Corridor Tenders

There was a time that the engines were so efficient that they could travel the breadth of the country non stop however there was one little problem - the crew! we look at today how a simple redesign in the tender made all the difference and its impact on travel in the 30's to a iconic design

[@turkeytrac1]

Being canadian but a huge fan of British steam i had always wondered how the corridor passed through the tender. Thanks for sharing!!

[@railwaymechanicalengineer4587]

Well you've got an A4 in Canada !!!!

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

The Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific) also had corridor tenders on their initial Hiawatha 4-4-2s, although it was not repeated on the later 4-6-4s which were confusingly classified as F7!

[@WomblingFreely]

@@railwaymechanicalengineer4587I visited Dominion of New Zealand when I was over there, you can walk through the corridor tender too!!

[@robkunkel8833]

@@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis… it must have passed my old neighborhood, which had a stop called Galewood, the name for the location before it was annexed to Chicago before the 1950s.

[@partiellementecreme]

Go to St-Constant and you can walk through an A4 yourself.

[@tobys_transport_videos]

Of note is that Flying Scotsman broke his own record for the world's Longest Non Stop Run during 1988 when he was in Australia. IIRC it was on the long (700 km aprox) run from Parkes to Broken Hill, in NSW. The corridor tender and a crew car along with a water gin behind the crew car (which was piped through to allow the water to flow to the engine) made all this possible. Anytime you Brits want to send another of your awesome steam locos Down Under, I for one would welcome it!!! 😍

[@buffplums]

2:16 did you mean 1928 ? 😊

[@BulletNoseBetty]

I'm Canadian and there's an A4 at Canada's railway museum. I've gone through it's corridor tender a few times and I just can't imagine what it would have been like with the train travelling at full speed. It's bad enough with the train stationary!

[@lylec7755]

I believe you are talking about LNER A4 Dominion Of Canada.

[@BulletNoseBetty]

@@lylec7755 Correct.

[@737Garrus]

Never even heard of a Corridor Tender until now. Thanks for this!

[@Green__one]

Amazing, I had always wondered if there could have been any way to allow the crew to swap out, what an amazing solution!

[@jackthedragon612]

Nice and informative as always.

[@HighFell]

Great video on how a seemly simple solution chopped a big chunk of time of the long distance express runs 😁

[@spankflaps1365]

Peter Townend said the corridors were used to steal/smuggle all the A4 cleaning ladders, from Kings Cross shed, and all ended up at Gateshead shed. This is why the Scottish A4s were never cleaned, they said it was too dangerous without the special ladder. (I saw Gresley being cleaned recently with no ladders, and it looked quite easy.)

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

Gateshead was infamous for its filthy locomotives.

[@railwaymechanicalengineer4587]

And you honestly think that the LNER would not provide the necessary equipment to clean locos, never mind their premier "in the public eye" Pacifics ? You obviously know absolutely nothing about railways !!

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

@railwaymechanicalengineer4587 British railways. You know, after the LNER was nationalised. Look at photos of Gateshead locos in the 60's. All filthy, even the Pacifics.

[@beh1972]

I never noticed or knew any of this before watching today. even though I’ve owned both types of tenders for years in my collection.

[@nigeldepledge3790]

Not only have I seen a corridor tender up close, I've been through the corridor. It was, as you say, pretty small. This was at the NRM, but not at York. This was at their second site in Shildon, just a few miles from Darlington.

[@Victorian_steam]

That was very well spoken and presented !!

[@fluffnose3386]

I believe the Milwaukee Road Hiawathas were the only American locomotives with corridor tenders as well. I’d love to see what that looked like.

[@railwaymechanicalengineer4587]

Corridor tenders were exclusive to the British LNER. No other corridor tenders have ever been recorded anywhere else in the World. Indeed the USA had no need. All the Worlds longest non stop steam hauled timetabled trains were British, and Britain was one of the only countries to have water troughs, which are another necessity of long non stop runs of more than around 150 miles !!! .

[@CleverCrumbish]

Was interested in this, looked around about it. The Hiawatha claim seems often-repeated but it seems any time someone repeating it is asked for evidence they can't find any, certainly not an image of the tender corridor or anything like that. Possible it's true, but might also just have originally arisen from someone seeing one of the Hiawatha routes was high speed and roughly London-Edinburgh equivalent and getting confused or something like that.

[@mprooveit3588]

@@CleverCrumbish Why did the tenders have a diaphragm on the rear of them, though? I can't find anything either way on why the Class A tenders had them, but I don't have a Milwaukee Road book collection.

