How to build a real steam locomotive

[devonwoody]

Surfing the web for a railway simulator tutorial I came upon this interesting subject from the 1930s.
They very rarely make them like this anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRsYIiUxZeQ

The same works but a 7 day repair schedule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-7avQDU5-o

And then the diesel 1947. ( I actutally saw this diesel on a Kings Cross platform on display )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbMtXH4IO4s

Hope you enjoyed.

 

[AES]

Thanks devonwoody, really interesting films. Pity they all came from the "+wrong+" factories (nothing from Swindon).

Health and safety obviously didn't apply then (apart from the apparently obligatory cloth caps!), but looking at some of those scenes, in the foundry for example, they must surely have had some really horrible accidents.

Also very interesting how little has really changed today, in some aspects anyway - just one e.g; the manual card scheduling system shown, very much the same (visually) as the PC-based system often used to plan and schedule aero engine and aircraft overhauls today; AND the (to me) extraordinarily irritating and unnecessary background music!

Thanks for posting.

AES

 

[devonwoody]

Pleased. to hear you liked it.
It was definitely the beer and b a ccy era, even some of the directors at the presentation day had to take their fags out of their hands or mouths to carry out tHeir onerous tasks. :lol:

 

[AES]

Yeah, I too noticed one of the "great and the good" having to change his fag to the other hand so he could shake hands with someone. "Fings certainly ain't what they used ter be!

AES

P.S. Did you happen to notice the sheer size of one the hammer-swinging blokes in one of the first foundry sequences in the first film? Blimey, talk about "Farley's Rusks" - or a real "Glaxo Baby"!

 

[devonwoody]

And another banging in a river inches from his mates nose.

 

[Woodchips2]

Thanks Devonwoody. I had a tour of the Crewe works in the 1950s with a train-spotters group and we got close to the gangs casting and forging. No protective gear and we jumped when the sparks flew close overhead. Thought it was a great day out.

Regards Keith

 

[graduate_owner]

Very interesting. Bit advanced for my skills though

K

 

[llangatwgnedd]

Really enjoyed DW, shame that we cant make things like that anymore.

Was 6207 cut up or saved?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Really enjoyed DW, shame that we cant make things like that anymore.

Was 6207 cut up or saved?

6207 was scrapped, but two other members of the class were preserved, and both have run on the mainline since rebuild. More information here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Princess_Royal_Class

By the way, there are about 24 new standard gauge locomotives being constructed in the UK at the moment, two new ones running (60163 'Tornado' and 93 GWR steam railmotor), and several narrow gauge new builds either in service or running. So we can - and do - still do it!

https://newbuildsteam.com/the-projects/

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks all for their replies and links very interesting.

 

[Eric The Viking]

... really interesting films. Pity they all came from the "+wrong+" factories (nothing from Swindon).
AES

BBC Bristol has a _lot_ of archive stuff from Swindon, and I'd guess the British Rail archive (wherever that may now be) has too. It's really time some of this stuff was properly transferred and put into the public domain.

I worked on a bittersweet programme in the 1980s when Swindon closed, about the history of the works, including steam loco production (I think it was the Churchward desgns, but can't remember at this distance). They used to maintain a few steam locos too, IIRC, almost up to to the very end -- you'd see them in sidings near the main line.

I know you cannot set things in aspic, but the planners were determined to destroy as much railway heritage as possible in Swindon as soon as they could after the closure, rather than find new uses for the buildings. There was a big fuss about listing some of the site, and even those buildings (the ones dating back to Brunel) almost didn't make it. I remember a lot of this being covered on Points West, again when I worked on it regularly.

I'm sure we could argue forever about which of the Big Four had the strongest heritage ("The Great Gresley-Churchward face-off" instead of sharpening?), but the killing off of our railway infrastructure (Beecham and after), and the engineering culture that went with it will eventually be universally regarded as the disaster it actually was.

Still, when these films do surface, it's wonderful. And they may yet inspire our grandchildren!

E.

PS: John (DW), many thanks for posting the links.

 

[devonwoody]

Quote

Still, when these films do surface, it's wonderful. And they may yet inspire our grandchildren!

Eric, I am trying to inspire our four great grandchildren and another due :lol: .

 

[Rhyolith]

Thanks for this post!