Talk:Spirit of Progress

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[edit] Typical Consist of steam-hauled Spirit of Progress

Period photos show only three second class cars between the guard/luggage van and the dining car. The cars were originally unclassed. First class cars were numbered 1-5 and second class cars numbered 6-9. Thus the normal consist was four first class and three second class with one spare car of each class. Dbromage 07:16, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm, now we have something of a conflict of source information. I just took the consist details from the Dunn book on the S class (which I fully appreciate could be itself factually incorrect on this point) which stated on two separate pages that there were four first and four second class cars, guards van, dining car, and observation car for the original '37 consist. (It even quotes a total tonnage including loco of 766 tons) It states that the mail van and an additional first class car were then added from April 1938.

I think the article in its current form is now factually incorrect, as when you read it it suggests two mail vans ended up in the consist after 1938, and I'm pretty sure it was only ever the one. I removed the bit about the mail van being in the '37 consist, kept the second class car count at three, and suggest we try and find some further reference material for verification (eg "Six & a half inches from destiny" maybe?) Zzrbiker 08:29, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

I did some more checking. The original consist may have used all available cars with no spares. There were four of each sitting car plus the guard/luggage van, dining car and parlor car available from November 1937. Car 4 (first class) and the Bulk Mail Van weren't delivered until April 1938. It's possible that one of the second class cars was removed from 1938 so the load would be the same with the mail van. This would also leave one spare sitting car of each class. This suggests the Buckland photo is from 1938, not 1937. Dbromage 08:50, 20 October 2006 (UTC)