had been devoted to the combustion of liquid fuel in a container containing distilled water and using the resulting gas as the form of transmission, any lack of availability might be overcome in a simpler, cheaper and more convenient manner. Personally, he had expected an old friend of his whom he was delighted to see present would have succumbed to the temptation of saying that the proper way of designing a shunting engine was to have a small steam engine driving each individual axle separately.
O.S.M. Raw (217-19). As a result of the trials it was found that the number of mechanical transmission designs tried out were unsatisfactory, the reason being given that they were underpowered for the job. But surely that is not the only reason, for apart from the fact that they mere obviously too low powered for hump work, and I think I am right in saying that they were never used on that class of work, they were, I believe, a continual source of trouble from mechanical defects, principally in the transmission. Are these locomotives still running with their original transmission details or have they had extensive modifications effected, with even a change over to electric transmission? If not, on what services are they employed at present? Now I am no electric “ fan ” and am firmly convinced that the steam engine has a very long lease of life indeed before it, but in my experience ranging over a large number of Diesel units in India, electric transmission is to be preferred every time. It is robust and simple, though at first steam shed personnel are alarmed with the thought of having to play with volts and amps and a host of wires. But they very soon find out that the electric transmission, if it is properly designed and installed in the first place, does not give trouble and that for all intents and purposes they can forget it ; in fact, apart from the periodic inspections, the electric transmission gear can quite practically be sealed off.
In 1936 the B.B.C.I. Rly. put into service on their 5 ft. 6 in. gauge a 330 h.p. Diesel electric shunter of Armstrong design which was basically the same design as that for the L.M.S. Rly. It was put to work in the Bandra concentration yard at Bombay and it was soon found that it could soon handle loads up to 2,000 tons over the hump very much easily than the smaller loads which the 2-8-0 steam engines were previously handling. The D.E. engine was based in the steam shed at Bandra and worked a 24-hour shift six days a week, the seventh day, Sunday,week’s running and the total servicing in the 24-hour period was a total check over of half an hour, and this was because the engine was a new innovation. This map have been omitted after I had transferred to South Africa. and as my papers art: still in South Africa I regret that 1 cannot give accurate details of the actual costs, but they showed a very substantial saving on the steam costs and fully justified the purchase. Unfortunately, after the year’s trial Armstrongs went out of business, otherwise I feel sure that further locomotives would have been put in service for the Bandra and other yards. The B.B.C.I. Rly. was ideal for their introduction as they had no specially designed steam shunting locomotives, but used main line types that were either superannuated from the main line or were due for shops in a short time.
No trouble was experienced with the electrical equipment or with the mechanical running gear, the electrical gear being periodically serviced by the staff who maintained the electric suburban stock. In the first year’s running the only trouble was when a big-end cracked badly after seven months’ running, but this was found at a periodic inspection and was easily replaced. All other Diesel maintenance work was carried out on the shed days. In this year’s running the locomotive was dead reliable, and in my opinion a large part of the credit should be given to the “ Ajax ” grease lubrication. Even in the hot weather conditions of Bombay the original grease blocks were in the axlebox lubricators after twelve months’ running. The hard grease for the rods, etr., was also very successful. Has the L.M.S. tried grease on their shunters? Experience with a 140 h.p. shunter in Ceylon and with a large number of railcars in India was identical in that the electrical transmission gave no trouble, except with one railcar where the earthing bond came adrift and was very easily fastened back. Any maintenance troubles were again with the Diesel engines, Saurers running at 1,600 r.p.m. This latter was very largely eliminated by taking great care with the fuel storing and filtering arrangements, the latter both before it was delivered to the engine’s tank and also between the tank and the engine. Could more details of the fuel filtering and storeage systems on the I,.M.S. be given, as also details of the actual grade of fuel used?
Mr. Fairburn has not given any details of the actual performance figures of the two main types of D.E. locomotives. 1 always understood that the Armstrong locomotive could handle a very much bigger load over the Willesden hump than the E.E. axle-hung locomotive. Double reduction gears are obviously to be preferred to the single reduction type for hump work, but are they necessary for ordinary shunting work? One of the advantages of the axle-hung motor is that side rods, etc., are not required. If it is proposed to go on with axle-hung motors, why not go for a double bogie locomotive with four smaller motors axle-hung? It would be a bit more expensive in the first cost, but would give a much better balanced and flexible locomotive. Several speakers questioned the lookout possible with the cab at one end of the engine. Having been on the footplate a lot I can say that the vision is all that is desired and better than that on a steam engine. and the cab is most comfortable.
I would like to correct some of the points made by Mr. Tritton. He gave the first cost of Diesel electric to steam locomotives as 130: 100, but for the various engines for main line work in India the ratio was more like 350 : 100. He also instances continual electric transmission failures in India. This was with the two big 1,350 h.p. Armstrong Diesel electric locomotives, where the electric generators were wrongly proportioned. As I have set out above, the shunters and railcars gave absolutely no trouble with their electric transmissions.
There is one point and that is on page 180, it is stated that “ as many parts as possible between the two types were made interchangeable. ” As the engines, electrical gear, transmissions, wheel base and sizes, framing, etc., were entirely different, it would seem that the only interchangeable items would be reduced to the buffers and drawgear and perhaps the lamp irons and whistle

