In-depth with Duchess of Hamilton: A Streamlined Icon | Curator with a Camera
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Curator Anthony Coulls takes an in-depth look at Duchess of Hamilton, the iconic 1930s streamliner and rival to Mallard. Duchess or Mallard? Check out our Mallard episode with Bob and let us know in the comments which is your favourite.
Inside Mallard, the World's Fastest Steam Locomotive: • Inside Mallard, the Wo...
To find out more about the National Railway Museum, visit our website: www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/
00:00-00:30 Introduction
00:30-01:25 The LMS in the 1930s
01:26-04:03 Streamlining or the upturned bathtub?
04:04-05:33 Wheels and power specs
05:34-06:13 The speed record
06:14-07:25 Exterior details
07:26-08:31 Impractical streamlining
08:32-09:39 The American tour
09:40-14:21 Inside the cab
14:22- 14:44 The coal pusher
14:45-15:39 Like and subscribe!
#railway #steam #trains - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
This is the sort of thing that makes me proud to be both your friend and colleague, dear Ant.
You know the Coronation steam locomotive was shipped to the USA to impress us but beside our old diesel Streamliners, it looked you know, funny, a dirty, smokey old steamer, messing up our clothes and we were all happier when you Brits had got it back and it wasn't long after that, you'd scrapped the lot.
@@keplermission4947 It took Britain till the 1960's, to switch to Diesel / Electric , for three reasons, The second World War destroyed much of the Rail infrastructure, all engines were wore out because of lack of servicing ( again, the War), Britain was Bankrupted, by --yep, the war. So couldn't afford the Diesl imports, BUT, we still had lots of COAL.
@@MrDaiseymay Not true ... but you know Britain has always fed your lower social classes, a load of Baloney. WWII no, never destroyed the rail stuff. No, no the war didn't cause the servicing issues and Britain wasn't bankrupted by the war but ... you know ... that's what you probably learned. No Britain was finished industrially by the year 1870 and John Ruskin tried to revive the old driving force but something had changed. Then as Germany and others caught up WWI happened and WWII same thing and Britain wasn't bankrupted then but in the 1950s, long after the war there was what we call the Suez Crisis, now in England you'll read a whole different story about that, it's completely covered up as an Israeli problem. So after that in the late 1950s there were the Dr. Beeching Cuts to the Brirish rail networks and after that Britain was Bankrupted because the USA called in your war loans because you were planning WW3 when the first two were still unpaid for. So the truth is that Britain just expired after 1870, something changed, and it caused wars and eventually the US stepped in and chained up your hand. You didn't have lots of coal. During the Empire before 1947 you imported coal from India, then you tried to get it from Germany and finally you got it from Poland but you NEVER had loads of coal. Your pits were useless, it was all lies and today we can talk about it on the internet. Clear up all the lies you know?
@@MrDaiseymay The truth is that your Napier engine for your so-called English Electric Deltic came directly from a WW2 fast E Boat and only the war could get the British to invest in industrial development and after WW2 Britain began quite well but the cost-cutters came in and the aim was to get cheaper labor. So the truth is Britain was you know, finished after 1870 and the Empire started to slip beneath the waves and England was finished and Prince Philip got Edward Heath to put you in Europe because you were finished. You had to pay a lot to stay in but the problem is hard to pin down, there's some problem and Scottish Independence isn't going to solve very much. Basically Scotland want away because England is dead, it's a rotting corpse.
@@MrDaiseymay You know ... the problem that happened in Britain before 1870 was the Great Irish Famine, or Famine of 1845-49 and immediately there was huge influx of Irish genius and they were a force, a very real force to be reckoned with and the legal machinery of Britain was being taken over by Irish immigrants, there were huge protests much as today, Nigel Farage is complaining you know ... but they lost. In the US the Irish question is very important and will be a problem very soon.
I could never be called a train nut, but my God, that thing is a work of art. I’ve always found Art Deco to be one of the most compelling architectural/ design styles to ever have existed.
