Number of Images on this Page = 35
The A3 class of the London and North Eastern Railway
I said above that
Flying Scotsman
must be the most
famous steam locomotive of all. But that's from an unbiassed
observer! There is a
web
page
dedicated to this loco, and maintained by The Flying
Scotsman Railways. From that page: "
Flying Scotsman
is
the most famous steam locomotive in the world and has always been
a very distinguished and special locomotive since being built. It
is now a national icon representing all that is best in British
engineering." There. You can't say fairer than that, can you?
Gresley A3 Pacifics
4472
Flying Scotsman
Owen Brison writes:
A couple of your images of 4472
(...-5.jpg and ...-8.jpg) are interesting as they definitely
show the loco to be carrying an A4-type boiler. Early images
of 4472 in preservation just as definitely show an A3-type
boiler. In the 1950's, a number of spare A4 boilers were
built, but none for A3's. Some A3's received second-hand
boilers out of A4's, while a few got brand new A4 boilers, all
set to blow off at the A3 pressure of 220 psi. (rather than
250). The give-away is the pair of wash-out doors about a
third of the way up the side of the firebox, below the extra
handrail. (Either side will do). On the A3 boiler, these
define a horizontal line, while on the A4 version they define
a line pointing down fairly steeply towards the front. (On the
V2 boiler, this line points up towards the front). No. 4472
still carries the original A3-style boiler cleading sheets,
evidenced by the upper left washout plugs interfering with the
inter-sheet boiler bands: in BR days, the cleading was
re-arranged to avoid this.