[@mprooveit3588]

@@railwaymechanicalengineer4587 Not sure what water troughs have to do with this. Several North American railroads had them for a time.

[@radiosnail]

Always enjoy your content

[@PianoKwanMan]

I went to see the scotsman a few weeks ago in York. Didn't even notice it has a corridor lol

[@barrymorris7856]

Great. MANY THANKS.

[@tmcorbett]

Great video! Thank you! 😍

[@JP-ne4hx]

Nice informative video. Thank you😊.

[@DoncasterDrawn]

thank you so much

[@user-tp7up8lg1d]

I think it should be worth noting that during Flying Scotsman's May Day nonstop run that a hotbox was encountered on one of the tender bearings, so to avoid stopping, they sprayed it down with water using the slacker pipe to cool it off on the go. Also the corridor tenders were transferred to the A4 Pacifics as they came out of the Doncaster Locomotive Works and those that gave up theirs like Flying Scotsman were given coal rail tenders like Prince Palatine had or ones like Dwight D. Eisenhower has fitted to him in Green Bay. In fact, when Flying Scotsman was withdrawn for preservation, she and Lord Faringdon swapped tenders, as 60034 was being reshopped at the same time as 60103, and so Lord Faringdon carried Flying Scotsman's old tender (identical to Mallard's now) till the end. The old GNR coal rail tenders and the streamlined non-corridor tenders had water scoops fitted to them to take in water on the fly, they just lacked the corridor.

[@railwaymechanicalengineer4587]

Just the sort of imbecilic nonsense I expect from "Train Spotters". If you've got a "Hot box" this means the "White Metal bearing" has already melted. And how do you identify which axle has a hot box if you don't "Stop & Examine" ? Go back to Kindergarten.

[@user-tp7up8lg1d]

​@@railwaymechanicalengineer4587Don't like a comment? SUCK IT UP AND DON'T RESPOND TO IT.

[@mprooveit3588]

@@user-tp7up8lg1d oh no, don't point out your fan fiction?

[@Gloomendoom]

I remember squeezing myself through a corridor tender at a BR works open day in the late 1960s / early 1970s. I can’t remember which loco it belonged to. I got filthy. 60532 Blue Peter was also present. I remember that because of its association with the TV programme.

[@Gloomendoom]

After a quick bit of research, the open day was at Nevill Hill on 28th April 1973. The corridor tender loco was 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley.

[@robkunkel8833]

How did the coal actually get in the furnace for the engine boiler? I assume it was not by shoveling. Probably a worm gear device? It must have had a potential for many problems, if automated.

[@thesteampunksavant9994]

Bert Spencer invented the corridor tender. He was inspired by narrow open gangways he had read about on American tenders.

[@railwaymechanicalengineer4587]

BERT SPENCER DID NOT INVENT THE CORRIDOR TENDER. AND HE WAS NOT "GRESLEYS MASTER ENGINEER" He was just another Draughtsman in the drawing office at King's Cross. This garbage is the result of the recent publication of a book written by a highly dubious Tim Hillier-Graves, & published by an unqualified non Railway publisher "Pen & Sword".

[@johndenbury4697]

Think you will find this was in 1928 ,not 1828 as per the commentary.

[@georgepitchley3946]

TheLNER was not about in 1828, the corridor tender wasn’t patented till 1928 by Sir Nigel Gresley, a slip in narration, other than that an excellent video.

[@kenclarke1952]

Anyone know if they were used anywhere else or just the ECML ?

[@bobtahoma]

Oh man, I love your accent!

[@DoncasterDrawn]

Thanks! 😃

[@toddhunter3137]

Marty McFly and Doc Brown just climbed over the tender😅😅

[@-FreeMiner-]

I'm from Doncaster also :)

[@Brickticks]

Well, good to know old Scottsman is in the museum, that’s a good home for her for now. Hopefully she’ll be up to steam again soon, she is after all a British icon…. Like the Queen was, but somewhat less so. And for the record, unlike some jerks from the woke side, you Brits have my deepest condolences for the Queen’s passing. May she Rest In Peace, her soul up there now, in Heaven, watching over all of us like any Angel should. I wonder if she’s earned her wings yet? Rockatoa, Brickticks out! P.S. Tell the piano man I said hi.

