The strange Steam Locomotive that was built like a Diesel - SR Leader Class 

"THAT ENGINE IS A SPY!" - Diesel engines, probably.

Bulleid, my man! Whatever he did, you could be sure it was… interesting.

Interesting quote that I found from the SREMG article of the locomotive: “Looking back at this project with the benefit of hindsight, it would probably have been a better idea if Bulleid had spent more time in the drawing office, as he had for the Merchant Navy and the Q1 Class designs. As it was, Bulleid was a rare visitor there.”

KR models has announced that they are doing an OO scale model of the "Leader".

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Leader's successor, the CC1, built by Bulleid for the Irish State Railway. That version had a few improvements and was designed to burn peat as Ireland had no native sources of coal or oil. However, it ultimately met the same fate as its English counterpart, being deemed more trouble than it was worth compared to just importing new diesels.

Despite the faults, this quirky design has always fascinated me.

"Electric?" - Toby

In Belgium there was a such odd shaped steam engine that was built in 1932. A massive articulated design with twin Franco-Crosti boiler. The fireman was also in the middle, with cabs at both end. It was so powerful that it was cut in half by the germans to make two separate locomotives...

Mr Bulleid was a genius, whose main problem was his ideas were several years ahead of the available technology.

I've seen some square shaped steam locomotives, basically tram engines and vertical boilered engines, as well as the Q1 Class too, but this...this is bizarre yet interesting. As a bonus, this reminded me of a diesel Bulleid built in 1949: BR 11001. This Diesel was unique for it's cab layout similar to a steam engine's since drivers at the time weren't familiar with operating Diesel engines. Sadly, 11001 was only in service for a decade and then scrapped in 1959.

The only way a steam engine could have competed with diesels any longer than they did, would have been if they switched from boilers to steam generators, and liquid fuel. Basically the way some steam cars went near the end of their run. I've put some thought into it myself, it would have made sense to go with multiple steam generators, running just the number needed for a given load, with a relatively small accumulator tank to make up the short time it takes for them to come on as the throttle is opened. The space saved from not running a boiler would allow more fuel and water onboard, as well as a condenser to conserve the water already there. Plus the steam engines themselves could be mounted on the frames, and drive shafts that go to the bogies like geared locomotives had. The higher steam pressures you could safely run would also mean it could be geared for speed and still haul a lot of weight. Though it's easy to say what they could or should have done in hindsight, with the technology they had.

Excellent video! Very interesting locomotive for sure. Reminds me of some of the failed steam turbine locomotives built here in the United States such as the C&O M1 and the Norfolk & Western Jawn Henry. Would love to you cover these two as well in future.

It’s too bad it didn’t end up in a museum

A fascinating concept. But the desire to retain coal fired boilers was possibly the greatest drawback. Had Bullied dared to go a step further, an oil fired boiler might just have worked, saving the fireman from being roasted.

"It looks like one of those London Underground battery locos full to the brim with steroids, jacked up, and mounted on bricks. It's hideous!" -Chris Eden Green

Fun fact: The sleeve valve gear for the Leader was actually tested on an ex-LBSCR Atlantic.

Here in the US there were "cab forward" steam locomotives used on the Southern Pacific from 1944 to 1956 when they were replaced with diesel. While still being steam driven they used fuel oil to fire the boiler. It was the Southern Pacific 4294 class.

Interesting fact: this was meant to replace engines on branch lines, those engines were M7 tank engines, fairly small, this thing was almost triple the size and much heavier

You have love Bulleid. What a quirky genius.

So, ToT covered a unique steam locomotive built like a diesel. Now let's see him go in the opposite direction and review the GT-3, a gas-turbine diesel locomotive built to look like a steam engine.

Hooray a video on the Leader! Would be curious to see your take on its Irish counterpart. Bulleid certainly crossed new turf with that one...

Leader somewhat looks like a steam engine version of the Class 28 Metrovick. The shape reminds me of it.

I love the loco vids I do think the Bullied Leader Looks odd but looks like BoCo idk It just looks weirdly unique.

