5 Great Trains That Were RUINED | History in the Dark

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  • čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
  • Whenever you're redesigning, well, anything, you have to way the pros and cons of actually doing that. Sometimes it goes really well. Other times, you end up ruining a good thing. In these cases, with these locomotives, it was definitely the latter.
    Music Credits:
    🐝 The Diseasel -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltNrA...
    🎵 Cover by Luke Pickman -- / instrumentmaniac
    0:00 - Intro
    1:26 - MRL SD19-1
    4:08 - Progress Rail PR43C
    6:06 - BR Standard Class 9F
    10:13 - LNER Thompson Class A2/2
    14:19 - Milwaukee Road Class EP-2
    "The MRL, Montana Rail Link, SD19-1 is a type of rebuilt, six-axle, 1,750hp diesel locomotive which is actually rebuilt from several EMD diesel locomotives (primarily the SD35 and SD9). Only two were built, numbered 651 and 652."
    "The Progress Rail PR43C was a 4,300 hp (3,210 kW) C-C genset diesel-electric locomotive built by Progress Rail Services Corporation. It was the result of a conversion of existing EMD SD50 locomotives. This involved replacing the original EMD 645 prime mover with a pair of Caterpillar engines, a 3,600 hp (2,680 kW) 12 cylinder C175 engine and a 700 hp (522 kW) C18 engine. The locomotive was jointly designed by Progress Rail and Norfolk Southern Railway. Development began in 2008."
    "British Railways Standard Class 9F steam locomotives Nos 92020-9 were experimentally built with Franco-Crosti boilers, thus forming a subclass. All ten were built in 1955 at Crewe Works. The Franco-Crosti boiler took the form of a single cylindrical water drum running along the underside of the main boiler barrel; the standard chimney at the front was only used during lighting-up, in normal working the gases went through firetubes inside the preheater drum that led to a second smokebox situated beneath the boiler from which there emerged a chimney on the right-hand side (fireman's), just forward of the firebox."
    "The London and North Eastern Railway Class A2/2 was a class of six 4-6-2 steam locomotives rebuilt by Edward Thompson in 1943 and 1944 from his predecessor's P2 Class of 2-8-2 express passenger locomotives. The rebuilds were not particularly successful and all were withdrawn and scrapped between 1959 and 1961."
    "The Milwaukee Road's class EP-2 comprised five electric locomotives built by General Electric in 1919. They were often known as Bipolars, which referred to the bipolar electric motors they used. Among the most distinctive and powerful electric locomotives of their time, they epitomized the modernization of the Milwaukee Road. They came to symbolize the railroad during their nearly 40 years of use, and remain an enduring image of mainline electrification."
    🚂 Further reading 🚂
    locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/MR...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progres...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_Stan...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Th...
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwauk...
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    #trains #railfan #top5

Komentáře • 229

  • @nathanchan4653
    @nathanchan4653 Před rokem +20

    EP-2: I need a rebuild
    Milwaukee Shops Crew: Duuuhhhhh!
    T.B Kirk: *Saw a bunch of disconnected wires with a written message saying “We don’t know where these go.”*

  • @ralphbalfoort2909
    @ralphbalfoort2909 Před rokem +33

    A gentleman who introduced me to model railroading, as opposed to toy trains, actually scratch-built all five of the bi-polars in HO scale, each one slightly different, working from the original plans (he worked for GE).

    • @douglasskaalrud6865
      @douglasskaalrud6865 Před rokem +4

      I was thinking about doing the same thing with five of the NJ brass models Milwaukee Road bipolar electrics. I only bought one to start with and I’m glad I did. I modeled number E-2 in the mid-50s paint scheme. I spent a year changing what was a simple collectors item into a working model with can motors, a new drive train, scale piping and additional details like the sandboxes, awnings over the cab windows, correct headlights, etc. After paint and decals I ran flexible cables to finish it. I was so burned out on that model that I never wanted to touch one again as I realized how much modeling capital I spent on it. I made my peace with it and count it as being one of my best models. I understand why Milwaukee Road streamlined and painted the bipolars in U.P. colors but forward-thinking management would have seen the writing on the wall and spent that money to replace rapidly deteriorating track instead. Instead we got a desecrated version of a unique locomotive.

  • @sambrown6426
    @sambrown6426 Před rokem +34

    One thing about the P2s that most people don't realize is that only three of them had the appearance that most people know the P2s by. The other three had A4-esk streamlining.

    • @jaanshersaeed4541
      @jaanshersaeed4541 Před rokem +2

      Wait really? I just assumed that all the P2s had the typical Cock O’ The North look and then all got the A4 looks.

    • @sambrown6426
      @sambrown6426 Před rokem +1

      @@jaanshersaeed4541 You might be correct, I just said what I've been told by friends.

    • @jaanshersaeed4541
      @jaanshersaeed4541 Před rokem +3

      @@sambrown6426 I checked and it turns out that only 2 (nos. 2001-2002) of the P2s had the Cock O’ The North look (though never got the A4 look) while the other 4 (nos. 2003-2006) did have the A4 look.

