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QUOTE didn't the P2 prove to be a bit of a track smasher, trying to straighten out the curves??one of the reasons for it's conversion to A2
There's no mention of "track smashing" in "Gresley and Stanier - A centenary tribute" by Bellwood and Jenkinson but they do write:-
"There were insufficient passenger trains loaded to over 500 tons on the Aberdeen route to utilise fully the six locomotives, with the result that many workings were 'over engined'. The eight-couple axleboxes did not take kindly to the numerous curves on the route, and with Pacific train loads the P2s were expensive to both operate and maintain".
In the context of this thread, I think it is worth adding the authors' conclusion on the P2 class:-
"Whatever the merits or shortcomings of Cock o' the North, it probably represented Gresley's greatest single step forward and was certainly ahead of its time. It is significant that when, twenty years later, the last express passenger steam locomotive was built for British Railways, it had three cylinders fitted with poppet valves".
David
There's no mention of "track smashing" in "Gresley and Stanier - A centenary tribute" by Bellwood and Jenkinson but they do write:-
"There were insufficient passenger trains loaded to over 500 tons on the Aberdeen route to utilise fully the six locomotives, with the result that many workings were 'over engined'. The eight-couple axleboxes did not take kindly to the numerous curves on the route, and with Pacific train loads the P2s were expensive to both operate and maintain".
In the context of this thread, I think it is worth adding the authors' conclusion on the P2 class:-
"Whatever the merits or shortcomings of Cock o' the North, it probably represented Gresley's greatest single step forward and was certainly ahead of its time. It is significant that when, twenty years later, the last express passenger steam locomotive was built for British Railways, it had three cylinders fitted with poppet valves".
David
