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Steam Locomotion in
the 21st Century
The Recent History of
Steam Locomotive Development
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Welshpool & Llanfair
Railway Locomotives
updated
7 February 2022
Nigel Day and Shaun McMahon
performed several locomotive modifications
on the engines of the Welshpool &
Llanfair Railway in Wales in the 1980's.
These photos show Welshpool & Llanfair
Railway No. 14 (former Sierra Leone No. 85)
and the fitting of its Lempor exhaust system
in 1993. The components were designed by
Shaun McMahon and Nigel Day, and
manufactured in the railway's workshops. The
final photo shows W&L No. 2 ("the
Countess"), during its front end
modernization work.
Unfortunately, it appears the railway
recently removed the Lempor exhausts from
both these engines, claiming them
"unnecessary" despite 30 years of successful
operation with them.
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W&L No. 14
Locomotive during trials in 1993. Note test
instrumentation cables leading to the
balcony of the front carriage. |
W&L No. 14
Lempor exhaust stand during assembly. |
W&L No. 14
Lempor exhaust nozzle (back side) showing 4
nozzle openings and careful attention paid
to internal streamlining of steam passages
to minimize flow losses. |
W&L No. 14
Lempor nozzles in position below bellmouth.
Note the poor arrangement of exiting the
vaccum ejector exhaust within the smokebox. |
W&L No. 14
Nigel Day fitting test instrumentation to W
and L No. 14 prior to in-service testing. |
W&L No. 14
Home made dynamometer balcony setup for
testing! |
W&L No. 14
Test instrumentation inside the cab. |
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W&L No. 2
During front end modification
work by Day and McMahon Steam Technical
Services in 1994. Unfortunately, the
W&L wished to modify their locomotive
fleet without altering their appearance in
any way. Because of this, the improvements
were in the region of only 50% of what
they could have been.
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