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

buddy she kicked it 2 bloody years ago

[@kevwebb2637]

1 A4 is here in the US.

[@fatwalletboy2]

Given the slow speed through newcastle im.surprised the crew change didnt happen there as it wouldnt cost much in lost time.....similarly if the change took place York

[@lonewolfalmighty2203]

What is the hush hush engine at 5:30 ?

[@waltersobchak471]

It was an experimental ultra-high pressure steam engine with 450 psi (32 bar!) steam pressure, and a Yarrow marine boiler (a type used on battleships) adapted for railways use. It had four cylinders (two high-pressure, and two low-pressure). It wasn't really successful, so eventually it was rebuilt to a conventional steam locomotive. The name "Hush Hush" is coming from the huge secrecy that surrounded the locomotive's development.

[@AdamHinckley]

6:14 it's probably better to see one like Sir Nigel Gressely on a heritage railway

[@websitesthatneedanem]

No pictures of the corridor ?????

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

did you not watch the damn video? there very well are photos of the inside in the video

[@markburgess4528]

I remember in the 1970's my mum taking me to the Castrol motoring extravaganza at Kensington Olympia/Earls Court and Flying Scotsman was stabled in a siding there, out of steam. For 10p you could go on the footplate and we walked through the corridor tender from the footplate and onto some coaches. I have a feeling it had the second tender but that I can't really remember. I do remember being so excited to go on the footplate of a real steam engine though. I used to have the ticket they gave you but sadly over a couple of house moves, getting married then divorced, it seems to have got lost.

[@AtheistOrphan]

See 5:01

[@northernblue1093]

Not true to say that stopping to change crew was 'highly inefficient'. Even if outputs were measured in journey time rather than distance travelled, double-crewing would have only yielded a marginal improvement for a significant increase in cost (crew were still paid whilst 'riding on the cushions').

[@johnkeepin7527]

It was no doubt judged to be good publicity and increased revenue on one or two upmarket services.

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

still takes coal to keep the fire going even if you're not moving and water if you blow the safety, plus loses from braking and restarting. Significant difference in thermodynamic efficiency

[@clanbarnett2185]

What is a A3

[@HighFell]

The A3 is the updated version of the A1, EG, FS was built as an A1 but rebuilt as an A3. Loads of good info on Wikipedia covering the specifics of your are interested.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

2:15 you mean 1928?

[@MorrisHillmanVideos]

There's an error @ 2:16. It should be 1928, not 1828 :).

[@railwaymechanicalengineer4587]

That's what you get with amateur stupid ignorant programmes found all over the Internet. Especially when imbeciles stick their noses into complex technical subjects such as Railways.

[@user-zr5yj1od5q]

Shame you didn’t mention Gresley proved the design in his dining room with some furniture,apparently,brilliant video though,thank you

[@eddherring4972]

He put his dining chairs in a line against the wall and pulled them out to get the minimum distance required to pass between them and the wall.

[@DoncasterDrawn]

I read several books on the LNER and not one mentioned this - to know Gresley actually proved his point with furniture was awesome!

[@Maurice_Moss]

Mel b on trains

[@justandy333]

1828? You mean the Rocket had a corridor tender? 🤣🤣🤣 Forgive me, I'm being facetious 😂 You've clearly mis-spoken and meant 1928.

[@austinmatthews347]

I think you will find that the lner didnt exist in 1828

[@rheel6747]

I really hate cilantro chicken strips

[@PopCorn-pv8qq]

15 hours till this is 24 hours or 1 day old

[@captainoppai4539]

I'm apalled that you guys across the pond are idolizing Flying Scotsman when it's Mallard who broke the speed record for steam engines. Oh yeah Flying Scotsman is still in service, but Mallard? Nah she's rotting in a museum. Wtf England

[@HighFell]

Mallard is idolised too! She is and always will be the fastest. Not all of us agree that she is permanently stabled at York but the idea is to keep her at the centre of the National Collection always available to be seen by anyone at anytime, which is a testament to how important and adored she is. FS is a national Icon not just because she is still running but because she hauled the worlds first 100mph train, the set the non stop distance record while in service and incredibly shattered it whilst in preservation on an epic run across Australia. I cycled across county at Christmas to see her at Locomotion, Shildon, the crowds were incredible and from all over the world.. two great locos and we love them both 😁

[@captainoppai4539]

@@HighFell then why is Mallard sitting there with her axles getting stiff while Scotsman runs free? It's a crime if you ask me. Maybe Mallard needs to visit Canada for a bit. We'll treat her rightly; unlike our dumbfuck neighbors and Scotsman-

[@pfflyer3381]

Whats with the morse code?