Spotlight: L'Aigle

[@wiltothecollector4420]

whenever i look at L'Aigle i just see 4 huge driving wheels and a chimney

[@ValleyThrills]

Initial thoughts: Where’s the boiler? Later: Oh, it’s there but just hidden by those massive wheels!

[@Uftonwood2]

Quaint and odd they look now, but in their time the engineers were exploring a whole new concept in propulsion after the horse. They also did it without computer simulations etc.

[@SDE1994]

we can't go around it, we can't go under it we can't go over it, we'll have to go through it

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

we're all going on an Axle Hunt. :P

[@adamdrummer1991]

0:37 I would call old money real money. I absolutely love these videos.

[@RockyRailroadProductions_B0SS]

I LOVE THIS ONE! The way the boiler is slung under/around those huge wheels and the square smokebox front poking between the wheels is such a cute, if bizarre design. Very cartoon-like. I recall making a crude model of this one in Garry's Mod.

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

I'd agree! Tbh this engine strangely looks cute-

[@willhooker9567]

Noice! Did you publish it? I would like to see that!

[@michaelcoker3197]

Subscriber, I am! Your production quality is matched by your wit!

[@willhooker9567]

@@michaelcoker3197 Indeed!

[@saucypan-8796]

G ay rocky railroad animation I know you

[@richardgonzalez6409]

Worker: sir, where shall we install the boiler? Enginner: Yes. Inmidiately.

[@guarddog0079]

"Okay, we need a new locomotive design. Give out some ideas" "Wheels" "W-What?" *"You know what I said"*

[@joshslater2426]

I really wish L’Aigle had survived. I’m sure if it was put in a museum loads of people would flock to see it. Instead we’ve been left in the dark, with only one known photo, and very little information.

[@metal_wheels]

It kinda gives me some steampunk vibes, with the unexplainably small smokebox and a brutally large wheels

[@malcolmtaylor518]

Low slung boilers were tried because they wanted to keep the centre of gravity low for more stability at high speed. Problem really was the light track used at the time. Have to admire the ingenuity though, these people were literally inventing railway travel.

[@harryunderhill5604]

I have always been captivated by L’Aigle and some of the intriguing design concepts, couldn’t have thought of anyone better to recap its history. -Regards

[@Cyklozmrd]

When your voice sound so french, that the subtitles are in French

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

That's amazing

[@hythekent]

Absolutely fascinating and so many thanks for this wonderful series of fine videos. 😊

[@johnjephcote7636]

'At what point did you discover that the plans were folded?'

[@hawkerhellfire9152]

From the front the high frames put me in mind of Spence engine from the Guinness Brewery bizarrely enough.

[@thiruraj3866]

L’Aigle is magnificent

[@xavier9147]

Thank you for this historic and technical study. Glory to all those engineers who have advanced technology with their successes ... and their failures!

[@d7106]

Fascinating. The boiler, not being conventional but with all the random intrusive parts around the boiler really made me chuckle! I love watching your videos Anthony at least once a day. Thanks very much for enlightening me on these elegant early locos! Keep going because your videos look so professional & for when you get there, the LNWR Lady of the Lake class has an interesting history.

[@forthleft]

Clever narration. Thnx.

[@yemmel9761]

Wow Those are some big wheels

[@Anonymouse_Art_INC]

I’ve always been curious what would happen if these older designs were redone today. Like, the ideas behind them are kept but reworked to be more “efficient” given what we know now. Would they be more powerful? Faster? Or would they run worse, maybe even not at all? If I had ever been confident enough to go into engineering I know I’d almost certainly try to find out on my own but I guess it’ll just have to be a fun thought.

[@martinda7446]

One horsepower per ton - That ought to do it. Very enjoyable and very glad I stumbled across this. I had never heard of L'aigle and it was doubly useful because I have been saying L'eigre for eagle since 1978. Not that it came up in conversation too often. Subscribed.

[@didieryvron149]

Hello from France Anthony, I discovered your channel yesterday, you make a great work of history. It's very interesting and so a mine of details. You have not forgoten Marc Seguin and Denis Papin, thank you. Regards, Didier a live steam enthousiast.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Salut Didier. Very many thanks. I have a great love of France, and French history. I hope to look at more French and European machines in the future.

[@didieryvron149]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory So me I have a great interest for english steam locomotives in particular A4 series from Sir Nigel Gresley

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@didieryvron149 They are magnificent locomotives. The sound of their chime whistle is so distinctive and haunting. I've travelled behind one several times on preserved railways. I've never travelled behind one on the mainline, sadly. :(

[@didieryvron149]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Yes it's my dream for a future trip in UK as soon as possible ;-)

[@uniquely.mediocre1865]

Its bizarrely graceful and elegant looking, I wonder if there's a way to make it more efficient... give them 12 foot drivers and put the boiler below!!

