Chapter 43: The Wedding Train
(Friday, August 17th 2012 – 10:28pm, Vicarstown Crew Building)
Feeling very tired after another very long day of hard work out on the railway, Carrie settled back into the upholstered armchair in the recreation room of the Vicarstown Crew Building and allowed her tired muscles to have a good rest, while a few of the other engine crewmen, including some of those who were on the apprenticeship scheme, in the space chatted quietly with each other, sipped from cups of hot tea or coffee, played card or board games, played a game of pool at one of the pool tables, or read books from the vast selection that were provided in the bookcases. For the umpteenth time that evening, she yawned and brought her hand up to cover her mouth as she yawned again.
For much of the earlier part of the day, Carrie had spent most of the morning and early afternoon working away on shunting duties on the footplate of G.W.R. Hawksworth Pannier tank No.9420 in the yards at Knapford. It was a bit dull and boring at times, as they shuttled back and forth within the yards, moving lines of different coaches and trucks about the yards and getting them sorted into the trains that were to be taken away from the yards or over to Knapford, as well moving the long lines of smartly turned-out coaches down to Knapford Station where passengers were waiting to board them.
After returning to Tidmouth Sheds in the afternoon for lunch, she was reassigned to work on the footplate of L.N.E.R. V2 Class No.4800, who was assigned to take a late afternoon fitted freight train from the yards at Knapford over to Vicarstown. For Carrie, it meant that she would have to spend the night over in Vicarstown, but she was already ready for that, as she had her pyjamas, the necessary toiletries, as well as anything else she would need in her locker in the Tidmouth Crew Building.
By 4:00pm, she was aboard the footplate of No.4800 with all the things she needed in her small bag and, having already greeted the driver and fireman as she stepped aboard a little earlier on, settled down for a long journey along the Southern Main Line over to Vicarstown. After leaving Knapford Yards bang on time at 4:15pm sharp with 60 different vans, flatbeds, some tankers, as well as a few conflats coupled behind them, they passed along the lines down to Knapford Station, and then through the station out onto the Southern Main Line. Once out on the open main line, and with the signals showing clear, the driver was able to open the regulator a bit more and they were able to pick up some more speed.
As they surged along the line, and making good time on the first part of their journey towards Wellsworth Station, Carrie took a go with the shovel at stoking the boiler with more coal from the tender, while the fireman stood by off to the side and watched her as she went about it. But Carrie was able to impress him by placing the coal exactly to where it was needed in the firebox to make steam, as indicated by the steam pressure on the main boiler pressure gauge staying at the maximum working pressure of 220psi.
After they arrived at Wellsworth Station at 4:35pm, they had to wait in the station until two bankers had buffered up to the back of their long train so that they could go up Gordon's Hill, with one of the bankers being 9F 2-10-0 No.92230 and the other being L.N.E.R. L1 Class 2-6-4T No.67735. With a total combined effort of well over 71,000 pounds of tractive effort pushing very hard from the back, it was virtually guaranteed that No.4800 would get his long and heavy train up Gordon's Hill without any major problems. Once the two bankers were in place at the back of the train and sounded their whistles to indicate they were ready, the train could proceed on its way, slowly at first and then getting a little quicker as they went along the main line past the junction that went down to Brendam Docks, and then along the stretch that approached the base of Gordon's Hill.
It was a hard and heavy job in getting over 60 heavily-laden wagons up the two-mile 1-in-40 gradient to the summit of the climb, and they were forced to go at a slow pace of around 25mph as they went along, which meant it took about 5 minutes for them to get to the top of the hill. The sounds of the three engines working away very hard, with one of them pulling very hard at the front and the other two pushing just as hard from behind, echoed everywhere and drew the attention of anyone who was nearby. A number of railway photographers who were standing by the side of the track were very impressed by the sights and sounds of a very long and heavy freight train being helped up the hill by two other engines.
As soon as No.4800 reached the crest of Gordon's Hill, he slowly pulled on ahead at a slightly quicker pace, heading towards Maron Station. From the rear of the train, both No.92230 and No.67735 kept on pushing hard while they felt the weight of the train on their buffers gradually ease off as No.4800 headed on down the line, taking the train with him. On reaching the top of the hill, both No.92230 and No.67735 both eased off one by one as their drivers put their brakes on and closed their regulators, allowing the weight of the train to be fully taken up by No.4800. As soon as the brake van of the train was seen to be pulling away and heading on down the line at a quicker pace, the signalman in the signal-box set the points and both No.92230 and No.67735 headed off in reverse down the hill along the up-line towards Wellsworth Station.
For the rest of the journey along the Southern Main Line, No.4800 proceeded along at a good pace, with his train coming along smoothly as well. For much of the time, Carrie was also working hard as well, keeping the firebox stoked with fresh coal, keeping the water level in the boiler at an adequate level, as well as making sure she kept a close eye out on the line ahead for the state of the signals as they went along the line. She did a very good job at keeping the boiler stoked, as the indicator arrow in the main boiler pressure gauge kept very close to the maximum working pressure of 220psi.
At one point, they had to make a scheduled stop in one of the long sidings that was very close to Rossington Junction, where they took the chance given by the stop to top up the water level in the tender. However, before they could leave a problem arose with the points, as the points for the siding they were on were found to have suddenly jammed, and so some workmen had to come down and fix them before they could leave. The delay wasn't very long, as the repairs only took about 15 minutes to undertake, but at the same time No.4800 was annoyed by this delay, and so was Carrie, as well as the driver and fireman. And so, they were determined to make up some of the lost time.
Once they were out of the siding and back out on the Southern Main Line, they were able to go along at a good speed, with both No.4800 and his driver being determined to try and make up some of the lost time on the main line leading towards Vicarstown. They still eventually arrived in the freight yards at Vicarstown some minutes later, but they had managed to make up somewhere between 4 and 7 minutes of the lost time. After they arrived in one of the long sidings in the yards, No.4800 was uncoupled from his train and then made his way over to the engine depot nearby. By that point of the day, the sun was setting off to the west and night was slowly drawing in, with the sky being coloured bright yellow and orange as the sun slowly set closer and closer to the horizon.
By that point of the day, Carrie was feeling very tired after such a long day of hard work, both out on the main line on the train No.4800 had pulled from Knapford to Vicarstown, but also on the various different shunting jobs she had helped out with at Knapford earlier on in the day. She was looking forward to getting the chance to clock out for the day, getting a room at the crew building, and then having a long and hot shower before going downstairs and getting something hot to eat for dinner.
After clocking out and getting a room for herself at the crew building, she took the chance to have that hot shower and she felt herself really relax as she felt the hot water flow over her body. Rubbing some shampoo into her hair and body wash around her body, she really took the chance to get herself cleaned up and made sure that she removed as much of the sweat that had built up on her body during the course of the day. Once she finished after about 10 minutes or so, she dried off with two white towels and then dressed into fresh clothes she had brought in her bag.
A little later, once she was fully dried off and dressed, she left her room and went downstairs to get some dinner, which tonight was a burger with an onion gravy, mashed potatoes, and boiled peas and carrots. As she settled down to enjoy her dinner, Carrie looked around the cafeteria space and was a little surprised to see just how quiet it was, with only a few other engine crews to be seen sitting around at some of the tables and eating away. A few of the crews were chatting quietly with each other about their day as they ate, as well as what the following day might bring, but those enginemen who were eating alone just sat quietly and ate their dinner.
Once she had finished, Carrie had some dessert, which was a slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. She really enjoyed the dessert immensely, and once she had finished it, she left the cafeteria and went upstairs to one of the recreation rooms to relax for the rest of the evening.
But by the time 10:30pm came round, having been relaxing in the room for much of the evening and reading through some of the books that were provided on the shelves, Carrie was starting to feel very tired and so she decided to call it a day. Standing up and stretching out, she left the recreation room and went back to her room. Arriving back, she changed into her pyjamas and went into the small ensuite bathroom to brush her teeth before she went to bed. When she finished a few minutes later and stepped out from the bathroom, she went over to the bedroom window and looked outside to see what was going on before she turned in; surprisingly, the yard was fairly quiet at this time, with not much to see or hear at this time of the evening.
Turning away from the window, Carrie went over to the bed, pulled aside the duvet, and then climbed into bed. Pulling the duvet over herself, Carrie turned off the bedside light and fell into a deep sleep at once, exhausted from a long day of work.
(Next morning; 7:15am)
With the alarm on her mobile phone beeping, Carrie slowly woke up and pulled aside the duvet a little. Reaching out, she grabbed her phone and switched off the alarm, before she then sat up in the bed and stretched her arms out. Pulling the duvet aside some more, she swung her feet out of bed and stood up, before stretching out again. After plugging her phone in to charge up fully, she then went over to the window and pulled the curtains aside to see what was going on outside; she could see a number of engines sitting in one of the sheds near to the crew building and being readied for their day of work ahead. Columns of thin grey-brown smoke could be seen rising into the calm morning air from the chimneys, which indicated there was no wind blowing about this morning. Looking up into the sky, Carrie could see the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly, which promised another perfect summer day.
Feeling herself smile at the scene outside, Carrie turned away from the window and set about getting herself ready for her day of work ahead.
(A little later on)
Once she had dressed into her work clothes, Carrie went downstairs to get some breakfast and stepped into the cafeteria. It was fairly quiet in there at this time of the morning, as many of the engine crews hadn't arrived just yet, and so Carrie too the chance to get into the buffet line and get her breakfast before it got too busy. After grabbing a tray off to the side, she went up to the buffet line and chose what she wanted to have for breakfast.
After getting what she wanted, including a cup of hot coffee to help wake her up, Carrie went over to one of the vacant tables and sat down, ready to enjoy her breakfast. As she ate what she had taken, she wondered about what the day ahead might bring; would she be assigned to working on a slow freight train, or maybe on a fast passenger train? Or would she be assigned to working on a very special train? Feeling that she would find out soon enough, she continued on with eating her breakfast, as other engine crews arrived in the cafeteria and lined up at the buffet line.
(A little later; 8:00am)
Once she had clocked in for the day, and was dressed up in the necessary work clothes, including a clean set of overalls, her railway cap, as well as some solid work boots, Carrie stepped out from the crew building and went over to be assigned to her engine for the day, or maybe for the morning. As she waited among a group of other recruits, she watched as the yard manager assigned the different recruits to different engines that were waiting in the yard to other engines that were nearly ready to set off very soon, due to the fact that steam was blowing off loudly from some of the safety valves on a few of the engines.
Carrie felt herself suddenly getting very nervous as she waited for her turn to be assigned to an engine, yet she wasn't able to determine suddenly why that was. Maybe it was due to the fact that she still wasn't sure what engine she would be assigned to, as well as what job they would be doing first today.
But eventually though, it was finally Carrie's turn to be assigned to an engine for the day as the yard manager looked through the clipboard he was holding in his hand.
"Okay, Carrie…follow me this way please. The engine you'll be working on for today is right over here." the yard manager said.
"Okay, sir." Carrie said, as she followed the yard manager along to where her engine was.
The walked along by one of the long sheds, and then they turned to the right to step along the front of it, and right in front of them, sitting and being readied on one of the lines going into the shed, was the engine Carrie would be working on for today. It was No.60119 Patrick Stirling, who was a member of the L.N.E.R. Peppercorn A1 Class express passenger steam locomotives (75). There were a few men working around Patrick Stirling, who simply liked to be called Patrick, and were busy getting him ready for his first job of the day, including oiling around the motion and other moving parts, as well as building up the fire so as to make enough steam in the boiler.
"Here's the engine you'll be working on for today, Carrie. Patrick Stirling, one of the L.N.E.R. Peppercorn A1 Class engines that are here on Sodor." said the yard manager, as he looked at his clipboard just to double-check.
"Thank you, sir. I haven't yet had a chance to work on an A1 out on the main line yet, and I'm very glad to have been given the chance today." Carrie said, as she smiled.
"That's very good, Carrie. As soon as the driver and fireman arrive here, I'll assign you all to your job for this morning. And believe me…it's a VERY special job that's to be done this morning." said the yard manager.
"Good." Carrie said, as she smiled, and wondered what the job was.
(75): The Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific express engines of the L.N.E.R. were designed by the last C.M.E. of the L.N.E.R., Arthur Peppercorn, and they were first introduced onto the Eastern Region of British Railways in 1948. Although they were designed during the time when the L.N.E.R. was in existence, the entire A1 Class was brought into service in 1948 and 1949 under British Railways auspices.
When Edward Thompson was C.M.E. of the L.N.E.R., he controversially rebuilt Gresley's pioneer A1 Class Pacific No.4470 Great Northern as a prototype for his new design of A1 Class Pacific express engines in which all of Gresley's distinctive features, such as a cab with a v-shaped front, were eliminated, with the rebuilt No.4470 later being re-designated as an A1/1. The design for the new class of A1 express engines took place before Thompson retired, but the whole process was slow, with it being likely that, due to the rebuilding of Great Northern, the design drawing office was deliberately slow in drawing up the plans for the new class of engine, with only detailed design drawings for the rear part of the new class being completed by the time Thompson retired.
