The SR Leader class was a class of experimental 0-6-6-0 articulated
steam locomotive, produced to the design of the innovative engineer
Oliver Bulleid. Intended as a replacement for the ageing fleet of M7
class, the Leader was an attempt to extend the life of steam traction
on the Southern Railway by eliminating many of the operational
drawbacks associated with existing steam locomotives. Design work began
in 1946, and development continued after the nationalisation of the
railways in 1948, under the auspices of British Railways. The Leader
project was part of Bulleid's desire to modernise the steam locomotive
based on experience gained with the Southern Railway's fleet of
electric stock. The design incorporated many novel features, such as
the use of thermic siphons, bogies, and cabs at either end of the
locomotive, resulting in its unique appearance. Several of its
innovations proved to be unsuccessful however, partly accounting for
the project's cancellation in the early 1950s. Five Leader locomotives
were begun, although only one was completed. Problems with the design,
indifferent reports on performance, and political pressure surrounding
spiraling development costs, led to all locomotives of the class being
scrapped by 1951.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Leader_class>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
The epoch of the French Republican Calendar occurred, marking the first
full day of the newly proclaimed French First Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar>
1827:
According to his own record of his early life, Latter Day Saint
movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. obtained the golden plates, a set of
engraved plates that he said was his source material for the Book of
Mormon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/golden_plates>
1862:
Slavery in the United States: President Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the freedom of all slaves in
Confederate territory by January 1, 1863.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation>
1869:
Das Rheingold, the first of four operas in Der Ring des Nibelungen by
German composer Richard Wagner, was first performed in Munich.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Rheingold>
1914:
In World War I, German naval forces bombard Papeete in French
Polynesia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Papeete>
1979:
The Vela Incident: An American Vela satellite detected an unidentified
flash of light, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Incident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bereave (v):
To take away someone or something important or close
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bereave>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to
load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with
apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the ground,
and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later
flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has
o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
--John Keats
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Keats>