Malhotra, D.R. (Paper No. 425)  
Cupola practice. 226-38. Disc.: 238-43.
Ordinary General Meeting of the Western Branch of the Indian and Eastern Centre held at the Conference Room of the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramway Co., Ltd., Bombay, on Friday, 23 February 1940, at 6.15 p.m.: chair taken by Mr. T. Cooper.
Listed some of the special types of cupola, but the last-named, i.e., the Balanced Blast, evolved and developed by the British Cast Iron Association, appears to be much superior to the others. The melting is controlled by a balanced blast arrangement and besides the consistently uniform and good quality of metal turned out by this process, a saving of 20 to 25 per cent. in fuel is claimed by its users.
(1) The Centre Blast cupola tuyers.
(2) The Schurmann Side Blast cupola with reversing generators.
(3) Oil-fired Wust combination furnace and cupola.
(4) The joint Hearth attachment to an ordinary cupola.
(5) The Poumay cupola.
(6) The Balanced Blast cupola.

Spalding, T.A. (Paper 426)
The ideal diesel unit for the Argentine. 244-7.
Puper presented at fourthi Quarterly Meeting of Argentine Section, 1939.
Author indicated the great advantages of the Diesel Electric over the Diesel Mechanical, and it will no doubt be agreed that it would be well to follow the example of the United States who use almost exclusively this method of transportation as having proved itself to be etlicient, rapid and, above all, economical.

Journal No. 162.

Smith, H. (Paper No. 427)
Intensive usage and control of locomotive power. 250-72. Disc.: 273-87.
17th Ordinary General Meeting of the Western Centre held at the European Institute, Rhusawal, on Saturday, the 2 September, 1939, at 5.45 p.m.: chair taken by Mr. H.P. Renwick who made the following introductory remarks:
He was very pleased to see such a large gathering of members and visitors at the meeting, which was the first that the Western India Branch has held outside Bombay; and I have to thank the officers of the Hhusawal Division of the G.I.1’. Railway for making this meeting possible and for their kindness in providing facilities this morning for visiting the Locomotive Running Shed.
The Paper, though .not dealing with a technical subject, is of considerable interest at the present moment, as with the rapidly gathering war clouds the subject of intensive locomotive usage is one that will be very much to the fore in the next few months. On the first page of the Paper the Author gives figures showing the increasing trend of steam locomotive miles run by the G.I.P. Kailway over the past seven years, and the very large decrease in the number of locomotives available to run that mileage. Under war conditions the traflic on the G.I.P. Railway is likely to increase very considerably, and it is therefore imperative that every avenue is explored to avoid the wastage of locomotive power in order that the locomotive stock we have can handle the expected increase in traffic

Sindhu, B.S. (Paper No. 428)
Some experiences with locomotive utilization and maintenance in an Indian running shed. 288-317. Disc.: 317-39.
10th Ordinary Meeting of the Northern Centre was held at the Nedou’s Hotel, Lahore on Monday, 7 August 1939, at 7.0 p.m.: Chair taken by Mr. L.N. Flatt.

Journal No.163.

Purdom, D.S. (Paper 429)
Argentine railway workshops in War-time. 344-401. Disc.: 401-58.
Paper presented on 25 April 1941, at Remedios de Escaladn. The Escalada workshops were described more extensively than those at Bahia Blanca on the Southern Railway and Liniers on the Western Railway firstly, because they were the largest workshops and scope for innovation had been greater there, and the Members were to visit these Workshops. Nevertheless, practice in all three workshops was similar to a large extent.
Many other minor steps had been taken to help towards economies including substantial economies in the consumption of stationery by:
suppression of forms.
suppression of unnecessary copies of forms in current use
cheaper quality paper and ink in printing forms
use of scrap paper for carbon copies, etc.
elimination of unnecessary inter-sectional correspondence.