Almost as soon as Peppercorn had taken over as the L.N.E.R.'s new C.M.E., work progressed more quickly on the new A1 design, with the intention being to create a locomotive class that could haul trains of 600 tons at 50mph, or 500 tons at 60mph. The design gradually became more standardised, with a standard Diagram No.118 boiler being fitted as well as having the front bogie truck being placed in a more conventional position under the front of the new locomotive. The idea of streamlining the new design was toyed with briefly during the design process, but ultimately it was never adopted.
The main frames for the new A1 Class were built in two pieces, which was largely due to the restricted availability of steel plates of the required size so soon after the end of the war, with the two parts having a 4ft 8in overlap from the front bogie and over the two leading coupled wheelsets. The boilers for the new class had inner fireboxes made from copper, with the fireboxes having a total grate area of 50sq ft. This size of firebox was meant to compensate for the lower-quality of coals that were available not long after the end of the Second World War. But eventually, as the quality of coal improved, the change to a 50sq ft firebox was found to have actually not been a necessary alteration.
In May 1948, it was decided to fit the new design with a double chimney and a Kylchap exhaust system in order to improve steaming and fuel economy of the new A1 Class. However, as with the Peppercorn A2 Class, there was insufficient space in the smokebox to fit both the Kylchap exhaust system and the self-cleaning apparatus. On the other hand, unlike the Peppercorn A2s, the new A1s didn't suffer from poor steaming. Initially, most of the class were fitted with a chimney that had no lip at the top, but from 1950 onwards these were replaced by chimneys that had a lip at the top.
The new Peppercorn A1 Class were fitted with three cylinders, which were 19in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, driving wheels that were 6ft 8in in diameter, and a boiler fitted with superheating elements and pressed to 250psi, all of which combined to give the A1s a maximum tractive effort of 37,400lbf. The Peppercorn A1s had divided drive, just like the Thompson Pacifics and the Peppercorn A2 Class, with the inside cylinder being connected to the forward driving wheelset, and the two outside cylinders driving the middle driving wheelset. All three cylinders had their own independent set of Walschaerts valve gear driving them. They were designated as 8P6F under British Railways.
In total, 49 examples of the Peppercorn A1 Class were built in four batches between August 1948 and December 1949, with 26 being built at Doncaster Works and the remaining 23 examples being built in Darlington. They looked very similar in overall appearances to the Peppercorn A2 Class, but stood out due to their slightly larger driving wheels.
The first A1s initially didn't carry any names, and were usually only given their names after they had undergone their first major overhaul. Many A1s carried on the Gresley tradition of being named after racehorses, while others were named after places in Scotland, names related to the works of Sir Walter Scott, pre-grouping railway companies, former locomotive superintendents, and birds. The numbers and names of the Peppercorn A1 Class were;
No.60114 W.P. Allen, No.60115 Meg Merrilies, No.60116 Hal o' the Wynd, No.60117 Bois Roussel, 60118 Archibald Sturrock, 60119 Patrick Stirling, No.60120 Kittiwake,
No.60121 Silurian, No.60122 Curlew, No.60123 H.A. Ivatt, 60124 Kenilworth, No.60125 Scottish Union, No.60126 Sir Vincent Raven, No.60127 Wilson Worsdell,
No.60128 Bongrace, No.60129 Guy Mannering, No.60130 Kestrel, No.60131 Osprey, No.60132 Marmion, No.60133 Pommern, No.60134 Foxhunter,
No.60135 Madge Wildfire, No.60136 Alcazar, No.60137 Redgauntlet, No.60138 Boswell, No.60139 Sea Eagle, No.60140 Balmoral, No.60141 Abbotsford,
No.60142 Edward Fletcher, No.60143 Sir Walter Scott, No.60144 King's Courier, No.60145 Saint Mungo, No.60146 Peregrine, No.60147 North Eastern, No.60148 Aboyeur,
No.60149 Amadis, No.60150 Willbrook, No.60151 Midlothian, No.60152 Holyrood, No.60153 Flamboyant, No.60154 Bon Accord, No.60155 Borderer, No.60156 Great Central,
No.60157 Great Eastern, No.60158 Aberdonian, No.60159 Bonnie Dundee, No.60160 Auld Reekie, No.60161 North British, and No.60162 Saint Johnstoun.
The Peppercorn A1s were paired with tenders that ran on eight wheels and which could carry up to 9 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water. The tenders were also fitted with water-scoops so that the engines could refill their water tanks from the water troughs. There had been a plan to originally pair the class with corridor tenders so that they could take part in long, non-stop runs along the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh, but ultimately they never were. This did put the A1 Class at a certain disadvantage compared to the A4 Class which were paired with corridor tenders, and so the Peppercorn A1 Class were never able to work on the long-distance non-stop express passenger trains like the Elizabethan. The tenders were not interchangeable between the different Pacific designs, as the Gresley Pacifics had vacuum brakes, while the Thompson and Peppercorn Pacifics had steam brakes.
A number of features from the Thompson Pacific classes were incorporated into the Peppercorn A1 Class, including rocking grates, hopper ashpans, both of which made the disposal of engines at the end of a working day much easier, as well as a very good steam circuit, which allowed the Peppercorn A1 Class to steam freely. They were also fitted with electric lighting, and a Stone's generator in order to provide power for the lights.
During their working lives on the East Coast Main Line, the Peppercorn A1 Class were allocated to a variety of different motive power depots, including at King's Cross in London, Doncaster, Gateshead, Grantham, York, and Haymarket. They always worked heavy express passenger trains along the Each Coast Main Line, often hauling trains of up to 600 tons at speeds of up to 60mph. The class were capable of generating up to 2,400 drawbar horsepower, sometimes even getting as high as 2,700 horsepower, and were easily capable of reaching speeds of up to or in excess of 100mph on many occasions, with the fastest speed ever reached by the class being about 108mph. They were very powerful engines and could handle anything they were tasked with doing, including their usual express passenger trains as well as the occasional freight train, particularly in their later years.
The Peppercorn A1 Class was generally well-received by both the footplate crews who worked on them, as well as by the maintenance staff at the sheds that they were based at, particularly due to how easy they were to maintain on a daily basis and for requiring far less maintenance than any of the other major express locomotive types that were running on B.R. at the time. The reasons they were well-liked by their crews was for their ability to run fast, often achieving 60 to 70mph on the flats with heavy trains of up to 15 coaches in length coupled up behind them, and for being very economical in terms of their coal and water use.
However, the Peppercorn A1 Class did have a number of inevitable problems that occurred from time to time during the course of their working lives; one issue they had was with their water injectors failing at times, which often caused delays or even resulted in the fire having to be dropped in order to prevent a catastrophic boiler explosion. But investigations showed this was actually due to problems with the water supply from the tender rather than with the water injectors themselves. The water feed through a single orifice through the tender was found to be inadequate to keep the boiler filled with water.
Another problem that the A1 Class had was that their valve gear of the inside cylinder didn't prove to be as reliable as the conjugated gear fitted on the Gresley Pacifics, even though it wasn't a serious problem. They also suffered from overheating axleboxes on the odd occasion, as well as being known for rough riding as well. However, the issues of rough riding the A1s experienced was actually due to a number of different issues, which included the design of the leading bogie truck, the trailing Cartazzi axle under the back ends of the engines being sensitive to irregularities in the track, as well as due to the general poor state of the track from the hard use it had seen during the Second World War. But once the issues with the front bogie were sorted out, as well as the track being improved over time, the riding qualities of the A1s massively improved.
During their working lives, the A1s did have some improvements made to them, which included fitting the class with Smith-Stone speedometers, Automatic Train Control (A.T.C.) equipment, as well as having their vacuum ejectors being fitted with special silencers, as the sounds of the ejectors that were fitted to the A1 Class was often considerably louder than the tannoy systems which meant that the passengers standing on the platforms couldn't hear the announcements being made!
Another modification that was made to five of the A1s, from No.60153 to No.60157, was that their original bearings were replaced with Timken roller bearings on all axles, with the intention on increasing the mileages covered in between overhauls. This experiment worked very well, as the A1s fitted with the Timken roller bearings often covered exceptional distances, with one example covering an impressive 96,000 miles in a single 12-month period. Those engines fitted with roller bearings could often cover an average of 118,000 miles in between overhauls, compared to around 100,000 miles or so for those not fitted with roller bearings. So, although the experiment of fitting roller bearings to the five examples proved successful, it wasn't rolled out to the rest of the class, presumably for reasons of cost.
Due to the exceptional reliability of the A1 Class, they could often cover quite high mileages, with those examples that were allocated to working out of King's Cross achieving, over one six-month-period, an average of 6,400 miles per four-week-period, compared to 4,800 miles per four-week-period for the Gresley A4s. One of the A1s fitted with roller bearings, No.60157, was assigned to King's Cross shed and managed to cover a very impressive distance of 197,000 miles, which was the highest distance that was covered by any steam engine that had been assigned to King's Cross shed.
On another occasion, No.60140 Balmoral substituted for a diesel locomotive which failed at York when hauling a passenger train, of 9 coaches weighing over 300 tons, to King's Cross in London. Yet despite the train leaving York 26 minutes late, the driver of No.60140, who was never late at all if he could help it, managed to make up all the lost time and arrive in King's Cross right on schedule, achieving an average speed of 71.4mph. This impressive feat was another of the finest hours of the A1 Class.
Yet, despite all their advantages as well as their impressive performances in their ability to haul heavy trains, the end had to come for the Peppercorn A1 Class. The first one to be retired was No.60123 H.A. Ivatt, which took place in October 1962 after the engine had suffered serious damage in an accident near to Offord in September 1962, with the next one to be removed, No.60137 Redgauntlet, following in the same month. The rest of the class was gradually withdrawn from traffic over the following four years, with the greatest number being withdrawn in 1965, when 24 engines were withdrawn. By 1966, there were only two engines left in service, these two being No.60124 Kenilworth and No.60145 Saint Mungo. By the end of June 1966, after having worked a final rail-tour, No.60145 Saint Mungo was withdrawn from service and, despite an attempt to save it, No.60145 was scrapped not too long afterwards, with the person who had intended to buy her buying Peppercorn A2 Class No.60532 Blue Peter instead. With a lifespan that covered 17 years and 3 months, No.60145 was the longest serving member of the Peppercorn A1 Class. Sadly, none of the original Peppercorn A1s managed to survive into preservation despite the impressive record that they had achieved on the railway during their working lives.
For years, the absence of a Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific among the list of preserved engines was deeply felt by many railway enthusiasts, many of whom deeply regretted at not being able to preserve one example of this fine class for the future.
However, in the summer of 2008, the absence of a Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific in preservation was solved when the 50th member of the class, No.60163 Tornado, rolled under her own power at Darlington Locomotive Works for the first time. Built by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust between 1994 and 2008 at a cost of £3,000,000, and with much of that money being donations from enthusiasts in the U.K. and around the world, No.60163 Tornado was the very first main line steam locomotive to be built in the U.K. since B.R. Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 No.92220 Evening Star all the way back in March 1960. She was named after the Panavia Tornado multi-role combat aircraft of the Royal Air Force, which at the time that the project was started were flying in support of U.N. Coalition Forces taking part in the First Gulf War of 1990-1991.
As No.60163 was intended to be the 50th member of the Peppercorn A1 Class rather than a replica of any of the original 49 members of the class, a number of changes had to be made to the original design in order to ensure that she was different from the other class members, as well as to incorporate various improvements and changes that no doubt would have been made to the class had steam been allowed to continue to operate on the main line. Among the changes that have been made to No.60163 included;
1: Having the main frames for the engine cut in one piece, as opposed to the original two-piece frames of the other members of the class, as well as having the frames being slightly thicker than the originals with an increase in strength.
2: Having an all-welded and all-steel boiler for No.60163, as opposed to the riveted boilers with copper fireboxes that were fitted to the original engines. The boiler for No.60163 was built at Deutsche Bahn's Steam Locomotive Works at Meiningen in central Germany, as there were no boiler companies in the U.K. that could build a boiler of the size that was required for a Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific.
3: Having Timken roller bearings fitted on all axles in order to reduce running resistance and increase mileages between overhauls.
4: Redesigning the tender so that it could carry more water and less coal; by reducing the coal capacity from 9 tons down to 7.5 tons, and increasing the water capacity from 5,000 gallons up to 6,270 gallons so as to increase the range of No.60163 on the main line to well over 100 miles. The water scoop and the gear needed to operate it was also removed, as there's no more water troughs out on the British main line network anymore.
5: Fitting a dual-brake system, with air-brakes to be used on main line coaching stock, and having vacuum brakes for working trains on heritage railways.
6: Reducing the height of No.60163 by about an inch to exactly 13ft, so as to reduce the risk of No.60163 coming into contact with overhead electric lines. This was achieved by redesigning the boiler's dome and safety valve mountings, as well as redesigning the cab roof and the chimney.
7: Fitting an extensive series of electronics systems to comply with modern railway operating standards, including Automatic Warning System (A.W.S.), Train Protection and Warning System (T.P.W.S.), On-Train Monitoring Recorder (O.T.M.R.), as well as the newer European Train Control System (E.T.C.S.) in-cab signalling system, and GSM-R cab radio.
