Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Railway Locomotives

By Dover Publications

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Apr 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9780486142760

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ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

WORLD RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES

ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

WORLD RAILWAY

LOCOMOTIVES

Edited by

P. Ransome-Wallis

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Mineola, New York

Copyright

Copyright © 1959 by P. Ransome-Wallis

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2001, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published in the United States of America by Hawthorn Books, New York, in 1959, and simultaneously in Canada by McClelland & Stewart Ltd., Toronto, under the title The Concise Encyclopedia of World Railway Locomotives. All of the illustrations included in the original edition have been reproduced in the Dover edition in black and white.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Illustrated encyclopedia of world railway locomotives / edited by P. Ransome-Wallis.

                p. cm.

Reprint. Originally published under title: Concise encyclopedia of world railway locomotives. New York : Hawthorn Books, 1959.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-486-41247-4 (pbk.)

1. Locomotives—Encyclopedias. I. Ransome-Wallis, P. (Patrick) II.Title: Concise encyclopedia of world railway locomotives.

TJ605 .145 2001

625.26’03—dc21

00-064399

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

41247402

www.doverpublications.com

CONTENTS

Some useful conversion factors

Abbreviations

Introduction by the Editor

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER ONE

DIESEL RAILWAY TRACTION

by J. M. DOHERTY, A.M.I. Mech.E., A.M.I. Loco.E.

