More on Thompson

I HAVE enjoyed reading the article (April issue) and subsequent letters about Edward Thompson and his locomotives.

The last Thompson ‘Pacific’ went to the scrapyard in 1965 and none have been preserved. It therefore follows that no one under the age of 60 can have any recollection or experience of his ‘Pacifics’. They only know they were inferior to the other LNER ‘Pacifics’ because they will have read it somewhere.

Perhaps what is needed is a newbuild Thompson A2/3, a friendly rival to No. 60163 Tornado. Once the present ‘County’, ‘Grange’, ‘Patriot’ and ‘Clan’ newbuilds are completed, with the exception of the solitary W1 No. 60700, a Thompson ‘Pacific’ will be the only large express locomotive of the BR era not in existence.

James Rogers Harrogate

WE are indebted to Nicola Fox for ending a long-standing misconception concerning Edward Thompson. It is appropriate that she has concluded with Richard Hardy’s epitaph.

Regarding the rebuilding of the P2 Class, one could not say that their performance was poor, but there was a question mark over their effect on the track. It was probably assumed that their rebuilding was uncontroversial, but an engineer was sent from the CME’s office to Scotland to advise that further criticism of the decision to rebuild would be a career-limiting action.

The rebuilt P2s were speedy engines, but unfortunately lacked adhesion – which was the reason for their being banished from Scotland. It is possible that the Class was not transferred because of a reputation for becoming derailed on short radius curves, such as in loco depots.

Robin Russell Waikato, New Zealand