Our thanks go to Mr. I. Fyvie, The Watercress Line, Mr. T. Knowles, Mr.S. Smalley, The North Norfolk Rly., Severn Valley Rly., Mr.Chris Adams and countless others for their assistance in this production.

This time out, we'll take an extended look at the rivalry which grew between the various railway companies in the 1920's. As you may well recall, the L.N.E.R. and the G.W.R. had their differences of opinion, which presented themselves in a grand fashion at the Great Empire Exhibition. This was in no small part down to the G.W.R. claim that the now popular Castle class was the most powerful locomotive in Britain; and answered by Sir Nigel Gresley's A4 pacifics with their turns of speed. The heirarchy of the G.W.R. had an ace up their sleeve though! This took the form of the revered and much loved "King" class locomotive. Despite the machinations of Sir Nigel Gresley and the L.N.E.R. team, the King class reclaimed the title of the most powerful locomotive in Britain (the power was sorely needed on the South - Western routes with their fierce gradients).

Picture - King class locomotive

Meanwhile, the L.M.S. had problems of their own, and in more ways than one. It had become abundantly clear that the normal practice of double heading with smaller locomotives was not an efficient one, so a new breed of loco was required for the consistently heavier trains. Upon grouping, the L.M.S. had brought together several previous competitors - and this also created a friction, but we need not go into that here. The predominant flavour of loco design up to that point was distinctly Midland, with an extremely large number of all kinds of smaller machines inherited from the smaller railways that had been engulfed by the L.M.S. Indeed, quite a large number of these were, for the lack of a better description, past their best. Locomotive repair shops had their hands full, as with so many differing designs, it was nigh impossible to carry suitable spares for maintenance. Economies had to be made, and a policy of standardisation was brought forward. The G.W.R. Kings held a certain sway here, too - the way forward was being shown by both the G.W.R. and the L.N.E.R., and the writing was on the wall for hundreds of aging pre-grouping locos. The L.M.S. were fascinated by the power of the Castles, and attempts were made to "buy several" for research. G.W.R. hierarchy weren't having any of that, though, so attention was diverted to the Southern Region after an attempt to borrow drawings for a Castle also failed. The S.R. obliged with blueprints of the Lord Nelson class, which had only recently been introduced to their metals, and with the assistance of the North British Locomotive Co. the Royal Scot class was born as a three cylindered 4-6-0.

Picture - Royal Scot

Though these were powerful, the design proved to be not as effective as expected. The L.M.S. had their new locos, but they could be better. Fortune was to smile on them again, but this time it was in the form of Mr. William Stanier, who saw fit to move to pastures new. He brought with him a plethora of knowledge from Swindon (who had been so reluctant to assist the L.M.S.) and improved the Royal Scots admirably. Stanier had a far-reaching effect on the L.M.S.; his Swindon background, coupled to his forward thinking, led to the Princess class pacific being designed and built. These remarkable machines bore all the hallmarks of their G.W.R. heritage, and saw the first of Stanier's tapered boilers being employed. The free - steaming of the new boilers was to improve the Royal Scots no end, and with it a power re-classification from 5P to 6P!

Picture - Princess

The ever popular "Black Five" was Stanier's answer to the Royal Scots. His all-purpose "5" was posssibly the most numerous class of loco to take to the metals, and enjoyed various experimental designs during it's long service history. They were to be found everywhere on the B.R. system, employed on the widest range of duties from express to goods.

Picture - Black Five

Freight locos had, until now, been more or less forgotten. The Stanier 8F corrected that, and several hundred of the utilitarian machines were built. Well loved by footplate crews, the 8F was "enlisted" by the army, with several examples being found overseas still working into the 1980's.

Picture - 8F

The Coronation class, or Duchess (depending on one's location) were a progression from the Princess. This was an express pacific that caused (and still does) a certain trepidation with footplate crews about "opening her up", as the Coronations had a way of displaying their brute power in no uncertain terms. In his own way, Sir William Stanier had set a blueprint for steam locomotive design, and with the amalgamation of "the big four" into British Railways, this would set a precedence for all further designs hence, which B.R. were willing and eager to encourage. This would ultimately lead to drivers and firemen being familiar with all classes once initially trained, but not with the G.W.R. machines - these were driven from the right hand side, and not the left

It would be unfair not to mention Beyer/Peacock in this section, as they produced the articulated 2-6-0 0-6-2 Garretts which went some way to addressing the wants of the L.M.S. in the heavy freight department. Though somewhat unsuccessful in Britain, this unique and awe-inspiring design found much favour abroad, and probably still exists in various countries. Here we feature an East African Railways loco, which bears a strong resemblance to the L.M.S. version.

Picture - Beyer Garratt of the East African Railway

Thus was the progression of the steam locomotive on the British Railways network. The ingenuity of loco designers was now being tested to the extremes, and with the labour shortages created by the war, labour-saving devices were of paramount importance. Self-cleaning smokeboxes and rocking grates came into their own now, as cleaners were few and far between, but the diesel was making an appearance on the main-line services. It wouldn't be long before steam haulage was a thing of the past!

Mr. R.A.Riddles, a member of Stanier's development team, was to make a notable contribution to the "Standard class" principle, however. This we shall look at in detail in a further issue though!

So until then, have a good summer - there's plenty to excite and invigorate you going on!