Journal No. 164

Holcroft, H. (Paper No. 430).
Smoke deflectors for locomotives. 462-89. Disc.: 490-509 + 3 folding plates. 31 illus., 8 diagrs.
Opening General Meeting of the Session 1941-1942 held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on Wednesday, 3 September 1941, at 5 p.m.: Mr. O.V.S. Bulleid, President occupying the chair.
Pp. 473-84 (17 illus.j : Includes an abstract of a National Physical Laboratory report by F.C. Johansen on experiments with models of the U and V classes: mainly the latter. Both the paper and the discussion range far beyond the U and V classes and considerable attention is paid both to the successful smoke-lifting propensities of the streamlined A4 Pacifics and their precursors, as well as to the height of the chimney (possibly why the GWR did not require smoke deflectors) , to the louvres fitted to the Jones locomotives on the Highland Railway, and to the predominant direction of travel (it is argued that strong head winds caused the greatest problem and that is why the London & South Western Section caused greater problems than the Brighton mainline). Holcroft cites both D.K. Clark and Colburn for references to capuchons. Many experimental designs adopted on the SR mainly for the King Arthur class are illustrated. E. Windle (pp. 490-9 described the system adopted for the A4 and for the P2 class, although it was B. Spencer (p. 503 and 504) who showed how smoke deflection on the A4 class was greatly enhanced by modifying the rear of the chimney (earlier a continuous line from the front of the chimney along the boiler casing had been envisaged). Windle also showed some of the many experimental smokebox/chimney arrangements had been evaluated on the non-streamlined Pacifics. and on the P2 2-8-2s. The connection with the Bugatti railcars in the case of the A4 is also mentioned. E.C. Poultney uses the term "blinkers" and considered that there appeared to be no difference in smoke lifting terms between those fitted with smoke deflectors and the taper-boiler locomotives. A.R Ewer (page 499) used the mention of streamlining to condemn it in terms of accessibility. W.A. Willox (500-1) returned to the topic of chimneys on the GWR and noted that "recent" Castle class locomotives had shorter chimneys. He also referred to the French Huet system and to the Pottier system which eliminated head wind from the front of the cab. J. Clayton (501-2) considered that the alignment of the mainlines had some influence on smoke deflection: on the SR the problem was greatest on the West of England mainline, although this contrasted with the GWR where smoke drifting did not appear to be a problem. D.W. Peacock (502-3) smoke of wind tunnel work and noted that smoke deflector plates should be placed "well in front of the smokebox". O.V.S. Bulleid (503-4) considered that long boilers accentuated the problem of drifting smoke and suggested that the problem was "amost insoluble". Replying to the discussion Holcroft (p. 505) considered that ashpan pressure was a significant factor in blowbacks induced by tunnels, and that closing the dampers removed the risk. F.C. Johansen made a written contribution (507-9) which considered Jones' louvred chimneys on the HR and the increase in air resistance induced by deflector plates..

Murphy, P.J. (Paper No. 431)
Notes on railway wagon maintenance. 510-63.
Second meeting (Session 1941) of the South American Centre held Friday, 29 November 1940, in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Mr. F. Campbell was in the chair. By kind permission of the General Manager of the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, the meeting was held at the Railway Company’s workshops at Alianza.
Experience over a considerable number of years has made it clear that the expenses involved in the maintenance of the diamond frame type bogie, which is practically standard on this railway, were unduly high, and while it was appreciated that there were some undesirable features in thc design of this bogie, it was considered preferable some years ago not so much to eradicate the defects in this design, but to introduce a radically different type of bagie. For this reason, ten years ago the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway acquired in the United States a number of cast steel bogies, being the first railway in the Argentine to do so. The results obtained can only be described as highly satisfactory, as the bogies themselves have given absolutely no trouble and have cost practically nothing in the way of repairs.
The policy of acquiring cast steel bogies has been followed whenever opportunity permitted and all new stock will be so equipped in the future.
In passing it may be remarked that the cast steel design of bogie has been adopted as standard by the Standardisation Committee of the Argentine Broad Gauge Railways.
As an experiment, a welded steel bogie was fabricated in the Junin workshops and has been in service since the year 1936. This bogie, which is shown in Fig. 6, was built up of existing material and is actually lighter in weight than the cast steel-bogie acquired in the United States, and even so the scantlings of the bogie are much in excess of actual requirements. This has been duly noted and in the event of any other bogies being fabricated the weight would be further reduced. This bogie, like the cast steel bogie, has given troublefree service and appears equally good from the point of view of maintenance. The main feature of either the cast steel or the welded bogie is the reduction in the number of componets.

