Yes but we continued to build 4/6 wheelers for a considerable time after that date as far as I can tell.
This was particularly the case at London Waterloo from it's inception in 1848 until I believe the 1880's rebuild. The original Main Line station, heading towards Waterloo (East) and The City (as was the intention), roughly along the lines of todays platforms 8-11 give or take, had a multitude of mini turntables, off the top of my head, thirty something all told. The very last to be removed being below the Crows Nest signal box on the Main Line departure road (as was), roughly where todays plat 8/9 is. I would have loved to have been there to watch the operations that took place in comparison to the scene as I knew it. Where did I put my Tardis.....
..?The oldest road in the US, the Baltimore and Ohio, started in 1830 so the UK would have been the "best" or "only" practice at the time. Certainly later in the century North America came up with many innovations and some spread back to Europe, but I think these would have been home-grown rather than imported from a third country.
Along those lines. USA routes in comparison typically had notably infrequent services, were longer, and had cheaper construction. Even the pioneer Union Pacific transcontinental line initially laid long sections directly on the ground without ballast. So the investment went into the (few) coaches more than the (lengthy) track.
Of course American railroads were and are hardly known for profligate spending...
IIRC the transepts in Paddington's roof were aligned to cover the turntables and transverse rails used to move carriages from the arrival to the departure platforms. I think the GWR was the first line to use 8 wheeled carriages, but I don't think these had bogies. Can I borrow your Tardis please?This was particularly the case at London Waterloo from it's inception in 1848 until I believe the 1880's rebuild. The original Main Line station, heading towards Waterloo (East) and The City (as was the intention), roughly along the lines of todays platforms 8-11 give or take, had a multitude of mini turntables, off the top of my head, thirty something all told. The very last to be removed being below the Crows Nest signal box on the Main Line departure road (as was), roughly where todays plat 8/9 is. I would have loved to have been there to watch the operations that took place in comparison to the scene as I knew it. Where did I put my Tardis.....
generally replacing rotted out wooden underframes with iron/steel
Rapid transit, electric commuter railroads and the electric tram (streetcar or interurban) were to a large extent American innovations too, although now far more seem in Europe.
Much of the London Underground was built by americans. And the electrification system was US technology. Not sure if European systems has US influence or whether they copied London.
At nationalisation there were still ex-Caledonian 4 and 6 wheelers "on the books". The last 4 wheeler, a third built 1920, was withdrawn in 1952 and the last 6 wheeler, a full brake built 1921, wasn't withdrawn until 1958.
Railway electrification developed on both sides of the Atlantic at about the same time, starting at the end of the 19th century, with the major electrical companies in US and Europe sometimes having alliances (or subsidiary companies on the other side). Both the Europe and the US were using both DC and low-frequency AC for mainline electrification over a century ago. The 1915 Norfolk & Western 11kV 25Hz freight electrification even used locos with 3-phase AC motors and the LB&SCR south London electrification in 1909 was 6.6kV AC, using equipment supplied by AEG in Germany.
Best riding in BR days was the BT10, by a very long way. Commonwealth bogies were much better than the BR1, Gresley et al bogies that came before and the B4 was a bit better than the Commonwealth (but significantly lighter). The T4 was also very good, albeit not used above 90mph on passenger carrying stock. After that it gets worse…
Does anyone know why 6 wheelers were so popular, especially on express trains? Surely a bogie carriage would have given a better ride. Presumably a rigid frame 6 wheeler would have been cheaper to build. So was it just a matter of cost?
No, the first documented design of a bogie dates from 1812. By an engineer from Whitby called William Chapman.
There was a reasonable use of air brakes here too, pre-grouping. I guess the most noticeable result was the dual braked West coast joint stock. Given most installs used triple valves & not distributors for quite some time I have my own opinions about who got it more right...
Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if someone, faced with having to transport a lengthy object along a tramway, hadn't come up with the idea of carrying it on two four-wheeled wagons with enough play in the mountings to allow them to turn independently through curves.
Hence my including 'documented'
