Part Eight

This is written as an introduction to the articles entitled “Some Locomotive Boiler Statistics” By Doug Landau, which appeared in the Stephenson Locomotive Society Journals for Sept / Oct 2004 & Nov / Dec 2004. In these articles the costs have been rationalised to the year 1954, I have therefore done a little research into exactly how many A4 Boilers ( To Diagram 107 ) were still extant in that year, and came up with a total of 44. This total is made up as follows :-

1/. From the original 35 boilers initially built for the Engines, 23 survived at the end of 1954, 10 had been withdrawn from service ( 1950 to and including 1954),one had been withdrawn due to Bomb damage during the war, and one was in use as a Stationary Boiler.
2/. 5 Spare boilers built 1939 – 1940 were still in use.
3/. 3 Thompson built boilers from 1945 were still in use. (One of these Boilers No. 9487 was initially used on the rebuilt GREAT NORTHERN, but was in use on a Class A4 Engine in 1954).
4/. 15 new boilers built 1951 – 1953 were available for use.

During 1954 a total of 27 Class A4 Engines received a General Overhaul, as follows :-

January , 60016, 60024, 60031, 60034.
February, 60001
March, 60005, 60012, 60013,60021, 60023, 60032.
April, 60009, 60022, 60025, 60029, 60030.
May, 60002.
June, 60003, 60018.
August, 60028.
September, 60026.
October, 60006, 60015.
November, 60017. 60018, 60019.
December, 60014.

Trying to match Engine Record Cards, and Boiler Record Cards held at the N.R.M. is a daunting task, as neither are a full set, so therefore errors are likely to occur. Table 4 “ General Repairs, Boiler Lifts, & New Boilers – 10 Year Averages & Statistics”, is I believe slightly inaccurate with regard to the New Boilers Fitted to the A4 Class. As far as I can ascertain New Boilers were fitted as follows :-

1951- 3 New Boilers fitted, Nos. 29310, 29312, & 29314.
1952- 7 New Boilers fitted, Nos. 29311, 29313, 29315, 29316, 29317, 29318, & 29319.
1953- 5 New Boilers fitted, Nos. 29320, 29321, 29322, 29323, & 29324.
1957- 4 New Boilers fitted, Nos. 29325, 29326, 29327,& 29328.
1959- 8 New Boilers fitted, Nos. 29330, 29331, 29332, 29333, 29334, 27960, 27962, & 27963.
1960- 14 New Boilers fitted, Nos. 29335, 29336, 29337, 29338, 27961, 27964, & 27965.
Giving a Total of 41 New boilers fitted in the 10 Year Period under consideration.

The year 1961 is outside the parameters of Table 4 but for the sake of completeness the final 3 New Boilers that were fitted in that year were No’s. 27967, 27969, & 27974. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that there are 4 boilers missing from the above Summary.
They were never fitted to Class A4 Engines.
Boiler No. 29329 was fitted new to Class A1/1 No.60113 in 1957 and subsequently was fitted to Class A3’s No. 60071 & 60089.
Boiler No. 29339 was fitted new to Class A3 No. 60043 in 1960 , and subsequently to Class A3 No. 60097.
Boiler No. 27968 was fitted new to Class A3 No. 60039 in 1961.
Finally Boiler No. 27973 was fitted new to Class A3 No. 60109 in 1961.

Hopefully the above information will be helpful in understanding and interpreting the costs in the following article.

Researched and written by Mel Haigh,
Education Officer, Sir Nigel Gresley Locomotive Trust Ltd.
First published in Chime 138, Winter 2005
Continue to Part Nine
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