    • @sambrown6426
      @sambrown6426 Před rokem +1

      @@jaanshersaeed4541 Were they built streamlined or converted, though?

    • @jaanshersaeed4541
      @jaanshersaeed4541 Před rokem +1

      @@sambrown6426 The first two do have some outer casting around their boilers but aren’t really streamlined.

  • @ForemansMainlineEntertainment

    Fun Fact: the 2-8-2 Cock o' the North, the nickname "Galloping Sausage" is also a *nickname* for Gordon, from the episode Pop Goes The Diesel.
    Gordon: Duck called me a Galloping Sausage!
    James: Rusty red scrap Iron!
    Henry: I'm old square wheels!

    • @nathanchan4653
      @nathanchan4653 Před rokem +7

      Actually that’s the LNER W1 “Hush Hush”

    • @ForemansMainlineEntertainment
      @ForemansMainlineEntertainment Před rokem +4

      @@nathanchan4653 I know it's called the Hush Hush. They have two different nicknames, and with one of them being the Hush Hush, and Galloping Sausage.

    • @AlcoLoco251
      @AlcoLoco251 Před 8 měsíci +1

      No, Cock o' the North and Hush Hush were two separate engines. Hush Hush was a 4-6-4, not a 2-8-2.

    • @ForemansMainlineEntertainment
      @ForemansMainlineEntertainment Před 8 měsíci

      @@AlcoLoco251 oh ok. Didn't know that till now

  • @Rog5446
    @Rog5446 Před rokem +73

    The Franco-Crosti 9Fs were not ruined 9Fs, they were built like that in the first place. When they were found not to be so good, they were then converted.

    • @Sigil_Firebrand
      @Sigil_Firebrand Před rokem +9

      I mean to be fair they were built that way as a modification to attempt to improve the F9, failed to be better, and were re-rated as 8Fs after having the Crosti gear removed due to their lower power... so they did kinda ruin the 9F

    • @PiersDJackson
      @PiersDJackson Před rokem +5

      Really if you go "okay, let's modify a new build as an experiment" it's better to build one as the fiddly test bed, then build a small batch as longer term test beds. Like the US aircraft designations, ie. The XB-17 as the eXperimental prototype, the YB-17 as the evaluation series. As such you have 1-3 X designations and 5-10 Y designations, so that the results are not based on one good or bad build.

  • @AmityBlightAndSP4449Fan
    @AmityBlightAndSP4449Fan Před rokem +31

    How about 5 Bad Trains that were completely fixed?
    I have some examples, the DRG 61 Class streamlined steam locomotive because some of them #61 002 was used for the new DR 18 201 which is a streamlined 4-6-2 Pacific.

  • @moosecat
    @moosecat Před rokem +12

    Thank you for saying that the Milwaukee Road's Tacoma shop knew what it was doing with the EP-2s. (I live in Tacoma.)
    The Milwaukee Road (which warrants its own video, imho) was an odd road, as there were sections that were electrified, intermingled with sections that weren't. Tacoma was part of the electrified section, so they were familiar with how electric locomotives worked. In the Milwaukee shop's defense, they weren't familiar with electric locomotives, as their section wasn't electrified.

  • @Jimboliah3985
    @Jimboliah3985 Před rokem +27

    Yeah, to expand on the subtitle caption: the Crosti 9Fs were *deliberately built like that.*
    They weren't built as normal 9Fs and then modded, they had these Crosti boilers all their lives.

    • @JohnGeorgeBauerBuis
      @JohnGeorgeBauerBuis Před rokem +5

      Also, the small loading gauge in the UK is at least partly to blame for why they were so bad. Most other Franco-Crosti boilered locomotives had two preheater barrels offset to the sides rather than one directly in the center.

    • @nathanchan4653
      @nathanchan4653 Před rokem +1

      BR drivers and fireman: Those funny “Franco-Crosti” boilers are “Frankly Crusty”!

    • @AmityBlightAndSP4449Fan
      @AmityBlightAndSP4449Fan Před rokem

      Hey Jim.

  • @joelchristensen9503
    @joelchristensen9503 Před rokem +4

    Nice story on MRL rebuilds. The SD19-1s are still running today as of 2022.

  • @babyjesusvideo
    @babyjesusvideo Před rokem +4

    Wasn't expecting to hear about Montana Rail Link on here.

  • @LBG-cf8gu
    @LBG-cf8gu Před rokem +10

    Glad i stumbled onto this channel. the nuts & bolts review of these locomotives much appreciated. history of same. excellent. new sub

  • @mikebrown3772
    @mikebrown3772 Před rokem +10

    Divided drive for multi cylinder locomotives is not weird, it was used on the majority of successful British four cylinder locos but was however much less common for 3 cylinder designs.

    • @TeardropLabs
      @TeardropLabs Před rokem +1

      There weren’t many 4 cylinder British engines in the first place, so it was still pretty darn weird.

    • @mikebrown3772
      @mikebrown3772 Před rokem +5

      @@TeardropLabs No, only a dozen or so different designs some built in large numbers and all the really successful ones had divided drive.

