LIVING WITH… No. 2857
What better way to celebrate Churchward’s remarkable ‘28XX’ 2-8-0s than by exploring soon-to-be-withdrawn Severn Valley stalwart No. 2857?
Footplate crew reveal the foibles of this Severn Valley stalwart.
It is probably fair to say that George Jackson Churchward’s ‘28XXs’ were one of the most important and influential classes in Britain. With long-travel piston valves, generous bearing sizes and a well-proportioned boiler, the ‘28XXs’ were rather ahead of their contemporaries. As part of a range of standard classes, they set the GWR up with efficient locomotives for the next 60 years, and several classes – including the BR Standard ‘9Fs’, one of Britain’s last new locomotive designs – can trace their lineage back to Churchward’s idea.
Readers may recall the story of Severn Valley Railway-based No. 2857, as told in Steam Railway 480, May 2018, to mark its 100th birthday. She is now approaching the end of her current boiler certificate, so now seems an opportune time to reflect on how we in the 2857 Society – which itself celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – have been living with No. 2857.
Tender experience
Britain’s first 2-8-0 class started with Churchward’s prototype design of 1903, and No. 2857 was the second locomotive of the slightly modified series starting with No. 2856 built in the closing months of the First World War.
Ed Smith, an Eastern Region driver at Woodford Halse and a relative of our membership secretary, Andy Morris, reckoned that while they weren’t as adept at fast running, the ‘28XX’ beat an LMS ‘8F’ hands down on a climb. The Stephenson link motion-fitted ‘28’ would keep plodding away on a heavy load, whereas the ‘8F’, and even ‘9Fs’, with their Walschaerts valve gear, would fade. He related many tales about working Western locomotives on the Stratford-on-Avon Midland Junction Railway, particularly on iron ore trains for South Wales, and was very complimentary about their steaming and freight-handling capabilities.
‘Uncle Ed’ was less effusive about the footplate accommodation on the Swindon product, and when you look at it, with apparently barely any advance over Stephenson’s Rocket, you can see why. But beware, all is not as it appears…
I can well remember on the Severn Valley Railway firing No. 2857 for a week from Bewdley with my ‘28’ teammate Dai Price driving, while another crew from Bridgnorth had the LMS ‘8F’ No. 8233. Officialdom had decreed that we should swap locomotives each day, but our friends from the north were so wedded to their luxurious ‘8F’ that they were prepared to get up an hour early, drive light engine down to Bewdley and swap coaching sets, effectively swapping the locomotives in one early move. Dai and I, on the other hand, were more than happy to keep No. 2857 all week, even though the weather was pretty dire. Who got the best deal?
Well, obviously each party claimed it had, and to be fair there is nothing to choose going chimney-first on a heritage line, but tender-first we simply put the storm sheet up and stayed snug and dry, while the ‘8F’ crew had their heads out of the
Once underneath, you can simply sit down on the driving axle sheltered from all but the worst of the rain, warmed by the firebox, and just oil round in comfort
side getting soaked, with more rain blowing in over the top of the tender.
Taking a stand
With inside valve gear, locomotive preparation might look like an awkward job, but you have got to go underneath whatever the engine to oil the axleboxes. On No. 2857, once underneath, you can simply sit down on the driving axle, sheltered from all but the worst of the rain, warmed by the firebox, and just oil round in comfort – you can’t do that on a Walschaerts engine. Mind you, that really only applies to the preservation era, as before that they were never cleaned between the frames from one visit to the works to the next.
But there are other details where people ‘don’t get it’. The cab seats are hard little flip-up things from which you can’t reach the controls nor see the road ahead. What kind of rubbish design is that? Once again people have missed the point; the Great Western footplate is simply laid out for driving standing up, for which everything is ideally laid out. Unless the seats or your nether regions are unbelievably well padded, when working a locomotive designed for driving sitting down you are subjected to every jolt and bump in the road
going straight up your spine, whereas standing up, your legs act as excellent shock absorbers.
Going tender-first on a sit-to-drive loco, you are twisted round awkwardly to see the road ahead, usually peering around a large tender. On the ‘28’, you simply turn round and face the other way, with the low tender giving you a perfectly good view.
Another detail which is rarely recognised is that the handles for the injector steam valves are made of wood (or wood substitute), designed for comfort when tapping them open with the palm of your hand. Other railways seemed to make valves which could get jammed shut and which then had to be opened by bashing the brass hand-wheel with the coal pick. One SVR locomotive even carries its own special wrench to get the wretched thing to move.
While the GW handles sit there silently, a tight fit on their spindles, the brass wheels are invariably loose, rattling and jangling for the whole journey, while often as not their spindles batter away at the cab front for acoustic good measure. Swapping locomotives from a dark, echoing, clattering metal box into a Swindon cab with sunlight and peace has always been one of life’s secret pleasures.
Getting leverage
However, for all my admitted bias, there are a couple of features that are irksome. The shovelling plate on the tender is at floor level, meaning that every shovelful has to be lifted to the firehole door, when a higher shovelling plate would have reduced the effort. On the plus side, it at least allows you to sweep up and keep the footplate clean more easily.
