George Augustus Nokes

“ It must not be forgotten that steam-users never had a preference for coke, but they were compelled to use it, because the more volatile coal produced so much smoke in the process of combustion that legislative action (which compels locomotive engines to be so constructed as “to consume their own smoke”) practically prevented the use of coal until science discovered a method of consuming the smoke. ”

“ The engine was designed by John Grantham, draughtsman at Mather, Dixon, and Co., North Foundry, Liverpool. The outside view resembled a steamer, the driving wheel splashers like a paddle-box, and the handrail plates, brought to the buffer planks, shaped like the stem of a vessel, and intended to take the wind pressure off the front end of the engine. The great diameter of the driving wheel shows that Brunel had something to say about it—perhaps ordered it to be made twice the size of any other then made. ”

“ In connection with the marvellous growth of our railway system there is nothing of so paramount importance and interest as the evolution of the locomotive steam engine.
At the present time it is most important to place on record the actual facts, seeing that attempts have been made to disprove the correctness of the known and accepted details relative to several interesting, we might almost write historical, locomotives. ”

“ Locomotive mechanism is very simple in its elementary nature, and the mind is naturally disposed to receive and retain any adequate explanation of striking phenomena, whether mechanical or otherwise; and hence it is that there are thousands of persons who, although in no way concerned in the construction or working of railway engines, are nevertheless competent to give a fair general explanation of their structure and mode of working. ”

“ Now water troughs are so much in fashion, it should not be difficult to find suitable locations for them on the Great Northern system, and with a double-bogie tank engine, with, outside cylinders, a 9ft. or larger driving wheel, York ought to be reached in less than three hours from King’s Cross, and without an intermediate stop. Will the 19th century see such an achievement? We hope so, but fear to prophesy; its sands are almost run.
The Manson engines of the Great North of Scotland Railway deserve notice. ”

“ When our locomotive superintendents make up their minds to construct express locomotives with such an amount of heating surface, we shall hear no more of “double engine running,” and our express trains may be expected to average a speed of over 50 miles an hour from start to finish (including stops) on all trips.
The general arrangement of the “Liverpool” was similar to the engines on Crampton’s system already described—viz., the driving wheels at the back of the fire-box and outside cylinders fixed about the centre of the frames. ”

“ The fact that at once strikes the intelligent reader as peculiar is that, although the “Harvey Combe” was designed “for conveying the earth excavated in the construction of a line of railway,” as Marshall “perspicuously” puts it (but which we should shortly describe as a “ballast” engine) , she is a “single” engine! and, therefore, is not much like a modern six-coupled ballast engine. She cost £1,400, and was of 50 horse-power.
The principal dimensions of the “Harvey Combe” were: Cylinders, 12in. by 18in.; driving wheels, 5ft., and leading and trailing 3ft. 6in. diameter; 102 tubes, 15⁄8in. ”

“ The reservoir was constructed to withstand a pressure of 200lb., but the engine was only pressed to 165lb., and this at the time of the trial at Stratford was reduced to 20lb. working pressure. With a load of eight people, the engine ran the four miles, Stratford to Lea Bridge and back, in 30 minutes. The incident of the trial so aroused the curiosity of the men engaged at the Stratford Works, that they all left their employment for the purpose of witnessing the trial of so great an innovation as Pasey’s compressed air locomotive. ”

“ Walker and Rastrick were the engineers engaged by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to report on the advantages to be gained from the adoption of stationary or locomotive engines on the [Pg 26] Liverpool and Manchester Railway. They decided in favour of the former, but they stated in their report, “Hackworth’s engine (‘Royal George’) is undoubtedly the most powerful that has yet been made, as the amount of tons conveyed by it, compared with the other engines, proves.” ”

“ One advantage of the system is, of course, the considerable reduction in the dead weight—a not unimportant factor in express train running. The superiority of Ramsbottom’s system is easily seen by comparing the small light tenders in use on the London and North Western Railway with the gigantic ones adopted by the Great Northern, Midland, and other lines running long distances without stopping, but which systems are unsupplied with the water trough and the necessary pick-up apparatus. ”

“ The engine, if it weighs six tons, must be capable of drawing after it, day by day, on a well-constructed railway, on a level plane, a train of carriages of the gross weight of twenty tons, including the tender and water-tank, at a rate of ten miles per hour, with a pressure of steam on the boiler not exceeding fifty pounds per square inch. ”

“ Sharp, Roberts and Co. had, in the previous December, supplied an engine to the London and Southampton Railway fitted with balancing weights just within the wheel rim; while Heaton’s weights took the form of an extension of the crank-throws on the opposite side of the axle, a method still employed in modern engines. The first locomotive that ever burned coal in a satisfactory manner, without the smoke causing a nuisance, was the “Prince George,” a six-wheel engine belonging to the Grand Junction Railway. ”

“ But above these minor disadvantages of the feed pumps, the injector removed from the minds of locomotive engineers that great source of danger, a short supply of water in the boilers, as well as the additional expense and inconvenience of “exercising” the locomotives solely for the purpose of filling the boiler, or, where such a method was inconvenient, of working the engine over a “race” for the same purpose. ”

“ In addition to the coupled wheels there are also a pair of leading and a pair of trailing wheels. There is no steam dome, and the side tanks are as long as the boiler barrel, being extended on each side to the smoke-box. The inspection car is fixed on to the back of the coal bunker, its floor is some distance below the level of the engine frames, and the car is entered from a platform at the end, which is in turn entered from the outside by steps on either side, as in a tram-car. ”