    • @iankemp1131
      @iankemp1131 Před 9 měsíci

      @@TeardropLabs There's not a great need for 3 or 4 cylinder locos if you're not using compounding as 2 will generally do the job and be more accessible for maintenance. All the GWR four-cylinder engines, which for many years were the best in Britain, were divided drive with a similar layout to Thompson A2/2s, which in fact originated from the French de Glehn Atlantics around 1900. The positioning of the outside cylinders wasn't ideal, being in a weak spot on the frames which needed bracing on the GWR engines and caused cracking on the Thompson ones. When combined with a wide firebox it also gave a rather long boiler. The LMS Duchess Pacifics were the best of all and moved the outside cylinders to a better position between the bogie wheels, retaining divided drive by using long connecting rods.

  • @danieltemple5545
    @danieltemple5545 Před 8 měsíci

    Love the videos ! Keep up the good work

  • @bussr1209
    @bussr1209 Před rokem +2

    I’m just waiting for the day when one of these is just him saying hoooooooooooooost for the entire video

  • @jacobditmars8414
    @jacobditmars8414 Před rokem +6

    The decision of the divided drive for the A2/2 wasn't just because Thompson just wanted to. The crank axles on the P2s were prone to shearing because they were the same as the ones on the A3s but on a much more powerful engine. By dividing the drive, you can get away with keeping the original axle design by spreading the forces between 2 axles rather than keeping them on 1.
    Also, the divided drive in itself isn't a particularly rare feature, the LMS Princesses, Coronations, GWR Castles and Kings, and even the later Peppercorn A1s and A2s all have divided drive.
    The main reason it became a problem for all of Thompsons' Pacifics was the frames were not reinforced enough to compensate for the forces that would be generated by the cylinders being so far apart. This would cause the notorious steam leakages and frame cracking that plagued all of the Thompson Pacifics.

  • @bishopcorva
    @bishopcorva Před rokem +3

    Nicely entertaining video for sure, only nag I have is the slow transition from 4 to 3 sequence. Other than that I found this to be as mentioned entertaining, informative and over all delightful. I suspect that the reason for the slow transition was because it was British rail wanting to really mess with you.

  • @amtrak713productions8
    @amtrak713productions8 Před rokem +5

    Was the mrl gp19-1 rebuild any better than the sd19-1

  • @thedwaynerailfans
    @thedwaynerailfans Před rokem +5

    The SD50s prime mover was NOT reliable at all in any way. The SD50 actually was EMDs biggest failure, being what completely ruined their reputation and having GE replace EMDs old title of producing reliable locomtoives

    • @isaacsmith1874
      @isaacsmith1874 Před 10 měsíci

      It wasn't so much the engines themselves they were just given more power than they were designed for

    • @thedwaynerailfans
      @thedwaynerailfans Před 10 měsíci

      @@isaacsmith1874 it was more than just that

    • @isaacsmith1874
      @isaacsmith1874 Před 10 měsíci

      Software and structure issues

    • @isaacsmith1874
      @isaacsmith1874 Před 7 měsíci

      Some railroads manged to fix their engines some of which still run on local trains so if you see one nowadays it'll most likely be at least somewhat reliable but in 80s they were 100% garbage.

  • @machanicalgu
    @machanicalgu Před rokem +2

    Is the audio off set for anyone else?

  • @zacharyuphold9258
    @zacharyuphold9258 Před rokem +3

    Could you do a worst ever farm tractors video as they are still a part of history

  • @mikesanders5433
    @mikesanders5433 Před rokem +21

    The A2/2 wasn’t a bad rebuild by all accounts even though they had their own unique problem’s
    They was however objectively awful at what they was originally rebuilt to do, as P2’s they handled their original work north of the border with ease, as the A2/2’s they simply couldn’t on the Edinburgh-Aberdeen line, the line which they had originally been built for.
    But they was useful elsewhere on the system.

  • @poowg2657
    @poowg2657 Před rokem +9

    I love how here in America we built thousands of great running Mikes and the Brit's Mikes not so much. They should have just bought some USRA light Mikes and been done with it.

    • @neiloflongbeck5705
      @neiloflongbeck5705 Před rokem +8

      They'd have to be shrunk to fit our loading gauge. The twisty-turny nature of some of our lines made such locomotives difficult to fit our lines.

    • @godzillahomer
      @godzillahomer Před rokem +6

      also, the UK's demand for 2-8-2s was low. 62 2-8-2s was the entire UK 2-8-2 fleet. 2 P1s, 6 P2s, and 54 GWR 7200 tank engines.
      A better comparison would be a 2-6-0, 4-6-0, or 2-6-2. Much more of those built in the UK

    • @PiersDJackson
      @PiersDJackson Před rokem +2

      To discuss the Mikado usage in the UK, or lack there of, take a step back and look at the number of Consolidations there were, and their development into Decapods instead... that being said, the known UK Mikados were the two Gresley designs for the LNER the P1 and P2... then there's Collett's conversion of the 4200 class Consolidation into the 7200 class Mikado Tanks for GWR... those trailing wheels, what were they useful for again?
      Further to the discussion, Robert Riddles originally planned the Standard 9F as a Mikado, by using modifying the Standard 7P Britannia Pacific, in a similar way to how the LNER P2 and A4 had loose commonality.