Volume 32 (1942)

Back to main file

Journal No. 165

Cox, E.S. ( Paper No. 432)
Balancing of locomotive reciprocating parts. 2-37. Disc.:1943, 33, 218-36. 4 illus., 11 diagrs., 3 tables.
Third Ordinary General Meeting of the Session 1941-42 was held in the Lower Hall of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey’s Gate, London, on Friday, 16 December 1941, at 2 p.m., W.A. . Agnew, Past-President, occupying the Chair. This paper was also published in Proc. Instn mech. Engrs, 1941, 146 148-62 and J. Instn civ. Engrs, 1941/42, 17, 221-50.
A class 5 locomotive was deliberately slipped on greased rails at a speed equivalent to 100 mile/h to establish the effect of coupled wheel lifting at speed.
'I'hc following deductions
(1) The bouncing of the wheels is of the nature of a forced vibration, resulting from the unbalanced forces, and is not one of resonance between engine and track.
(2) 'The wheels lift in thesc circumstances at rather lower speeds than indicated by theory, in which upwards centrifugal action of the balance weight and the downwards static load of the wheel on the track are alone considered.
(3) Bouncing and track damage become less as the hammer blow diminishes. No appreciable wheel lift occurred with 30 per cent. balance.
(4) The limiting factomr in reduction in hammer blow so. far as these tests were concerned  was the fact that undue oscillations were observed on the engine with 30 per cent. balance.
(5) The condition of the track has little effect on the incidence or extent of wheel lift, which depends primarily on the hammer blow.
After these tests the proportion of balance on this class of engine was standardized at 50 per cent., instead
London, Midland and Scottish two-cylinder 2-6-4 tank engine No. 2408, with zero balance, was carefully measured for wear in its coupled wheel bearings after 58,560 miles, in comparison with No. 2407, a sister engine having 66.6 per cent. balance which had run the same mileage in the same district. The average measurements are set out in Table 3 ; they are based on 50,000 miles running, which is the average mileage above which axleboxes require attention on this class :-
The wear is greater in the case of engine No. 2408, but is by no means excessive for the mileage run, and was not of a value which of itself would cause the engine to be stopped any earlier for repairs. This engine has just been overhauled after 198,000 miles since last general repair, the axleboxes having been overhauled three times intermediately. No abnormal wear has been observed on any occasion.
(b) The Southern Railway School class three-cylinder engine, already referred to, with zero reciprocating balance was reported to show no appreciable difference in wear from other engines of the class with 30 per cent. balance, when specially examined at general repair after 81,219 miles.
These two cases are special in that the first engine has a high total weight in relation to the reipcrocating weights unbalanced ; and the second, being a three-cylinder engine, does not demonstrate the worst effects of lack of balance. The question therefore, remains open, so far as recorded experience in this country goes; and the cases cited only show that where oscillations are small, increased wear is small. Subject to later verification, it is reasonable to suppose that rate of wear will vary with the amplitude of oscillation ; and where that amplitude exceeds the permissible amount for tolerable riding, an undue degree of wear can be expected to develop, which in turn will intensify the effects of the unbalanced force.
Conclusions
(1) The modern locomotive is capable of speeds up to 8 r.p.s. and the resulting hammer blows with the usual percentages of reciprocating balance can attain much higher values than were visualized in the Bridge Stress Committee’s report in 1928.
(2) The phenomenon of wheel bouncing at high rotational speeds was first observed in America in 1937, and tests have shown that it can occur in British practice in certain circumstances.
(3) Conclusions (1) and (2) suggest a reconsideration of locomotive design in the direction of reducing hammer blow still further.
(4) As regards the effect on the locomotive, longitudinal and nosing oscillations depend on the weight and length of engine, weight of reciprocating parts unbalanced, and characteristics of the drawbar springs. They are independent of speed.
(5) Theory suggests that three and four-cylinder engines which are already in a state of balance with regard to longitudinal forces, do not require any portion of their reciprocating parts to be individually balanced to deal with the nosing couple, because of the small magnitude of the displacement. Three-cylinder engines with zero reciprocating balance are already running in this country.
(6) In two-cylinder engines, theory-supported by a certain amount of practical evidence—indicates that some degree of reciprocating balance is still required if undue longitudinal oscillations are to be avoided. The percentage required will vary with the engine characteristics, and a method has been suggested for arriving at the amount. Not less than 40%. balance appears to be required on the heavier type of British two-cylinder engine weighing from 65 to 75 tons.
(7) For the highest speeds, therefore, niulticylinder engines arc the most desirable, if they are of the reciprocating type. If it is thought necessary to balance a percentage of the reciprocating parts, the four-cylinder is preferable to the three-cylinder type, from the point of view of hammer blow. If this balance is eliminated, there appears to be little to choose between the two types.
(8) The final criterion as to what percentage of balancing is necessary is the magnitude of the oscillations which can be admitted on the engine, having regard to riding comfort for engine crew and passengers, wear and tear, maintenance costs, and safety.
Practical experience so far recorded tends to support the theoretical conclusions. It is, however, very scanty, and when normal conditions return, scientific investigation will be required, not only to establish the precise effects of the unbalanced parts on the locomotive, but also to define the limiting value of the disturbances which can be admitted. More experimental verification is needed as a prelude to any large-scale reduction in hammer blow.
Discussion: W.A. Stanier (218) noted that for many years locomotive engineers had lacked adequate means for measuring various things they did.  He also observed that Churchward had realised the limitation of static balancing due to the variability in the density of steel castings and had introduced dynamic balancing. The mass of the locomotive had a considerable influence upon balancing.