Sir William Stanier was my great uncle. He married my grandfathers eldest sister. I have a photo of my grandfathers wedding which includes Stanier and Sir James Milne - who also married one one of my grandfathers other sisters.
Very nice and polished video explaining the benefits and disadvantages of this glorious machine. Thank you for posting.
The NRM have done an outstanding job restoring her streamline casing, and it is awe inspiring seeing her in the flesh dressed up like this. However I must confess that I prefer her in her naked form minus the streamline casing - she's such a beautiful conventional locomotive!
I’m not sure what it is about steam trains, but they have a “presence” which diesel locomotives do not. If word gets out that a steam train is on its way, then suddenly a crowd appears. Great video. Thanks.\\\\
Yeah because uh ... you know steam rarely gets on its way. The Gresley steam engine 'The Great Marquess' was bought by the Earl of Lindsay in 1962 and retired recently from the Severn Valley railway as a non-runner but his son's daughter recently married the Duke of Notto in the Sicilian city of Palemro, birthplace of Carlo Gambino, the New York 'Fruit Seller' as he liked to be known. (Yeah that's the guy that 'The Godfather' films were based around). So uh I guess you Brits are you know getting married off to the CosaNostra people.
@@keplermission4947 that doesn’t change anything. They are still interesting. Perhaps a little jealousy?!
One part of it as my old newspaper boss used to say, the smell of smoke and oil, can't beat it.
well a close quote it was near 30 years ago
It's the sounds and the smells. They look alive.
@@golden.lights.twinkle2329 It's not a machine its breathing it IS alive.
Great video, I’ve still got a Hornby version of this engine from when I was a kid and I’m 60 now . Happy days 😎
We realy need more of Curator with a Camera
Good news, there are more episodes coming! Keep your eyes peeled!
Duchess of Hamilton is truly one of the most beautiful machines ever built.
and I love its whistle. It's a lower, ghostlier sound.
Ellegance , so classy. And no doubt , a power house.
Hate it in streamline. I fell in love with the Duchess at Butlins. I was more excited about seeing her than I was being at the seaside. We had some truly wonderful family holidays there but the highlight was always the Duchess. Wonderful engineering but not for me. When I visit the NRM the Duchess is still my first stop. I am now in love with a girl at the West Shed. She is about 30 mins away and I see her regularly. But first love and all that, there is still a place in my heart! ❤️
My grandfather was able to cab ride on the footplate of this very locomotive when she visited the states. He was given the chance to take the throttle for a few miles, and to assist the fireman with shoveling coal into the firebox. Thanks for preserving a piece of my families history! I’m 47 years old and will be visiting the NRM one day to see this locomotive in person. My grandad would’ve been proud to see she is preserved as part of the National Collection! Ever since my grandfather told my dad about the experience he had in the cab, this locomotive has been a favorite of mine since I heard of her preservation!
Several years ago I visited this museum during a visit to York.
When trains where still something to behold, and works of art.
Thank you very much for a very thorough presentation, it was like actually being there.
What a breath-taking spectacle this must have been emerging from shops brand new; a Concorde moment.
This was an exceptional video, well-paced, interesting, and I liked the switching between the wide shots of Anthony presenting to the GoPro shots when he spotted some of his favourite features! Looking forward to seeing more of the same! (And of course, it helps to have such an awesome engine to show off!)
George lol this is shit. He used a god damm phone. 💩👎
i love, if they hadn't hit it.... LOL!
I agree, very well made.
I was in the museum only 5 days ago and it’s a wonderful place. Seeing this beautiful engine in the flesh is absolutely stunning. You can feel the love that went into building it and the power. I just looked at it in awe for ages. And so good to discover this interesting video so soon after meeting her. Thank you.
Thanks for visiting, sounds like you enjoyed yourself. :) We're really enjoying bringing these stories to life
Wonderful little film. Also nicely narrated, entertaining and easy to follow. Very educating and enlightening. Very important contribution, especially as nearly everybody talks of Mallard and the A4 Class, but there is hardly any film to be found on the LMS equivalent. Thanks NRM, and thanks Anthony Coulls.