    • @godzillahomer
      @godzillahomer Před rokem +2

      @@PiersDJackson
      The GWR 4200s were Consolidation tanks. The 7200 trailing wheels gave them a larger coal bunker. Which meant the loco could go further on a single load of coal.
      As for other wheel types
      4-6-4? Outside of tank engines, only a single 4-6-4 engine was built, by the LNER.
      4-8-4, 4-8-2, 2-8-4? No SG examples built for the UK.
      A tender engine with 4 trailing wheels? Only the LNER 4-6-4 W1.

    • @neiloflongbeck5705
      @neiloflongbeck5705 Před rokem +3

      @@godzillahomer the W1 was more of a 4-6-2-2 as the 4 trailing wheels were carried independently of each other and not in a single bogie.

  • @trainguy2155
    @trainguy2155 Před rokem +6

    Ahhh I see some iconic locomotive designs that I’m well aware of and now I’m curious what your thoughts are going to be on these good old locos

  • @exarkun42
    @exarkun42 Před rokem +4

    While I agree that a podcast is not a verified source, the podcast that the comments have referred you to does work off of verified sources, from various historians to official LNER records

    • @ordinaldragoon
      @ordinaldragoon Před rokem +1

      I’m pretty sure the information from that podcast was taken from official LNER records and documents so I actually in effect is a reliable source of information

  • @stephenshaunkelly4519
    @stephenshaunkelly4519 Před rokem +3

    BR was a company that last for nearly 50 years and when they were formed from 4 different companies they had less than 10 years to try to fix/ update the entire country before the government essentially said "NO MORE STEAM TRACTION" leaving BR with PRETTY much no money. To come up with replacement traction that's why it appears in all your worst lists also expecting them to cheaply maintain the national network minus all of the areas that were deemed non-standard gauge this includes industrial only railways sorry for such a long rant it pains me as a Brit to have to defend a company that I think did a terrible job but ultimately it was the government meddling in an area that in my opinion it should have left to those who knew better except for the fact that we needed to move away from steam traction it's the speed that removed the way that was the issue. Speedy change is not necessarily best change this can be said for pretty much any time a major change is implemented

  • @jamesthompson215
    @jamesthompson215 Před měsícem

    I just love the ridiculous size contrast between the GIGANTIC Pennsy turbine loco & the relatively tiny GER shed on wheels tram in the opening slideshow! Talk about contrast, it looks like you could stack two of the trams on top of eachother & it STILL wouldn't be as tall as the S2!

  • @kingofthepod5169
    @kingofthepod5169 Před rokem +2

    Here's another one. The ATSF "Beep" a Baldwin VO 1000 with an end 567 under the hood. ATSF made the CF7 good, but the VO was too costly.

  • @JosipRadnik1
    @JosipRadnik1 Před rokem +3

    Hmm... That Milwaukee EP-2 could be a contender for the title "american crocodile"... exept for the bad rebuild and the different kind of power transfer from engine to wheels

  • @gloria6229
    @gloria6229 Před rokem +3

    The PR43Cs are in my 5 successful trains that everyone loved list.

  • @anareel4562
    @anareel4562 Před rokem +2

    Is it just me or is the audio and video not synced?

  • @kingofthepod5169
    @kingofthepod5169 Před rokem +2

    The oil fired reading 4-8-4's. On coal they were cool, but on oil they lacked power.

  • @Discontinued226
    @Discontinued226 Před rokem +4

    Does reading 2100 count ?
    Hear me out about this, 2100 got a oil conversion that absolutely ruined her performance during the 2006 Tacoma Sightseer Excursion

    • @TrainBoi6095
      @TrainBoi6095 Před rokem +2

      Honestly I’m not sure
      I mean yeah the converted her incorrectly but I’m not sure if it counts as a rebuild
      I’m just glad 2100 is getting restored and is in better hands

  • @AmityBlightAndSP4449Fan
    @AmityBlightAndSP4449Fan Před rokem +2

    Our how about 5 trains that were made from spare parts?
    For example: the DR 18 201 streamlined 4-6-2 pacific.

  • @MrTankThatStopped
    @MrTankThatStopped Před rokem +2

    if there's more, do a part 2!

  • @Dakman
    @Dakman Před rokem +3

    I find it kinda funny that truck engine manufacturers such as Caterpillar wanted to enter the railroad market. While most of the Caterpillar truck engines were good they always seemed to fail when entering other markets such as boats and generators. Cummins also tried the railroad market with a Cummins Q45 engine featuring a Cummins logo paint job on the locomotive. Once again it did ok and did have a couple of issues but really wasn't impressive. Trucks and trains are two different worlds. Deutz which is a farm tractor and irrigation engine manufacturer tried entering the truck market and that was a huge failure. But that's another story for a different time. I didn't like when Caterpillar bought Progress Rail which at the time owned EMD. In my opinion the EMD 2 strokes were the best, reliable and most easy to maintain prime movers ever made.