“ Whilst railway officers, with the intelligence for which they are justly distinguished, have always evinced a proper desire to be acquainted with the evolution of the “steam horse,” the spread of education has increased and quickened a desire for knowledge concerning the locomotive amongst all classes in a remarkable manner. ”

“ The principal objections seem to be the difficulty of surmounting even the slightest ascent, for it has been found that a rise of only one-eighth of an inch in a yard, or of eighteen feet in a mile, retards the speed of one of these engines in a very great degree; so much so, indeed, that it has been considered necessary, in some parts where used, to aid their ascent with their load, by fixed engines, which drag them forward by means of ropes coiling round a drum. ”

“ From the bottom of the condenser, outside the engine, a pipe conveyed the heated water and steam back to the tender. The method of working was for the exhaust steam to be discharged from the blast pipe into the condenser, which, as previously explained, was on the top of the smoke-box, and consequently right over the blast orifice. Here the exhaust steam was mixed with a jet of cold water, which was pumped into a condenser. The result of such meeting was the condensing of the steam and heating of the water, which flowed by gravitation through the pipe previously described. ”

“ The weight of the machine, with its complement of water in the boiler, must at most not exceed six tons; and a machine of less weight will be preferred if it draw after it a proportionate weight; and, if the weight of the engine, etc., does not exceed five tons, then the gross weight to be drawn need not exceed fifteen tons, and in that proportion for machines of still smaller weight; provided that the engine, etc., shall still be on six wheels, unless the weight (as above) be reduced to four-tons and a half or under, in which case the boiler, etc., may be placed on four wheels. ”

“ This is the first attempt to adapt a musical instrument to the steam engine capable of producing a tune, and though not so perfect as to admit of all the pleasing variety and combination of sound capable of being produced by the instrument to which we have compared it, there is no doubt but very considerable improvements will be made in this steam musical instrument by the inventor, who is a skilful musician as well as an ingenious mechanic. ”

“ At the present crisis, when any reduction in the expense of working the locomotive engine would justly be hailed as a boon to railway companies, this experiment will no doubt be regarded with deep interest as tending to their mutual advantage. I fully believe that the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company will willingly afford every facility towards the carrying out of this experiment. ”

“ The connection from each chamber to the water, steam pipes, and reservoirs had self-acting valves, so that should an accident happen to any one chamber the self-acting valves were closed by the pressure of the steam above, or the water beneath, so that the remainder of the boiler retained its efficiency, the only result of the accident being a reduction of the heating surface. ”

“ Readers are probably aware that very much has been written on the subject of the early Great Western Railway locomotives during the past few years, and a surprising lack of knowledge of the subject has been exhibited by people taking part in discussions that have arisen. The facts are clearly established, so that it would be waste of time to recapitulate the many inaccurate statements that have been made relative to the original broad-gauge locomotives. ”

“ Nearly forty years ago it was authoritatively stated: “That kind of knowledge of the locomotive engine which answers the purpose of a well-informed man has already become so popular that it almost amounts to ignorance to be without it. ”

“ The axle of the driving wheels had a motion up and down, to allow for imperfections in the road; and the cogged wheel and pinion were kept at the requisite distance in gear by the supports of the cranked axle being fixed over and connected with those of the driving wheels, and thus moving in conjunction with them. Two eccentrics on the cogged wheel axle worked the slides with the usual levers and hand-gear, and the exhaust steam from the cylinders was discharged into the chimney. ”

“ To prevent the formation of clinkers, an occasional rock was given to the fire-bars by the fireman, a sector being provided for the purpose. Yarrow’s system required the coal to be placed at the extreme front of the fire-box, so that the smoke was forced by the brick arch to return [Pg 191] towards the fire-door before it could get over the arch and enter the tubes, and in the passage the denser portion of the smoke was burnt. The patent also included the use of a steam-jet in the chimney for use when the engine was not working, and the heating of the feed-water by means of the exhaust steam. ”

“ Such a statement must be accepted with reserve—not that the bonâ fides of the engineer who made it are doubted, but rather because of the difficulty of obtaining correctly the exact speed of engines when travelling at a great rate, even when proper instruments are employed. We know that with an ordinary watch correct results are almost impossible, and an error of a second or two when calculating a quarter of a mile will make a very great difference when arriving at the approximate rates in miles per hour. ”

“ Whishaw records one experiment with a load of 251⁄2 tons, made up of one open second-class, one first-class carriage, and two stage coaches on trucks. The average speed was 21 miles an hour, the highest being 48 miles an hour. The “Venus” was not much used during the first four months following the first opening of the Great Western Railway, her total mileage during that period being only 240 miles. Mr. Gooch found this engine was so extremely unsteady that he did not make use of her, save when no other engine was conveniently available—hence her small mileage. ”

“ In 1846, Grissell and Peto, the well-known railway contractors, undertook the task of removing the mammoth bronze equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington from Mr. Wyatt’s studio in the Harrow Road, near the Great Western Railway locomotive shops, to Hyde Park. The car weighed 20 tons, and was borne by four wheels 10ft. in diameter, lent by the Great Western Railway, one pair being open-spoked wheels from under the “Hurricane,” the other pair being constructed of disc sheet iron, and were from under the “Mars” or “Ajax.” ”

“ The patentee claimed the following advantages for locomotives built on the “Cambrian” system—viz., perfect balance of working parts, thus entirely doing away with the centre pressure and strain; the complete avoidance of all dangerous oscillation; the ends of the oscillating levers, in passing through the greater part of a circle, gained increased power at the extremities of the stroke, and so compensated for the loss of power in the cranks as they approached the dead centres. ”