8: Installing high-intensity LED headlamps, as well as modern marker and tail lamps, and lighting in the cab. No.60163 has also been fitted with a steam turbo generator, as well as an alternator in the tender to provide power for all the electronic systems that No.60163 carries aboard her.
Since she first ran under her own power for the first time in the summer of 2008, followed by extensive test runs on the Great Central Railway, and then several night tests out on the main line in the winter of 2008, No.60163 Tornado has proven herself to be a very popular and reliable locomotive in service, thus continuing the legacy of the original Peppercorn A1 Pacifics, and a very famous steam locomotive in her own right. She has travelled well over 130,000 miles in service since 2008, and has travelled all over the length and breadth of the U.K., visiting many heritage railways as well as having travelled extensively on the main line, going to places that never would have seen a Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific travel over them back in B.R. days. When Tornado made her first visit to London King's Cross in January 2009, she attracted an enormous crowd of well over 3,000 people who wished to see a Peppercorn A1 back in the capital again after more than 40 years.
Among the liveries that Tornado has been painted in over the years since she first ran on the main line include apple-green livery with BRITISH RAILWAYS painted on the sides of the tender, B.R. blue livery, and B.R. express passenger green livery with the early and late B.R. crests on the tender sides, all of which were carried by the original members of the A1 Class back in B.R. days. At one point, she even carried L.N.E.R. on the tender sides and had on the sides of her cab No.163, in order to represent what the Peppercorn A1s would have looked like if they had been delivered into service back in L.N.E.R. days. Tornado also has been fitted with two whistles, as opposed to the single whistle that the A1 Class would have been fitted with back in B.R. days; one of them is a standard L.N.E.R. whistle which is fitted in front of the cab along the fireman's side, while the second whistle she has is an ex-L.N.E.R. chime whistle fitted behind the right-hand smoke deflector. This chime whistle was once fitted to L.N.E.R. A4 Class No.4482 Golden Eagle.
Among the many and varied different achievements that Tornado has accomplished during her working life on the main line and on different heritage railways include becoming the very first steam locomotive in the U.K. to reach a speed of 100mph since 1967. This feat was achieved in April 2017 when she reached a maximum recorded speed of 101.6mph while she was travelling on a test run at night between Newcastle and York along the East Coast Main Line.
On three different occasions in her life, Tornado has even hauled the Royal Train, including on the occasion when she was officially named at York Station by the then Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, in February 2009.
In 2017, No.60163 Tornado made an appearance in the Paddington 2 film, most particularly in the scenes where she hauled the dining train.
But the most famous occasion where Tornado appeared in the media took place in April 2009, when No.60163 took part in a very special Race to the North as part of an episode of the BBC's Top Gear programme, with the train, consisting of eleven coaches, running along the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, with water stops being made along the way at Grantham, York, Newcastle, and Berwick. Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was on the footplate of Tornado for the rail part of the race up the line to Edinburgh, and even took part in stoking Tornado's boiler during the course of the trip, while his two co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond went along the A1 Road, with May driving in a Jaguar XK120 and Hammond taking a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle. For the race, Tornado had several small cameras fitted around her in order to record the events, including one that was fitted on her front buffer-beam. Also, a helicopter recorded much of Tornado's run from the air as she ran along the East Coast Main Line. Tornado managed to complete the journey to Edinburgh, a distance of a little over 390 miles, in only 8 hours.
However, Tornado came second in the race in the race behind the Jaguar XK120, arriving in Edinburgh Waverley about 10 minutes after the car did, with Clarkson completely covered in soot and coal dust from the hard work he had done of stoking the boiler on the journey. Despite this, after the race was broadcast as the 1st episode of the 13th series of Top Gear, the publicity for No.60163 Tornado and the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust increased massively, with more people all over the world becoming aware of No.60163 and her story, and thus raising her profile massively around the world.
In September 2011, Tornado set a brand new record for taking part in the longest single day trip special ever hauled by a steam locomotive in Britain since the 1960s, pulling The Caledonian Tornado from Crewe to Glasgow and back again, covering a distance of over 530 miles. In 2013, Tornado hauled the first steam-hauled special from London Victoria to Sheffield Park via East Grinstead on the Bluebell Railway since 1963.
From late 2021 until mid 2024, Tornado was was withdrawn from service in order to undergo a major overhaul, with much of the work having been carried out at Locomotive Maintenance Services (L.M.S.) at Loughborough on the Great Central Railway. The boiler was removed from the engine and was sent back to Germany for major repair work before being sent back to Britain, while all the wheelsets were removed from the locomotive and tender and sent away to be retyred. Among the things that was done to Tornado in that overhaul was the installation of the European Train Control System (E.C.T.S.) in-cab signalling system, which made Tornado the very first steam locomotive in the world to be fitted with this new system, and which is seen as an essential thing to have if No.60163 is to operate safely on the main line. Once the overhaul is fully completed, No.60163 Tornado will return to hauling special trains and rail-tours on the main line again sometime in the spring of 2024.
In May 2024, No.60163 Tornado was delivered to the Great Central Railway for running-in trials, and in August she moved under her own power again for the first time in over two years. In 2025, Tornado will return to the main line to haul special trains again.
In this story, a number of the original Peppercorn A1s will be appearing as and when necessary as the story progresses.
It wasn't too long before the driver and fireman arrived at the shed, all ready for whatever job they had to do this morning, and after they stood in front of No.60119 Patrick Stirling as the yard foreman introduced Carrie to No.60119 as well as to the crew before he gave them their job.
"Okay you lot…" the foreman said, as he looked through his clipboard, "…I've got something very special for you this morning. You're to take a special wedding train from Vicarstown Station over to Peel Godred Station on the main line that runs through the centre of the island." said the yard manager.
"Hang on…a wedding train?" Carrie asked, somewhat surprised by that.
"Absolutely, and it's something that's been arranged for quite some time by the happy couple who's going to be getting married today." said the yard manager.
"You know, I've never pulled a wedding train before." said Patrick, as he smiled at the thought of pulling his first wedding train today.
"Wow…and I guess we'll all have to do our bit to make sure that the day goes well for the happy couple and their family and friends." Carrie said.
"Absolutely, Carrie. And I'm gonna give you all the information you all need to help make it a successful one." said the yard manager, as he looked through some more of the papers on his clipboard.
"Okay, and what is it we need to know?" the driver asked.
"Right…first of all…the wedding train is scheduled to leave from Vicarstown at 10:30am exactly, and will be going along the Southern Main Line to the junction until you reach Kildane Junction, and from there you'll be sent onto the Central Main Line through the middle of the island, and you'll proceed up the line until you reach Peel Godred Station." said the yard manager.
"Oh yeah, I know there's a very large and popular hotel that's very close to Peel Godred Station, and one which is very popular for couples to have their weddings at." the driver said.
"When my wife and I got married, which is quite a long time ago now, we had our reception there after the wedding ceremony at that hotel." the fireman said.
"Yeah, and when my wife and I were married a few years back, we also had our reception at that hotel as well." added the driver.
"The hotel in question is called the Gleneagles Hotel, and it's one of the most popular hotels anywhere on the Island of Sodor, especially for couples to have their wedding receptions at." said the yard manager.
"Sounds fair to me." said Patrick, as he, his crew, and Carrie looked at the yard manager, as he looked through his papers.
A moment later, the yard manager looked up at them with the rest of the information he had to give them before he had to go back to the offices nearby.
"Okay, now once you leave Vicarstown at 10:30am, the speed you'll be limited to is about 40 miles per hour or so, as the wedding ceremony where the couple will be married will be held on the train, and it's likely some people will be standing for the ceremony. So, we feel that any faster speeds than 40mph could cause some discomfort for those enjoying the ceremony. That speed will also allow plenty of time for the ceremony to be done on the train, as well as for you to get the train to Peel Godred in plenty of time for the wedding reception to take place."
"Fair enough, sir. I understand." said the driver, as he allowed that bit of information to sink into his head.
"Now…in the time between now and when the train has to leave the station, you're to spend every available minute getting Patrick here ready for this special train. The fire was lit not too long ago this morning, but it still needs a little bit of time to make enough steam in the boiler and so it will need regular attention between now and then. Also, Patrick's paintwork will need to be really thoroughly polished and rubbed down so that he looks his best for the happy couple and all their guests today, which means there'll be the need to use a lot of elbow grease this morning." said the yard manager.
"Very well." Carrie said quietly, as the thoughts of having to rub down and polish an engine as big as Patrick went through her mind.
"You'll need to be out of this depot and on your way to Vicarstown Station by 10:15am at the latest, as this wedding train is a very important one that mustn't be late leaving the station today." said the yard manager.
"Yes, sir!" Carrie, the crew, and Patrick said together.
"Well…I guess that's all that I need to give you…so I'll leave you get to work on getting ready for this special train. And best of luck on getting the wedding party to the hotel." said the yard manager, and he turned and went back to the offices. As he went out of sight, Carrie looked down at her watch; it was already 8:10am, and time was of the essence, so it was time to get moving and get the jobs to ready Patrick for his train done while they had the time to do so.
Once Carrie and the driver and fireman had placed their things onto the footplate of Patrick, they set to work at getting him ready for his special train. The fireman checked the state of the fire the first thing he did, and then placed some more coal onto the fire in a few places so as to build it up and have it burn bright and hot so as to make enough steam. Afterwards, he took a look at the main boiler pressure gauge; the indicator arrow was at about 90psi, and there was still plenty of time for the steam pressure to climb even higher in the boiler before they left the depot.
In the meantime, the driver and Carrie, along with a few other members of the shed team, were going about the duties that needed to be done before they could leave the depot. Carrie managed to get hold of some rags and a tin of polish, and then set to work at polishing down the boiler of Patrick, with a few other members of the shed staff to help her. Over the next three quarters of an hour or so, they went all around Patrick and his tender, and really and thoroughly polished down his paintwork, which was apple green livery, so that it looked very smart and presentable for the couple getting married and their guests. All the while as they worked, the fire burned bright and hot, causing the steam pressure on the main boiler pressure gauge to slowly rise little by little.
Once the green paintwork, the wheels, the motion, cab, and tender had been fully cleaned down and polished to a very high shine, Carrie then went onto the running plate along the driver's side of Patrick, and then, after carefully going along it forward to the left-hand smoke deflector, she started work on polishing the nameplate with one hand, while keeping her other hand firmly around the handrail that went along the top of the smoke deflector.
"You seem to be doing quite a good job, Carrie." Patrick said, as Carrie went about the task of polishing the left-hand nameplate.
"Thank you, Patrick. Ever since I started on the apprenticeship scheme earlier on this year, I've always strived to do the very best that I can do at the work I'm tasked with. After all, if I'm given a job to do, I always try and do it well." Carrie said, as she rubbed the cloth with the polish into the nameplate, making sure to try and get into the small nooks and crannies that were in the corners of the brass letters.
"And, eh…all the other engines told me more of the…disturbing details about what you went through at your school back in your home town of Chamberlain." Patrick said, with some degree of caution, as well as genuine sympathy, in his voice.
"And…?" Carrie said with some curiosity, as she continued on polishing while she glanced towards Patrick's face.
"I just…want to let you know how very sorry I am…to hear about what you went through back in Chamberlain…especially with what those girls…and what your mother did to you." Patrick said, as he glanced nervously towards Carrie.
"Oh, it's all right, Patrick. In all the time I've been here on Sodor ever since I ran away from Chamberlain last November…I've largely gotten over everything I went through back home. Added to that the fact that everyone I've met over here is very friendly and so helpful has really helped me a great deal in getting my confidence back, and my social skills up." Carrie said, as she smiled while she rubbed the last of whatever dirt and markings was there out of the nameplate.
"Thank you, Carrie. It's just…I can't imagine what you had to go through in your home town. I don't think I could have withstood it if I had been in your position in that place." Patrick said, as thoughts of what Carrie had gone through in Chamberlain went through his smokebox.
"Well…I'm not sure that many people could, and in fact…that's the reason I ran away from home, so as to get away from the abuse my mother was subjecting to me to on a daily basis, as well as to get away from those girls who were bullying me in school nearly every day, especially Chris Hargensen." Carrie said, as she clambered down from the running plate on a short ladder.
"I don't blame you for doing something like that, Carrie. But I'm sure it takes a certain amount of bravery to do something like that." Patrick said, as Carrie went round to his right-hand side, and then climbed back up the short ladder to the running plate along the smoke deflector. Once there, she began work on polishing the other nameplate.
"Oh yes, it does take some high level of bravery to run away from home the way I did. And even now…I still don't know how I managed to get away without being caught, but I'm just thankful that I did. And I'm also thankful that I made it to a place like Sodor, where everyone respects each other and a place that's very nice to live in." Carrie said.
"Well, I suppose that's a very good thing, Carrie." Patrick said as he smiled a little, as Carrie felt herself smile and nod her head in agreement.
It wasn't too long before all the cleaning and polishing of Patrick had been fully completed, as well as the oiling up of his motion and any other moving parts that needed to be lubricated before they could leave the depot. With that work done, he looked incredible, especially with how his polished apple-green paint and cleaned brass-work sparkled in the clear bright morning sunshine.