    • @moosecat
      @moosecat Před rokem +2

      Back in the first half of the 20th Century, Fairbanks Morse also decided to get into "playing with trains", and started building their own diesel locomotives. (I think this has been covered on this channel before.) Fairbanks Morse made industrial and marine diesels (I believe the Navy was using them up until the Seawolf-class of nuclear submarines). While the opposed-piston diesels worked well in the ocean, apparently they had overheating issues when used in locomotives.

    • @Dakman
      @Dakman Před rokem +1

      @@moosecat Yes I agree, The Fairbanks Morse was a great submarine engine but had no place in a locomotive lol.

    • @moosecat
      @moosecat Před rokem +3

      @@Dakman Scientists have only recently proven it's a lot harder to overheat an entire ocean than it is a locomotive's cooling system. Film at 11...😁

    • @davidty2006
      @davidty2006 Před rokem +1

      Cat's engines are also meant for mining and construction equipment.
      Sooo probs didn't see too unreasonable in theory.

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem +1

      Deutz also tried to put their engines in buses, with fair results. The Provincial that worked in a hinterland of Portsmouth, Gosport and Fareham, took out the Gardner engines of their Guy Arabs and replaced them with Deutz's, with pretty good results (all be it with slight overheating problems!).

  • @AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan4014

    7:18 LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
    Best “BIG CHUNGUS!”-line-delivery ever!🤣

  • @rhogardelmirev3530
    @rhogardelmirev3530 Před rokem +2

    MRL? Yay Montana! I have to deal with guys constantly at my refinery.

  • @alastornightly3312
    @alastornightly3312 Před rokem +3

    Why, in the hell, would they save E-2, when it would've been more logical to save E-5? Like, C'mon. This was a bad choice, almost BR Bad.

    • @danielkapp9468
      @danielkapp9468 Před 10 měsíci

      They probably used E-2 the least and donated it as a loss/writeoff due to how terribly that one was rebuilt. I'd bet that it could be properly repaired today. But what'd the point be, there is no where to run most of these electric locomotives (GG1, E-2, P5a 4700, S2 113, and many others) as the modern electrified network is very diffrent from back then, you'd need to rebuild the infastructre to supply the power.

  • @daronmiller1684
    @daronmiller1684 Před rokem +3

    Can you do a video series about streamlined steam engines?

  • @AtkataffTheAlpha
    @AtkataffTheAlpha Před rokem +2

    The monoboard lion loves you History in the Dark

  • @TrainBoi6095
    @TrainBoi6095 Před rokem +7

    I’ll never understand why Thompson's decision to make the A2, Although I think the A2 is a decent locomotive but I prefer the A1 tornado (60163) and The A3 Flying Scotsman
    And I definitely put the A4 on my top 5 favorite locomotives in the UK

    • @tgeiii3554
      @tgeiii3554 Před rokem +4

      It was mostly because the P2’s during the war years weren’t around enough and Thompson tried to standardize them with the A2/1’s and A2/3’s.

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem +3

      The Peppercorn A2's were rather good, them and V2's on heavy semi-fasts were hard to beat.

    • @tgeiii3554
      @tgeiii3554 Před rokem +1

      @@robertwilloughby8050 mhmm, the LNER’s premier express mixed-goods engines.

    • @TrainBoi6095
      @TrainBoi6095 Před rokem +1

      As interesting as the A2 is I wish h kept the P2's original as it’s the only Mikado built in the UK

    • @FluidLoneknight
      @FluidLoneknight Před rokem +2

      @@TrainBoi6095 might want to check that, there is a reason they are called P'2' there was a P1 a pair of heavy goods engines that were truly terrible

  • @tomcline5631
    @tomcline5631 Před rokem +3

    What kinda wear and tear did the actual exhaust gasses do to the tubes on the Franco-crossley engines? I can only imagine that they didn't last to very long. Steam is corrosive as hell,and then mix in coal smoke? I bet the maintenance costs tripled at least! English coal was notoriously high in sulfur content.

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem +1

      Oh, the exhaust gases ripped the tubes to absolute shreds! That was basically the major fault, to be fair. All the other faults just added insult to injury. Oh, and they were APPALLING fire raisers. They had to be the first to have the fires set, and yet they were on late turns to get anything out of them. This fault weirdly persisted (to a lesser extent) in the rebuilds.

  • @ethansherry1758
    @ethansherry1758 Před rokem +6

    If British Rail really wanted to improve the F-9 they should have added super heaters

    • @neiloflongbeck5705
      @neiloflongbeck5705 Před rokem +1

      You mean in addition too the 677 square foot superheater?

    • @ethansherry1758
      @ethansherry1758 Před rokem +1

      @@neiloflongbeck5705 My bad it was to my understanding that super heater engines were unpopular in Britain and rarely if ever used

    • @neiloflongbeck5705
      @neiloflongbeck5705 Před rokem +1

      @@ethansherry1758 no, we've had superheaters in steam locomotives since the 1st half of the last century. I think you might have meant feed water heaters, which have been tried many times but never really caught on.

    • @ethansherry1758
      @ethansherry1758 Před rokem +1

      @@neiloflongbeck5705 again my bad thought a better idea might have been to compound the locomotive to extract the most power from the steam since super heating was already used

    • @neiloflongbeck5705
      @neiloflongbeck5705 Před rokem +1

      @@ethansherry1758 it was tried but I can't remember why they stopped using it in this country.