Bulleid actually tried again with this design when he went to Ireland after the southern railway. It was called CIÉ no. CC1 and burned turf rather than coal. If you thought the Leader was bad, i'd hold onto my socks if I were you. 😂😂

White Elephant 🐘 is a fairly good name for a character. 🚂

The steam loco shown at the start is a 2-8-0 WD Austerity. There was one based at Thornton (Fife) and as a child I used to watch it shunt coal wagons at Dysart on the main LNER line. I remember often saw famous locos like Mallard, Silver Fox and Union of South Africa whizz bye but I was much more impressed by the WD, with it's unusual clanking sound. It was a rare and impressive sight - I was mesmerised by it.

It's nice to see this design highlighted but sadly so much of the story is missed. The leader was conceived as an oil fired locomotive but the state of the British economy ruled against the use of oil firing. If it had, it would have solved most of the problems for the fireman... The sole prototype was also dogged by reliability and performance issues caused by one of it's bogie/engines which was found to be due to a bad casting. This was never corrected mainly because by the time it had been diagnosed, the design was already considered redundant. In fact, it could be said that the main reason the project was scrapped was because BR had already decided the future was with diesel (and because it's main protagonist, Oliver Bulleid, had already left the organisation). Other points of interest missed include that the locomotive had six cylinders, three to each bogie and used a sleeve valve gear reminiscent of the Napier Sabre aero engine. A very interesting design and one that could have been developed to work effectively but sadly too late.

The decision to make this loco coal driven was probably because of the abundance of cheap coal available in the UK and why steam locos went on longer than our European counterparts. Oliver Bullied was a greatly respected and outstanding innovative engineer and designer who produced some amazing locos and rolling stock. The Leader was certainly original in its concept.

Ever wonder what Bulleid smoked when he designed his engines? Cause I need whatever he had

The Leader was chain driven which was offset,which I believe caused axle fractures also the chains were prone to breaking.It may have enjoyed more success as an oil fired steam turbine,however it was a brave attempt to give steam one last chance.

great yet sad video 👍😢

Imagine if they got this thing running on fuel oil. that would have been one hell of an engine

Oil firing, adjustment to water towers, improvements to ventilation, and incorporating sliding panels or a telescoping house on rails to allow better servicing as well as a water scoop like some American engines for watering on the go would have been simple fixes. If that had all happened 10 or 15 years prior they would probably be a well known class. This is what this prototye was designed to find, needed adjustments to the design while proving the concept.

Just scrolling through the comments and for general information Leader was intended to be oil fired. British railways in the thirties had dabbled with oil firing, generally at the behest of the government. Mine labour issues prewar had driven home the fact of dependence on coal. The LNER boards' interest in the Reichsbahn VT for their own east coast route being along this line of thinking. A substantial factor in Gresleys A4 streamlining was to effect coal savings. Bulleid used this premise, hence a very small firemans cab, and centrally located. It appears that the oil firing intention was always there throughout leaders production, never having actually changed to coal firing. Where this change came about was the passing of Southern into British Railways: and the learning of some fairly long winded production of some locomotives of interesting engineering. British Railways now having to foot the bills, they rather expectedly were quite keen on having something to show in a not unreasonable amount of time. And the thing with the oil firing was that even if fitted to the locos, you still needed somewhere to fill up: a bothersome aspect that bit the GWR rather harshly. So coal and hand fired they became, as an expediency. As it turned out they performed on par with a Southern N, hardly enough to set the engineering society alight

It was introduced at a time when many steam locos were converted to run on Bunker C oil. Had it been converted to such a system then the fireman could have been in the cab with the driver using remote controls. It was built a few years too early. There was also talk a few years ago of using steam engines burning coal dust in a liquid sand firebox. Further tests could have been carried out but BR was being run by ex-LMS executives leaving Robin Riddles and ES Cox in charge of future design. All BR steam classes were basically updated LMS designs.

Excellent! Great video about an unusual loco. How about one on gas turbine experiments, such as GT3 or the "Kerosine Castles"?

Yes

How did the Awdrys miss this?

seems like the engineers behind its maintenance were the downfall. that issue with draft is quite dangerous as well, it can cause blowback in the firebox meaning flames gasses and heat would come out into the firemens cab through the fire hole door. I’ve had this happen to me in engines when i didn’t have the smokebox door properly sealed or the grits got clogged up

Not only is this video entertaining, it's informative as well! Thank you for creating, uploading and sharing!!

