More information on ‘mystery’ holes in Bulleid boilers

REGARDING the hole in SR Merchant Navy 4-6-2 No. 35011 General Steam Navigation’s firebox (issues 273 and 275), the Bullied Pacific Locomotive Association (BPLA) is aware of another Pacific boiler which had similar holes in its firebox backplates.

This boiler, for No. 34046 Braunton, was overhauled in the 1990s by Roger Pridham, who welded in patch plates to plug the holes in the absence of any known purpose.

At the time, all that was known was that they might be for fitting a sand gun or the turbo-generator exhaust pipe.

Since then our drawings archive has grown considerably, leading to volunteer Pete Mason’s discovery of the proposed fitting of No. 21C3 Royal Mail with a sand gun as previously noted.

We have also found another drawing from 1944, showing details for the fitting of the t-generator exhaust to the firebox backs intended for all Merchant Navy and West Country class locomotives.

In practice, this seems to have applied to very few, the majority of each class having turbo-generator exhausts directed into the rear of their ashpans. Which fitting No. 35011 may have had is dependent on the detail of how the firebox backplate was altered.

Mike Johns,

Taunton, chairman, BPLA.