Ah yes, the locomotive equivalent of the '2CV'! Thing is, they were designed by Bulleid and built to do a job at a time when materials were in short supply, so looking good didn't come into the equation, and if you think that's an ugly duckling, then you've not seen the experimental canvas 'streamlining' job they lashed up on a 'Schools' class! Keith.
Are they the ones where it looks like cut up/quartered rectangular trampoline sections were attached to the front end?
At the risk of getting my legs smacked for copyright, these two pics are from Kevin Robertsons excellent book titled "Leader and Southern experimental steam" and show a 'Streamlining' attempt on a 'Schools' class loco using plywood and canvas as a mock-up. (You may guess that I'm a "Southern" fan!). Think I'd give a 9.75 on a nought to ten scale of ugliness, in fact sacrilege in my humble opinion, judge for yourself. Fortunately it was never pursued, but I guess this was as a result of Bulleid's earlier career as 'second-in-command' to Sir Nigel Gresley, and it was rumoured that the A4's streamlining was the result of Bulleid's influence.
Makes an interesting comparison to the Victorian Railways' streamlined S Class of 1937. Undoubtedly some American influence in both cases:
There certainly is a close resemblance Wolseley, and I imagine an attempt to squeeze a bit more speed/performance from the loco's. At the time, the "Schools" class were the most powerful 4-4-0 loco's in Europe, so they were at their peak by then. Keith.