PART I. ENGINES

Basic requirements

Construction

Camshafts

Connecting rods

Crankcase

Crankshafts

Cylinders

Cylinder heads

Cylinder liners

Pistons

Development

The first internal combustion engine

The first compression ignition engine

Four- and two-stroke cycles

Injection systems

Lubrication and cooling

Power output and speed control

Pressure charging and intercooling

Starting equipment and auxiliaries

Compressed air starter motors

Devices to safeguard the engine

Tabulated particulars

Torque and power curves

Brake horsepower

Torque

PART II. TRANSMISSIONS

Automatic control

Automatic gear changing

Factors governing choice of engine and transmission

Ideal performance and transmission efficiency

Multiple-unit operation

PART III. TRANSMISSIONS: ELECTRIC

Basic principles

Development

Forced ventilation

Control equipment

Auxiliary generator

Battery

Blowers

Contactors

Driver’s controls

Generators

Load control: constant speed

Servo field regulation

Load control: variable speed

Starting and stopping

Traction motors

Gear ratios

Spur type double reduction gearing

PART IV. TRANSMISSIONS: HYDRAULIC

Development

Hydraulic torque converters

Krupp transmission

Lysholm-Smith transmission

Mekydro transmission

Voith transmissions

Hydraulic transmission

The control system

Split-drive or Diwar transmission

Zahnradfabric: hydromedia transmission

PART V. TRANSMISSIONS: MECHANICAL

Basic principles

Development

Fluid couplings and friction clutches

Gears: constant mesh

Gears: epicyclic

Gears: synchro-mesh

Compressed air operation

Propulsion by the Fell system

PART VI. DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES

Development

Bogie and articulated locomotives

Rigid frame locomotives

Chain drive

Individual axle drive

Shaft drive

Side-rod drive

The transmission

Rigid frame locomotives with electric transmission

Structural data

Six-wheeled bogies

The bogie frame

Roller-bearing axle-boxes

Structural data: frames and superstructure

Rigid-frame diesel locomotives

Brakes, types of

Clasp brakes

Disc brakes

PART VII. DIESEL RAILCARS AND DIESEL TRAINS

Development

Bogie and articulated railcars

Underfloor-mounted horizontal-type engines

Structural data

Body and underframe

Bogies

Four-wheeled railcars

PART VIII. DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILCARS: OTHER EQUIPMENT AND TESTING

Braking systems

Dynamic braking

Rheostatic braking

Straight-air brakes

Vacuum brakes

Exhaust-conditioning and flame-proofing

Exhaust-conditioning

Flame-proofing

Fire protection

Testing

Train heating

CHAPTER TWO

DIESEL TRACTION IN NORTH AMERICA

by DAVID P. MORGAN

PART I. THE CONQUEST OF DIESEL TRACTION IN NORTH AMERICA

Dieselization in North America

Ease of financing

Indices of diesel efficiency

Operating advantages

Steam power development reaches finality

PART II. HISTORY OF DIESELIZATION IN NORTH AMERICA

1906–23. Self-propelled railcars

1923. The first diesel-electric locomotive

1925. First commercially produced diesel

1925–36. Early diesel switcher production and acceptance

1928. The first road diesel locomotive

1934. Enter the streamliners

1935. Non-articulated road diesel passenger units

1936. The yards go diesel

1939. The road freight diesel appears

1941. Introduction of road-switchers

1941–45. Effect of World War II on dieselization

1946. The diesel at War’s end

PART III. THE DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE

The basic diesel unit

Car body design

Cab units

Hood units

Road-switchers

Box-cab units

Optional equipment

Running a diesel

Wheel arrangements

PART IV. DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE BUILDERS

Alco Products Inc., Schenectady, N.Y.

Baldwin–Lima–Hamilton Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa.

Electro-motive division of General Motors Corporation

Fairbanks-Morse and Co.

General Electric Corporation

Other manufacturers

PART V. THE OPERATING OF DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES

The building block principle

Dieselization methods

The road-switcher

Rostering of diesels

Technological developments in physical plant

PART VI. DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE AND REBUILDING

Maintenance facilities

Maintenance procedures

Rebuilding or upgrading?

PART VII. BY-PRODUCTS OF DIESELIZATION

Demonstrations

The export market

Influence of the diesel on other types of motive power

Non-locomotive uses for the diesel engine

Rail diesel cars

PART VIII. THE FUTURE

The diesel of tomorrow

Competition from other forms of motive power

Electrification

Atomic Energy

Gas turbine

Prediction

CHAPTER THREE

ELECTRIC MOTIVE POWER

by F.J.G.HAUT, F.R.S.A., B.Sc.(Eng.), A.M.I. Mech.E., M.I. and S.Inst.

PART I. DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRIC TRACTION

1835–70. Early attempts to use electricity for railway traction

1870–95. Early locomotives in the United States and Europe

1879. Werner von Siemens’ locomotive

1884. The work of René Thury

1885. Van Depoele and F.J. Sprague

1883–88. L. Daft, S.D. Field, and T.A. Edison

1890–1910. The first main line electrifications

1890–1901. London Underground Railways

1894–95. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

1899. Burgdorf–Thun Railway

1901–03. The Zossen–Marienfelde tests

1902–10. The Simplon and other Alpine electrifications

1903. H.T. direct current locomotive for St George, De Commiers–Le Mure

1905. Seebach–Wettingen electrification

1907–18. Noteworthy electrification schemes in America

1907. The first electric locomotives for the N.Y., N.H. and H.R.R.

1916. The locomotives of the C. M. and St P.R.R.

1902–22. Railway electrification and electric locomotives in Europe

The Austrian Alpine Railway (single phase A.C.)

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (D.C.)

The Loetschberg Railway (single phase A.C.)

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (single phase A.C.)

The Metropolitan Railway (D.C.)

The Midi Railway locomotive trials (single phase A.C.)

The Silesian Mountain Railways (single phase A.C.)

The Simplon Railway (three phase A.C.)

1919–39. World development of electric locomotives and motor coaches

Gotthard Line locomotives

Great Indian Peninsular Railway – British-built locomotives

Italian Railways – standard 3,000 volt D.C. locomotives

North Eastern Railway express passenger locomotive

Pennsylvania Railway electrification and its locomotives

South African Railways mixed traffic locomotives

Southern Railway scheme – motor coaches and trailers

Swedish Iron Ore Railways and their locomotives

PART II. AN EVALUATION OF THE PRINCIPAL ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS ON RAILWAYS, AND LOCOMOTIVE TYPES EMPLOYED

PART III. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC MOTIVE POWER

Basic design principles

The electrical part

Current collectors

Main circuit breaker

Traction motors

Transformers, regulating equipment and resistances

The mechanical part

The body

The driver’s cab

The drive

The frame

Running gear

PART IV. MODERN ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES: A SURVEY OF CURRENT PRACTICE

British Railways

Bo+Bo and Co-Co locomotives, 1,500 volt D.C.

Co-Co locomotives, 660 volt D.C.

Bo-Bo locomotives, 675 volt D.C.

Future policy

French State Railways (S.N.C.F)

Co-Co and Bo-Bo locomotives, 1,500 volt D.C.

Bo-Bo series, BB-9000

Heavy shunting (switching) locomotives, 1,500 volt D.C.

