This was his only steam design that really worked properly. The Pacifics were much more efficient and reliable after Ron Jarvis rebuilt them, and still looked good.
I disagree with those who say the Q1 is ugly. It's actually quite stylish, in a 'Southern Moderne' kind of way - a sort of locomotive version of Chessington branch stations! Thin, ripply steel sheets (understandable in wartime) didn't help their appearance, and nor did the mid-60s livery of grime. In my early childhood, I'd run down to the bottom of the garden (next to the Guildford New Line) to wave to the driver of the branch coal train - usually Q1-hauled - and always got a wave back. My last memories are of seeing C20 (as it had been renumbered by a cleaner with a sense of history) clearing the goods yard at Cobham. Just after the official end of SR steam, I watched from my bedroom window as a brace of them were hauled down the line to some distant scrapyard (I have an enduring recollection that no diesel was involved in that night-time movement...). It's a shame that a couple more weren't preserved, as they had years of life left in them and would have proved hugely practical, go-anywhere, haul-anything motive power for preserved railways. Regrettably, they didn't meet the arbitrary aesthetic standards of the often rather narrow-minded preservation movement of those days.
Wish it was still with the Bluebell. Handsome in an ugly way. Remember as a youngster watching them on the pick up goods shunting at Penshurst station. Ah! those were the days.
Once saw one crossing Stapleton Road viaduct. What a cop. Must have been a rare visitor. Sadly the viaduct is no more and the only Q1 remains a prisoner in the NRM.
I wonder if they’ll bring him into CGI. Also, if he does come back: they may need to change the sound of his whistle because when he was first on the show, his whistle sounded EXACTLY like flying Scotsman’s.
How does one maintain an engine with no running boards? Do crew have to use step-ladders? Does the engine have a sandbox, and how does one fill it without a running board to climb onto. The lack of a running board seems like a false economy.
@@memeking7273 Yes, but like I said, a false economy. Maintenance cost is everything in steam locomotive economics. This must be one of the few classes with that "feature" ever built anywhere.
Wartime. Steel in short supply. I don't think it was necessary for the crew to access the top of the boiler and having no running plate actually makes access to the valve gear for lubrication easier. I'm not sure about the location of the sandboxes but certainly not on top of the boiler. The Bulleid Pacifics have them between the wheels, sloping down under the boiler from just above the running plate (😀), where the filler caps are located.
@@984francis - Thanks for that explanation. I suppose, on a line like the Southern, sand wasn't necessary very often, or for very long. Apparently the safety valves require little maintenance, because they are still on top of the boiler. I presume the other item on top of the boiler is the steam dome. North American steam locos have many items on top of the boiler, including a turbo-generator to power the headlight, and often, even the feedwater heating system. That is why they all have running boards and handrails. The Southern Q1 shows that they can be dispensed with, war austerity or not.