At the same time, the sandboxes for the sanding gear had been filled up with fine dry sand so that it could be used to help them get up any hills of they needed the extra adhesion. By that point, it was 9:05am, and there still was more than an hour to go before they needed to be at Vicarstown Station to pick up the wedding train.
"Well…now that we've all finished up with all the various little jobs that we set out to do here…how about we all go and get a cup of tea before we leave the depot?" the driver suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." the fireman said.
"As it does to me!" Carrie said, as a few of the other shed staff all murmured in agreement.
A few minutes later, most of them were sitting at tables inside a large converted porta-cabin that was close by where they could look outside towards where Patrick was sitting on the line. On the counter placed at one end of the porta-cabin, tea was being readied in white china tea pots and brought over to the tables along with mugs, as well as milk from a small refrigerator under the counter.
Carrie was sitting at one of the tables and was sipping from a mug of hot tea, while she stretched her legs out under the table and relaxed after the morning work. Prior to getting her tea, Carrie had thoroughly washed her hands in order to wash off any of the polish and dirt that got on them while she had been working at helping to oil up and polishing around Patrick a little earlier on.
"I think I better enjoy this tea and really rest up while I'm in here…I don't when I'll get the chance to do so once we start our work on the wedding train." Carrie said quietly, as she settled back into the plastic seat and sipped her mug of tea. Looking outside the window to her right, she watched as a few of the other shed crew go around Patrick and making a few final checks around him, including double-checking the brakes on the engine and tender wheels, examining the cylinders and piston valves, as well as a few other things so that Patrick would be in good order to pull the wedding train. She also watched as the men placed two headlamps onto the lamp-irons on his front buffer-beam, with one on each of the outer lamp-irons. Each headlamp had also keen cleaned and polished to a high shine, and their white paint shone brightly.
On seeing how clean the two headlamps were, Carrie felt herself smile a little; it seemed that all the stops were being pulled out to ensure that the wedding train that was to be pulled today would be a success. Turning away from the window, Carrie returned to sipping her tea and resting before she and the driver and fireman had to go out to take Patrick to Vicarstown Station to pick up the wedding train.
(A little later on; 10:00am)
Soon, Carrie stepped aboard the footplate of Patrick, following the driver and fireman who had stepped aboard a few moments before. It was time for them to leave the depot and be on their way to the station and pick up the wedding train. But before they could leave, they just had to stop at one of the water columns and top-up the tender tank with water. There was no need to refill the coal space with more coal, as that dirty job had been done much earlier on in the morning by a man who was driving a J.C.B., which meant there had been time to clean off the coal dust along the top edges of the tender. There was also no need to be turned around on the turntable either, as Patrick had already been turned round on the turntable much earlier on in the morning.
"And there we are…and we're in place." said the driver, as he brought Patrick to a halt in the right place by the water tower so that his tender could be refilled.
"Right…let's get more water into that tank." Carrie said, as she and the fireman climbed off the footplate and made their way to the back of the tender. As the fireman climbed up the ladder at the back of the tender, Carrie took hold of the chain and then slowly swung the crane arm of the water tower over the back of the tender. The fireman opened the lid and placed the end of the pipe into the tank, and then he called out "Water on!" And Carrie, after calling out "Water on!" turned the valve around, allowing water to pour through the arm and into the tender tank.
As the water space in the tender was only about one-third full, it didn't take too long for the tank to be completely filled up, upon which the fireman called out "Water off!" and Carrie turned the valve back in the other direction, shutting off the flow of water. With that job done, Carrie pulled the crane arm back away from the tender while the fireman closed the lid over the water tank and then climbed back down from the tender.
"And there we are! All done and dusted!" the fireman said, as he and Carrie climbed back onto the footplate.
"Very good! Now let's go and collect that wedding train!" the driver said, as he blew Patrick's whistle before opening the regulator a little. Moving slowly forward while clouds of steam shot out ahead of him, Patrick rolled out from the depot and onto the main line. After coming to a stop about a hundred feet or so beyond the points, the signalman in his signal-box changed the points, and then Patrick rolled in reverse along the main line towards Vicarstown Station.
(Vicarstown Station)
Slowly, after going over the points while going steadily in reverse, Patrick very gentle buffered up to the wedding train, which was sitting at Platform 1, and a shunter who was waiting at the side of the line coupled him up and connected the brake pipes together. The clock above the platform showed the time as being 10:10am. The train consisted of 12 Pullman coaches that had been cleaned and polished inside and out so that they would look presentable for the wedding party travelling aboard them.
Carrie, feeling somewhat anxious deep inside, went over to the right-hand side of the cab and looked out along the platform to see what was there, and an impressive sight greeted her eyes. Standing on the platform were a lot of people who were dressed in their finest wedding clothes, and the wedding clothes that the women were wearing were of all bright colours, and each woman had their hair done up in very nice ways. All the men that Carrie could see standing on the platform were dressed up in their smartest suits, including in classic black-tie tuxedos with little dickie-bows around their necks. In fact, the smart tuxedos many of the men were wearing sort of made some of the men look like they might belong in a James Bond movie.
There were even some children there as well, and each one of them were also dressed up in their finest wedding clothes too, with the boys in mini-tuxedos and the girls in brightly coloured dresses. And as she watched them, Carrie thought the young kids all looked very cute in their wedding clothes.
At the same time, Carrie saw two or three photographers, each of whom were also dressed in their finest clothes, who were going about with cameras in their hands and taking pictures of the wedding guests, either on their own or in small groups. From what she was seeing, Carrie knew that this wedding was going to be a very special event, and she hoped that nothing would go wrong on the journey to the hotel at Peel Godred.
In the meantime, as the guests socialised with each other before they boarded the train, a number of the station staff were unloading all the luggage and bags of the wedding guests from the luggage trolleys on the platform and then loading them on board the two vehicles that were coupled directly behind Patrick's tender. These were the luggage vans, and would be used for their intended purpose of taking all the wedding party's luggage and bags, so that they wouldn't get in the way of those people enjoying the wedding ceremony on board the train.
"I wonder where the bride and groom are in all of this." Carrie said, as she looked around through the gathered people, but not seeing the groom or the obvious sight of the bride in her white wedding dress.
"Just be patient, Carrie. I'm quite sure that we'll see them very soon. I'm sure the bride is on her way here right now." the fireman said.
"But I just hope that the bride isn't late. I know that it's a sort of a tradition for a bride to be late arriving for the wedding ceremony, but we do have a timetable to keep for today in getting this train to Peel Godred." the driver said.
Yet, only a few short seconds after the driver said that, there was a cheer from the wedding guests as they turned to look along the platform.
"Here's the bride now, driver!" Patrick said, as he looked towards where the bride was and walking towards them with her bridesmaids. Leaning out from the cab and looking along the platform, Carrie felt herself smile when she saw the bride coming along the platform. The bride looked exquisitely beautiful, with her chestnut-brown hair flowing very gracefully at the sides of her head, and the smile on her face seemed to light everything up. Her wedding dress suited her very well, and there was only a small train following along with it, and around her head was a thin veil that trailed behind her. She was also carrying a bouquet of beautiful flowers in her hands.
With the bride were six bridesmaids, and their dresses were all in different colours, including crimson red, royal blue, light pink, lavender, plum, and burgundy. Each bridesmaid had their hair done up in a different way from each other, and each one of them seemed to be very excited and nervous at the same time.
"Wow…the bride really does look very beautiful." Carrie said, as she, the driver and fireman watched the bride and her bridesmaids went along the platform towards the rest of the wedding guests. For a few moments, Carrie could imagine herself wearing a similar wedding dress and walking up the aisle to be married.
At one point, the bride looked directly at Carrie and they locked eyes for a moment; the bride smiled at Carrie, and Carrie couldn't help but smile back at the bride.
As the bride and her bridesmaids went by where Patrick was standing, she took a look towards him and saw him looking at her…and she smiled at him. For a few moments, Patrick couldn't help but smile back at her as she and her bridesmaids went on by. With a cheer from all the waiting wedding guests, the bride and the bridesmaids arrived along the part of the platform where they would board the train.
"I can't imagine how nervous she feels right now." Carrie said, as she watched the bride interact with some of the guests.
"It's a natural thing to be nervous when you're getting married, Carrie. I know I was when I got married." said the driver, as they watched the wedding party start to board the coaches that were a little further down the train.
While Patrick, his crew, and Carrie waited for the last minutes to go by before they could leave Vicarstown and take the wedding party on its way to Peel Godred, there came the sounds of another whistle, as well as the sounds of chuffing on the line that was adjacent to Platform 2. On hearing the sounds, Carrie leaned out from the left-hand side of the cab to see who it was approaching them. Turned out, it was only No.1925, who was an example of the Southern Railway's W Class 2-6-4T tank engines (76), and arriving into the station at the end of the morning commuter run that ran from Vicarstown over to Barrow-in-Furness on the main land. By this point of the morning, No.1925 was feeling pleased that it was the end of the commuter run, and hoped he would soon be assigned to work on another job.
(76): The W Class 2-6-4T tank engines of the Southern Railway were designed by Richard Maunsell, and were intended to be used on short distance inter-company/regional freight traffic transfers in the London area. Introduced onto the Southern Railway system in 1932, the class were built in Eastleigh and Ashford Works and 15 examples were built in total.
London was surrounded by a number of large freight-marshalling yards by the mid-1920's, which was where long-distance freight trains would be brought to and then reorganised into new trains before being sent on to their destinations. Of these yards, three of them were owned and operated by the Southern, which included Feltham, Norwood, and Hither Green. A fast freight transfer locomotive was needed to run between these yards, as well as across London to other rail yards, which was a major challenge for the Southern's C.M.E. at the time, Richard Maunsell. At the time, the electrified suburban lines were filled with commuter traffic, which took priority over the freight trains that ran along those lines, and the network all around London had plenty of junctions and signal stops.
To work on the trains that ran along these very busy lines, a powerful locomotive with good acceleration and adhesion, and able to climb the steep grades over the flying junctions that could be found all over the Southern's network within the London area. An ability to operate over the tight curves and be able to pull away from a standstill were key considerations that would need to be incorporated into the new design. As the journeys that would be covered were relatively short, and the work would involve frequent changes in direction, a tank engine design was preferred.
At first, the Z Class 0-8-0T tank engine design was considered for this work, however the Z Class was a specialist design that was intended for working in marshalling yards, and so it was felt to be unsuitable for the task of hauling freight trains under the tight timetables across London's busy rail system. Also, the coal and water capacity of the Z Class was limited, and its wheels were deemed to be too small to be used on the trains that would need to be hauled, and so Maunsell set to work at designing a new purpose-built design to work on these trains.
It was felt that a smaller-wheeled version of the K1 Class 2-6-4T tank engine with three cylinders with three sets of Walschaerts valve gear would allow for better acceleration. The new W Class was designed in 1929 and incorporated some components from the previous K1 Class, due to that class having been rebuilt after the Sevenoaks rail accident, including the surplus bogies and leading wheels. A Cartazzi axle was used for the leading set of driving wheels instead of a swivelling pony truck, and other components from the K1 Class were used, as well as the same boiler type that was used on the N Class 2-6-0, N1 Class 2-6-0, and U1 Class 2-6-0 designs were used on the W Class, thus allowing for standardisation between Southern locomotive classes to continue.
In order to handle the heavy freight trains that they would be pulling, whether or not they were loose-coupled or fitted with continuous brakes, the W Class were fitted with heavy steam braking equipment for the locomotive brakes, and vacuum brakes for freight trains that consisted of vacuum-braked rolling stock. They were also, rather unusually, fitted with brakes on the bogie wheels under the cab and coal bunker. Another noted feature of the class was the fact heavy footsteps were fitted on both sides of the running plate just behind the two outside cylinders, giving ready access to the side tanks.
The S.R. W Class 2-6-4T tank engines had three cylinders, two outside and one inside and all of which drove the centre driving axle, which were 16.5in in diameter with a 28in piston stroke, six driving wheels that were 5ft 6in in diameter, and a boiler that was pressed to 200psi. All this combined to give the W Class a maximum tractive effort of 29,452lbf, which was ideal for the W Class to do the tasks they had were assigned to doing. They could carry about 2,000 gallons of water in their side tanks and up to 3.5 tons of coal in their coal bunkers.
The initial order for the first 10 examples of the class was placed with Eastleigh Works, with the frames to be constructed at Ashford Works and the boilers built at Brighton Works. However, by the time Ashford delivered the first five sets of frames in early 1930, the Great Depression had hit, and that meant that freight levels on the lines the W Class were to work dropped off considerably, meaning the class wouldn't be needed for the time-being. So, the frames were put into storage and the boilers were used as spares on examples of the N and U Classes. By mid-1931, the levels of trade had recovered sufficiently to allow construction of the initial 5 engines to continue, and they were delivered into service in January and February 1932.
The last five engines in the class were delivered between April 1935 and April 1936, giving a total of 15 engines in the class, which were numbered from No.1911 to No.1925. The examples built in Eastleigh were initially painted in black livery with green lining, and "Southern" painted in yellow on the side tanks. The batch turned out from Ashford Works were outshopped in unlined black livery, but were later repainted into the lined black livery. The first batch of engines that came out had right-hand drive and gravity sanding gear, while those members of the class that were built at Ashford had been built with left-hand drive and were fitted with steam sanders. Though between 1959 and 1960, those members of the class in the first batch that had gravity sanders were refitted with steam sanders, though they remained right-hand drive machines.
