>I'm no train buff ... but if you refer to the Class 37 Loco (aka EE Type 3), built around the late 50's, as one of those cabs you rode in ... then the similarities with the Chipmunk may have been more than just the "aroma" ?<
Oh dear -- we shall be arrested by the thread police if we persist with this...
I was actually thinking of the Class 55 (Deltic) and Class 40 diesels and the Class 86 electric, on all of which I had trips. I never rode on a Class 37 officially but have had short trips on them. The base notes of all are hot oil, hot coolant and stale railway tea. The heart notes are warm metal, warm black paint and something akin to chip fat, which seems to be a constituent of the fuel. The top notes are leather, stale tobacco and railway coffee! The Class 86 had an additional top note of hot electrics, presumably the transformer and rectifier. In fact I'm reliably informed that the Class 86 cab smells extremely similar to a Vulcan cockpit.
>Found the pic below where there is more than a passing resemblance between the Chipmunk instrument panel and that of the Loco ! Also the Loco VNE of 90 MPH isn't that far off the Chipmunk's VC of 90 KTS.<
I was once overtaken by a Deltic-hauled train whilst on a navex in a Chipmunk and couldn't catch the blighter even at max chat. The Deltic would have been doing 100MPH and the Chippie about 105kts but into a headwind...
Yes, I know it's a military aircraft forum...