1 82 Book of Locomotives 



And then we began to wonder why ; from 

 wondering we asked questions and, strangely 

 enough, we found that the " tankers ", as 

 we came to call them, were great favourites 

 with drivers and firemen. Said one: " They 

 are just as powerful and fast running as 

 any other engine of the same size; we 

 don't have to take them to a turn-table 

 each time we want to work in a different 

 direction, and they are a good deal more 

 comfortable in the cab." 



So you see there were points in favour 

 of the little 2-4-25 doing such splendid 

 work out of the lime-light which seemed 

 ever to be given to the express machines. 



The North- Western engines of that day 

 had rather poor cabs, and in bad weather 

 the crews suffered considerably. The tanks 

 having to run backwards and forwards had 

 protection at the bunker end which was 

 denied to the express machines. 



Then we noticed another thing; it was, 

 that whereas the tanks had at first been 

 employed only on trains which stopped at 

 our small stations, and on the branch lines 



