“CORRIDOR" TENDERS

Evening Star, Issue 19893, 15 June 1928, Page 6

“CORRIDOR" TENDERS

A HOMELAND EXPERIMENT The decision of the London and North-eastern Railway to construct a tender for tho “ Pacific ” express passenger locomotives now being made at their Doncaster works in. such a way that communication with the corridor train will bo possible indicates that longer non-stop runs are in contemplation (says ‘The Times’). One of the obstacles to longer non-stop journeys has been tho strain imposed on drivers and firemen, and free communication between the engine and the train will make it much easier to arrange for the driver and fireman to be changed from time to time. The corridor experimental tender is awaited with sonic interest by railway engineers, for so far as is known there is no similar tender in existence. When completed it will be brought to London so that those concerned may sec _ how the various difficulties involved in its construction have been met. There is some curiosity as to how the designer will make up for tho space lost by the introduction of a corridor, or. if no space is lost, how the corridor will bo constructed. Tho modern tender for the “Pacific” locomotive carries eight tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water, and is so constructed that the coal falls forward to n position within the reach of the fireman. Any reduction in tbe space for coal would necessarily tend to reduce the length of the non-stop run, but there is a fair margin which would allow of some reduction in the coal space without interfering with the non-stop to Edinburgh —tho immediate object of the London and North-eastern Railway. Coal consumption with the new high-pressure boiler now fitted in the “Enterprise” type of “ Pacific ” locomotive works out at about 401 b per'mile, or a little over seven tons for the 395 miles Edinburgh from King’s Cross., With , favourable weather conditions, however, the journey has been accomplished on even less than 6J- tons.