During their working lives, the W Class were used mainly around the London area, where they worked from Hither Green, Norwood, and Feltham marshalling yards, mainly working on inter-company/regional freight transfer duties over the West London Line to Old Oak Common, Willesden, Cricklewood, and Ferme Park marshalling yards. The class was generally well-liked by their crews, apart from the fact that on the members of the class built at Eastleigh, the drivers had to drive on the right-hand side of the cab, which made accurate stopping at signals, or even sighting of such signals, difficult when the signals were mainly on the left on the Southern Railway network. So as a result of that, on the right-hand drive members of the class, the fireman frequently would be employed to keep an eye out for signals on the left-hand side of the cab.
By 1948, due to a chronic shortage of large passenger tank locomotives on the un-electrified lines of the former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, a series of trials were undertaken of the W Class on passenger stock between London Victoria and Tunbridge Wells via the Oxted Line. However, just like the earlier K and K1 2-6-4T tank engine classes before them, the W Class were found to be unstable when they were running at high speeds, and so they were banned from being used on passenger trains.
When the railways were nationalised in January 1948, the W Class had 30000 added to their numbers, and so they became No.31911 to No.31925.
During their working lives, the W Class undertook their work of hauling freight trains, in an unglamorous and unsung life, yet the class did exactly what they were built to do, and did it very well in a reliable, efficient, effective manner for more than a quarter of a century. As a result of that, it was very rare to see them even work on empty passenger stock in and out of stations.
Withdrawals of the class began in 1963, when No.31923 was withdrawn from regular service in January of that year. By August 1964, the final example of the class still in use, No.31914, was removed from service on the B.R. Southern Region. The highest mileage covered by any member of the class was by No.31912, which covered just under 500,000 miles during its career. Regrettably, not a single example of the class has managed to survive into preservation, which is a great shame considering how useful the class would have been on many heritage railways around the U.K. today. Currently, there are no plans to build a new example of the class, yet I'm hopeful that one day a brand new example of the S.R. W Class will be built for future generations to enjoy.
"Morning Patrick. It looks like you've got a special train to take today." No.1925 said, as he came to a stop beside the Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific, and noticed the smart coaches coupled behind him.
"Yes, this is a wedding train, and I'm to take it to the middle of the island." Patrick said.
"It's a wedding train?! Well, no wonder all your coaches are smartly turned out, and filled with such smartly dressed guests." No.1925 said.
"And I need to be sure that I get this train to its destination safely. After all, the bride and groom, and all their guests are expecting it." Patrick said.
"Well, good luck with getting them all to where they need to be today." No.1925 said.
"Thanks, I think I may need it too." Patrick said.
It wasn't too long before the guard for Patrick's train blew his whistle and waved his green flag. At the same time, the signalman set the points and set the signal to allow the special wedding train to depart from the station.
"Oh, it's time for me to be on my way!" Patrick said, as his driver blew his whistle loudly and then opened up his regulator a little.
"Best of luck getting that wedding party to where it needs to be!" No.1925 said.
"Thanks!" Patrick said, as he slowly moved out from the station and out onto the main line, with his coaches following along smoothly behind him. As each coach rolled on past him, No.1925 watched and looked in through the windows at the people of the wedding party sitting in their seats and looking outside as they set out.
"I hope that all those people have a good time today." No.1925 said, as he watched the coaches roll out of the station.
(Out on the Southern Main Line)
As Patrick went along the line over long and wide brick viaduct that went through the middle of the town of Vicarstown and away from the station, the driver adjusted the regulator and the reversing gear, and kept his eye on the speedometer to be sure they stayed at a speed of 40mph.
"And there we are. Let's try and stay at this speed, as we were told to do by the yard manager." said the driver, as he kept one hand on the regulator and his eyes both ahead at the track, as well as on the speedometer above him. He would adjust the position of the regulator every now and then as the indicator arrow on the speedometer climbed a bit too high.
"Let's hope we can keep moving at enough of a speed that we won't be holding up any other traffic on the line." the fireman said, as he checked the main boiler pressure gauge, and then the two water gauge glasses mounted on the backhead of the boiler.
"We will, and we'll get these people to the hotel for the wedding reception on time and ready to enjoy the party." the driver said.
"Do you think they're starting the marriage part of the ceremony back in the train right now?" Carrie said, as she took hold of the shovel.
"Oh, I imagine they're gonna be starting the marriage ceremony quite soon, Carrie. And I think they're all ready to start things off." said the fireman.
The fireman was indeed right about that; back in the train, all the guests were in place and sitting down in the coaches, while in the coach were the actual wedding ceremony would be held, an arch with white and pink flowers on it had been set up at one end of the coach. Some cameras had been set up, so that the wedding ceremony could be shown on T.V. screens set up in the other coaches so that the other guests could watch the ceremony. The groom was sitting at one of the seats in front of the arch, while everyone else in the coach, including the two photographers, as well as the official who would marry the happy couple made their final preparations.
In the coach behind the one where the ceremony was going to be held, the bride and her bridesmaids also made their last preparations before the ceremony began. In the two buffet coaches in the train, the staff also made their preparations to serve to the guests a different variety of refreshments once the ceremony was concluded, including a selection of the finest wines and champagne.
By the time the train was passing one of the first stations along the Southern Main Line, which was Barrowdell, it was time for the wedding ceremony to begin at last. As the theme "Wedding March" played inside the train over some speakers set up inside the coaches, the bride, accompanied by her father, and followed by the bridesmaids, made her way along and into the coach for the wedding ceremony. Her groom, waiting at the end of the coach, turned round to see his bride coming up the aisle in between the seats in the coach, and all the guests inside the coach also turned their heads to see the bride and her entourage making their way to the end of the coach. The cameramen recording the ceremony for the rest of the guests in the train to see keep the cameras on the bride as she made her way along.
After taking her place beside her groom, he and the bride sat down on two chairs set up in front of the desk where the official was sitting, and then it was time for the main part of the wedding ceremony to begin.
As the wedding ceremony began in the train, No.60119 Patrick Stirling made his way along the Southern Main Line at a steady pace, with his driver keeping the speed just below 40mph by adjusting the position of the regulator. In the meantime, Carrie and the fireman took turns at keeping the firebox stoked with fresh coal so as to keep the fire burning brightly and to keep steam pressure up in the boiler.
As they went along, the driver would occasionally blow the whistle whenever it was needed to be blown, including approaching and going over level crossings, passing beneath bridges, and as they approached stations. As they approached Crovan's Gate and then passed by the Skarloey Railway sheds just before Crovan's Gate Station, the speed limit dropped to 25mph, and so the driver had to close the regulator and gentle apply the brakes so they could go through the station at a safe speed. Keeping an eye on the speedometer in front of the driver, Carrie watched as the speed gently fell to between 20 and 25mph. Going over to the fireman's side of the footplate, Carrie leaned out to see where they were as they went along the main line.
Soon, she saw the main sheds of the Skarloey Railway come into view ahead of them as they came round the bend and approached Crovan's Gate Station. Getting closer and closer to the sheds, Carrie could see a few of the narrow-gauge engines sitting on the lines there, including Skarloey, Peter Sam, Rusty, and Duncan.
Upon seeing Patrick go on by with his special train, the four narrow-gauge engines all called out "Hello!" to the Peppercorn A1 Class Pacific and blew their whistles, or in Rusty's case blew his horn, in greeting to the bigger engine as he went on by. In return, Patrick blew his whistle in greeting to the narrow-gauge engines as he rolled on steadily by with his train. The narrow-gauge engines all watched as the wedding train rolled on past them, with the engines seeing all the guests aboard the train, as well as the wedding ceremony taking place in its special coach.
Passing through Crovan's Gate Station on the middle line, Carrie saw two passenger trains standing by both platforms, with the passengers who had been on the platforms boarding the trains while those passengers who were only travelling as far as Crovan's Gate, which included plenty of tourists and holiday-makers, disembarked from the trains. Standing at the platform on the up-line, with twelve coaches coupled up behind him and waiting for the last of the passengers to board his train, was L.N.E.R. Peppercorn A2 Class No.60534 Irish Elegance, who was on his way with a stopping train from Vicarstown to Knapford. Standing over at the other line, with a train of ten coaches from Brendam Docks to Great Waterton, was L.M.S. Fowler Class 2-6-4T No.2405. He was simmering quietly at the platform while he waited for his passengers to board his coaches, when he suddenly saw Patrick approach them on the middle line.
"Morning there, Patrick!" No.2405 said, as Patrick went past him with the wedding train.
"Hello, No.2405! Can't stop I'm afraid!" Patrick said, as he blew his whistle in greeting while going through the station. Then, he went by Irish Elegance, who watched him move by him and on up the line towards Kellsthorpe.
"Good luck, Patrick!" Irish Elegance said, as he watched the A1 head on away up the line.
"Thanks!" Patrick called with a short blast of his whistle, as he picked up some more speed.
On the footplate of Patrick, Carrie took another go with the coal shovel, and worked hard at stoking the boiler with fresh coal. Turning back and forth somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen times, she moved the coal from the coal space in the tender and then into the firebox, placing the coal into the back corners of the firebox, along the firebox sides, towards the front of the firebox, and into the middle of the firebox. On a few occasions in the past when she was working on Sodor, she sometimes found it a little bit difficult to keep her footing when she was stoking a firebox with coal, but today, as they were going at a slower speed, it was somewhat easier to keep her footing while she worked.
After placing about 10 shovelfuls of coal into the firebox, she stood back up and stretched out her arms into the air before placing her hands onto her lower back and pushing her waist forward a little, trying to work the kinks out of her back.
"And I think that should be enough for now." Carrie said, as she handed the shovel back to the fireman, before then going over to the fireman's seat and sitting down.
"Good work, Carrie. I think that should keep us going for a while longer." the fireman said, as he went and checked the main boiler pressure gauge.
Leaning out a little from the cab, Carrie allowed the air to blow over her and cool her down as she kept an eye out on the line ahead of them.
They soon approached Kellsthorpe Junction, at the point where the Southern Main Line divided into two separate twin track spurs, the Northern Half, which they were on, and the Southern Half which went halfway between North Half and the High-Speed Line. As they approached the junction, they had to go at a slower speed as they went over the junction and onto the main part of the Southern Main Line, with the speed dropping to about 30mph as they went onto the main part of the line. Leaning out from the fireman's side of the cab, Carrie watched as the coaches behind them followed them along.
"They all seem to be out and on the main line now!" Carrie called over to the driver.
"Very good, Carrie! Now let's get back up to 40mph!" the driver said, as he opened the regulator a bit more, while keeping his eye on the speedometer. Feeling herself smile somewhat, Carrie looked back out ahead of them as they slowly picked up speed.
"Do you want some tea, Carrie?" the fireman said, as he reached for one of the tea-cans that were sitting on the warming plate over the firehole doors.
"Oh, yes please." Carrie said, as she reached for one of the white enamel mugs that were close to her. After opening the tea-can, the fireman poured some tea into Carrie's enamel mug, and then another one, which he handed to the driver, and finally he poured some into a mug for himself.
As she sipped the hot tea, Carrie felt herself smile a little as she leaned her right arm on the sill of the sliding window and looked forwards. Moving along the line at just under 40mph, they soon came upon S.&.D.J.R. 7F Class 2-8-0 No.53800 coming along in the opposite direction on the down line towards them with a long freight train, made up of a number of different types of wagons and trucks, following along behind him. The two engines whistled in greeting to each other as they went on past with their trains.
As they approached and then passed on through Kellsthorpe Station not too long afterwards, they saw L.M.S. Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 No.43100 standing at one of the platforms along the up line with a line of vans coupled up behind him. No doubt he was picking up parcels and mail sacks waiting at Kellsthorpe Station. In the meantime, sitting in one of the sidings by the station, and being readied for his next job, was B.R. Standard Class 4 2-6-0 No.76040. Workmen and a fitter were going around him and oiling up his moving parts, while the fireman was keeping an eye on the fire (77). The driver was seen not far away by one of the offices and speaking to the yard manager, no doubt about what their next job was and what needed to be done.
Two workmen were seen standing on No.76040's left-hand running plate and rubbing down his lined black paintwork with rags and polish so as to make it as clean as possible before they could head out on their next assignment.
(77): The B.R. Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0, which was designed by Robert Riddles and introduced onto the British railway network in December 1952, was designed and built to work on intermediate passenger trains and on cross-country work. The class were loosely based upon the previous L.M.S. Ivatt Class 4MT 2-6-0, which had been introduced in 1947 but were still being built until 1952.
Although they were a B.R. Standard design, they didn't share the same wheel design as the Swindon-built B.R. Standard Class 3 82XXX 2-6-2T tank engines and B.R. Standard Class 3MT 77XXX 2-6-0 engines, and yet despite that all three classes did share the same cylinder casting design.
