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Post by charleyfarley on May 20, 2012 8:11:24 GMT
It seems that the original steam locomotives operating on the Metropolitan Railway did not actually have cabs. Instead they had spectacle plates. Can anyone describe a spectacle plate?
Cabs were added later when extensions to the line involved surface running.
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slugabed
Zu lang am schnuller.
Posts: 1,480
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Post by slugabed on May 20, 2012 8:41:58 GMT
It seems that the original steam locomotives operating on the Metropolitan Railway did not actually have cabs. Instead they had spectacle plates. Can anyone describe a spectacle plate? Cabs were added later when extensions to the line involved surface running. I would reckon they are round "porthole" type windows let into the steelwork to allow the driver a forward view whilst behind glass. I base this supposition upon the other use of "Spectacle Plate" in railway use,which are the coloured glass circles in an iron frame which give night-time indication of the aspect of semaphore signals. |
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Post by grahamhewett on May 20, 2012 9:25:38 GMT
The difference between any sort of cab and a spectacle plate would seem to be that a spectacle plate was just that - a flat (maybe slightly curved at the top) piece of metal stretching most of the way across the front of the footplate, with two "portholes" to look through; a cab would provide some sort of roof at least (but not necessarily have a rear or side plate). Some of those early spectacle plates seem to have been pretty minimalist, even being "waisted" below the spectacles, presumably to save metal.
Didn't I read somewhere that early Met and MDR drivers objected to cabs as they were "less healthy"?
GH
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on May 20, 2012 11:09:21 GMT
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Post by nickf on May 20, 2012 11:35:24 GMT
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Post by charleyfarley on May 20, 2012 12:56:36 GMT
Thanks for the great responses and the picture.
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