| Some time ago, I stumbled across
the webpage of the Standard Steam Locomotive
Company, a group who hopes to reproduce the final
production classes of steam locomotives built in
Britain. I recently received the following
message and photos from Sam Denley detailing the
progress of the project: "Please find
attached photos of 72010 Hengist being built at
the Swanage Railway loco works in Dorset England.
72010 was to be the next British Railways Class 6
light Pacific. The drawings for Hengist
incorporated some 'fine tune' improvements over
the first batch of 10 engines. These were not
anything 'revolutionary' the whole concept of the
BR Standards was economy from easy maintenance,
common parts and ability to work well on poor
grades of coal. One unusual point shared with the
larger boilered (same chassis) sister class 7
Pacifics, the 'Britannias', as part of the
simplification and cost conscious design, was the
use of 2 cylinders only. British express locos
were usually 3 or 4 cylinder machines. There were
to be 45 Clan class locos but politics overtook
the building programme with the demise of steam.
There are 40 plus preserved BR Standards in the
UK representing 8 of the 12 BR Standard types,
Hengist will fill a gap as there is no example of
a class 6 light Pacific. There is of course a
wealth of patterns and parts available to help
the project as well as a complete set of drawings
800+ at the National Railway Museum. The pictures
attached are not up to date and shortly we will
have a completed smokebox and cab. We are not as
advanced with our efforts as the A1. As always
with steam preservation its a question of funding
and lots of it. The doctored included photo was
taken by D. Anderson of an original Clan in
Scotland and altered with his permission. The
biggest visible difference is the larger capacity
tender to hold more water, the next 5 Clans to be
built were to be for the Southern Region
(includes Hengist) and the Southern region did
not have water troughs from which locos could
replenish their tanks without stopping, and
therefore required extra capacity - for peace of
mind for the crew I should think! Other changes
unseen, coil springs on rear trailing truck to
soften the ride, blast pipe diameter and peticoat
choke size reduced to sharpen blast and large
cast steel frame stretchers incorporating the
spring hangers between the plate frames like a
hybrid plate frame/steel bed set up to prevent
frame cracking which the larger Britannias (same
chassis) suffered from a lot. This is a jumbled
email but may I am sure be of some interest I
will forward more pictures as they become
available if you wish. Let me know if the ones
sent open OK, let me know if you want to read
more. Please feel free to display the pictures on
your website.
Sam Denley
Feb. 4, 2001
Brand-new chimney casting
Smokebox door and hardware
Front end
Bogie Frames
Cab floor
Cab assembly from the rear
and, last but not least....
How the completed locomotive
will look!
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