The B.R. Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0 had two outside cylinders that were 17.5in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, and six driving wheels that were 5ft 3in in diameter, and a boiler fitted with superheating and pressed to 225psi. All this combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 24,170lbf. The class was also quite light in weight, with the locomotives weighing only about 60 tons in total, with an axle-load of only just a little over 16 tons, which meant their route availability was virtually unrestricted. They were assigned to every region of B.R., except the Western Region.
The first example of the B.R. Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0, No.76000, entered traffic in December 1952, and in total 115 examples were built in total between December 1952 and November 1957 at three works, and were numbered from No.76000 and No.76114. The three works that built the class include Horwich Works, which built 45 examples, Derby Works, which built another 45, and Doncaster Works, which built 25 engines. The final example of the class to be built, No.76114, had the sad distinction of being the final steam locomotive ever to be built at Doncaster Works.
The class were paired with three different tender types during their working lives, including;
the BR2, which carried 3,500 gallons of water and were paired with No.76000 to No.76044.
the BR2A, which also carried 3,500 gallons of water and were paired with No.76045 to No.76052, and from No.76070 to No.76114.
the BR1B, which carried 4,725 gallons of water and were paired with No.76053 to No.76069. The reason these tenders with the higher water capacity were used was the engines using them would be working on the Southern Region, where there were no water troughs.
Those 15 engines that were assigned to the Eastern Region were divided between two depots, with 5 engines going to Stratford, on the ex-Great Eastern section, and the rest to the Great Central depot at Neasden. The Stratford engines were later transferred to Brighton on the Southern Region, and those based at Neasden were also transferred away from London to Chester and the ex-Cambrian Railways territory. One example that ran on the ex-Great Eastern section, No.76034, was fitted with a tablet catcher for running on the ex-Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway lines in East Anglia.
Those assigned to the London Midland Region, about 15 engines, generally spent their working lives on the lines in Liverpool, Manchester, and Preston, with some assigned to the Nottingham area where they took over the 16:15 fish train from 4F 0-6-0. Another pair of engines was assigned to Leicester.
Thirteen examples were assigned to the North Eastern Region and they were allocated far and wide across that region, including to Darlington, Gateshead, Hull, Sunderland, and York. They were later concentrated at either West Auckland or at Kirkby Stephen in order to work on the Stainmore line, as that line had viaducts with severe weight restrictions and thus couldn't take any larger and heavier locomotives on them. Just like their smaller cousins in the B.R. Standard 2MT 78XXX 2-6-0 Class, the moguls were ideal for that line, and worked on the coal trains as well as on passenger services, regularly being chosen for use on special excursion trains from Tyneside to the Lancashire coastal resorts.
The Scottish Region received 35 examples of the class, and they were used on the Waverley Route between Carlisle and Harwick, while others were used on the "Port Road" from Dumfries to Stranraer. Others were concentrated around Ayrshire and Glasgow, and 10 examples were assigned at one time to Corkerhill depot. Five engines were based in Aberdeen, and another three went to Thorton in Fife.
Thirty-seven engines were sent to the Southern Region, and were concentrated in one area around Eastleigh, Southampton, and Bournemouth, and were generally used on the routes that ran to Portsmouth, Salisbury, Cardiff, Reading to Redhill, Brighton to Bournemouth, and over the branch line to Swanage. Their best-known duties were in running the boat train that ran from London Waterloo station to Lymington Docks. However, this duty had nothing to do with the capabilities of the class, but was simply due to the fact that the turntable at Brockenhurst Shed couldn't take any tender engines that were bigger than a 4-4-0 or a 2-6-0. In their last years in service on the Southern Region, a few engines were allocated to Guildford Shed before being moved on to Feltham Shed in the south-west of London.
Withdrawals of the class began in 1964, when 7 examples were removed from service, and more of them were removed from their normal everyday duties over the next three years. The greatest numbers were removed in 1966, when 56 engines were withdrawn from service during that year. In 1967, the final 37 engines were removed from service, with the last being removed by December of that year.
Thankfully, 4 examples of the class have survived into preservation, all of whom were built by Horwich Works, and all of which were rescued from Woodham's Scrapyard in Barry, South Wales.
These four surviving engines are:
No.76017; built in June 1953, it worked on the Southern Region for its whole working life. It suffered a major accident in September 1954 when the driver lost control of it while hauling a freight train and No.76017 ended up going through a catch point and then rolled on down the embankment. But it was recovered and repaired, and continued to work on the Southern Region until it was withdrawn in July 1965. After being sent to Barry Scrapyard, it was rescued in January 1974 and taken to Quainton for restoration. After being moved to the Mid-Hants Railway, restoration was completed in 1984 when No.76017 steamed again in May of that year.
As of late 2023, No.76017 is based at Carnforth Motive Power Depot where she's in operational condition. She's not currently main line certified, but it's planned to certify her for main line running.
No.76077; built in December 1956, it spent most of its working life hauling freight trains until it was withdrawn in December 1967. After being rescued from Barry Scrapyard in May 1987 as the last member of the class to leave Barry, it was taken to Toddington on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway for restoration, but it ended up being stored there for 30 years.
Proper restoration work on No.76077 started in earnest in January 2018, and has been proceeding at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway ever since. It's hoped to have No.76077 fully restored to working order sometime by 2026.
No.76079; built in February 1957, she spent most of her working life hauling freight, mineral, and parcels trains, with the occasional local passenger train thrown in for good measure, and did travel far and wide in her career on the main line. After being withdrawn from service in December 1967, she was sent to Barry Scrapyard from where she was rescued from June 1974 and taken to be restored to a site near Liverpool. By 1989, No.76079 was restored to working order and certified to run on the main line. During its career in preservation, as well as main line working, No.76079 also worked on many heritage railways, including the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and the Llangollen Railway. As of late 2023, No.76079 has been withdrawn from service and put into storage on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway due to issues with her boiler.
No.76084; built in March 1957, she spent most of the working life hauling passenger and freight trains in the North West of England before being withdrawn in June 1967. After being rescued from Barry in January 1983, No.76084 was taken by its new owner to South Leverton near Retford and was placed in its owners back garden where some restoration work was carried out. In 1997, No.76084 was bought by new owners and taken to Morpeth where restoration work would begin in earnest.
By July 2013, the restoration work was fully completed and No.76084 ran under her own power for the first time in preservation at the North Norfolk Railway. The work to restore her had taken 16 years to do, and cost about £750,000. In February 2017, No.76084 ran on the main line for the first time on a train it double-headed with preserved L.M.S. Jubilee Class 4-6-0 No.45690 Leander. In late 2023, No.76084 was withdrawn from service on the North Norfolk Railway in readiness for an overhaul.
From where they were standing, either at the platform at Kellsthorpe Station or in one of the sidings by the sheds off to the side of the station, both No.43100 and No.76040 watched as Patrick went on by through the station at about 40mph with his special train. Both of them were a bit curious as to why Patrick was going at a slower speed with what seemed like an express train following along behind him.
As the last coaches of the train passed underneath the long footbridge and then disappeared into the distance heading along the line towards Rossington Junction, and the sounds of the train gradually faded away, No.43100 spoke first.
"I wonder why Patrick isn't going as fast as he usually is with a train like that one." he said, as he deeply thought about why Patrick was going slower than expected.
"There's probably something very special going on. I saw a number of people inside those coaches, and they were all dressed up in some very smart clothes, so it means that there must be something special taking place on board that train." said No.76040.
"Well, that probably explains it. Maybe Patrick could explain it to us whenever we see him again." No.43100 said. Just then, there was the sound of the guard for No.43100's train blowing his whistle, indicating it was time for him to be on his way.
"Oh! It's time for me to be off again! See you later, No.76040!" No.43100 said, as his driver blew his whistle and opened his regulator.
"See you later, No.43100! Good luck!" No.76040 said, as he watched No.43100 set off on his way out of the station with his line of heavy vans that were filled with many parcels and countless mail bags.
In the meantime, Patrick made his way along the main line towards Rossington Junction with the wedding train, with his driver still keeping his speed just a little below 40mph so as to keep things stable for all those who were enjoying the wedding on the train. By this point in the wedding ceremony, it was getting near to the point where the bride and groom would exchange their wows and say "I do" to each other. So far, the wedding ceremony had gone very well with the ride being very smooth, and those who had watched the wedding, either in the coach where the ceremony was being held or for those in the other coaches who watched it live on a video monitor as it was filmed by the two cameramen who were filming the wedding.
On the footplate of Patrick, Carrie was sitting down on the fireman's seat as she rested her muscles from taking another go with the coal shovel. Right now, the injectors were on and, with sounds of a steady hissing filling the cab, were putting more water into the boiler, with the fireman keeping a close eye on the two water gauge glasses as the water level rose higher in the boiler.
Looking out to her right as they went along, Carrie took in the sight of the open farmland they were passing by. She could see some fields that were filled with herds of cattle and sheep grazing away, while in a few of the other fields, farmers could be seen working away with their machinery at harvesting whatever crops they had planted in those fields earlier on in the year. Other sights that Carrie saw off the side of the main line as they went along included a large group of people, including children, enjoying a picnic with a barbecue in one of the fields, various vehicles going along the roads that were within sight of the line, people peddling away on bicycles on the roads that passed under bridges the line went over, vehicles that were waiting at level crossings along the line, as well as certain buildings, either on their own or in groups, that were seen as they passed on by.
After passing through Rossington Junction, where they were able to maintain their speed as they went on through, both the bride and groom exchanged their "I do's" in front of their guests. And it wasn't too long afterwards before the official who was conducting the ceremony was finally able to say to the groom, "You may now kiss the bride" and both the bride and groom leaned in and kissed each other on their lips as all those watching cheered out and clapped their hands.
By the time the train had gone past Kildane -Upon-Barn Station and was passing by the junction that led off to the left towards the airport, it was time for refreshments to be served out to the wedding guests. The staff on duty in the two buffet cars had set up a wide variety of different refreshments in readiness for the guests, including a selection of different drinks like champagne, wine, fruit juice, and water. Soon, many of the guests were socialising and mingling with each other as the train proceeded along the line towards Kildane Station, which was the last station they had to go through along the Southern Main Line before they could be sent onto the Central Island Main Line.
On Patrick's footplate, the driver was keeping an eye out ahead for the signals ahead, and he saw the distant signal ahead was set to yellow, which meant "Proceed with Caution." So, he closed the regulator and very gently applied the brakes to slow down the train. Looking out ahead as they closed in on Kildane Station, Patrick wondered what the state of the next signal would be. He found out soon enough, for as they approached Kildane Station, they could see that the home signal was showing a red light, which meant "Danger" so they had to stop. The driver, having already slowed the train down to just about 20mph, put the brakes on again, and brought the train to a very gentle stop just before the signal.
"What do you think is going on?" Carrie asked, as she came over and looked out from the driver's side of the footplate.
"I don't know, Carrie. But I think that there might just be another train coming along the main line towards us, and so we just need to wait for a bit until it goes by before we can proceed with our train." the driver said.
"Okay, but how do you think we are time-wise with this important train?" Carrie asked with some concern, as she went back over to the fireman's side of the footplate and looked out ahead.
"We're doing great according to the schedule we have. And there's still plenty of time left to go before we need to be up at Peel Godred, and so the wedding party back in the train won't be late." the driver said, as he smiled at Carrie with some reassurance.
"All right then." Carrie said, feeling somewhat reassured.
In the coaches coupled up behind them, some of the wedding guests were also somewhat curious as to why they had suddenly stopped, but other guests reassured them that they likely just needed to wait until another train had gone by before they could continue on their way.
It wasn't too long before they found out which engine had to go by them before they could move on; it was W.D. Austerity Class 2-8-0 No.90360 at the head of a long line of steel 20-ton hopper wagons that were filled up with freshly-mined coal from one of the coal mines.
"Hello, Patrick!" No.90360 said, as he went on by with his heavy train.
"Morning, No.90360!" Patrick said, as he watched each of the heavy coal hoppers, about 50 of them in all, go on past him.
"That's one long train that is." Carrie said, as she too watched the long train go on past.
"I know…and I've been on more than quite a few of those trains in my time here on the railway as well." the fireman said.
It wasn't long before the end of the train went by them, with the brake van rolling on past as the coal train disappeared into the distance behind them, and with that Patrick was able to proceed on his way again. With the signal having been set to "all clear" by the signalman, the driver, after sounding the whistle for a few seconds, released the brakes and opened the regulator again. With a loud whooshing cloud of steam, Patrick slowly moved forwards along the line towards Kildane Station, gently taking up the weight of the train as he did so.
In the coaches, those wedding guests who were standing and socialising with each other held on tight as they felt the train start to move off again, and as they watched the land outside start to move by as the coaches moved. After a brief pause where they watched the train set off again, the guests turned back to each other to continue chatting as the staff aboard the coaches served out more refreshments.
After passing through Kildane Station, Patrick approached the junction and was sent onto the line that went north and onto the Central Main Line. Leaning out from the cab, Carrie knew they were on the final stretch of track that would lead towards Peel Godred. As they went along at just under 40mph, Carrie was wondering how the wedding ceremony had gone in the train, and if the whole thing had been a big success or not. But at the same time, she knew she would find out soon enough.
