Munster Express Online

Seventy years ago this month a railway locomotive called ‘Mallard’ achieved the world steam record of 126 miles per hour. On 3 July, 1938, this sleek streamlined engine hauling a test train of seven coaches notched the record near Peterborough. This has not been surpassed in the interim but then steam engines have been retired from most railway systems for almost half a century. In Ireland’s case the last steam trains in scheduled service were in late 1962 and some staggered on through the beet campaign of 1964.

Nonetheless steam engines raise considerable interest and thanks to conservation groups many representatives of the steam era are still minded like children in remote sheds and are ‘let out’ for regular bursts of excitement on the iron road. Our own RPSI (Rail Preservation Society of Ireland), which includes a number of Waterford members, is very active and stables quite a few locomotives. It was founded in 1964, quick off the mark and while some of the boilers were still warm!

 

Barrow Bridge

In May of this year one of their outings, the Barrow Bridge International Rail Tour, came this way from Belfast and Dublin taking the mainline south and back on the spectacular east coast route. The excursionists had an overnight in Waterford but before that the engine, the very powerful ex-GNR 2-6-4 tank No. 4 and a young one dating from 1948, did an afternoon round-trip to Clonmel. The next morning No 4 and her enthusiastic passengers stormed over the feature of the tour, the Barrow Bridge, a splendid piece of railway infrastructure which they surely appreciated.

During the summer RPSI run a number of ‘Sea Breeze’ excursions from Dublin to Rosslare and in winter there are Santa and Steam and Jazz Specials and so on. All these, and many others offerings in and around Dublin and Belfast, are well supported and the ‘puffing billies’ still attract attention from children of all ages.

While Mallard’s 126 mph is more like the average in many of to-day’s scheduled rail workings in Europe and Japan it was not way beyond normal speeds attained by express services in the period leading up to the Second World War. At that time steam was King of the Iron Road with impudent diesels and smooth electric trains seen in a more experimental mode. The crack trains would have topped 100 mph on a daily basis necessary where start-to-stop timings required average speeds in excess of 70 mph. By the way steam never accepted kilometres in these parts anyway!

 

800 Class

On Irish railways the late 1930s saw the introduction of the celebrated ‘800′ class. There were three in this class of express passenger engine and they had a wheel arrangement of 4-6-0 (a leading four-wheel bogie followed by six large coupled driving wheels). They were among the most advanced in that category and were almost exclusively engaged on the Dublin-Cork service. Waterford never had the pleasure, the axle loading being too great for the then permanent way.

As elsewhere the Second World War dented maintenance of both track and engines and the 800 class never performed at their best for a sustained period. Opinions very on their effectiveness and many felt that a class of only three engines was uneconomic and, that apart, whether they ever achieved the ‘ton’ is debatable. The standard of trackwork at the time would have made that on the dangerous side but there is agreement that at their best they were formidable machines and certainly travelled at well over 80 mph.

 

Maeve in
Belfast

Among their notable feats was lifting heavy trains on the steep incline from Cork (Glanmire) unaided and in style. Many trains ex-Cork were double-headed for that steep gradient but Maeve and her sisters Macha and Tailte dismissed such help. They were affectionately known as the ‘Queens,’ sisters you might think to the wonderful ‘King’ class of the UK’s Great Western Railway, but technical experts would say that they were more like the re-built Royal Scot class of the London Midland Region. In tractive effort and performance they were equal if not better than their UK counterparts and were not called after queens but legendary females from Irish ‘faction’ or mythology. Two more of the class were in mind and if built would have been called Deirdre and Grainne. Maeve is preserved as a static exhibit in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

The Second World War not just diminished locomotive performance and care but heralded the end of steam. Rapid advances in technology brought on by the exigencies of war among other influences delivered the early prospect of diesel and electric power with their greater efficiencies despite greater construction costs. If one diesel could do the work of two steam engines then balance sheets could raise even more steam and the new fangled machines appealed to the accountants. The ‘kings of the iron road’ had an expensive way of living.

When our Great Southern Railway was formed in 1925 from many other companies, known as the grouping, it counted 587 locomotives over 114 different classes. One can imagine the headaches of managing and maintaining such a diverse bunch and most on the old side as well. Local rail veteran and author, Jack O’Neill, writes in his book ‘Engines and Men’ that when CIE was formed from the GSR in 1944 it inherited 491 locos in 83 classes. The age factor also helped bring on alternative motive power.

 

Steam Alive

A fascinating project is nearing maturity in the UK where an express steam locomotive is being built and will enter service later this year. It will be capable of running at 100 mph and while some modern safety devices are included it will be fairly faithful to the A H Peppercorn’s A1 design for the LNER (London and North Eastern Railway). It will be what’s called a ‘Pacific’ derived from a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement and will be the 50th in that class, none of the other 49 have been preserved so enthusiasts have filled the gap. Will she, to be named Tornado, tilt at Mallard’s record? Very likely as track maintenance will allow it and the operator’s may well need some high profile publicity.

It is still a tribute to the steam engine that it still makes us stop and stare and appreciate. It has an unique personality in the inanimate world and one of the most uncomplicated machines invented. Steam has entranced us and served the railways well and brought to the world of mechanisation a touch of almost human warmth and feeling by fire and water.