[@richarddyasonihc]

Daniel Gooche's engines on the GWR Certainly were poerwful, and I think, the first to run express trains at amine a minute as early as the 1840s. If you want some good reading which incorporates mid century French railways, read La Bete Humaine, by Emile Zola.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Ah...'Lison'.

[@barryphillips7327]

Most impressive looking machine but just not enough steam power to really get the job done. With More power it would a speed record breaker for sure.

[@tomalexander7211]

Love these videos. Just ordered your book!

[@physiocrat7143]

Well done for thorough accurate research.

[@robertmiller5258]

Why is it that the model manufactures have not tapped this fascinating seam of railway engineering?

[@mossmonaco9061]

What a lovely engine. The model is marvellous - where is it kept? Thank you.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

The train I drew when I was 6:

[@kennethljungberg642]

Thanks.

[@FQP-7024]

Auch wonderful and experimental times, such a shame that we can't make such things anew

[@ajaxengineco]

Are we going to look at the rather dubious 10 footer, the GWR's 'Hurricane.' And her sister the 'Thunderer?' They were victim to a phenomenon I describe as 'Slipping.'

[@Bacony_Cakes]

brunel can't even put an engine on the same body as the boiler smh

[@punkavatarworld]

Locos clearly were the original race car engineering enthusiasts. Putting the axles through the boiler sounds like a very formula one thing to do.

[@roberthuron9160]

When you take into account of the Great Northern's,4-2-2's,with their 8 foot drivers,which,even with their limitations,still out performed,the Cramptons,because of lack of weight on drivers( extremely light trains,i.e.,under 150 tons),and fast,yes,but don't put any loads,because they would stall,especially on upgrades! The Stirling Singles,were still operating until the 1890's,and thankfully No.1 is preserved! Ah,those Victorian engineers,some of their experiments succeeded,but there were brilliant failures,and you have to give them a E for effort! Thank you for a thoughtful video,and an excellent history! 😀😀😃😃😀🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

[@johnd8892]

The third series of Stirling singles were still being built in 1895. The last in service, 1006, was scrapped in 1916. A Stirling single distinguished itself in the 1895 race to the North. Quite a record of success.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

The Cramptons were semi-rigidly coupled to the tender so the weight of the tender was also acting upon thed driving wheels. In the 1850s and 1860s a 100-150 ton passenger train was considered a very heavy one so we can only judge their merits by the standards of their day and from 1850-1870 they were the crack express passenger locomotive of their day in France and elswhere. :-)

[@1965Leonard]

That mashine is very beautiful. The symmetry is striking.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@1965Leonard You're right. She is an amazingly good-looking machine. I just wish she had worked :(

[@eliotreader8220]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory do you you think the boiler design was the problem as it looks rather small and dangerous to modern eyes? but theres no doubt that the French built beautiful steam locomotives

[@turbulanceism]

Ok so now i need a oo gauge model of this

[@ilike_trainzzero2402]

I so want to build this out of legos

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Do it!! It would be amazing. I'd love to see the model

[@ilike_trainzzero2402]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory I have to think about it and you should do an episode on thulies 4-4-6 locomotive

[@channelsixtysix066]

It looks like they started out building a 241 P17 then went "𝘢𝘩 𝘣𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦-𝘭𝘦" half way through, finishing it off with a small boiler and chimney.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Genuine LOL! The 241.P class are magnificent machines.

[@channelsixtysix066]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory André Chapelon's steam locomotives were the sports cars of steam traction. Beautiful, elegant looking things. They along with German steam locomotives are my favorite.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@channelsixtysix066 Chapelon was a genius. His work was absolutely outstanding.

[@hwoods01]

Standing still it looks like a speed demon.

[@Francis362003]

They got the right idea, But they just needed a bigger boiller.

[@stephenspreckley8219]

I like the mixture of metric and imperial, pmsl!

[@LOCOMOTIONNUMBER1]

I wonder what emergency stops were like……..doesn’t bear thinking about.

[@gilzor9376]

It amazes me how many iterations of this concept had vast amounts of time and money thrown at it before all involved were finally convinced that wheels of such skewed ratios need only be used on a child's tricycle.

[@daylightman8459]

Is it just me or does the valve gear look like the ones found on stereotypical 19th century mainland European Cramptons?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

It's outside Stephenson-Howe valve gear. Crampton devised his own valve gear. Most French - and indeed European locomotives - had outside valve gear as unlike the prudish English who hid everything away in the most inconvenient places imaginable adopted outside valve gear for ease of maintenance. Stephenson-Howe and later Walshcaerts were the most popular.