I couldn't distract myself from the fact TRASH MACHINE was playing all along the explanation about this...machine... What a good choice of a soundtrack, sir. Trash machine for trash machines xD

Thank you for an interesting look at one of Bulleid’s designs. At Tech school I re-drew many SR loco plans for Mr GJ Click, one of the SR engineers, who then worked at the Bexley Technical School. He had many interesting stories about strange locomotives, particularly the Irish turf burner. Apparently, the chain drives on the bogies of the Leader were very troublesome. Great looking engine despite the problems.

If development had started before the war and a mechanical stoker had been used then given time to work out problems it may have been a viable concept.

Your video Le are incredible, keep up the good work man

We went first with the extremely practical and cost efficient Q1 class, Then the Merchant Navies and Light Pacifics with many innovations but also impracticalities, and now to what is practically an rolling oven that sets out to kill the crew!

A strange loco but it's influence lived on in the bogies of the early type 4 diesels and bogies of certain SR EMU stock too

Perhaps the BIGGEST travesty is that there's a single replica in any museum. It really bugs me. It deserves a full size mockup in my opinion. The Leader was, if anything, the last great example of British steam locomotive engineering.

What a fascinating engine. Thanks.

This is interesting. I feel like that this would be something that the Rev. Wilbert Awdry would’ve had in his books.

The “Thrash Machine” song from Deltarune in the background was a pretty clever choice for the locomotive given the context in which the song was used in the game. I laughed when I recognized it.

Ngl it’s a bit weird seeing the normal into after the spoopy one we’ve had for the last month

This locomotive was like the United States concept called the ACE3000!

Calling it a "Chinese Laundry" is genius, hillarious, and kinda offensive. I loved it

Some nice ideas but too many experiments in 1 vehicle: Chain driven valve gear had proven unreliable, but Bullied wanted to try & prove he could get it working. The loco was said to use more oil for lubrication than a modern diesel does for fuel. Sleeve valves had been abandoned by others many years before. Bullied wanted to try where others had failed. The valves suffered many failures. The fireman's location was very inhospitable. It gave the driver a much better view than from a conventional cab. It did not need turning at the end of a journey. It was a lot easier to keep clean. All the wheels provided traction.

Front cab steam locomotives have been used elsewhere in the world, but the successful ones were all oil burners with both the fireman and driver in the front cab

Next up: The steam-electric locomotive.Or maybe steam-hydraulic. That would have been cool.

Nice bit of railway history. Thank you for sharing.

Congratulations on your 100th video.

It reminds me of the attempt at making essentially a motorcar from a horse and cart where the chassis was around the horse but it also turned out to be inefficient. Another before its time invention.

It’s kinda sad that now a days we wouldn’t even attempt to build something like this. Because computers can compute so much of what we would have to guess at, so many concepts are just left in the drawing phases of development.

This is what happens when you give Toby steroids!

Oil firing and a tender then,

If there was an SR Leader Class character in "Thomas the Tank Engine," then it would also be ousted by the Diesels as well as Steamies

Thanks for all the ghost stories.

Not many people know this, but during testing of this loco Bulleid's assistant engineer - John Click - wanted to see how the bogie and components were performing at speed (no go-pro cameras back then) so he had a seat welded into the bogie and sat in and rode it at up to 60mph! Terrifying I would think!! Health & Safety wasn't an issue then! Sounds like an unbelievable story, but John Click was my engineering teacher at school in the 1970s and he personally told me this! I never knew what Mr Bulleid thought about this, and perhaps he was never told!!

Looks like an early idea for the class 66.

The leader is my favorite locomotive. It's a shame it was such a failure- but it showed what Mr. Bullied could do.

If memory serves well, the front has a close resemblance to that of the Waterloo and City line stock back in the days when SR ran the infamous 'drain'

Bravo..........one day we will use steam again .....no boiler......flash boiler......still use diesel ......cheers

This reminds me of an engine built by GE in the 1930's. Two steam turbine locomotives that look like diesels

Such a shame they didn't think to put this in a shed for preservation in a museum.

