European Railroad Discussion > Mr. Brown's (Merchant) Navy

Here's a Merchant Navy album from Mr. Brown.  Sorry for the delay between posts but have been away.

1.  BR 35024 East Asiatic Company - Nine Elms 3-27-56
2.  BR 35027 Port Line - Worting Junction 5-56
3.  BR 35018 British India Line - Old Oak Common 4-55

Gordon
 

---

---

---

Oh my, Gordon. Mr. Brown and you both outdid yourselves with this post. What a splendid set! All three are terrific, but that first one of 35024 East Asiatic Company takes the gold star. A beautiful roster shot of one of my favorite engines.

No apologies necessary for the delay. Hope you enjoyed your trip. These were absolutely worth the wait.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/22 20:21 by ironmtn.

Bravo, what a splendid set. My favourite is three, I think rebuilt MN are the bee's knees of steam locos.

Incidentally I think the second one might be east of Basingstoke rather than at Worting. Can't be sure but those signals in the background look like the low pressure pneumatic semaphores installed by the LSWR between Woking and Basingstoke in 1905, they survived until the mid 1960s. You can make out the air cylinder below the lower quadrant arm, they worked at a pressure of 15 lbs per square inch. Pretty sure they didn't extend beyond Basingstoke.

86235 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bravo, what a splendid set. My favourite is three,
> I think rebuilt MN are the bee's knees of steam
> locos.
>
> Incidentally I think the second one might be east
> of Basingstoke rather than at Worting. Can't be
> sure but those signals in the background look like
> the low pressure pneumatic semaphores installed by
> the LSWR between Woking and Basingstoke in 1905,
> they survived until the mid 1960s. You can make
> out the air cylinder below the lower quadrant arm,
> they worked at a pressure of 15 lbs per square
> inch. Pretty sure they didn't extend beyond
> Basingstoke.

Thanks for the correction, Nick.  Please everyone else feel absolutely free to suggest corrections -- my assumption is that in many cases thej original documentation attached to these negatives has been lost and what we have are other, probably not BR-savvy, people's guesses and assumptions as to both date (especially where only a month and year are given) and/or location.

Gordon

All nice photos of an interesting class of locomotive.

Fine views of a most distinctive and noteworthy engine. How did they compare, performance-wise, with other late-model British steam? Thank you!

I agree with 86235 - rebuilt MNs were the best-looking British steam.    Nice shots - please keep them coming.

35018: I believe this photo is at Nine Elms, the flats in the background are distinctive and appear in many shots of the Nine Elms turntable (and are still there today).  Old Oak Common was a GWR/Western Region depot.
 

ironmtn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All three are terrific, but that first one of
> 35024 East Asiatic Company takes the gold star. A
> beautiful roster shot of one of my favorite
> engines.

As much as I am a fan of the "streamstyling" of the Bulleid Pacifics and the Merchant Navies, and was struck by that first image of 35024 when I first viewed this thread, I do agree with the view of Nick and others that the rebuilt Merchant Navy engines were among the most handsome British engines. The bees knees, indeed. That third image of 35018 British India Line really is quite something. Even my friends over here on the west side of the Pond who are not particularly partial to British steam would take a liking to its kind...and easily so. Not to mention that Mr. Brown's photo is just first rate.

Thanks again, Gordon, for a terrific set.

MC

kurtarmbruster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fine views of a most distinctive and noteworthy
> engine. How did they compare, performance-wise,
> with other late-model British steam? Thank you!

Well, a rebuilt Merchant Navy was the last steam loco in Britain to be officially clocked at 100+mph until new-build Tornado achieved 100 on test for regular 90mph running a few years ago. I believe the highest officially recorded speed for a rebuilt Merchant Navy is 105 but higher speeds are not unlikely. They were very free running at speed, but very light footed on starting.

The third photo of 35018 was indeed taken at London's Nine Elms locomotive depot. It looks in very new condition - 35018 was rebuilt to this appearance in February 1956 - this Merchant Navy Pacific was the first to be modified. Fortunately it is still proudly running on the British main lines today.