GreatWesternRailwaysteamrailmotor
No.93inmain lineactionontheLooe
branchinCornwall.BRIANSHARPEpurchasedbythe Blue bell Railwaywhich,
in October2000,announced itsintention
to reconstruct aBrightonH2Atlanticand
choseNo. 32424BeachyHead,which wascut
up at Eastleighjustbeforethe Bluebell was
formed.The LBSCRAtlanticswerebuilt to
drawings modified from theGNR design,and
so theboilerise ntirelycorrect for thenew
locomotive.Good progress is beingmade at
SheffieldParkand thelocomotive is expected
to stea minthe near future.
Marshalsorebuilt many of hispredecess ors’
locomotiveswithlargerboilers,there by
crea ting classes such as theA1X andB2X.In
1907 he introduced an exampleofthe Schmidt
superheateronone of hisI3class 4-4-2Ts,
withdramatically improv ed results. He is
notedfor replacingthe Stroudleyyellowlive ry
forpassengerlocomotiveswithhis umber
livery andremovingtheir names.
However, Marsh’speriodinofficewas not
aparti cularlyhappyone.BrightonWorks
builtupaserious backlogoflocomotives
awaiti ng repair,which Marshwas partly
blamed for,and he wasnever popularwiththe
workforce. He resigned on thegrounds of ill
health in July 1911,follo wing accusationsof
irregularitiesinhis accounting.
TheLBSCR cons idered electrificationof
some of it sroutesin1900and thenatureof
itssystemmade it an obviouscandidate for
such aproject.Thirdand fourth rail direct
currentelectrif icationhad beenchosen
forthe underg roundtuberailwaysand the
Metropol itan Railwayand Dist rict Railway
in London,the Mersey RailwayinLive rpool
andthe Lancashi re andYorkshireRailway
LiverpooltoSouthport line. Butthe LBSCR
proposed electrificationofits main line, and
ultimately toPortsmouthand Hastings,and
thereforedecided on ahigh-tension overhead
supplysystem at 6600vAC.
Alth ough theMidland Railwaylinefrom
Lancaster to Morecambeand Heyshamhad
beenthe first to useoverheadlines,the LBSCR
lineswerefar longer .The system chosen was
of German origin andthe first section, opened
on December1,1909, wasthe SouthLondon
Line connecting London Brid ge withVictoria
viaDenmark Hill,which wasanimmediate
successandother ro utes were to follow.Webbretires
Francis Webb finallyretired from hisjob as
chiefmechanica lengineerofthe LNWR in
April1903. George Whalewas appointed
as hi ssuccessorand he is cr edited with the
development of Webb’s Precedent2-4-0into
thePrecursor 4-4- 0and thecommencement
of theconversionofthe many varieties
of LNWR heavyfreight 0-8-0sinto what
eventually became knownasthe G2 class.
He hadafairlyshortreignuntil 1909,when
CharlesBowen Cooketookover.
Webb had built282 0-8-0s ,but allexcept
thefirst one werecompounds. When George
Whaletookover, he beganrebuildingthe
0-8-0sin severalways. For example, 36
ClassBsbecame2-8-0sbut re mained as
Compounds; 26retained theiroriginalboilers
andwerelater designated ClassE;but 10 of
thoseconverted from May1906wereprovided
withlarger boilersand later designated ClassF.
CharlesJohnBowen Cookewas born in
OrtonLongueville, Peterborough.While
CMEofthe LNWR he wasresponsible for
theintroduction ofseveralnew locomotive
designs, includingthe GeorgetheFifth 4-4-0s
andClaughton 4-6-0s. He wasthe first to add
superheating to therailway’s locomotives.GreatCentral
John Robinson, theson of alocomotive
engineer,was born in Newcastle-upon-TyneandeducatedatChester GrammarSchool.
In 1872 hecommenced an engineering
apprenticeshipwiththe GWRatSwindon
as apupil of Joseph Armstrong.In1878he
becameassis tant to hisfathe ratBristol,and
in 1884 he joined theWaterford andLimerick
Railwayaslocomotive carriageand wagon
assistantsuperintendentand he waspromoted
to superintendent thefollo wing year.
In 1900 Robinson joined theGreat Central
Railway(GCR) as locomotiveand marine
superintendent, succee dingHenry Pollittand,
in 1902,hewas appointedchief mechanical
engineer.Withinayear, Robinson initiated
an extensive programmeoflocomotive
construction andmodernisation.Hewould
go onto producemanylocomotivedesigns
for thenewly-formed GCR, particularly
for expressand heavyfreight trafficonthe
recently-openedLondonextensi on.
Robinson’sfirst passengerlocomotive
design for theGCR wasthe 11B4-4-0 in
1901,but this wasclearly basedonanolder
design andRobinsonquickly realised that
somethingmuchbiggerwas neededandhe
wasinfluenced by Churchward’s progress on
theGWR.
TheClass 8was thefirst of Robinson’s
4-6-0 designsand it wouldbecome abasis
for hisAtlantics, as well as othe r4-6-0
designs. Designed for anew fastfish service
from Grimsby, they were also laterusedfor
passengertraffic, but were still knownas‘fish
engines’ throughouttheirlives.
Robinsonordered two4-4-2s andtwo 8C
4-6-0sfromBeyer Peacockfor comparisonsto
be made.Designworkwas performedbyBeyer
Peacockbased on Robinson’s 4-6-0 design.
Theexperiments ledtothe decisiontobuild
further Atlanticsrathe rthan4-6-0 s–the
opposite of Churchward’s decision to build
4-6-0sfor theGWR.Robinsonisnoted for