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Lot Essay
The Prototype
Francis W. Webb was a very fine nineteenth-century locomotive engineer whose efforts on behalf of his parent company, the London and North Western Railway of England (LNWR) have often been more than a little misunderstood, not least because of his later ventures into compound steam propulsion of which this fine model is a typical example. Compound propulsion in railway terms simply implies the re-use of exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder(s) by way of a second use of this lower pressure steam in a low pressure cylinder or cylinders prior to its final exhaust into the atmosphere. It thereby confers both theoretical and economically practical advantages and Francis Webb was more than well aware of these facts.
His cheaply produced simple expansion locomotives of all types, a vital ingredient in the commercial success of his company, served the LNWR extremely well for many years, but during the 1880's Webb began to think in terms of compound designs, largely to achieve even greater cost savings. His subsequent compound types may well have achieved a similar form of commercial recognition (some of them actually did just this!) had it not been for the 'dead hand' of management which did not really understand the true nature of what he was trying to do.
Whatever, Webb still managed to get quite a few compounds into service, most of which worked reasonably well in traffic despite their subsequent condemnation by so-called latter-day 'experts' who never actually experienced the locomotives in traffic, much less understood what they were really all about(!). Much nonsense was both spoken and written about the Webb compounds both at the time of their building and afterwards, but what cannot be denied is that amongst them was a series of interesting express passenger three-cylinder 2-2-2-0 tender locomotives with two high pressure outside cylinders which, originating in 1882, later managed to achieve more than a degree of fame in the form of the quite exceptional performances over many years of the celebrated Jeanie Deans, built in 1890, and its several sisters.
In 1887, during the middle of this design phase, a one-off three-cylinder compound 2-2-2-2T was also built and numbered 600. It was, coincidentally, the 3000th locomotive to be built at Crewe and the reasons for its construction remain somewhat obscure, as does its intended work. Nevertheless, this unique locomotive has gone down in history as an important contribution to the larger story and forms the prototype for this fine model. Despite its unique status in the prototype context, it is wholly typical of a design concept which was of no little significance in late nineteenth-century circumstances.
There are few large scale model examples at all of this very interesting phase in British steam locomotive development, much less any that are in full working compound configuration. So, despite the fact that it represents a 'one-off' prototype, this excellent model truly encapsulates a significant phase in British locomotive history.
Francis W. Webb was a very fine nineteenth-century locomotive engineer whose efforts on behalf of his parent company, the London and North Western Railway of England (LNWR) have often been more than a little misunderstood, not least because of his later ventures into compound steam propulsion of which this fine model is a typical example. Compound propulsion in railway terms simply implies the re-use of exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder(s) by way of a second use of this lower pressure steam in a low pressure cylinder or cylinders prior to its final exhaust into the atmosphere. It thereby confers both theoretical and economically practical advantages and Francis Webb was more than well aware of these facts.
His cheaply produced simple expansion locomotives of all types, a vital ingredient in the commercial success of his company, served the LNWR extremely well for many years, but during the 1880's Webb began to think in terms of compound designs, largely to achieve even greater cost savings. His subsequent compound types may well have achieved a similar form of commercial recognition (some of them actually did just this!) had it not been for the 'dead hand' of management which did not really understand the true nature of what he was trying to do.
Whatever, Webb still managed to get quite a few compounds into service, most of which worked reasonably well in traffic despite their subsequent condemnation by so-called latter-day 'experts' who never actually experienced the locomotives in traffic, much less understood what they were really all about(!). Much nonsense was both spoken and written about the Webb compounds both at the time of their building and afterwards, but what cannot be denied is that amongst them was a series of interesting express passenger three-cylinder 2-2-2-0 tender locomotives with two high pressure outside cylinders which, originating in 1882, later managed to achieve more than a degree of fame in the form of the quite exceptional performances over many years of the celebrated Jeanie Deans, built in 1890, and its several sisters.
In 1887, during the middle of this design phase, a one-off three-cylinder compound 2-2-2-2T was also built and numbered 600. It was, coincidentally, the 3000th locomotive to be built at Crewe and the reasons for its construction remain somewhat obscure, as does its intended work. Nevertheless, this unique locomotive has gone down in history as an important contribution to the larger story and forms the prototype for this fine model. Despite its unique status in the prototype context, it is wholly typical of a design concept which was of no little significance in late nineteenth-century circumstances.
There are few large scale model examples at all of this very interesting phase in British steam locomotive development, much less any that are in full working compound configuration. So, despite the fact that it represents a 'one-off' prototype, this excellent model truly encapsulates a significant phase in British locomotive history.