[@Mull_Shapaad]

This is the meaning for: Too small for it's wheels

[@LeslieGilpinRailways]

Have you done the Sampson and Albion at the Nova Scotia museum of industry or the Oregon Pony preserved at Cascade Locks, Oregon?

[@Digitalpiracy]

Where did you get the horsepower info for comparable locomotives? It seems a bit low.. GWR Lord of the Isles was clocked at 78mph while pulling a passenger train that would have weighed several dozen tons at the least, probably hundreds. The Scientific American at the time reported that another locomotive of the same class had produced a performance equivalent to a drawbar power of 1000 horsepower in accelerating a heavy train to 64mph

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

The technical details came from several French publications contemporary with l'Aigle assessing its capabilities. There's a paper by Blavier & Larpent outlining the design of L'Aigle whilst there are some excellent ripostes, using figures from Lord of the Isles, the Liverpool and others to show that the locomotive simply didn't work. The highest reliable contemporary figure for HP for Lord of the Isles I have been able to trace is 500HP, but its clear from context it was a one off all out effort, not a regular occurance. Not that such power output was neccessary: passenger trains then were very light.A wooden carriage at that period varied from five to ten tons. So even a train of ten carriages wouldn't max out much above 100 tons Net. They only really start broaching the 300 tons mark around 1900 with the introduction of bogey carriages.

[@henrikgiese6316]

Was the problem with the boiler or with the engines? It sounds like it could have been made to work simply by downsizing the engines (and, of course, modifying the connections to the drive wheels) so that the boiler could supply them.

[@DiegoLiger]

Looking at the main boiler barrel, I don't think it was big enough. But it was limited in diameter by the width of the locomotive. Looking at the boiler design, I think the lower barrel has too many tubes which whilst a high number of tubes increases the heating surface, I think in this case impeded good water flow and may have lead to the tubes over heating. Shorter-stroke cylinders would also have helped as they would have used the steam more efficiently. I'm not sure how they could have fitted a bigger boiler, however.

[@GianUbertoLauri]

@@DiegoLiger I think that the length and the diameter were computed correctly to deliver, on paper, the required amount of energy the wheels. It would have needed yes shorter pistons but also four of them or doubling the boiler pressure. The upper boiler should have had heating tubes, maybe, to increase steam production so that enough steam could have been delivered to the pistons. But the truth is that the solution is not making great wheels, but build balanced motors that can turn faster. Too for steam locomotives that this idea arrived too late and from a country (Argentina) few people is ready to listen to. But mostly, too late.

[@GianUbertoLauri]

By the way, large wheels and low number of RPMs where also caused by the necessity not to overstress the pistons. She was built in 1855, the Bessemer process to producing large amounts of steam will be introduced the following year. That means that there was no or very little steel in the engine...

[@GianUbertoLauri]

@Muckin 4on I think that area and stroke of the cylinders was adequate to deliver the required amount of kinetic energy with the available pressure, that was within the knowledge of the time. What was undersized was probably the steam yield of the boiler, unable to deliver the required amount of steam, as it seems to emerge from the reports. Another problem might have been pressure loss in the piping to the cylinders, but there were no measures of this and at that time I think nobody was aware of this. Having fire pipes in the upper boiler might have helped, but it would have raised the gravity center, and raising gravity center was abomination 😀for the engine designers.

[@the4tierbridge]

I once found this in a Pinterest forum on ugly locomotives, and thought “ Is this a creation of Trevor Hendrickson?”. Edit: so this could still exist somewhere in a storage unit, or maybe the catacombs.

[@cris_261]

Ambitious engineering, although I can't imagine going 100 mph without some protection for the crew.

[@liverpoolandmanchesterrailway]

Ah yes, the lovely "Liverpool" Just do a whole video on her. :D

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Oh, if you insist. Provide your own. kleenex (other tissues available).

[@sebastianthomsen2225]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory how about a episode on william & edward chapman's chain locomotive?

[@gilzor9376]

Do you find this at the Butcher's shop? Or is it a gathering for organ Donors?

[@paulmishler402]

What is the locomotive with the largest driving wheels?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Find out next week :-)

[@johnd8892]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory I solidly believe its name starts with A and ends with X.

[@mikebrown3772]

@@johnd8892 The wheels eventually ended up under the Iron Duke, but I don't mean the locomotive of that name.

[@CymruJedi]

Is that L’Egal?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Baddum. Tish.

