detail and scale

...driving wheel detail of BR Standard Class 4 locomotive No.80104 undergoing maintenance on the turntable at Swanage Railway's engine shed. The passing mechanic gives some scale to those massive 5'8" wheels.

The locomotive was designed and built at British Rail's Brighton works in 1955 at a cost of £18,206 and originally stationed at Plaistow shed in East London where it worked the busy Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness commuter trains. It is quite probable that I saw this loco when I was a very small boy because I was born in Leigh-on-Sea, which is on the old London, Tilbury & Shoeburyness line and, like the engine, I also started life in 1955 - I was going to say at a fraction of the cost, but maybe not...