Really? I've seen a lot more LMS film footage than LNER film footage; all the British railway instructional filmreels on YT that I've found, the vast majority have been from the LMS, with "maybe" one or two from the GWR.
Mallard is still my favourite, but this Beauty runs a _very_ close second. What a magnificent machine!
I truly feel like both try to strike a balance of form and function however A4s leant more towards function and the corrination leant towards form
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing this great video!
Thank you for such a fascinating video. I didn't know about the gold leaf. Revealing to hear how frustrated crews took it out on the injector valves! While the streamline profile is very glamourous I have to say that I prefer the raw powerful profile of a Duchess without the streamline cladding. William Stanier is reputed to have said "I have decided to please a fool than tease him; they can have their bl**dy streamliners but we'll build some proper ones as well."
That huge 6'5" diameter boiler, the dome and topfeed mere pimples crammed on the top with barely any space and that wide, long 50 sq ft firebox say one thing - power! Back in the day we train spotters referred to them as semis.
As a kid in the 1940s in Glasgow I tried to draw the ‘whiskers’ of Coronation. I lost track of the number of attempts I had and the lines still didn’t look right. I have always loved these streamlined locos and my wife bought me a model for my 80th birthday! Love it.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. I have seen this engine at York and next time we go there we will know more about what we are looking at. My wife and I were lucky enough to travel on 6233 last Christmas which was one of the greatest experiences we have ever shared. Just before the engine pulled out of York we were standing right next to it when it sounded that lovely distinctive whistle, fantastic!
Excellent! Museum work at its best: a well displayed exhibit, informative and educational, and well presented by an enthusiastic curator. I hope certain other museums will take note.
This museum is a must see if a visitor goes to York. Loved every minute of it.
Enjoyed that. Thank you.
Back in November 1953, eleven year old me standing in the field near Tamworth Low Level Main EC Main Line along with many other schoolboy Rail Enthusiasts, all eagerly awaiting the "Mid-Day Scot" out of Euston.
We were not disappointed, out of the mist in the far distance the north bound Scot approached ... fast, very fast. Soon it appeared and just as quickly it was gone... 46237 City of Bristol my first ever sighting of my favourite class of steam locomotives in fast action. All flashing golden connecting rods a blur of gold. A vision that is still vivid in my mind's eye.
A few years later, the family moved back to London and I worked in central London after schooling had finished. Used my Lunch Break to visit Kings X, St. P and Euston termini.
Standing on the platform alongside 46235 City of Birmingham quietly hissing away waiting to take the Mid-Day Scot North, teenager me asked the crew what's the fastest these locomotives can go. Their reply... nobody really knows, no one has ever had them flat out! Fabulous old technology from a distant time when this Nation not only built fine stuff, but was proud to do so.
My all time favorite. I first spotted her thundering through my local station with a crowd of young train spotters, towering above us less than two metres away from the mid platform. The lady was undressed in "BR Black", just how she served after her return from the USA during the war. She was on the Pennine run from Liverpool west to east in the 1950s. She was the first namer I had ever spotted. I shed a tear of emotion every time I set eyes on her.
My father, who was born in 1917, used to collect business people off this train from Glasgow Central arriving at night travelling from London. He told me of these beautiful crimson Coronation class streamlined engines. I was a kid in the 1960s and I found it difficult to visualise what he was talking about. It was years later that I actually saw photos of one - in black and white. My dad was right, the coronation class in its streamlined form was indeed something to behold! A great video. Thanks.
No matter where you are in the world a steam locomotive brings back the "Golden era" of Transportation before modern diesel engines I can imagine being on the platform and one of these Trains pulls up with steam blasting from the funnel so it going every where and the heat of the boiler it truly is a living beast
Dear Sir, Thank your for your tour of the Duchess. I totally enjoyed your narration abuout and walk-around this grand old locomotive
The Coronations and the A4s are such beautiful Art Deco designs.
Oddly enough that's the only thing I don't really like about them. I don't know why but there's something about the whole Art Deco thing that's like a visual 'nails down a blackboard' to me. Not just choo-choos but everything.
