Light Pacifics or informally as "Spam Cans", are classes of air-smoothed
4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by its
Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid. A total of 110 locomotives
were constructed between 1945 and 1950, named after West Country resorts
or Royal Air Force and other subjects associated with the Battle of
Britain. Incorporating new developments in British steam locomotive
technology, both classes were amongst the first British designs to
utilise welding in the construction process, and to use steel fireboxes,
which meant that components could be more easily constructed during the
wartime austerity and post-war economy. They were designed to be lighter
in weight than their sister locomotives, the Merchant Navy class, to
permit use on a wider variety of routes. They were a mixed-traffic
design, equally adept at hauling passenger and freight trains. The
classes operated until July 1967, when the last steam locomotives on the
Southern Region were withdrawn from service. Although most were
subsequently scrapped, 20 locomotives found new homes on British
heritage railways.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_Battle_of_Britain_classes>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1010:
Persian poet Ferdowsi completed his masterpiece, the Shahnameh,
the national epic of Iran and related societies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi>
1618:
German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler discovered
the third law of planetary motion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler>
1702:
Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway became the Queen of
England, Scotland and Ireland, succeeding William III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain>
1910:
French aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman to
receive a pilot's licence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymonde_de_Laroche>
1983:
The Cold War: During a speech to the National Association of
Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Ronald Reagan described
the Soviet Union as an "evil empire".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_empire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
triduan:
1. Lasting three days.
2. Happening every third day.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/triduan>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Eloquence may set fire to reason.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes,_Jr.>
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