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.

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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

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bereave (v): To take away someone or something important or close http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bereave

___________________________ 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