With some modifacations those leader locos could've been revolutionary. Also could you maybe make a video about the Heilmann locomotive?

This reminds me of the Farley.

One can only imagine all kinds of ways to bring the weight down, and make it less of a nightmare for the crew. I can think of a few. smaller wheels, 4 bogies instead of 3, centered double boiler that can be walked above by a walkway that doubles as an access hatch for the water tower, coal being fed with a screw and chute system instead of manually... Or, well, windows on the bloody cab doors. I noted that most of the end of steam era engines shared the same problem with size and weight.... and engineer's hate for operators and mechanics. no wonder diesels took over. they ARE better in every aspect, unless you're british and you absolutely want a monstruous opposed piston uniflow 2 stroke train.

This is an oddly exciting title for something so benign.

**Looks at the blueprint** Definitely unusual, but I wouldn't say that it's bad. In aesthetic anyway. **Sees the finished product** Oh...It's...Is there a word for "So bizarre, it's _beautiful_ in it's own unique way"?

I wonder if building it as oil-fired instead of coal would have solved any of the issues (not the heat problem, though)

"That Brunel built some weird locomotives" - Bulleid " hold my beer...."

You should discuss Bullied's next design, the Turf Burner from Ireland.

I wonder if this would work better with more modern technology, that’s a pretty cool steam locomotive if I do say so

One of Bulleid's contemporaries said that "Bulleid is a brilliant engineer . . . ", only for another to say " . . . but not a *PRACTICAL* engineer." His Merchant Navy design was much the same; radical thinking, but utterly impractical. The oil bath lubrication system was one point. Bulleid noted that it worked very well on cars, but failed to see that bolting a thin sheet metal oil pan to a cast iron cylinder block (as in a car) was a very different proposition to doing the same to the flexible steel frames of a steam loco - and the oil pans leaked so much oil that the boiler lagging became saturated with oil - and freqently set the engine on fire when the oil was ignited by sparks from the brake blocks! Another was the appallingly temperamental valve gear, which even the best drivers found so hair trigger in operation that they'd get it somewhere near waht they wanted and leave it alone, driving the engine on the regulator (NOT the most economical way of working, but the best that could be achieved). By the time the first batch of MNs were completed, both these faults (and many more) were obvious - so what did Bulleid do? He went on to build the Battle of Britain / West Country class, with EXACTLY the same faults . . . and built so many of the damn things that the Southern region even used them on pick up goods! As to why BR board decided to scrap the Leaders; according to legendary engineman Bert Hooker, it was because Bulleid had used fully welded rather than riveted boilers, and because the boilers were not stress-relieved after welding, within a very few years, they started developing cracks which would eventually lead to them exploding. Bulleid failed to grasp that the point of an engineer is not to use his role to indulge in ego-tripping, *but to design things that WORK.*

So you have covered the Hush-hush, The Great Bear, The Fury, Decapod and now the Leader. What next.

Very interesting.

What an interesting engine!

What a fascinating and wonderful video. I wonder does anybody model these experimental engines in any scale particularly HO? That is the one I am trying to build a layout of currently.

Genuinely think had the loco just been oil fed and given more ventilation/acess doors it might've been successful, albiet probably not able to stand up against diesels but certainly alot more better then reality

My general opinion of Oliver Bulleid based on his original condition pacifics and the Leader: interesting ideas, but flawed, if not terrible, execution.

You really need to do a story on good ole 10-k there and sister 10-k-1, really sad story in the end

Super beautiful model I want in 00 scale

So, in the end: "BOOM! No more Chinese Laundry."

This is why I love southern, they were so innovative even if they weren't successful. But it seems to me that Bullied loved the idea of sending a steam locomotive through a carriage washer like he tried it with Merchant Navies and light pacifics.

One wonders if the people who have ran British Railways for the last hundred years were in charge when Stephenson designed Rocket if railways would ever have been allowed? What would have happened if it had been oil fired turbine?