George Ellson (Chief Engineer, Southern Railway, 219-20) commented upon the Merchant Navy class which had been designed without balance weights and to experiments conducted on the a member of the two-cylinder H15 class from which the balance weights had been removed. He observed that the principal factors in the relationship between the locomotive and the track are: the total weight of the locomotive and the disposition and magnitude of the axle loads; the maximum speed of the locomotive; the amount of hammer blow, if any, of the locomotive and the unsprung weight on the axles. F.C. Johansen (220-1) noted that at very high speeds the wheels actually lifted off the track, and that bouncing led to further damage of the track. J.C.L. Train (221-2) commented at length on his concern about the effect of high speed trains, but had accepted Gresley's reassurances. He considered that the steam locomotive was at a disadvantage compared with other forms of motive power due to their reciprocating parts. Mr. Train concluded that balancing of reciprocating parts was an undesirable practice from the civil engineer's point of view and that the mechanical engineer's best way of dispensing with the balancing of reciprocating parts was to employ multi-cylinder engines which were to a great extent naturally balanced. An excellent specification for a locomotive would be that it should have no greater hammer-blow at 8 revolutions per second than at, say, 5 revolutions per second. :
Bulleid (222-3) observed that, so far as reciprocating balance weight abolition was concerned, he seemed to have struck a rather fortunate line in locomotive design, and, as Mr. Ellson had demonstrated, they could see no ill effects from the absence of reciprocating balance if they took reasonable precautions in other directions. The absence of reciprocating balance weights was very interesting from the locomotive point of view, for on the engine which had been mentioned 1,377 lb. of dead weight had been saved, and that, if one was designing locomotives to the maximum weight allowed, was very important. Any ill effects of such lack of balance had been minimized by using a shorter stroke, which, of course, reduced the inertia effect. He thought the ratio was something like 38 to 30 when comparing a 30 in. stroke with a 24 in. Moreover, with a 24 in. stroke and a 6 ft. 2 in. wheel the piston speed was reduced to about 1,090 ft. at 60 miles per hour, in comparison with 1,160 ft, with a 6 ft. 9 in. wheel and a 28 in. stroke. As Professor Inglis had pointed out, springs with no frequency should be used. He had emplojed rubber springs, the rubber having no natural frequency, to damp out any ill effects and so prevent their transmission from the engine to the tender and from the tender to the train. No ill consequences on the engine had been observed owing to this departure from conventional practice. Mr. Ellson had shown some diagrams to illustrate the effect of a two-cylinder engine. The balancing weights had been altered to remove the reciprocating portion, but it was not possible to be quite certain, in view of the results, that the engineers had succeeded in doing what they set out to do, and they would be compelled to re-balance the engine and make a further test. Locomotive engineers looked forward to higher speeds and were particularly anxious to be allowed heavier axle loads. Only by multiple-cylinder engines, however, and with no reciprocating weight balanced, were they likely to induce the engineer to give them what they wanted.
W.K. Wallace (Chief Engineer, L.M.S.R.) said that higher speed was becoming general, and that made balancing more important than in the past. Moreover, the railways were developingJ mixed traffic locomotives with smaller wheels, and those, due to improved valve gear, ran more quickly. Even though a train might not be timed to run at a high speed, if the engine driver wished to make up time high speed might be produced in any case. It was very important to obtain light-weight motion for twocylinder engines. He liked the London and North Eastern Railway reciprocating weights, because the permanent way engineer wanted a small hammer-blew which controlled the design of permanent way. He agreed that engineers were more interested at present in impact on the permanent way in the sense of the track than on bridges, because they were probably nearer the limit of stress in respect of rail and permanent way than in respect of bridge structures.. Johansen had mentioned that it was thought that the engines of Class 5 had an effect upon the road. There was no doubt about it, and that was one reason wby they had conducted the tests which had been filmed.
Wallace was perfectly prepared to grant Stanier additional axle weight if he did away with hammer-blow. On the other hand, it was essential to ensure that no damage should be done by the older class of engines running at the higher speed. If the operating people were given a small class of new engines to speed up specific trains which they were re-timing, a number of other trains for which there was not a specific high-speed engine available would be speeded up also, and some more serious effects might ensue. It was interesting to note in Cox’s Paper the remark that nosing need not receive much attention in a locomotive, because he had been rather afraid that it might be said that if reciprocating balance were omitted trouble would arise from nosing. It was quite obvious that the locomotive engineer would not give trouble in that respect. The chief thing from the permanent way engineer’s point of view was to reduce the hammer-blow as much as possible. He would like to omit reciprocating counter-balance altogether if possible, but if the locomotive engineer found that that led to lateral motion which would also abuse the track (and the track was not so stiff against lateral loads in Great Britain as in countries where flat-bottomed rails were used) that counter-balance would have to be tolerated but the use of lighter motion and anything else that would tend to reduce hammer-blow was all to the good. No doubt a demand for more ultra-high-speed trains would arise after the war, and he did not know that it would be possible to require that such trains, as hitherto, should have a limited seating capacity. Whereas the Coronation Scot was a limited train, after the war similar speeds might be required with a train about the weight of the Royal Scot Of course, those engines were not so serious from the permanent way point of view, because they were always multi-cylinder, as they required such a large tractive effort. But the two-cylinder mixed traffic engine with a modern valve gear, which gave a high rotational speed, was the one which permanent way engineers needed to watch.
Alan Mount (226-7) commented upon his Indian experience. J.J.C. Paterson discussed nosing and hunting. V.A.M. Robertson (LPTB, 229-30) discussed nosing, articulated locomotives, multiple-cylinder designs and turbine locomotives...

