How to build a steam engine ... this is really, really fascinating and well worth your time to view.

Grab a cuppa or a cold one, sit back

and prepare to be amazed!

And remember, most of these skills are gone or forgotten now.

(Lots of good articles to see and read below):

LMS Princess Royal Class

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Princess Royal Class
One of the two preserved Princess Royals, 6201 Princess Elizabeth at Castleton South Junction.
Specifications
Power type	Steam
Designer	William Stanier
Builder	LMS Crewe Works
Build date	1933 (2), 1935 (10), 1952 (1 rebuilt from Turbomotive)
Total produced	13
Gauge	4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm)
Leading wheel diameter	36 in (910 mm)
Driver diameter	78 in (2,000 mm)
Trailing wheel diameter	45 in (1,100 mm)
Length	74 ft 4 ¹⁄₄ in (22.663 m)
Locomotive weight	104.5 long tons (106.2 t) 110.55 long tons (112.32 t) (Turbomotive)
Tender weight	54.65 long tons (55.53 t)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	9 long tons (9.1 t), later 10 long tons (10 t)
Water capacity	4,000 imp gal (18,000 l; 4,800 US gal)
Boiler	LMS type 1
Boiler pressure	250 psi (1.7 MPa) superheated
Firegrate area	45 sq ft (4.2 m²)
Heating surface: – Firebox	190 sq ft (18 m²) or 217 sq ft (20.2 m²)
Cylinders	4
Cylinder size	16 ¹⁄₄ in × 28 in (410 mm × 710 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts (piston valves) 6205 had outside Walschaerts with rocking shafts operating inside valves.
Tractive effort	40,285 lbf (179.20 kN)
Career
Railroad(s)	London, Midland & Scottish
Class	7P reclassified 8P in 1951
First run	1933
Withdrawn	1952 (1), 1961 (6), 1962 (6)
Disposition	Two preserved, remainder scrapped

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Princess Royal Class is a class of an express passenger steam locomotive designed by William Stanier. They were Pacifics (i.e. had a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement). Thirteen examples were built at Crewe Works, between 1933 and 1935 and two are preserved.

Overview

When originally built, they were used to haul the famous Royal Scot train between London Euston and Glasgow Central.

Construction

A prototype batch of three locomotives was to be constructed in 1933. Two were constructed as drawn but the third set of frames was retained as the basis for an experimental turbine locomotive.^[1]^[2] ^[3]

Turbomotive

The third prototype was constructed with the aid of the Swedish Ljungstrom turbine company and known as the Turbomotive, although not named. It was numbered 6202, in sequence with the Princess Royals. Although 'generally similar' to the rest of the Princess Royals,^[1] and 'not all that much different',^[4] it used a larger 40 element superheater to give a higher steam temperature, more suitable for turbine use.^[5]^[2]^{[note 1]} This boiler was also domeless as would later be used for the second batch of the Princess Royals. The continuous exhaust of the turbine, rather than the sharper intermittent blast of the piston engine, also required changes to the draughting and the use of a double chimney.^[6]^[7] It entered service in June 1935 on the London–Liverpool service.^[8]
This Turbomotive was rebuilt in 1952 with conventional 'Coronation' cylinders and named Princess Anne, but was soon destroyed in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash.^[7]

Later production

A second batch of eleven locomotives was constructed later.^[9]

Naming

Each locomotive was named after a princess, the official name for the class was chosen because Mary, Princess Royal was the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Scots. However, the locos were known to railwaymen as "Lizzies", after the second example of the class named for Princess Elizabeth who later became Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Later examples of 4-6-2 express passenger locomotive built by the LMS were of the related but larger, Coronation Class.

Withdrawal

The class were withdrawn in the early 1960s in line with British Railways' modernisation plan.

Details

LMS No.	BR No.	Name(s)	Date Built	Date Withdrawn	Notes
6200	46200	The Princess Royal	July 1933	November 1962	.
6201	46201	Princess Elizabeth	November 1933	October 1962	Preserved.
6203	46203	Princess Margaret Rose	July 1935	October 1962	Preserved. Owned by the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust.
6204	46204	Princess Louise	July 1935	October 1961	.
6205	46205	Princess Victoria	July 1935	November 1961	Fitted with modified valve gear, 1947.Converted back to normal 1955
6206	46206	Princess Marie Louise	August 1935	October 1962	.
6207	46207	Princess Arthur of Connaught	August 1935	November 1961	Appeared in the 1930s classic documentary film 6207 A Study In Steel in which 6207 was constructed during the document film and how an LMS Princess Royal was built.
6208	46208	Princess Helena Victoria	August 1935	October 1962	.
6209	46209	Princess Beatrice	August 1935	September 1962	.
6210	46210	Lady Patricia	September 1935	October 1961	.
6211	46211	Queen Maud	September 1935	October 1961	.
6212	46212	Duchess of Kent	October 1935	October 1961	.

Preservation

Two examples, 6201 Princess Elizabeth and 6203 Princess Margaret Rose are preserved. They were named after the two children of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth, and after the king's death, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother). Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (later Queen Elizabeth II) was seven years old in 1933 when her namesake was built, and Princess Margaret Rose was nearly five in July 1935 when her namesake was completed. At the time, they were third and fourth in line to the throne.

Gallery

46201 Princess Elizabeth at Carlisle awaiting scrapping. The locomotive was later preserved.
Princess Margaret Rose at Swanwick West Shed in 2006.

Media

6201 at Langho on Whalley Bank – sound recording.

References

This trifurcated superheater design was later used on the Duchess class.^[2]

Nock, p. 114
Cook, A.F. (1999). Raising Steam on the LMS. RCTS. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-901115-85-1.
Rowledge, J.W.P. (1987). "3: The Princess Royal Class – The First Two". The LMS Pacifics. David & Charles. pp. 24–35. ISBN 0-7153-8776-6.
Fryer 1990, p. 165
Rowledge, J.W.P. (1987). "4: The 'Turbomotive'". The LMS Pacifics. David & Charles. p. 47. ISBN 0-7153-8776-6.
"9: Unconventional Locomotives 1929-1935". The British Steam Railway Locomotive. II: from 1925 to 1965. Ian Allan. 1966. pp. 112–117. ISBN 0-7110-0125-1.
"18: Stanier's 'Turbomotive'". Experiments With Steam. Patrick Stephens Limited. 1990. pp. 163–171. ISBN 1-85260-269-4.
Fryer 1990, p. 167
Rowledge, J.W.P. (1987). "5: The Princess Royal Class – Modifications, and the 1935 Batch". The LMS Pacifics. David & Charles. pp. 44–51. ISBN 0-7153-8776-6.

Ian Sixsmith The Book of the Princess Royal Pacifics ISBN 1-903266-02-5
Hugh Longworth British Railway Steam Locomotives 1948-1968 ISBN 0-86093-593-0
Rowledge, J.W.P. (1975). Engines o0f the LMS, built 1923–51. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-902888-59-5.
David Hunt, Bob Essery and Fred James LMS Locomotive Profiles No. 4: The "Princess Royal" Pacifics

Chicken Feathers

Friday, May 16, 2014

Friday Night Steam