  • @tgeiii3554
    @tgeiii3554 Před rokem +14

    I see A2/2, I must defend.
    By technicality, the engines were better performance-wise and were said to be as powerful Pacifics as they were Mikados. Their old forms, while running very well when in service, were almost out of service for half the time they existed. Visually, yeah they were a downgrade, but performance wise, they weren't terrible.

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem +2

      I agree with you, but didn't they slip a bit? Thanks to all that power going through six coupled wheels instead of eight? I know that they were damned by some drivers for not being very sure footed. But, yes, you're right, in Mikado form, frame cracks were an oppucational hazard that in A2/2 form happened a lot less (but more than A4's and A3's!). Their particular glory was handling the East Coast Main Line leg of trains like Colchester-Glasgow and Great Yarmouth-Newcastle. Brought into Peterborough by a B1 or B17, change of engine for an A2/2.

    • @tgeiii3554
      @tgeiii3554 Před rokem +5

      @@robertwilloughby8050 to be fair all pacifics slip due to 6 massive drive wheels, although these shouldn’t have slipped as much as an A3, A1, or A4 would, sinc their drivers are smaller.

    • @Ty-yt3lj
      @Ty-yt3lj Před rokem +3

      @@tgeiii3554 Part of their wheelslip came to the locomotive having 2 axles driven, but they're still fine regardless

    • @mikesanders5433
      @mikesanders5433 Před rokem +2

      The A2/2 wasn’t a bad rebuild by all accounts even though they had their own unique problem’s
      They was objectively awful at what they was originally rebuilt to do, as P2’s they handled their original work north of the border with ease, the A2/2’s they simply couldn’t.
      But they was useful elsewhere on the system.

    • @Britishrailwaystories
      @Britishrailwaystories Před rokem +4

      @@mikesanders5433 not true Mike. They objectively and by the primary evidence did the work of the P2s better by way of better mileages and availability. The supposed “couldn’t do the work of the P2s” is I am afraid a lie from the secondary source material that has built up over the years.
      Thane of Fife from rebuilding outstripped the remaining P2s in mileages by double and availability by 20-25% more.
      Ignoring the primary evidence is how these locomotives gained a poor reputation.

  • @robertwilloughby8050
    @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem +3

    What about 5 trains that were Excellent, but get forgotten about? All the BR Peaks variants, with their unbreakable electrical systems, perhaps?

    • @steelblue8
      @steelblue8 Před rokem +2

      Nobody talks about some of the real stars of australian steam, we had some damn good engines down here that have almost no content about em.

  • @BNSF_SoCal_Productions
    @BNSF_SoCal_Productions Před rokem +8

    Ah yes the biggest flop by Edward Thompson is on this list.

    • @Britishrailwaystories
      @Britishrailwaystories Před rokem +6

      Edward Thompson built, arguably, zero flops. The A2/2s were better than they were as P2s.

    • @srajfnly2
      @srajfnly2 Před rokem +3

      @@Britishrailwaystories no they where flipping cheeks

    • @emmalineruiz1960
      @emmalineruiz1960 Před rokem +3

      @@srajfnly2 At least, the problems that crews had with the P2s were either eliminated or at the very least lessened to a degree that they had actual availability on the network once all of them were rebuilt.

  • @robertbufkin5568
    @robertbufkin5568 Před 9 měsíci +1

    Thanks!

  • @Brickticks
    @Brickticks Před rokem +2

    I went fishing today.
    I’m tired.
    I am fish.
    Fishstick.
    Corn.
    Apple.
    Trreee…. Cabin…. Solar garments?
    Help?
    Cookie.
    Ewoks.
    Pizza….
    Mommy?
    I want to go to bed now.
    THUD!
    Ow.
    Stupid turkey.
    G’nite.
    Pancakes here I come…..

  • @graphtonix6607
    @graphtonix6607 Před rokem +2

    Hey Darkness can you please do a video on the Amtrak EMD F40'S next???

  • @riderstrano783
    @riderstrano783 Před rokem +4

    If you do another vid, the FL9 starships

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem

      Wasn't that the New Haven Electro - Diesels? They should come under "Locomotives that were Maddeningly Inconsistent".

  • @fireutility21
    @fireutility21 Před rokem +2

    Wait, you have a kid?
    Also the Steam Workshop in the UK built a super scale functional model of the 9F with modification

  • @AndrewTheRocketCityRailfan4014

    If E-2 gets restored to operational condition, it’ll be really difficult due to how ruined it was by the Milwaukee shops

    • @kimpatz2189
      @kimpatz2189 Před rokem +1

      You just gut the E2 and rebuilt them using the old running gear and modern electric motors.
      The main problem of the E2 and GG1 being far out on the list of restoration is their mercury transformers. Those require hazmat operation to remove and the cost higher than the rebuild.

    • @fanofeverything30465
      @fanofeverything30465 Před rokem

      ​@@kimpatz2189 You could use something else for the transformer

  • @harrisonallen651
    @harrisonallen651 Před rokem +3

    BR’s Paxman Diesels weren’t particularly good either, in fact I did receive an ertl model of Derek yesterday in the mail.