Colam, H.N. and  Watson, J.D. (Paper No. 433)
Hammer-blow in locomotives: can in not be abolished altogether? 38-45.
Abridged: main paper published J. Instn Civ. Engrs (Paper 5243).

Journal No. 166 (March-April 1942)

SOUTHERN Railway: new 0-6-0 freight locomotive. 59-63. illus., diagr. (s. el.), table.
Bulleid Q1 austerity

Costa, G.D.A. (Paper No. 434)
Low grade fuel in Indian locomotive practice. 64-85. Disc.: 85-92.
Ordinary General Meeting of the Western Branch of the Indian and Eastern Centre was held in the Conference Room, B.E.S.T. Co., Bombay, on Thursday 21 August 1941, at 6.30 p.m., the Chair being taken by H.P. Renwick.
The generally accepted theory that a small increase in back pressure may reduce the power of a locomotive considerably is not necessarily sound. At equal cut-offs there is a definite reduction of work per cycle with an increase in back pressure, but, as these notes have shown, there may be conditions under which equal work may be done in two cylinders-one with a back pressure of 1.3 psi gauge, the other 5.3 psi./gauge-for about the same consumption of fuel, the cylinder with the higher back pressure requiring merely to operate at a slightly later cut-off. The power of a locomotive over short periods is limited ultimately by the rate at which coal can be burned on the grate and over long periods by the rate at which it can be fired. If then a small reduction in blast orifice diameter does not affect the fuel consumption seriously, it cannot have a serious effect on the power of a locomotive.
The reduction of the blast orifice diameter to induce a locomotive to steam freely has never been a popular expedient with locomotive engineers. An endeavour has been made to show, however, that the usual objections of loss of economy and power have been stressed unduly-particularly at cut-offs below 40 per cent.
Long presis of paper in Locomotive Mag., 1942, 32, 132

Journal No. 167 (May-June 1942)

