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GWR Large Prairie 4144
After going underneath 4079 Pendennis Castle, I was asked if I’d also like to have a look under Large Prairie 4144 which was conveniently parked right next to the Castle. I jumped at the chance, naturally, because it would give me a chance to compare the motion of a 2-cylinder loco with the 4-cylinder version. Both use Stephenson valve gear, so it was interesting to see what was similar and what was different.
The immediate impression, apart from it being somewhat cleaner, was how much more space there is when you don’t have an extra pair of cylinders between the frames! But it’s also a smaller loco, with shorter spacing between its axles, so there wasn’t as much room to stand up and get a good camera angle on the motion. Still awesome!
