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LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Old Milverton Lineside Views: lnwr_oldmil1446a

Close up showing the locomotive's tender fitted with axle springs placed beneath the tender running plate

Close up of image 'lnwr_oldmil1446' showing the locomotive's tender fitted with axle springs placed beneath the tender running plate. Harry Jack in his RCTS book 'Locomotives of the LNWR Southern Division' states that the short lengths of rail, initially 15' then 21' long, had a devastating effect on the iron springs of the rolling stock of the day. An early experiment fitting rubber springs, a hollow cylinder of thick rubber contained within a brass casing or iron rings located either above or below the axlebox, had proved a success and these had been progressively fitted to Southern Division locomotives. Harry Jack also notes that McConnell reported in November 1853 there were 147 instances of steel spring failure per MONTH whilst there had been no failures at all with stock fitted with the new method of using rubber springs. The introduction of fishplates tying the rails together between chairs provided a better ride than the original method of joining rails by butting them together on a single cast iron chair.

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