I'd rather see the DofH with her clothes off and all that gorgeous engineering on display. This is one of the things me and my bestest mate and drinking partner squabble about every time we visit the NRM. I do have to grudgingly admit that it's right she has her clothes on even if I don't really like it.
Pity she’ll never steam again.
This series has really rejuvenated the channel.
I hope you can do one of these videos on the DP1 Deltic Prototype, or the Deltic production fleet ?
Yep, we've got those on the list, the Deltic is too important a loco to miss. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it!
Gotta love those Speed Whiskers at the front
Speed Whiskers! 😍Love that!😃
Never knew about the coal pusher. Still learning things about locomotives and railways after nearly 40 years of interest in them. Looking forward to more of these excellent videos
I love he Duchess of Hamilton too. I have the Hornby model on display and when I visited The National Railway Museum a few years ago, I just had to touch her buffer. Just makes it that little bit more real.
What a fine TH-cam channel. I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool railway nut, but I am a keen garage mechanic and amateur (very amateur!) engineer. I used to be a G.A. pilot, and was a rally driver back in the scary Group-B era, so I'm addicted to all-things mechanical.
These days I spend more time sitting in a comfy chair with a mug of tea and a choccy Hobnob or three than skinning my knuckles, so I really enjoy this kind of informative stuff. I miss the smell of Rozalex and the squidge of Swarfega, though...
Never mind. Your videos have fascinating content and an excellent presentation style. Cheers! 🙂
I have always found these locomotives much more elegant and aesthetically pleasing than the Gresley A4s, though I also empathise with Stanier’s view that the streamlining was more about marketing an image than actual performance. Top marks to the LMS for producing a stunning design.
Beautiful piece of engineering history
Was in total awe when we saw this beautiful train at the railway museum along with The Mallard of course.
Great video 👍
The 'Duck,' managed the ton 25 pulling 8, the Coronations were designed for the WCML and regularly pulled longer trains at sustained high speeds. Give me a Coronation over a Gresley A4 any day!
Given the time it was created this would definitely be considered futuristic, borderline science fiction in thinking. Amazing! I love it.
What a magnificent- not to mention fast and powerful- engine. I wouldn't want to hear the lads in the shops trying to service it, though!
Visiting on Wednesday 7th December ,looking forward to seeing this and more
Beautiful Art Deco design that has some similarities to the Raymond Loewy engines in the US. Bravo for not sacking the engine and the technology as is the case with the Pennsylvania Railway’s T1 and S1 engines.
A work of mechanical art. Thank you for the passionate demonstration!!
Thank you for that very informative video. When I was a lad in the fifties I saw every Duchess except 46230. Happiest days of my life sadly long gone now.
Very informative and enjoyable viewing.
Neat to hear the bell ring. Besides being required by law, it's an old custom to present visiting engines from abroad with bells as tokens of esteem, many are engraved.
Domnion of Canada, an A4, has a bell and a whistle that were presented by the Canadian Pacific Railroad even though it only went abroad when it was preserved, the LNER crews apparently liked ringing it in service.
And King George V
I’m not a steam ‘buff’ but that was fascinating and what a wonderful locomotive - many thanks
Fantastic video and very informative.
Thank you.
Get this streamliner back into steam - PLEASE ....
(I know, I've read many stories, but it would be nice!!)
Al.
A great video. Thanks very much. I just love the age of steam trains and was fortunate enough to visit this museum a few years ago when in the UK. Cheers
So good I watched it again she really is a bruiser beautiful steam engine 😊
Great video, some interesting in depth look at the loco which I never thought about it. The lack of footing but only for the handrails, and the bent handle/valves in cab where the engine crew vent their frustrations. Fascinating. One of my favourites from GB. With admiration from DownUnda.
I rember standing on the platform at willesden junction seeing these locos pounding out of Euston, as a ten year old train spotter, my favourite loco in maroon, happy days
Beautiful. Nothing more to say.
Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you for uploading!!
What an amazing video. Many thanks Anthony. Perfect narration and presentation.