York, R.S. (Paper No. 435)
Locomotive superheating: with special reference to headers and elements in use on modern locomotives and their arrangement. 99-135.
4th Ordinary General Meeting of the members of the Institution in New South Wales was held at Science House, Gloucester and Esses Streets, Sydney, on 12 June 1941, at 8 p.m., . H. Young, chaiman of the Local Memhcrs’ Committee, being in the chair. New South Wales
The paper also includes power station boilers. The. first British Patent covering a locomotive superheater was taken out by R. Trevithick in 1832, and was applied to what in effect was a vertical water tube boiler. The earliest British patent showing a smoke tube superheater was granted to John Henry Johnson in 1855, as a communication from J.P.C. Montety, the: most intetesting feature of this patent being its very strong resemblance to the Schmidt 1890 patent. Between 1832 and 1870 numerous superheating devices were brought out but, owing to troubles with valves, packing and lubrication superheating on steam locomotivcs was more or less abandoned, until the rcsearches of Wilhelm Schmidt resultcd in Robert Garbe carrying- out practical trials on the Prussian State Railvays in 1897. Ahout 1902, Schmidt introduced his “V” bolt headcr design, this being the first superheater with elements arrangcd in a numher of separate flue tubes in a locomotive boiler. The steam-tight joints betwecn the header and the elements were made by expanding the elements into flange blocks, and inserting copper or other jointing material between the flanges and the header. This “V” bolt header was first introduced into England by George Hughes on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1906, into Africa in 1910 on five 4-6-2 passenger engines by G.G. Elliott of the Central South African Railways, into India in 1911 on four 2-8-0 goods engines by Brock of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railways, and into Australia in tlie same year on a 4-6-0 passenger and a 2-8-0 goods engine by Lucy of the New South Wales Government Railways.
Discussion: C.A. Cardew (118) said he was keenly interested in superheating and its potentialities for yet further improving locomotive performance. He was, therefore, like previous speakers, very grateful to the Author, as he knew the whole meeting \\.as, for giving the Paper, and showing all those illustrations ol the design and manufacture and application of superlieater- s ; thus widening our knowledge of the subject. He felt sure, also, that their hard pressed members in England, who had appealed to us to step into the breach, which at present they could not fill, and keep the Hag. of this very British Institution Hying in the technical world, would feel grateful to Mr. York for his valuable contribution to the Proceedings.
He said he was pleased to note that reference was made to Richard lrevithick, as the originator, so far as they knew, of superheating in steam engineering practice. Trevithick, the earliest pioneer to achieve any degree of success with the steam locomotive, was a genius who originated many brilliant engineering ideas though, in most cases, as in this instance of superheating, it fell to others to bring them to fruition in later years, and to reap the material benefits. He was also pleased that the name of Mr. Lucy, their Chief Mechanical Engineer of the New South Wales Railways of days gone by, was mentioned. His name must always be remembered, in association with the Author's own, when the early days of locomotive superheating in this country are recalled. He regarded superheating as being the greatest single step fonvard in the history of locomotive engineering since the application of the variable expansion gear to the locomotive, in its early infancy. But he did not believe that in locomotive practice on their own, and on many other railways, they had yet carried superheating to that limit which would justify them in saying that they had exploited to the fullest extent the possibilities of the principle. He believed there was yet a promising field for fuel economy on many locomotives if, with but little outlay, and without radical alteration to boiler and superheater arrangements, the steam temperature to the cylinders of some classes could be increased, even if it be only by a moderate amount.
The Author, he said, had referred to high degree superheat, and had told them that, on the French Railways, they aimed at 800° F; he presumed as an average operating temperature. On their own New South Railways engines the C32 class \\-as the only design which could be regarded as developing a high superheat when compared with a standard such as that. when working fast trains over the hilly routes common to that State, those engines supplied superheated steam to the cylinders at a temperature averaging throughout 695° F. xvhilst, on more than one occasion, a maximum of 750° F had been observed, those temperatures applying with ordinary Schmidt elements. The C32 class was far ahead of some other, and more modern, types in that important feature. It was 70° to 80° F higher than the large main line 4-6-0 express C36 and C35 classes, or the D57 class 4-8-2 three-cylinder goods engines. They had no lubrication troubles with the C32, and lubrication should be the only practical limit to a locomotive's steam temperature. That being so, could they claim that they had exploited superheating to the full on the lower temperature engine classes mentioned? Why should they not be brought into line for superheater performance with the actually older C32 class engine, or even taken further in that .direction. That was where the Author could help them. They were keen to buy it, and it was his object to sell it, so he really must try and get us more superheat for those engines. In short, the only reason he could see why those particular types would not give higher figures was because the Author's present design and arrangement of superheaters could not do it.
Brief abstract of Paper in Locomotive Mag., 1942, 48, 182: The author devotes particular attention to the practical side but includes an interesting historical account of superheating. After discussing forms of headers, improvements in elements are dealt with. It is recalled that in 1921 improvement was made in reliability and reduction of maintenance costs at running sheds when the integrally forged element was introduced. A further advance, both from engineering and operative standpoints was the introduction of the forged return end in which the tubes are joined together by a machine forging process, thus making the bend an integral part of the element tubing. A cinematograph film was shown at the conclusion of the paper showing the manufacture of machine forged return bends at the Manchester Works of The Superheater Company, Ltd.

