Talk:LSWR D15 class

Smokebox saddle
I don't quite understand this phrase: "sitting on a wide saddle that allowed it to rest on the frames." I presume that what is meant by "saddle" is the arrangement of front wing-plates characteristic of all Drummond locomotives. Whether these are pleasing or not to modern eyes, they seem to have been there for purely aesthetic reasons. In any case this was a built-up smokebox and therefore there was no saddle. The width of the smokebox whether there is a saddle or not, is limited by the inside width of the frames, so there could be no such thing as a "wide saddle". I also wonder what is meant by frames here. Could it be the running plate?--John of Paris 11:29, 6 November 2007 (UTC)