  • @talonbaldwin8931
    @talonbaldwin8931 Před rokem +1

    There was the yellow diesel switcher on the McCloud River RR that they tried converting R/C then it sat for the rest of it's life because it didn't work right

  • @Burger6060
    @Burger6060 Před rokem +2

    Do a top 5 of series called 5 trains that were used in movies.

  • @Mskart109
    @Mskart109 Před rokem

    7:18 caught me off guard and honesty 😂

  • @D.O.T.D.
    @D.O.T.D. Před rokem +3

    I love how this guy hates British Railways with a passion

  • @Oliver_11_the_little_western

    We found the real henry! now presenting. The a2/2!

  • @cpubigdipper9145
    @cpubigdipper9145 Před rokem +2

    You mean, franco crostti 9fs?

  • @erikaitsumi3852
    @erikaitsumi3852 Před rokem +2

    A P2 is being built from scratch in Darlington

    • @davidty2006
      @davidty2006 Před rokem +1

      P2's are interesting..
      Although i wonder how rebuilding the old NER ravens to a 2-8-0 would be...

  • @davidredfearn664
    @davidredfearn664 Před rokem +4

    I have to be light on British Rail because of the passing of Queen Elizabeth. She was a remarkable lady.

  • @wolfzillaproductions4563

    *B I G C H U N G U S Q U A D R U P L E X L O C O M O T I V E*
    Also I died laughing at the name “Frankly Crusty” XDDD

  • @brandonharrischannel7516

    They don’t look ruined to me

  • @StolasFan547
    @StolasFan547 Před rokem +1

    Eyyy Montana Rail Link
    (Nice)
    To bad they are selling back to BNSF
    Also kinda funny their Operation Lifesaver was out in such a beast.

  • @kurtpena5462
    @kurtpena5462 Před rokem

    Darkness, you are such a tease!

  • @JBB4118
    @JBB4118 Před rokem +2

    SD50'S are JUNK,JUNK,JUNK! They rolled out junk and were junk when scrapped. EMD's last gasp for the 645.

  • @gamerjosh5686
    @gamerjosh5686 Před rokem +3

    Is that a crostie 9f I see

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem +2

      Yeah, a Franco-Crosti 9F, or "Frankly Crusty" to its drivers and firemen!

  • @thundercreekcustoms
    @thundercreekcustoms Před rokem +2

    Thompson is the Perlman of Britain

  • @andrewwatkins4852
    @andrewwatkins4852 Před 9 měsíci

    I been on a northfolk and southern diesel years ago it was awesome

  • @razzbuzz
    @razzbuzz Před rokem +2

    How about a review of German steam engines?

  • @ethanspaziani1070
    @ethanspaziani1070 Před rokem +1

    i wish E5 was still around ...

  • @tacticalcalebgaming7264
    @tacticalcalebgaming7264 Před rokem +1

    Progress rail is basically a EMD but owned by CAT

  • @Lamp_2155
    @Lamp_2155 Před rokem +6

    Honestly I think if Thomson’s a2/2s resembled his other rebuilds and had smoke deflectors then they would be that bad
    In my open Great Northern looked good in its final A1/1 form

    • @tgeiii3554
      @tgeiii3554 Před rokem +2

      In it’s very final form, yeah. Great Northern was a looker. Fresh from the works, however? Honestly one of the worst looking British Pacifics ever constructed.

    • @Lamp_2155
      @Lamp_2155 Před rokem +1

      @@tgeiii3554 very true

  • @omerolopez9741
    @omerolopez9741 Před rokem +2

    I like British railways its one of my favorite British companies right behind the north western railway

  • @Brickticks
    @Brickticks Před rokem +1

    Also, you timing belt is off on your VHS Player.

  • @noooo_safechat2589
    @noooo_safechat2589 Před rokem +1

    What a name for an engine 11:43

  • @pkat
    @pkat Před rokem +1

    Ok, yes, the EP-2's were ruined by incompetent shop workers and horrifically bad documentation... but look at the paint job! Sweet!

  • @dwrb321
    @dwrb321 Před rokem +4

    12:26 does that really say cock o the north 🤣

    • @HistoryintheDark
      @HistoryintheDark  Před rokem

      Hey, man, ask the British. I didn’t name it.

    • @gamerjosh5686
      @gamerjosh5686 Před rokem +1

      Yup

    • @TallboyDave
      @TallboyDave Před rokem

      @@HistoryintheDark It's a traditional Scottish epithet, given to the Head of Clan Gordon; it's most commonly associated with Alexander Gordon, the 4th Duke of Gordon; who was a Napoleonic era British General.

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 Před rokem

      Yep, but it's cock as in cockerel. I think "Rooster Of The North" would be worse, TBTH!

    • @davidty2006
      @davidty2006 Před rokem

      there is a legit engine that was called that.

  • @Wemfsh
    @Wemfsh Před rokem

    Make pt 2

  • @davidredfearn664
    @davidredfearn664 Před 4 měsíci

    Have you ever noticed how the lion on the British Rail logo looks like it is gagging on something? Am I the only one that has noticed it?