Journal No. 168 (July-August)

Bhote, M.D. (Paper No. 436)
Modernisation of a B.E.S.A. 4–6–0 locomotive on the G.I.P. Railway. 142-65. Disc.: 165-72.
Fitted with new cylinders and more efficient valve gear. In 1928 the valve gear of one B.E.S..A. 4-6-0 D/M type locomotive of G. I.€'. Railway was altered. 'I'he alteration consisted of only the increase of the throw of the eccentric rod causing the quadrant link to oscillate through a larger angle. The effect of this alteration was increase in the travel of the valves and the consequent small differences in the valve events. This increase of the travel of the valve, without alterations to the lap or lead, did not improve the performance of the locomotive to any great extent, although it increased the maximum full gear cut-off.
In order to obtain useful information on the best and yet the cheapest type of valve gear to be adopted on the G.I.P. 4-6-0 type B.E.S.A. engines due for boiler renewals, it was decided in 1936 to.convert one D/4 engine to give increased valve travel of approximately 75/8 in. against existing 43/8 in. and also to increase the lap of the valve from 1 in. to 17/8 in. and the lead from 1/8 in. to ¼ in. As a result of reference of this scheme to the Chief Controller of Standardization, it was decided to proceed with the conversion of the valve gear of one D/1 engine, and at the same time to carry out further modifications detailed below, with a view to .improving the performance of the locomotive and reducing recurring maintenance charges experienced on locomotives under intensive usage. The locomotive selected was No. 411 which was built in 1918 and was named Hero in memory of the G.I.P. Railway employees who gave their lives in the Great War of 1914-18. Fig.. I shows photographs o'f the engine before and after conversion. The boiler is of standard B.E.S.A. design with Belpaire fire box and circular smoke box with small door as fitted on all B.E.S.A. engines. The boiler when fitted on the engine frames had to be raised one foot higher than its original centre line in order to accommodate hopper type ash pan. With this raised height the problem of steadying the boiler at the fire box end was solved by the provision of two steadying pads bolted on the foundation ring on both sides of the fire box as shown in Fig. 2.e Brief abstract of Paper in Locomotive Mag., 1942, 48, 182

Journal No. 169 (September-October, 1942: dated 1941 in IMechE electronic database)

Poole, J. (Paper No. 437)
Freight locomotive rating and the statistical control of fuel consumption. 185-204; 239-53.
Mainly experience in Americas, notably Argentina, but some of the topics covered had general significance. J. Campbell (243-4) commented on locomotive and train resistance formulae, noting that Poole had opted to use those formulated by Lawson H. Fry. He recorded, but did not evaluate some of the other resistance formulae which were being or had been used: Wellington's, Baldwin's, Deeley's, Aspinall's and "even those of our very old acquaintance" D.K. Clark. Also makes reference to F.J. Cole's ratios In Poole's response (page 251) to Durnford (page 240-3) and his reference to the back pressure valve as used in the USA he noted that apparently it is hard to find anything new under the sun and it is not generally realised that a hand-operated exhaust bye-pass was a standard fitting on the Fletcher and Tennant engines of the North Eastern Railway from very early days, while the "jumper" blast pipe used on the Great Western Railway falls under the same category.

Bradley, J.N. and O'Neill, Hugh
Railway bearing metals: their control and recovery. 205-29.
Reprinted from Institute of Metals paper: Authors worked for LMS

Journal No. 170 (November-December)

Turner, T. Henry (Paper No. 438)
Corrosion of boiler tubes. 254-85.
Same paper published in Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 149, 74- The effects of the compostion of the tubes, and the action of the feed water, especially its chemical composition and treatment, and the combustion products upon them, Necking or grooving is experienced. near to the edge of the firebox plate and to a lesser extent at the smokebox end. Pitting also occurs, especially when tubes have been straightened or bent. Turner recommended the avoidance of known sources of poor quality water and the softening of water to eliminate hardness. Tubes should be scale-free, pickled or shot-blasted and contain 0.5 to 0.5% copper; new ends for second-hand tubes should be affixed by flash-butt welding; tubes should not be stretched; the new ends of such tubes should always be placed adjacent to the firebox; both the inside and outside of the boiler shell and firebox should be shot-blasted, especially where cracking is feared. The boiler feed should be near to the surface of the water in the boiler and blow down should be performed as continuously as possible. A list of British fire and water tube manufacturers is included (the paper also includes marine and stationary boilers). Includes both the effects of water source and the composition of the tubes.