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    The Little Book of Steam
    The Little Book of Steam
    The Little Book of Steam
    Ebook165 pages1 hour

    The Little Book of Steam

    By Clive Groome

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    About this ebook

    Little Book of Steam tells the evocative story of steam railways from the end of the 18th century, when an early pioneer built a small, three-wheeled steam-powered machine. Soon after a simple steam engine was pulling coal wagons in Wales, and just 21 years later the world's first public railway opened between Stockton and Darlington. By the 1960's steam engines were on their way out to be replaced by the less romantic diesel and electric locomotives. But the steam legacy lives on, thanks to the hard work and dedication of enthusiasts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherG2 Rights
    Release dateNov 7, 2014
    ISBN9781782819530
    The Little Book of Steam

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      Book preview

      The Little Book of Steam - Clive Groome

      Introduction

      TWENTY-ONE YEARS AFTER Trevithick had first demonstrated that self-propelled steam engines could haul colliery wagons better than horses, the first public railway, the Stockton and Darlington, commenced operation. A machine which resembled a large iron grasshopper on wheels attracted the awe and attention of the local populace. Like the horses that still laboured in the service of Mankind the strange machine had a body heat that could be felt as the onlookers approached with wary steps. It smelled of hot iron and warm oil and above its tall chimney the air shimmered, enlivened by the rising gases from its furnace. Its attendant driver and grimy fireman performed arcane and unfamiliar acts standing aloof from the crowd on the small footplating fixed to the machine’s barrel, and lo, the machine’s metal limbs twitched and its breath came in gasps as it lurched into movement. With no horse in the shafts and dripping water that fizzed and spat at the flinching yet delighted audience, it slowly rolled forward, creaking, squeaking, its iron wheels bearing down on iron rails.

      The opening of the Stockton and Darlington, the first ever public railway, in 1825

      A hundred and eighty years later the driver of any steam locomotive will find himself and his machine to be the object of intense interest. Delight will shine in the eyes of young children as they mimic with their arms the rise and fall of the coupling rods, or whoop in imitation of the engines whistle as it runs into the station. Quite clearly this machine has enduring charisma. We who are privileged to operate them are no less entranced by the need to learn and practice the art of managing their power, and are no less aware of the beauty of their varied shapes and distinctive voices.

      Today when most of us find that computers have taken the satisfaction out of performing almost all jobs, be they administrative or manual, eight hundred people a year ask me to teach them to drive a steam engine. Men (and women) of all ages and from around the world have applied themselves to the hard and dirty work of managing a steam locomotive to a safe and efficient standard under close supervision. In some cases an introductory session sets them off on the long (ten-year) road to qualifying as a driver on a preserved line. For the majority a one-day session fulfils a dream that was unrealised but ever present since childhood.

      It may not look much, but this was the first steam-powered railway engine

      Although this Little Book of Steam starts out with the large stationary pumping engines of Newcomen and Watt its main topic will be the railway steam locomotives that were made possible by the raising of working pressures and consequent miniaturisation of engines (a locomotive has at least two engines). Locomotive is a long and sometimes cumbersome word, so I will often refer to them as engines instead. Today it is common for the public to ask me which ‘train’ they will drive when they mean which engine. I suppose the multiple unit diesel or electric sets that make up the modern train may have blurred the distinction between the conveyance and the power source for the average passenger.

      This study, however brief and within a little book, of the development of the steam locomotive over a two hundred year period will explain why engines look the way they do. It will offer a general description of the way they work and of how the men that developed them came together then branched out on their individual paths of creative effort.

      Locomotion pulled the first passengers on the first railway line

      The overall dish will be flavoured by the spice that is unavoidable if the cook happens to be a professional operator of the machine in question and has done so for the major part of his adult life. This old engineman had a revelation the other day when he stood on the footplate of the recreated broad gauge engine Firefly at the Didcot Railway Centre. I was in the company of driver Peter Jennings and fireman, and chairman of the Firefly group, Sam Bee. The revelation went like this: I was standing on the footplate of a small 2-2-2 tender locomotive, the size of the single driving wheel was about seven feet. Its splasher had openings through which the wheel spokes were visible and I was prevented from falling off the footplate by low ornamental railings, much like those that can sometimes be found surrounding a bed of flowers, and I was reminded of an early paddle steamer. In front of me I found no spectacle plate, no windows through which to look and hence no cab or cab roof! And yet Sam informed me that this class of locomotive regularly ran trains to Paddington from Westbury at speeds of up to sixty miles per hour, in all weathers and by night and day.

      Now, I know what this means, because I have driven old tender locomotives in reverse at almost the same speed. In the winter it is horrible and painful to the ears, the eyes and the jaw! And we had a cab and cab roof around us. For the first time I saluted the courage and strength of the men that did their work with less than a garden gate between them and being cast overboard at speed. Between them and the elements that struck at them from all sides while one shovelled and the other peered, watery eyed, looking for dim oil lamps that signalled yay or nay to their onward rush. And the brakes were yet to be made perfect, and they did eighteen hour days very often because one man one engine was the rule and they would have hated another man’s hand to operate their engine.

      So for the first time I appreciated the courage of these old timers who were the astronauts of their age. Now the early history of the steam engine came to life and I looked anew at the old prints and plans of Stephenson’s, Gooch’s and Crampton’s machines. Dry historical facts are enlivened. The early days, made tedious by endless repetition in text books, are, to this engine-driving man at least, now full of human endeavour and stoicism. As the story unfolds we must imagine these ‘old timers’ regaling newcomers to their craft with tales of derring do (we still do this to newcomers to the footplate). The hours on duty had to be reduced before the sleep inducing over all cabs could be introduced in Britain. Improvements in steel led to faster speeds. Improvements to pay led to larger engines, therefore higher productivity from less engines per train and less engine crews to work them.

      Engine drivers were proud of their job and this one has a young enthusiast in the cab

      Enginemen were seldom as scruffy as the average film director or costume manager dictates to the professional stunt driver of steam locomotives today! Please note… enginemen were generally the dandies of the manual workers, silk hatted aristocrats of the line wrote someone. Main line drivers and firemen wore collars and ties. Drivers had polished shoes. Overalls were sometimes starched by mother at home. One has only to look at the old prints of enginemen and early photographs to see the pride taken in the turnout of the locomotive and its crew.

      The locomotives of Britain were exported and adapted to the rougher conditions prevailing in the USA and elsewhere. Many of the adaptations came back to the home country and carried forward the improvements into British practice. Particularly in the case of the GWR which became American/French in order to create the best boiler and engine layout of the day.

      Experimental designs are hard to justify to those that have to pay for them and perhaps lose the prospect of dividends if a mistake is made by the Chief Mechanical Engineer. Following America’s lead, simplicity of maintenance and cheapness of construction eventually became the order of the day in the final sad days of main line British steam.

      But, as in all good stories, the hero -defeated, succumbs only to bound back reinvigorated - in our case by the undiminished desire of laymen and some stubborn railwaymen to see and operate their beloved steam locomotives again. We have today several hundred examples of the old machines still operating, with a small number of completely new machines outshopped or

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