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Ernest Steel's 7¼ inch gauge S.R. 'West Country' Pacific

As compiled and contributed by Martyn

This set of 80+ drawings by Ernest Steel, (Henry Greenly's son-in-law) of the SR 'West Country' No. 34051 Winston Churchill in 7¼ inch gauge, was completed for Bassett Lowke in the mid 1960s, (after the funeral train of Sir Winston was drawn by No. 34051 on 30th January 1965).  The drawings are now owned by Maxitrak/Maidstone Engineering as part of the Greenly Archive, and can be purchased from them either on paper or as scanned jpg files. (see maxitrak.com/maxitrak-greenly-archive).

                                
The design is of the locomotive as originally built, ie. non-rebuilt and follows very closely the original full size design including the three cylinders, piston valves with chain driven valve gear, fabricated smoke box with the profile of the air smoothed casing.  The valve gear is not however completely enclosed in a crankcase, rather only the chain drive mechanism is enclosed in a purpose designed case.  The scaled width is 9 ft. of the later West Country Pacifics, not the 8 ft. 6 in. of the original "Winston Churchill".  The locomotive steam brake design is of a simple single-shoe-on-each-hanger design, unlike the original's double shoe on the hangers between each pair of coupled wheels (ie. double clasp design).

Loco length over rigid wheel base: 22⅛ in., total length over frames: 63 15/16 in., width 13½ in. over cylinders/cab.
Cylinders: 3 x 2⅟16 in. bore by 3¼ in. stroke, 1 in. diameter piston valves, with one drawing specifying 5/64 in. lap and 7/16 in. total travel, and another for the inside cylinder specifying; ⅛ in. lap, and 9/16 total travel, with cut off in full gear = 81%.
Driving Wheels: 9¼ in. diameter; Bogie and Trailing wheels: 4⅝ in. diameter.
Boiler barrel: 8½ in. diameter x 29¼ in. long, with the drawings including two designs; one in copper and the other in steel :-
    a). Copper; with 5 x 1⅛ in. OD superheater tubes and 33 x ⅝ in. OD fire tubes, total tube heating area 2,393 sq in.
    b). Steel; with 3 x 1¼ in. OD superheater tubes and 9 x 1 in. OD fire tubes.
Fire Grate: 10 in. wide x 9 in. long = 90 sq in.
Working Pressure: 100 lb/sq in., two safety valves, tractive effort: 180 lbf.
Tender: length of rigid wheel base 19½ in., length over the frames 32 1/16 in., wheels: 5⅜ in. diameter.

As indicated below the set of drawings is not complete.  From cross references between drawings scattered through the set, and the drawing number sequence, it is obvious that at least 8 drawings are currently missing.  These drawings are:- BL 107-2 Tender Wheels, BL 120 Combination Levers, BL 120-1 Chain Drive Bracket, BL 122 Valve Gear Components, BL 123 Chain Drive, BL 128 Box Link, BL 132 Mechanical Pump Drive. 

In addition there are two cross references which don't mention a drawing number, ie. for "Fire Door Unit" and "Air Smoothed Casing", and a drawing number BL 147, that is also missing from the sequence.  Therefore these three drawings are almost certainly missing as well.

Would anyone who may have information regarding any of the missing drawings, please help and get in contact with the Editor here via the Feedback page, or Maxitrak (on http://www.maxitrak.com/contactus.php ) - Thank you.

List of Ernest Steel Drawings (Greenly Archive).

- missing drawings are denoted in pink

Bassett Lowke Drwg No.Ernest Steel Drwg No.Drawing Name
BL 100 Locomotive General Arrangement
BL 101-A1Front Frames Plate details
BL 101-B2Rear Frames Plate details
BL 101-C Front Frames Main Fixtures
BL 101-D3Rear Frames Main Fixtures
BL 101-E5Frames Vertical Stretcher & Casing Brackets
BL 101-F4Throat Plate Frame Stretcher amendment
BL 1029Coupled Wheels
BL 103-131Horns
BL 103-228Locomotive: Axle Boxes
BL 103-327Locomotive: Axle Box details
BL 1048Trailing Truck Frames
BL 10514Trailing Truck Details
BL 10615Rear Frame Drag Box
BL 10710Bogie and Trailing Wheels
BL 107-2 Tender Wheels ?
BL 1086Coupled Wheel, Trailing Wheel & Tender Axles
BL 109 Outside Slidebars
BL 110 Valve Gear Chain Drive details
BL 11116Tender Frames and Stretchers
BL 112 Outside Cylinder Block
BL 113 Smoke box, Inside cylinder & Blast Pipe
BL 114 Cylinder and Motion details, covers etc.
BL 114-A Piston valve
BL 11538Bogie Longitudinal Frames and details
BL 11648Boiler Assembly Outline
BL 117-149Copper boiler: Arrangement of Boiler Barrel and Tubes
BL 117-243Copper boiler: Assembly of Firebox Throat Plate & Tube Plates
BL 117-2A46Copper Boiler: Boiler Throat Plate details
BL 117-341Copper Boiler: Boiler Arrangement of Firebox
BL 11830Arrangement of Smokebox
BL 118-239Smokebox details
BL 118-337Smokebox details of Back Plate
BL 119 Inside Cylinder Block
BL 120 Combination Levers, Inermediate Shaft ?
BL 120-1 Chain Drive Bracket + ?
BL 120-A Cylinder Valve Rod Setting
BL 120-BFig 1Cylinder Valve Setting - inside or outside ?
BL 12140Bogies Main Frames Stretcher
BL 122 Valve Gear Components ?
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