The other odd feature is the lever, or pole, reverser. Churchward’s predecessor, William Dean had used a screw reverser on his beautiful ‘Singles’,
Running on the SVR at 25mph, if you try to ‘notch up’ on No. 2857, it is likely to throw itself into full gear if you don’t brace yourself, especially with steam on
so quite why Churchward reverted to a lever is curious to say the least.
The main advantage of a lever reverser is the speed of operation, ideal for shunting, but ‘28XXs’ were built for long hauls. Running on the SVR at 25mph, if you try to ‘notch up’ on No. 2857, it is likely to throw itself into full gear if you don’t brace yourself, especially with steam on. The faster you go, the greater the effect. Now, on 2857, I’d say this effect is getting borderline at 25mph – you can live with it, but don’t mess with it. Go much faster and you will either have to get your mate alongside to wrestle it into submission or wait until the next stop.
Presumably in steam days, drivers would have struggled with the lever or simply resorted to driving inefficiently on the regulator alone. I am inclined to believe the lever was there because Churchward was following contemporary American practice maybe a touch too slavishly, and he perhaps tried to justify it on the basis of cost against the screw reverser, though it would have been surely only a minute difference.
Power in abundance
What, you may ask, is the point of a heavy goods engine on a heritage line where the traffic is 99% passenger? This is a view which can still raise its ugly head among those of a fixed mind-set, and outwardly seems to be a reasonable question.
One benefit of using a goods engine is that there is power in abundance, with really impressive acceleration. The tricky curved climb north immediately out of the platform at Highley presents absolutely no problem for No. 2857 on even the heaviest trains, while the maintenance staff have noticed that reliability remains high as she just tackles any job in her stride, without breaking a sweat. Indeed, No. 2857 has turned in the highest mileage on the SVR for several years in succession.
The other advantage of a goods engine is that the small wheels make it sound as if it is going faster than it actually is, surely something all we enthusiasts rather appreciate. She can trot along at 25mph as happy as can be; more than that, I couldn’t possibly comment…
In his book Under 10 CMEs (Oakwood Press, 2011), Eric Langridge was somewhat scathing that the Great Western regulator could be described as “sensitive”. Well, I can only assume he never tried one, as it is indeed very light and easy to operate. The first movement of the lever opens a small pilot
valve, allowing the valves and cylinders to fill relatively gently for a smooth start. On opening the valve further, there is obviously now some steam pressure in the main steam pipe, which reduces the frictional load on the main regulator valve. Put simply, it just feels civilised.
Compared with some heritage lines’ gradients, the SVR may seem fairly flat, but it is actually pretty much uphill and down dale the whole way along. One ‘outsider’ friend once observed, “You really have to DRIVE on this railway!”
The start out from Bridgnorth station can be quite taxing on a cold damp morning, especially with cold cylinders tending to form condensation, needing the drain cocks open, but with power in reserve, I am not aware of No. 2857 ever having struggled. The northward climb from Highley mentioned earlier needs to be carefully controlled too, as if you let No. 2857 get properly into her stride, she will exceed the 15mph speed restriction over the reverse curves just after the summit before you know it.
But with a climb towards both ends of the line, Eardington Bank towards Bridgnorth and the good stretch up through Bewdley Tunnel towards Kidderminster you always seem to finish every SVR journey on a resounding ‘high’.
Firing No. 2857 is fairly straightforward. While there are various theories about needing a ‘Haycock’ fire – a large hump in the middle – or whether to do the opposite and have a ‘saucer’ shape with more coal at the sides, I have always simply aimed for an even wedge shape, up to the fire door at the back and sloping down to the front. In my experience, she will carry on steaming perfectly just as long as you don’t let any holes form.
Looking ahead
After nearly ten years in traffic, we are looking ahead to when No. 2857 will have to be stripped down and overhauled all over again. While there are always unseen horrors waiting to be revealed, we are aware of several items of heavy expenditure.
The first is that the driving wheel tyres have reached their scrapping size and will need to be replaced, at a cost probably pushing £50,000. The throat plate and door plate in the boiler will also likely need to be replaced, which won’t come cheap.
We are therefore mobilising some fundraising to assist the ‘Valley’ in meeting these significant overhaul costs. The 2857 Society is always happy to welcome new members and details may be found on our website, www.2857.org.uk
Looking back, it always seemed strange that after the initial 1985 restoration, No. 2857 gained something of a Marmite reputation; SVR people either loved her or loathed her. This time around, either people are far more diplomatic, or the loathing seems to have completely evaporated.
Obviously, nothing has changed on the engine, nor on the railway, nor in my experience has diplomacy and banter changed very much, so on the face of it this would seem to be a bit of a mystery. The only thing I can think of is that between the end of that first boiler certificate in 1995 and now, the old prejudices of LMS vs GWR vs LNER vs SR may have abated somewhat, possibly as the older generation passes on and possibly as the engines are each increasingly viewed on their own merits within the SVR pool.
Whatever the reason it can only be a healthy outcome for the SVR, and maybe for railway preservation as a whole if it is replicated throughout the movement. Let’s face it – to be able to enjoy any 100-year-old+ engine that’s still going strong is a great privilege in anyone’s language.