I hardly recognise the area now, I used to work on Barton Dock road years ago, good video
Very recently I found an old family photo of me in Dutchess of Hamilton’s cab, sat on the little wooden seat and turning the reverser. I was tiny so it looked adorable.
I quite like the Dutchess, and the streamlined coating makes it super distinct. For some reason I really like the lamps. Their design is so unique.
Love this series, great footage, informative history combined with vintage video shots !
Very informative and enjoyable, please keep em' coming.
Some great snippets of information there, even for enthusiasts who know a lot - such as the problems of the handrails, the detail of the coal pusher, and the bell from her US tour - amazing to see that you have this item still preserved for our nation. Worth noting that the Smith-stone speedo-drive mentioned is a later addition to the engine in BR days; and wouldn't have been her original, but what a great little informative video, genuinely well done - keep it up!
Yes, steam engines up to the late 50's had neither speedos or AWS (Automatic Warning System), which only begs the question: why with so much railway traffic, including the shunt-releases and the run-rounds, were there so few accidents?
Superb channel! Love the history of these incredible steam locos. Keep up the excellent work! 👍👍👍
Love it, another great video, ah the good old days, what a wonderful job you have
I think this livery is the origin of the phrase “go-faster stripes”.
The coal consumption above 100mph with 2 firemen was so extreme they couldn’t shovel it in quick enough.
It just burnt/vaporised all the coal instantly.
An engine that would've benefitted from a mechanical stoker no doubt, but I'm sure the unions would have raised objections to it.
@@Shipwright1918 I once heard a story about a fireman here in America who had to hand-fire a Big Boy with a conked-out stoker. They were running light from I think Green River back to Cheyenne to get the engine into the shop to fix the stoker. That fireman was truly miserable when they pulled into Cheyenne! And the best part is that the dispatcher had wanted to give them a train to haul, but the fireman, understandably, put a stop to that idea right away.
You’d have needed 4-6 men shoveling to hand fire that engine with a train behind it.
I completely enjoy these curator tours!
Lucky enough to have travelled behind Duchess of Hamilton on rail tours in the 1980’s. Would love to see it out in steam with the full streamlined cladding today.
One of my favorites ❤
Thank you so much for sharing this! As a kid in Chicago who loved trains, I'd watch absolutely anything on TV I could find about them. One such show was "Great Steam Trains" which I later learned was actually a BBC show called "Steam Days". The episode I watched the most (likely because it was first on the tape I recorded off the television) featured this engine, sans streamlining, doing an excursion run on the Settle to Carlisle line. It has long been my dream to make it to York and see her in person someday, but until then thank you very much for this great episode!
That was awesome!
Very enjoyable, your knowledge and enthusiasm make for an entertaining film.
Learn something new everyday 🥰 the lms are my favourite company and 6229 is my favourite exhibit at the NRM.
Can't wait for the next episode.
It's kind of odd that some clever boffin at LMS or LNER didn't develop a mechanical feeder for coal from the tender to the firebox and taken the load off the firemen? Especially with the coal pusher being installed already! Nice video Mr Coulls & team
Many large American locomotives like the NYC Hudsons and the UP Big Boy had mechanical stokers because they burned coal at a rate that firemen with shovels couldn’t keep up with.
Honestly, I'm just as stunned. That coal pusher was a good half-step, but I think they would've been even more powerful with some mechanical stoking. The highest power output of the class was done with two fireman going at it, so I can't imagine how much easier a stoker would've made things
A couple of BR Standard 9Fs were fitted with mechanical stokers. Long story short, it wasn't very successful
Screw-type coal transport was used on boats and many engines, but did have the disadvantages of extra weight and complexity. It also may have been impossible to find the space on these engines.
@@garryferrington811 It would have led to various changes to the firebox, and the type of coal that could be used for classes fitted with mechanical stokers. The American/Canadian products for the SNCF (141R) had that kit on the coal fired ones, and the coal had to be ground down to the correct size for those.
Great video. Well presented.
Excellent 👍
Great film! Thank you!
Thank you for making this wonderful episode
Great video!
