Dai Dant

Thomas the imposter?

Do you have any good references for this Thomas conversion on the Watercress, and whether it's an Austerity or not?

Thomas wasn't a Jinty. Like most of the Railway Series, he isn't an exact copy of anything. The front of Thomas' side tanks and the splasher is distinctive and is generally considered to represent a LB&SCR E2 class. None survie, so the Watercress Thomas is a rebuild of something else, maybe an Austerity, maybe a Jinty. I can't tell from here. The dropped buffer beam isn't very Austerity like, but neither is it Jinty-like, so it's probably a modification during conversion. More tellingly, Jintys had Belpaire fireboxes, and I doubt that anyone had the budget to reboiler. So in the absence of any other evidence, I'd see Austerity as more likely than Jinty, although I can't claim to know either way. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:32, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

Hi Andy

Upon further research, I find I am incorrect.

I retract totally my incorrect questioning if the photo caption. It is of an austerity 0-6-0 converted to resemble "Thomas". The jinty on the Langollen Railway does seem to do a better job of it, though do I feel it would look better in original black!

Apologies for the error. Dai

Dai Dant (talk) 22:02, 22 November 2010 (UTC)Dai_DantDai Dant (talk) 22:02, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

No problem.

If you do find some refs for the Watercress conversion, and it is an Austerity after all, then there's an article at List of preserved Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST locomotives that could use some expansion. Andy Dingley (talk) 01:21, 23 November 2010 (UTC)