YP Letters: Disservice to Gresley over Flying Scotsman

I FEAR your contributor Canon Michael Storey, in his recent letter regarding Flying Scotsman, whilst more likely than most to be familiar with spinning in one’s grave, does Nigel Gresley a disservice.

Flying Scotsman, along with all other members of its class, was indeed altered by Gresley and subsequent engineers. The first major modification was made when they were rebuilt from class A1 to A3 following the locomotive exchange made with the GWR from the mid-1920s onwards.

This modification had the aim of increasing the efficiency of the engine and reducing running costs, a policy followed by most engineers even today. The last modification was the introduction of the double chimney to the class in the late-50s to enable the steam to be exhausted at a lower pressure and extract more work from it. I am sure Gresley would have approved.

As an aside, the Spitfire underwent continuous improvement throughout the war and, although not obvious from the outside, the power output of the Merlin engine went from about 800 horsepower in 1940 to nearly 2,000 horsepower at the end of the war. Ask a fighter pilot about modifications and which he would prefer.