It looks like a tube train that doesn’t skip leg day

Fascinating. Nuff sed. 🐨🇦🇺

I needed to know why don’t dig a tunnel and do an extension for the main line Train so that they could extend the new abandoned underground stations. Why couldn’t they use the part D78 Stock train doors on the sides and also restructure the front face of the A60 and A62 stock and that includes the class 313, class 314 and class 315 remix and make them all together and also redesign them an overhead line and also make them into six cars per units and also having three Disabled Toilets on those six cars per units A60 and A62 stock trains and also convert the A60 and A62 stock trains into a Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo D10M, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXB, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Engines and also put the Loud 7-Speed Voith Gearboxes even Loud 8-Speed Leyland Hydra cyclic Gearboxes in the A60 and A62 stock, class 313, class 314, and class 315 and also modernise the A60 and A62 stock and make it into an 11 car per unit so it could have fewer doors, more tables, computers and mobile phone chargers. A Stock Trains and also having 8 Disabled Toilets on those A stock trains. why couldn’t we refurbish and modernise the waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel and make it bigger and extend it to the bank station, making it into a Triple-Track Railway Line so those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden to convert the waterloo and city line Triple-Track Train tunnel into a High-Speed train? The Third Euro tunnel Triple-Track Train line to make it 11 times better for passengers so they could go from A to B. then put the modernised 11 car per unit A Stock and put them on a bigger modernised waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel so it could go to bank station to those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. The modernised refurbished 11 cars per unit A stock could be a High Speed The Third Triple-Track Euro Tunnel Train So it is promising and 37 times a lot more possible to do this kind of project that is OK for London Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. oh by the way, could they also tunnel the Triple-Track Railway Line so it will stop from Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex so that the Passengers will go to Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden and also extend the Triple-Track Railway Line from Bank to Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex Stations so that more people from there could go to Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden Easily. Why couldn't they extend the Piccadilly line and also build brand-new underground train stations so it could go even further right up to Clapton, Wood Street and also make another brand new tunnel train station in Chingford and could they extend the DLR? All of the classes 150, 155, 154, 117, 114, 105, and 106, will be replaced by all of the Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo D10M, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXB, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Six carriages three disabled toilets are air conditioning trains including Highams Park for extended roots which is the Piccadilly line and the DLR trains. Could you also convert all of the 1973 stock trains into an air-conditioned maximum speed 78 km/hours (48 MPH) re-refurbished and make it into a 8 cars per unit if that will be alright, and also extend all of the Piccadilly train stations to make more space for all of the extended 8 car per unit 1973 stock air condition trains and can you also build another Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive Companies and they can order Every 17 Octagon and Hexagon shape LNER diagram unique small no.13 and unique small no.10 Boilers from those Countries such as Greece, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, can they make Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive speeds by up to 117MPH so you can try and test it on the Original Mainline so it will be much more safer for the Passengers to enjoy the 117MPH speed Limit only for HS2 and Channel Tunnel mainline services, if they needed 16 Carriages Per units can they use those class 55’s, class 44’s, class 40’s and class 43HST Diesel Locomotive’s right at the Back of those 18 Carriages Per Units so they can take over at the Back to let those Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s have a rest for those interesting Journeys Please!!, oh can you make all of those Coal Boxes’s 16 Tonnes for all of the 117MPH Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s so the Companies will Understand us PASSENGER’S!! so please make sure that the Builders can do as they are Told!! And please do something about these very important Professional ideas Please Prime Minister of England, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the Prime Minister of Germany, the Prime Minister of Italy, the Prime Minister of Poland and that Includes the Mayor of London.

The Q1's could haven been easy to maintain... except the front!

See also, CIE CC1 --- a tuf burning version of this that was *bizarre* but worked. The common link being Oliver Bulleid

A bit of a shame but I can see why it didn't get far. Few companies and organisations have the resources or courage to fund (and fund indefinitely) such a 'clear blue sky' concept. this was especially in the 1940s/50s when Britain was struggling to rebuild after WW2 and had little resources for R&D projects like this. However, I suspect that none of the Leader's design flaws were unsurmountable and, as late as the 1990s, railway and technology magazines were still wondering if this represented a valiant early attempt at what would be the locomotive of the future.

makes me wonder how well this engine could have been if it was redesigned with an oil fired boiler, and put the boiler in the center a sacrifice i know, but it would make the weight lighter and even

you should make a video about harvey’s basis, i bet there’s an interesting story there