ian_nl2014
LNER 10000 - Skills and know-how from a bygone age
A hand-drawn technical sketch made in 1930 showing the lateral displacements of a steam locomotive in a sharp curve.
At that time engineering drawings were made in 2 stages: the draughtsman worked out his design in pencil on paper, and then a tracer made a neater, more legible version in indian ink on drawing-linen. The latter was stronger and more durable than paper, and translucent. That was necessary for the subsequent process of making copies for the production departments: the “blueprints” with white lines on a blue background. Both the draughtsman and the tracer made use of special drawing instruments to produce their work. The draughtsman was almost invariably a man and the tracer mostly a young woman.
The subject of this sketch is the LNER experimental locomotive 10000, built at Darlington to a design by Nigel Gresley, whose famous A3 class (such as Flying Scotsman) was in production at the same time. No 10000 was a 4-cylinder compound equipped with a high-pressure marine-type water-tube boiler, with the intention of reducing coal consumption. The futuristic shape was partly determined by the layout and construction of the boiler but also by wind tunnel tests. The LNER subcontracted the boiler to Yarrow Shipyards on the Clyde, and had to transport it -under wraps- to Darlington on the partly finished loco underframe over the Scottish tracks of competitor LMS. The whole project was surrounded by secrecy, and the locomotive became popularly known as “Hush-Hush”.
Unfortunately no 10000 experienced many teething troubles and continually underwent modifications large and small. These problems contrasted sharply with the almost immediate success of Gresley’s A4 streamliners which took the railway world by storm in 1935. That led to the decision to stop further development of the locomotive. In 1937 she was extensively rebuilt in Doncaster with a conventional boiler and the appearance of a stretched A4, surviving until 1957. Remarkably, the water tube boiler was used in a stationary capacity at Darlington works until 1965.
This drawing was saved from the skip at Doncaster by one of the many technicians who were transferred to the centralised Derby Railway Technical Centre around 1970.
LNER 10000 - Skills and know-how from a bygone age
A hand-drawn technical sketch made in 1930 showing the lateral displacements of a steam locomotive in a sharp curve.
At that time engineering drawings were made in 2 stages: the draughtsman worked out his design in pencil on paper, and then a tracer made a neater, more legible version in indian ink on drawing-linen. The latter was stronger and more durable than paper, and translucent. That was necessary for the subsequent process of making copies for the production departments: the “blueprints” with white lines on a blue background. Both the draughtsman and the tracer made use of special drawing instruments to produce their work. The draughtsman was almost invariably a man and the tracer mostly a young woman.
The subject of this sketch is the LNER experimental locomotive 10000, built at Darlington to a design by Nigel Gresley, whose famous A3 class (such as Flying Scotsman) was in production at the same time. No 10000 was a 4-cylinder compound equipped with a high-pressure marine-type water-tube boiler, with the intention of reducing coal consumption. The futuristic shape was partly determined by the layout and construction of the boiler but also by wind tunnel tests. The LNER subcontracted the boiler to Yarrow Shipyards on the Clyde, and had to transport it -under wraps- to Darlington on the partly finished loco underframe over the Scottish tracks of competitor LMS. The whole project was surrounded by secrecy, and the locomotive became popularly known as “Hush-Hush”.
Unfortunately no 10000 experienced many teething troubles and continually underwent modifications large and small. These problems contrasted sharply with the almost immediate success of Gresley’s A4 streamliners which took the railway world by storm in 1935. That led to the decision to stop further development of the locomotive. In 1937 she was extensively rebuilt in Doncaster with a conventional boiler and the appearance of a stretched A4, surviving until 1957. Remarkably, the water tube boiler was used in a stationary capacity at Darlington works until 1965.
This drawing was saved from the skip at Doncaster by one of the many technicians who were transferred to the centralised Derby Railway Technical Centre around 1970.