'Spam can' was the unflattering nickname of Oliver Bulleid's ultimately unsuccessful pacific locos for the Southern Railways [later Southern region] here in UK. That sobriquet is totally understandable, given the unflattering lines of this loco, and the oddness did not end there. Bulleid, late CME of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland, had some very odd ideas about loco design, including a peat-fired express loco and a steam-powered thing called 'Leader' which looked almost the same as a typical two-truck diesel loco, but had immensely high-pressured miniature steam engines located within the trucks....
There were three different classes of 'Spamcans' depending on the axle loads - all named appropriately. The 'West Country' and 'Battle of Britain' were classed as light pacifics, and had lighter contruction and lower axle loads than their big sisters in the 'Merchant Navy' Class. As a point of little interest, the market for the Gauge 1 Aster model in Germany proved yet again how little sense of humour our German friends have. It seems that not a single model bearing the name 'Spitfire' was sold there. ;)
All of them, however, shared the three-cylinder design, welded construction and chain-driven Walschaert valve gear enclosed in oil baths. It might have been innovative, but it was not good practice, especially in a war-torn UK with post-war austerities in all areas. The gasket sealants of the day were not up to it, and nor was the technology of the oil. Fires were so frequent that they were hardly worth mentioning, and the loco firemen were used to carrying a large tin of paint to touch up the damage before the loco entered the terminus like a burnt-out wreck and frightened the waiting passengers.
Bulleid, to his chagrin, lived to see his designs converted into normal-looking locos of astounding presence, as can be seen on Stuart's Rebuilt Merchant Navy model. They went on to have full and productive lives on mainline passenger haulage well into dieselisation, but out of the 110 built, only twenty survive.
Quote - Twenty still exist in varying states of preservation, ten in original condition and ten rebuilds with 11 being named after West country locations and the remaining 9 being named after RAF Squadrons or Figureheads including Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The class has proved to be useful for preservation societies due to its good route availability and ample power, with some having returned to the main line to haul special trains. It is not certain that all of the preserved locomotives will be restored to working order due to the very poor condition some of them were in when purchased and the increasing cost of materials.
Sadly, 'Spitfire' is not one of them. It was destroyed in an horrific train wreck in early December 1957, when the engineer, blinded by dense fog drifting along his line-of-sight from that 'aerodynamic casing', missed two caution and the final red light and plowed into an unexpectedly stationary commuter train - also bringing down a major highway bridge onto the ensuing disaster. The loss of life - ninety were killed and over a hundred injured - and damage to property was both horrific and substantial.
See Lewisham train crash on Google/Youtube - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewisham_rail_crash.
This new loco - Aster, by the way - is in the original Southern Railways malachite green, and still has their rather odd European-style classification and road number.
It's alchohol-fired, and was bumbling around as you see for about half an hour. The temp was around 34F with a strong wind, which was not helping good steam production - in spite of all that streamlined casing, the boiler inside is not lagged.
Enjoy.
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