[@SmartassX1]

They should have just made a normal enormous boiler above the wheels and then maybe made use of the space under them by adding a tank of extra water, which could be pumped into the boiler when needed. ...Or! Make the wheels as tall as the chimney! Then there would have been plenty of room under them.

[@1258-Eckhart]

Spectacular to look at but technically no better than the earliest locos by Hackworth or Trevithick.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

She was considerably more technically advanced compared to Hackworth or Trevithick in having a multi-tubular boiler. Utilising horizontal cylinders with direct drive to the wheels; using form of valve gear which allowed for expansive working and therefore economical use of steam and easy to reverse. :-)

[@1258-Eckhart]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Agreed, sometimes I choose the wrong words: I was thinking of the "experimental" nature of early steam locos, which I think came to an end with the engineers Kirtley, Ramsbottom (whatever his leadership skills may have been like) or Stirling, all of whom built "modern engines".

[@jasonwhitler4167]

So this begs the question, what locomotive had the largest driving wheels? Google doesn't have the answer...

[@thetman0068]

I am by no means an expert, but I believe it was the Stirling Single

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@thetman0068 Alas! Not by a long shot. Find out next week.

[@johnd8892]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory I solidly believe its name start with A and end with X.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@johnd8892 Find out next week. You may, or may not, be correct. :P

[@jasonwhitler4167]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory well you certainly know how to keep an audience. I'll be here next week vthen.

[@Poliss95]

What is that disc seen behind the top of so many chimneys on European locos? Is it a cap and if so, how and when was it used?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Its a hinged cover for when the locomotive is standing out of doors with no shed. It stops detritus faling down the chimney and potentially into the blast pipe etc.

[@raymondleggs5508]

or rain water

[@gametime-vh6dk]

Hmm thos are some thicc wheels lol

[@davidrichie9570]

Superb French pronunciation. Are you French or Scottish?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Thankyou. Neither, a Yorkshireman with Francophile parents.

[@jamesgroccia644]

Wow. Your pronunciation of the intro paragraph was immaculate. How many takes did you need to perfect it?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Thankyou. It took just the one take.

[@henrileroy2485]

You speak French as well as you speak English!

[@mikego18753]

Wasn,t it great! Cheers.

[@eliotreader8220]

how much fuel and water did the tender carry?

[@eliotreader8220]

so she did not see much of a working life then?

[@giglepiezon0323]

I want 10’ drivers.

[@james_appreciates]

Just curious, which locomotive has the tellest driving wheels?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Find out on Friday!

[@james_appreciates]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory Ooh! I'll stay tuned for that!

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@james_appreciates awesome!

[@Graulas]

oh hm?

[@Weesel71]

This looks like the landlubber version of the french battleships which would come out in a few years... definitely a clown-car loco, definitely clown-car ships.

[@kommandantgalileo]

do the E2 class tank engine

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

I'm afraid the Billington E2 is a bit too modern and in the wrong century for this channel - but a great suggestion :)

[@kommandantgalileo]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory maybe for future series

[@channelsixtysix066]

How could Crampton claim royalties. L'Aigle was a 2-4-0, Crampton's contraption was a 4-2-0. "The Large Diameter Driving Wheels For High Speed" - Clearly the concept of stopping wasn't a thing. They weren't the only ones of course. Back then, everyone was concentrating on getting the bloody thing to work.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Crampton's first patent was for placing the driving wheels behind the firebox. Which meant that any locomotive built with the driving axle behind the firebox was in breach of his patent. It's why locomotive engineers had to find other ways of using large wheels and putting the driving axle in a position other than behind the firebox. They couldnt put it behind the firebox as it would be in breach of the patent both in the UK and in France.

[@channelsixtysix066]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory It was a mine field of patents ... much like today. Thank you for replying, Anthony. I noticed a lack of accounts of her real-world performance, actually doing something. I can only conclude from that, that she never did much at all. All show, no go. I'll be blunt, she looked ridiculous. The wheels could have be 1.8m and be a more useful engine along with fixing the steaming issues.... nah, the entire design was wrong, start again.

[@mistermadmachine6311]

4 giant wheels basically zero performance 😞

[@laszlokaestner5766]

It's French so obviously it looks amazing but doesn't work!

[@FuelFire]

Lmao thats what I thought too 😂😂

[@matteomarmiroli1713]

I wonder what happened to this loco... Meh, it was probably turned into forks

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

If she wasn't cut up for scrap in the 1860s she'd have probably succumbed during the Paris Commune.

[@matteomarmiroli1713]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory hmm, i see

[@Goprof150]

Meme train

[@CindyDijkema]

Why does french sound like me when theres a hair in my mouth and im trying to get it out