They soon approached Abbey Station, which was a station with a very gentle curve within it that went slightly to the left if trains were approaching it from the south. There were quite a few people standing on one of the platforms or on the footbridge that crossed over the main line between the two platforms. Some of them were people who were waiting for the next train from Abbey Station to Wellsworth, while others were there simply to watch whatever trains were going to come through the station.
Just then, there came the sounds of two whistles from somewhere along the line just to the north of the station; then, after a minute or so of waiting, those on the platforms and footbridge of Abbey Station saw two B.R. Standard 9F Class 2-10-0s coming along, which were No.92375 and No.92020, and they were double-heading a long train of heavy oil tankers, with No.92020 leading the train from the front. No.92020 was formerly one of the 9Fs that had been built with a Franco-Crosti boiler when he was built all the way back in Crewe Works in March 1955, but after he was withdrawn from service on British Railways all the way back in November 1967, he was bought and taken to the Island of Sodor, where he was completely rebuilt so that he looked exactly like most of the other engines in the B.R. Standard 9F Class, including having smoke deflectors fitted to the sides of his smokebox.
As the two 9Fs passed slowly through Abbey Station with their long and very heavy oil tanker train following along behind them, they both blew their whistles in greeting to those who were standing on the platforms and waving to them as they went on by. As they went through the south side of the station and down on the line towards the junction, they came upon No.60119 Patrick Stirling coming towards them on the other line with the wedding train.
"Hello, Patrick!" No.92020 said, when he saw Patrick coming along the line beside them.
"Hi Patrick!" No.92375 said.
"Hello there, you two! Can't stop to chat! I need to get this train up the line to Peel Godred!" Patrick said, as he went on by them with his coaches while blowing his whistle in greeting. From Patrick's footplate, Carrie, who was sitting on the fireman's seat, watched in fascination as the very long and heavy oil tanker train hauled by the two 9Fs went on by them, with each one of the tankers quickly going by the cab one by one.
After passing by the long oil tanker train, and then going through Abbey Station, they made their way further up the line and out into the open countryside. As they made their way along the line, which was now reduced to twin tracks, they went through a long and wide shallow valley, with the hills rising up on both sides of it. There was a narrow river flowing south within the bottom of the valley, and the fields on both sides of the valley were of different colours, as those full of grain were of a pale yellow, and others were full of green grass, while others were filled with patches of different colours, which meant there were brightly coloured flowers in those fields.
"Wow…what a sight this valley is." Carrie said, as she looked around at the different sights she saw within the valley.
"Yeah, this valley is one of the popular places on Sodor for visitors to come to and see. Especially to those people who really like hiking, camping, biking, rock climbing, and other different sorts of outdoor adventures and sports." the driver said.
"And I can see why." Carrie said, as they rolled along through another part of the valley, which was much more rugged and rocky, with rocky spurs that sometimes stretched up into the air above the line. There were also rocky ridges that ran parallel to the tracks on both sides of it, with fewer trees and bushes to be seen but plenty of rocks of different sizes and small rugged boulders as well.
It wasn't too long before they reached another major landmark along the Central Main Line; this was Black Lock, or more commonly known as Castle Loch, and it was in one of the most rugged parts of the island, with rugged, sheer cliffs to be seen, thick dense forests that lined both sides of the line, as well as the impressive sight of Castle Loch and just how calm the waters of it were. All around the shores of the loch were rugged terrain, with forests that went down to very near the water's edge, as well as large rocks that could be seen near the edge of the water with their tops to be seen poking above the surface.
As they went along, Carrie looked down towards the shoreline that was the closest to them, and saw that the water of the loch was so clear that rocks could be seen below the surface before gradually disappearing into the depths the further out into the loch she looked.
Then, as they went round a gentle bend, another sight came into view on the other side of the loch; it was a castle, and a very impressive one, with tall towers and walls which made this castle seem to dominate the entire horizon line.
"That's Callan Castle you can see right over there, Carrie." the fireman said, as he pointed out to the castle.
"And that's another popular tourist place?" Carrie asked.
"It is indeed, Carrie. And one which receives a lot of tourists each year from all over the world." said the fireman. Going along the line a little further, they came upon a junction where one line branched off from the other line and went off along an old rocky causeway that crossed over the loch towards Callan Castle. Carrie only got a brief glimpse of the line leading towards the causeway before they continued on up the line.
It wasn't too long before they reached the final station on the line before they got to Peel Godred; it was Kirk Machan, the station where the Central Main Line was linked with the eastern end with Ffarquhar Branch, Thomas' branch line. In fact, as they rolled into the station, they saw Thomas standing with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel, coupled behind him at one of the platforms of the station and waiting for the passengers on the platform to board before he could set off back along his line, with Neville, the S.R. Q1 Class 0-6-0 (78), standing in one of the sidings by the station and being serviced by the shed crew before his next job. As Thomas and Neville chatted with each other, they heard the sounds of a whistle coming from down the line along with the sounds of chuffing being heard in the distance.
"Who do you think that is coming towards us?" Neville asked.
"I don't know, but I think it could be one of the bigger engines." Thomas said.
"Well, I think we'll see in a few moments." Neville said, as they looked down along the line towards where the sounds were coming from.
(78): The Southern Railway's Q1 Class 0-6-0 freight engines were designed by Oliver Bulleid, and they were an austerity-type of locomotive, as they were built during the Second World War to be used on the many intensive freight trains that were being experienced around that time around the Southern's network. Their rather unusual and controversial design represented the ultimate development of the British 0-6-0 freight engine, and they were capable of hauling trains that were usually allocated to much larger locomotives on other railways.
By the time the Second World War broke out in Europe in September 1939, the Southern Railway's network was primarily a high-density commuter railway, much of it electrified, that served London and the south east of England, and found itself on the front line during the war. And a major problem the Southern had was the company had a sever lack of modern heavy freight-handling capacity. The newest design the company had for freight work at that time was the Q Class 0-6-0 of 1938 as designed by Richard Maunsell, but, even though it had been designed and built to replace many of the older 0-6-0 designs the Southern inherited in 1923, it was built to an older Victorian-era principle.
For the British war effort, the Southern Railway was strategically essential war-asset, due to its proximity to Continental Europe, and so it needed to equip itself with an adequate freight-handling capacity so that it could transport the vast quantities of supplies, troops, and equipment that would be requited for the war effort on the Continent. This meant that any new design would need to have a good route availability as well as a high tractive effort in order to move the heavy trains. This was a challenge that Oliver Bulleid, the Southern's new C.M.E. and who had taken over the position in 1938, was given.
So, in order to deal with the issues that the Southern had with moving the vitally important military freight traffic, Bulleid designed the new Q1 Class. When the first example of the class came into service, it looked very different from anything that had been seen on British rails up to that point. The class had been built under the war-time austerity regime, which stressed pure functionality above any considerations of style or decoration, which explains the purely functional appearance of the Q1 Class. The new design used a minimal of raw materials, with all superfluous features removed from the engines, including having the running plates, splashers, and conventional boiler lagging removed. Just like on Bulleid's Merchant Navy and West Country/Battle of Britain Light Pacific designs, they also had Firth Brown driving wheels, except they were smaller in diameter, 5ft 1 in in diameter.
The boiler insulation on the design was made of a glass fibre called "Idaglass" which, although cheap and plentiful, couldn't support any weight, and therefore a separate casing was required, which was similar to that fitted on the Merchant Navy Class. Unlike on Bulleid's Pacific designs, the inner-firebox on the Q1s was made of copper instead of steel. The boiler design that was fitted to the Q1s was based on that of the Lord Nelson Class, and the firebox had the same throatplate and backplate. They were also fitted with five-jet Lemaitre blastpipes and wide chimneys.
A positive aspect of their unusual shape was that, like Bulleid's Pacific designs with their air-smoothed casings, the Q1s could simply be driven through a coach-washer to be cleaned when the manpower for this time-consuming job wasn't available or couldn't be spared.
The Q1s were the final development of the British 0-6-0 main line steam locomotive design, and later classes of medium-powered freight locomotives would have a 2-6-0 wheel arrangement. The designs of standard steam locomotives in the B.R. Standard Range didn't include an engine with an 0-6-0 wheel arrangement. They were given the power classification of 5F by B.R., which was a rarity for an 0-6-0 design, as most never exceeded the 4F classification. The other notable exceptions were the L.N.E.R J20 Class (5F), the L.N.E.R. J38 Class (6F), and the L.N.E.R. J39 Class (4P5F).
The Q1 class had 5ft 1in diameter driving wheels, two inside cylinders that were 19in in diameter with a 26in piston stroke, and a boiler fitted with superheating and pressed to 230psi, all of which combined to give the class a maximum tractive effort of 30,080lbf, making them the most powerful 0-6-0s ever to run in Britain. As the Q1 Class had a total weight of just under 90 tons, they could be used on over 97% of the Southern's network. The tenders that the Q1 Class were paired with could carry 5 tons of coal and 3,700 gallons of water.
Due to their rather unusual appearance, the Q1 Class were given a number of different nicknames, including "Ugly ducklings," "Coffee pots," "Charlies," "Biscuit tins," "Biscuit barrels," "Clockworks," and "Frankensteins." Of all British 0-6-0 locomotives, the Q1 had the largest fire grate, of about 27sqft.
In total, 40 members of the class were built, with the first 20 being built at Brighton Works, and the next 20 engines were built at Ashford Works. Just like Bulleid's Pacifics, they also carried Bulleid's continental-style numbering system, and they were numbered from C1 to C40. They were painted in a plain unlined black livery, with the numbers on the cab-sides and "Southern" on the tender sides painted in yellow and shaded in green.
Their good route availability made the Q1 Class very good freight engines, and they were primarily used in that role, but they were also frequently used on secondary passenger services. However, one problem the class had was that they gained a reputation for poor braking on unfitted freight trains, which was due to the light construction of the braking systems on the tender.
During the Second World War, the Q1 Class thrived on their intended duties, and quickly proved themselves to be an indispensable part of the Southern Railway's locomotive fleet. In fact, they proved themselves so much, that they stayed in service long after the war had ended and served well into the 1960's. Under British Railways auspices after nationalisation in January 1948, the class were renumbered from No.33001 to No.33040, and they still remained painted in plain unlined black with British Railways crests on the tender sides. They were based at a number of depots during their working lives, including Guildford, Feltham, Eastleigh, and Tonbridge, with some also being based at Nine Elms and Hither Green.
Withdrawals of the class began in 1963, when 13 engines were removed from service that year. 1964 saw the greatest numbers of engines withdrawn when 20 locomotives were withdrawn. By 1966, the final three examples of the class that were still in operation were withdrawn from service, including No.33006, No.33020, and No.33027.
Thankfully, one example of the class has survived into preservation; this engine is No.33001 (Southern C1), the very first member of the class to be built. She was built at Brighton Works in 1942 and spent most of its working life at Guildford before being transferred to Tonbridge in May 1958. By the time she was withdrawn in May 1964, No.33001 had covered a very respectable 459,057 miles during her career. She spent most of her life in preservation on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, where she was based from 1977 until 2004, when she returned to the National Railway Museum in York to be put on static display there in her original Southern Railways livery and number of C1. She's also been put on static display at the N.R.M.'s other museum, known as Locomotion, at Shildon for a time as well.
It wasn't too long before Thomas and Neville saw just who it was approaching the station; it was Patrick at the head of his train of 12 smartly turned-out coaches, which were following along smoothly behind. Then, the two engines saw that the Peppercorn A1 was going a little slower than they were expecting him to, which interested them.
"Hello there, Patrick!" Neville said, as Patrick approached the station.
"Hello Neville! Hello Thomas! I can't stop to chat! I'll tell you about this later!" Patrick said, as he went through the station on his way northwards. As the coaches went on past the station, both Thomas and Neville could see all the smartly-dressed men and women aboard the train, so they both knew Patrick obviously had a very important train to deliver today. Just after the last coach rattled through the station, and silence gradually descended upon the station, both Thomas and Neville looked at each other.
"I wonder what kind of train Patrick is pulling." Neville said.
"I don't know, but from what we saw of all those smartly-dressed people in all those coaches…I think that it's a very special train." Thomas said. A few moments later, the guard for Thomas' train blew his whistle and waved his green flag. Whistling to acknowledge the right away, Thomas set off out of the station and back out onto his branch line.
(With Patrick)
After passing through Kirk Machan Station, where they came upon a section of line where the two tracks expanded out to three tracks, the wedding train made its way through a dense forest, with many trees that often came quite close to the sides of the lines. As they went on through the forest, Carrie couldn't help but look around at all the trees and how beautiful the scenery was as they rolled along the line. It looked to be so peaceful in this forest, especially as there seemed to be no one else around.
"Is this another popular place for people to go to?" Carrie asked.
"It is indeed, Carrie. This forest is another of the popular places on Sodor, not just for tourists, but also for the locals as well. It's a very popular place for hiking, picnics, camping, and various other different social activities too." said the driver.
"I imagine so, and I also imagine that it can be quite spooky in there as well, especially at night." Carrie said, as she noticed the much darker parts of the forest further inside as they went along.
"Oh, it can be very spooky at night. And especially so when there's very thick fog about, and when that happens…this forest can be a very eerie place to be." said the fireman.