She was one of my favorites back when she ran on BR. Those were the days to be sure. 1980s were great for steam
Nice to see inside, it was quite amazing to see in person!
This is fantastic, Flash Gordon meets the Steam Locomotive. A design icon.
Brilliant video - well done!
Fantastic History about the Duchesses I'll eventually come up to see the locos in the Museum including Mallard, Duchess Of Hamilton and of course other locos too
Really enjoyed this
Love it! Visited the museum a few months ago. What a fantastic collection of rolling stock
Muchas Gracias!!. Hermoso Documental!!
To National Railway Museum York: Streamlined Duchesses are gorgeous, but my favorite of all the Coronations has the number 6256 and its deserving name “Sir William A. Stanier F.R.S.” I’ve looked into a part of its history online but I wanted to learn more about it because not only is it probably the last british steam locomotive ever to be completed before nationalisation, but its history was overlooked quite recently, especially with it being scrapped despite the publicity it deservingly gets.
Quite agree: that (and 6257?) was modified somewhat, at least the pony truck arrangement and I think roller bearings throughout. There may have been other tweaks too.
@@johnclayden1670 yes the last 2 had the uglier pony trucks which didn't 'swoop' up like the stanier ones and the similarly ugly cut down cabside bottom as opposed the curved stanier design.
Brilliant! Thank you!
Amazing how clean this thing is.
I've never seen this, absolutely Gorgeous!!
By a strange quirk of fate, today I saw both this video again, _and_ I saw a full-color photograph of the preserved Pennsylvania Railroad GG1-class no. 4890 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and it hit me like a bolt of the blindingly obvious: the GG1 is basically wearing a _Duchess of Hamilton_ skin! They have very similar streamlining, very similar color, and _very_ similar gold piping along the curve of the streamlining.
It would be amazing to see the two sitting together, which obviously would be prohibitively expensive. Failing that though, it would be amazing to station a large photograph of each beside the other. Perhaps you could convince your American counterparts to a camera walkthrough of the GG1?
Have liked and subscribed!
Thanks for this interesting and enjoyable video!
Have seen photos of these engines in streamlined form, but never yet seen one "in person".
Anthony Coulls makes the subject fascinating!
This is a really well done video, thank you Anthony (and crew!). I'd love some really 'in-depth' anecdotes scattered amongst future vids, if you have them to offer.
I heard the original streamlining panels rattled to hell (several of my family worked for the LMSR), but given they were primarily a marketing device it wasn't considered a problem - not half so much as the practicalities of servicing.
Talking with a very old driver who was 'on display' with 6233 in Norfolk years ago, he said he loved them for their power and reliability, but the noise was immense and life was v hard for the firemen.
The sound of these powering their way through the 21st century is magical, especially through upland Westmorland, across Cumberland and into SW Scotland is quite magical. Great to see a Stanier relative commenting.
To clear up something in the video the Coronation class and Duchess class are 2 different classes. The Duchess class are the Unstreamlined Coronations, but the locomotive at the NRM is a Duchess as no original Coronations survived scrap.
Nope.
its amazing just amazing...... thanks....a..lot
As a kid l didn’t appreciate its beauty
But now l can see it’s a work of art and also in coach building etc
It’s futurism art movement made into a train
The quality is exquisite
What a fine machine
Well done.
Thanks for sharing. 😉👌🏻
Awesome video. I would like to add that not all the Duchess locomotives were streamlined. Sutherland, currently on main line tours, is one example that was never fitted with the outer casing.
Inversely, not only were most of the latter half of the class built during WWII, but _with_ all the streamlining.
Nope, not all and not all were Crimson. The first five appear to have been finished in Caledonian Blue.
@@leoroverman4541 Coronation 6200 was blue and silver!
@@Volcano-Man It was Caley Blue was the preferred coulour from what I can glean with Aluminium silver strips. Wikki's Coronation page is a mine of information.
@@leoroverman4541 well that is strange as I knew some of the people who prepared 6200 for its public appearance - they said the silver paint was a bugger to do!
An excellent and interesting documentary. Thank you. 👍
Our pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it.