  • @gloria6229
    @gloria6229 Před rokem +1

    Scrapped? The PR43Cs still live on today in g scale at the g scale New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in Fayetteville West Virginia not far from Ansted where my uncle Greg lives: #4000-#4011, #4300, & #130-#141.

  • @Traingamer5
    @Traingamer5 Před 11 měsíci

    I haven’t even watched this video yet but I’ll be surprised if 2100 isnt on this list

  • @srajfnly2
    @srajfnly2 Před rokem +6

    If Thompson wanted to build new steam locomotives he should have waited until after the war

    • @Lamp_2155
      @Lamp_2155 Před rokem +2

      In that case the p2s should’ve been pushed to the back of the works or scrapped because their poor availability would make them useless during war

    • @srajfnly2
      @srajfnly2 Před rokem +2

      @@Lamp_2155 I’d pushed back but not scrapped

    • @TallboyDave
      @TallboyDave Před rokem +3

      Consider the following; the LNER was the poorest of the Big Four; that meant during the inter-war years they had keep using essentially life-expired Victorian-era locomotives, because there was no money to replace them with new locomotives; and then comes the War, where the level of War Materiel that needs transporting means that those worn out engines are retained, and by necessity, are driven into the ground.
      Thompson had little option BUT to rebuild locomotives that were completely shagged out; he did get to build a 'first run' of ten of his excellent B1 4-6-0's during the war (in about 1942/43), but the Ministry of Supply prevented him from building any more- in part because of skulduggery on the part of the Southern Railway's CME (and former assistant to Gresley) Oliver Bullied, who designed and built the "Merchant Navy" express passenger locomotives in 1941, claiming (some would say fraudulently) that they were actually mixed-traffic locomotives.

    • @srajfnly2
      @srajfnly2 Před rokem +2

      @@TallboyDave okay then so why did BR give the Victorian locomotives above a 6P/6F

    • @TallboyDave
      @TallboyDave Před rokem +1

      @@srajfnly2 Define "Victorian".

  • @brandonharrischannel7516

    Wow

  • @wholelawyer
    @wholelawyer Před rokem +2

    How could you say the sd50s were good it appeared on your worst trains ever list and other CZcamsrs even EMD fans will say it's bad the sd50s were doomed since there rushed production and the only way you could make it better is scrap it or rebuild it into a sd40 serious

    • @HistoryintheDark
      @HistoryintheDark  Před rokem +1

      Ah, heck. I got my EMD units mixed up. Thanks for pointing that out. The 50's WERE crap at first, though, they were much better by the time those rebuilds were performed. I'll correct that.

    • @wholelawyer
      @wholelawyer Před rokem +1

      @@HistoryintheDark ya bud no worry's even in the worst trains ever list you said it looks similar to a sd40-2 which is understandable

  • @300guy
    @300guy Před rokem +1

  • @karaokebackgroundplaylists9878

    6:42 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 ZOOMED INTO THE LION'S FACE 😅😅😅😅😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I CAN'T 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  • @alanabyss9246
    @alanabyss9246 Před rokem +2

    Oh British rail when will you learn how to make a train

  • @yourfellowpancake6335

    Is it just me or does the “host” at the beginning of the episode keep getting ever so slightly longer?

  • @abk2k3aaronkauflin83
    @abk2k3aaronkauflin83 Před 11 měsíci

    As much as people dont like them i have a soft spot of the a2/2s i understand the problems but idk i like the look of them

  • @stekra3159
    @stekra3159 Před rokem

    All thes projecst show that you shoud not just increase horse power of you can not get it on the rails.

  • @stephenshaunkelly4519

    probably billons of £ when adjusted for inflation

  • @BNSF-2050
    @BNSF-2050 Před rokem

    Video and sound don’t line up correctly

  • @cbolanz1
    @cbolanz1 Před rokem

    If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

    • @emmalineruiz1960
      @emmalineruiz1960 Před rokem

      Tell that to the crews that had to either drive or maintain the P2s before they were rebuilt, if they were on any other of the big four with the kinds of problems they had, they would have been scraped without a second thought.

  • @TheSudrianTerrier653
    @TheSudrianTerrier653 Před rokem

    virgin E1-E4
    chad E5

  • @philvanderlaan5942
    @philvanderlaan5942 Před rokem

    You have a weird British Rail S&M fetish

  • @saucypan-8796
    @saucypan-8796 Před rokem

    You have a son!

  • @formulafish1536
    @formulafish1536 Před rokem +1

    I just knew that Edward Thompson would make this list. The amount of locos he ruined is truly disgusting

  • @Bload72productions
    @Bload72productions Před rokem +4

    EP-2 is probably the Ugliest locomotive ever built, that would be such an awful thing to see in person, especially when MILW had the Hiawatha's running on their line.

    • @IndustrialParrot2816
      @IndustrialParrot2816 Před rokem +1

      Hey I really like the ep-2s they were some of the most powerful locomotives in the world when they were built and operated in my area

  • @Twinmill69227
    @Twinmill69227 Před 11 měsíci

    Wait, you have a son?