"Oh, I can imagine it can be like that." Carrie said, as she tried to imagine the forest covered by a thick, swirling fog in the dead of night and just how spooky it would be. After a few more moments of watching the forest go by, as well as seeing how dark some parts of it were, Carrie turned away and took another go with the shovel at stoking the boiler.
After passing through the edge of the forest, the driver gentle closed the regulator almost all of the way and then reached for the brake controls, but he didn't put on the brakes just yet.
"What's going on? Why aren't we stopping just yet?" Carrie asked, as she paused from stoking the boiler.
"We're almost at Peel Godred Station now, Carrie. Just another mile or two to go until we arrive there at last." the driver said, as he looked out the forward window as well as leaning out the side to look out ahead of them.
"That's good, and I reckon the entire wedding party will be pleased that we've gotten them there safe and sound." Carrie said, as she looked down at her watch. The time was 11:45am, and they had been scheduled to get the train to Peel Godred Station at 12:00pm exactly, so they were going to be getting the wedding party there a little bit earlier than had been scheduled.
"I hope the wedding ceremony in the coaches went well, and that everyone will have a good time at the reception at the hotel once they arrive and check-in there." the fireman said.
"I really hope they do. After all, a wedding day is supposed to be a day that the people attending it will remember for the rest of their lives." Carrie said, as she handed the shovel back to the fireman and then went over to the right-hand side of the cab to look outside and ahead of them.
After only another minute or two of rolling steadily along, Peel Godred Station came into view ahead of them, and there appeared to be a number of station staff waiting ahead on the platform they were to be coming alongside. No doubt these people were there to assist the wedding party get off the train, as well as unload the luggage and get them to the transport that would take them to the hotel for the wedding reception.
"Okay, let's start slowing down then." the driver said, as he closed the regulator fully and then put on the brakes very gently.
"I think that'll be enough coal for now." the fireman said, as he placed another shovelful of coal into the firebox, and then closed the flap by using the shovel to lift the catch holding the flap in place. From where she was looking out on the fireman's side of the cab, Carrie could feel a sense of anticipation and nervousness build up inside of her the closer they got to Peel Godred Station. She hoped the wedding ceremony on the train had gone well and that everyone who attended it would be pleased, and also that the wedding party would have a good time at the reception.
Aboard the train, as the bride and groom, and all their guests socialised and chatted with each other, they felt the train begin to slow down again. Wondering what was going on, a few of them looked outside the windows and realised, from the familiar landmarks they were passing, that they were now approaching their final destination. At the same time, those among them who had been enjoying drinks quickly finished them and then set to getting ready to disembark from the train.
Very carefully and gingerly, Patrick rolled along the platform at Peel Godred and then came to a gentle stop at the end of it, letting off some steam in some relief as they came to a stop.
"I've made it…and in plenty of time too!" Patrick said quietly, as he smiled.
"Well done there, old boy! I think the bride and groom, and their guests, will be very pleased too." said his driver, as he leaned out from the cab.
"I really hope so too!" Patrick said.
The doors to the coaches were opened and the wedding guests stepped off one by one onto the platform, as the porters opened the doors to the two luggage coaches coupled behind Patrick and began unloading the bags onto the waiting luggage trolleys. Leaning out from the driver's side of the cab, Carrie watched all the activity taking place as the wedding guests, all of whom looked very happy and pleased, disembarked from the train and then mingled together on the platform, while all the luggage was being unloaded.
"It looks like the wedding ceremony went very well." Carrie said to the driver and fireman.
"Absolutely, and it also looks like we did our job right by sticking to the speed limit we were supposed to be at." said the driver.
"Hang on…I think I can see the bride and groom just along the platform." said the fireman, as he pointed along the platform. Sure enough, the bride and groom, holding hands and both of whom looked very happy, came along the platform together. Around them, many of the wedding guests clapped and cheered, as others took pictures with their cameras. By the bride and groom, there was another man, very likely one of the photographers, making his way along the platform ahead of the happy couple, with the intention of getting more photos of the couple.
"Hey there…both the bride and groom are coming this way." Carrie said, with some concern in her voice.
"Oh, they're probably coming over to get a few pictures in front of Patrick. It's something that's been seen quite a lot on Sodor when couples get married; the happy couple usually wants to get some pictures of themselves and their guests in front of one of the engines who brought them to where they need to be." said the fireman.
The fireman was right about that, as the bride and groom came by the cab, where they shared a few words with the crew and thanked them for getting the wedding party to Peel Godred Station. Then, the happy couple went forward a little way, along with the bridesmaids and groomsmen, to where the photographer was waiting for them and setting up his camera for getting some shots of the couple standing on the platform beside No.60119 Patrick Stirling. Once the couple, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were in place to the side of Patrick, the photographer started taking pictures of the group.
While things were taking place on the platform, the crew of Patrick set to doing a few things before they could leave the station; the fireman opened the larger firehole door and, using the fire-irons, checked on the state of the fire. While he was doing that, the driver and Carrie stepped off the footplate, with oilcans and rags, and went off to check the valve gear, and top up the oil if needed, as well as to check on the bearings.
"I'm just really glad that we managed to get this wedding train here without anything serious happening." Carrie said, as she started on checking the oil levels.
"Me too, and it's really nice to see the happy couple and all the guests looking very pleased from such a smooth run, as well as the wedding ceremony that took place aboard the train." the driver said, as he placed the back of his hand on the right-hand bearing of the trailing axle beneath the cab.
"By the way…where is the hotel that the reception will be held at?" Carrie asked, as she turned and looked around from where she was standing.
"Oh, it's right over there, Carrie. It's that large white building on the top of that flat hill over there." the driver said, as he pointed off into the distance. Looking over, Carrie saw the hotel building, which was three stories in height and surrounded by bright green lawns that looked as though they had been freshly cut recently.
"Now that looks like quite a nice hotel to have a wedding at." Carrie said, as she then turned back to continue with oiling around the motion and other moving parts.
"Yeah, it's one of the finest hotels anywhere on Sodor, and one with a very good reputation that it wants to keep." the driver said.
By the side of Patrick on the platform, the photographer had taken the last photos of the couple standing together beside the smart engine who had taken their wedding train from Vicarstown to Peel Godred. A few moments later, after both of them had given their thanks to the Peppercorn A1, the happy couple and their wedding party made their way off the platform and down to the transport that would take them on towards their hotel, including a special limousine for the married couple. The limo, which was white, was polished to a very high shine and had a red carpet going from the steps of the platform all the way to the open doors on its side.
The happy couple made their way along the red carpet to the limo, as their guests, family, and friends all cheered them and took pictures. After getting into the limo, the door was closed, and the chauffer took the happy couple to the hotel, as all the guests followed along in some special buses. The luggage had already been brought ahead to the hotel, and so it would be already be over there waiting for them.
"Well old boy…" the driver said, as he and Carrie climbed back onto the footplate, "…I think we can safely say that getting the wedding train here was certainly a job well done."
"Yes, I think it went very well too!" Patrick said, feeling very pleased with himself at having gotten the job done well.
"Anyway…I think it's time that we took these empty coaches and bring them back to Knapford Yards, and then be assigned out next jobs." said the driver.
"Okay, but let's wait until the guard gives his signal." the fireman said, as he went and looked back along the platform. At that time, the station staff and those staff who had been aboard the train had nearly finished taking out the trash from the train, as well as cleaning the coach floors, toilets, and anything else that needed to be cleaned.
The coaches were soon cleaned out, and it was soon time for them to be on their way back to Knapford Station. The doors to the coaches were all closed up, and the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag.
"Okay, let's get these coaches back home!" Patrick said, as his driver blew his whistle and opened his regulator.
"Indeed, old boy! Let's head on home, and we'll be able to go at a faster speed than we were able to go at while we were on our way up here!" the driver said.
"Let's hope so!" Patrick said, as he started out of the station, with the sounds of chuffing from his double chimney getting a little louder and faster as he moved away down the line, taking up the weight of the train behind him.
From the footplate, feeling very pleased with having gotten the wedding train to where it was needed on time, Carrie sat down on the front of the tender with an enamel mug of hot tea in her hands. Eager to rest her feet for a while, she took the mug of tea and sat down to enjoy it after a job well done. As she felt the train gradually speed up to a higher speed than they had gone for much of the day so far, Carrie took a long sip of her tea while she contemplated on the job they had done, as well as how pleased the entire wedding party had been after they had gotten off the train. Looking out the fireman's side of the cab, Carrie watched as the terrain went by a little faster as they sped up more and more, and it was obvious that they were going faster than 40mph.
Feeling herself smile a little as she felt the train gradually speed up, Carrie settled back and sipped her tea while she allowed her feet and sore muscles to rest for a bit.
(That evening, Tidmouth Sheds)
Feeling pleased with himself after a hard day's work, No.60119 Patrick Stirling rolled slowly in reverse to the turntable at Tidmouth Sheds, where some of the other engines were already there and waiting for him to arrive. Also waiting there was none other than the Fat Controller himself.
After being turned to one of the empty tracks, Patrick slowly reversed into the berth. Edward was sitting in the berth just beside.
"Now I heard you did a very good job with hauling that wedding train earlier on today, Patrick. After all, I heard from the staff at Peel Godred Station that the bride and groom were very pleased with the smooth trip that you gave them on their journey from Vicarstown. Well done." said the Fat Controller.
"Thank you, sir." Patrick said, with some level of modesty.
"And considering the smooth performance that you gave with that wedding train…I think that there's a chance I'll have you pull more special trains just like that sometime in the future." said the Fat Controller, and on hearing that, Patrick smiled gratefully.
The other engines just smiled, and hoped they could be given the chance to pull a wedding train sometime in the future as well.
"And Carrie…you did very well today too, I hear." said the Fat Controller, as Carrie stepped off from Patrick's footplate with her bag in her hand.
"Thank you, sir." Carrie said, as she smiled.
"Anyway…you must be quite tired after such a long day of work today, Carrie. So, after you get home, get yourself a good night's rest this evening." said the Fat Controller, as he turned and walked away.
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Carrie said.
"Well done on helping to get that wedding to where it needed to be today." Edward said, as he smiled at Carrie.
"Thanks, Edward. I had never worked on a wedding train before this morning, and I'm very pleased that I was able to play my own small part in making sure that everyone in the wedding party was able to enjoy the trip, as well as to get them all to the hotel on time." Carrie said with a smile, as she looked up at Edward.
"And I'm sure that the couple and their guests will be very happy that you helped them in getting them there." Edward said.
"Yeah, I really hope they're all having a good time over at the hotel right now. Anyway…after such a long day of hard work that I had today, I'm going to go into the crew building and get showered and changed into some fresh clothes. Good night, Edward. Good night, Patrick." Carrie said with a smile, as she started off towards the crew building.
"Good night, Carrie." Edward said.
"Good night, Carrie!" added Patrick, as he also watched Carrie walk away.
(In the crew building; the ladies changing room)
After arriving in the crew building, Carrie went upstairs to the ladies changing room, stripped out of her work clothes, grabbed two towels, and then went over to relax in the jacuzzi hot tub for a while. She was lucky to be able to use the jacuzzi this evening, as it was still reasonably quiet in the changing room at this time, with not many of the other girls having arrived back yet.
Resting her tired body into the warm, bubbling, and swirling waters, Carrie felt herself relax as she sat back and allowed the water to churn around her tired muscles. Rubbing some water into her face and then briefly dunking herself under the water to wet down her hair, Carrie rested back against the seat, with her head resting on the pillow, and just relaxed for a while, as she enjoyed the feeling of the water jets flow around her body. She thought about how the day had gone, as well as how pleased the bride and groom, as well as all their wedding guests had been after they had arrived at Peel Godred Station. At the same time though, she wondered how the wedding party was getting on over at the hotel; no doubt they were celebrating the wedding with plenty of good food, champagne, lots of dancing and music, and such.
After finishing up in the jacuzzi a few minutes later, Carrie stepped out of it, wrapped the towels around her, and then went to get dried off and dressed. After all, she would be meeting up with Simon and the girls, and they would be going out for dinner this evening. Not long after she had dressed into fresh clothes, she collected everything she had and then made her way downstairs to meet up with Simon and her friends. After clocking out, she went outside the main entrance to see Simon and the other girls, Saoirse, Alice, Olivia, and Sophie, all standing together and waiting for her.
"Ah, there you are, Carrie! Ready to head out to dinner?" Simon said, as he and Carrie hugged each other.
"Yes, I am, Simon! And I've got so much to tell you all about how my day went!" Carrie said, with some excitement in her voice.
"Well, come on! Let's get to the restaurant, and you can tell us more about it!" Alice said, as the group of six friends headed out from the front of the crew building and out onto the street, where they made their way to the restaurant to get some good food after a long day of work. Carrie was especially eager to tell her friends about the wedding train, and how it had gone, as well as what she had seen after they arrived at Peel Godred.
And that's it for the first chapter of 2024, everyone! The wedding train made it safely to its destination, and without anything going wrong! This is also the longest chapter I've posted so far, with well over 24,000 words in it! As for the next chapter…well, let's just day that it'll be with regard to something that's quite familiar in the story of Carrie! So, until next time, good reading and a happy new year for 2024!