Single-phase, 50-cycle A.C. locomotives: four basic designs

New Bo-Bo and B-B locomotives for the Paris–Lille 25 kV. A.C. electrification

Indian Railways

Co-Co 3,600 h.p. locomotives, 1,500 volt D.C.

Netherlands Railways (N.S.)

Co-Co locomotives, 1,500 volt D.C; European and American designs

New York, New Haven and Hartford R.R. (USA)

Rectifier locomotives for single-phase A.C. and D.C.

New Zealand Government Railways

British-built Bo-Bo-Bo locomotives, 1,500 volt D.C.

Pennsylvania R.R. (USA)

Ignitron rectifier locomotives

South African Railways

British-built Bo-Bo locomotives, 3,000 volt D.C.

British-built 1-Co+Co-1 locomotives, 3,000 volt D.C.

Swiss Federal Railways (S.B.B.)

Co-Co locomotives, series Ae 6/6., 15,000 volt A.C. 16 2/3 cycles.

Heavy shunting (switching) locomotives, series Ee 6/6

Metre-gauge, rack and adhesion locomotives

Turkish State Railways

Bo-Bo locomotives, single-phase, 50 cycle A.C.

Virginian Railroad (USA)

Rectifier locomotives

PART V. THE ELECTRIC MOTOR COACH AND MOTOR COACH TRAIN

Basic considerations

The Germanium power rectifier for motor coaches

Description of the Germanium rectifier

The first traction rectifier

Subsidiary equipment

Tests and trials

Modern equipment for British Railways

Multiple-unit stock for 1,500 volt D.C.

Multiple-unit stock for Liverpool–Southport line – 630 volt D.C.

Single-phase, 50-cycle A.C. stock for 25 kV or 6.6 kV

Single-phase, 50-cycle A.C. stock for the Lancaster–Heysham line

Motor coach trains for India

Motor coaches in Switzerland

Swiss Federal Railways: all-purpose motor coaches

Swiss privately-owned railways: B.L.S. high-speed twin-unit rail cars

Swiss privately-owned railways: smaller companies’ equipment

Suburban train sets for the S.N.C.F.

Train sets for the Netherlands Railways

Train sets for the Swedish State Railways

PART VI. UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS

London’s underground railways

The Paris Metro

Motor coaches with pneumatic tyres

Rome underground railway

Toronto subway coaches

CHAPTER FOUR

THE RECIPROCATING STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

by C.R.H. SIMPSON, A.M.I. Loco.E.

PART I. CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN: A CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA

PART II. STEAM LOCOMOTIVE EXPERIMENTS

Blast pipes

Boilers

Boosters

Compounding

Two-cylinder systems

Three-cylinder systems

Four-cylinder systems

Triple-expansion

Condensing

Cylinders

Fuels

Coal and oil

Colloidal fuels

Pulverized coal

Wood and peat

Streamlining

Superheaters

Smoke box superheaters

Boiler barrel superheaters

Cusack-Morton superheater

Fire-tube superheaters

Valves

Valve gears

CHAPTER FIVE

ILLUSTRATED SURVEY OF MODERN STEAM LOCOMOTIVES

by H. M. LE FLEMING, M.A.(Cantab.), A.M.I. Mech.E., M.I. Loco.E., M.N.E.C. Inst.

PART I. STANDARD GAUGE: 4 ft 8½ in. NORTH AMERICAN

PART II. STANDARD GAUGE: 4 ft 8½ in. NORTH AMERICAN ARTICULATED

PART III. STANDARD GAUGE: 4 ft 8½ in. BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN

PART IV. STANDARD GAUGE: 4 ft 8½ in. FRENCH

PART V. STANDARD GAUGE: 4 ft 8½ in. AUSTRIAN, CZECHOSLOVAK, AND SCANDINAVIAN

PART VI. STANDARD GAUGE: 4 ft 8½ in. GERMAN AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN

PART VII. BROAD GAUGE: 5 ft 6 in. – 5 ft 0 in.

PART VIII. CAPE GAUGE: 3 ft 6 in.

PART IX. METRE GAUGE: 3 ft 3 in.

PART X. NARROW GAUGE: 3 ft 0 in. – 2 ft 0 in.

CHAPTER SIX

THE TESTING OF LOCOMOTIVES

by S. O. ELL

PART I. STEAM LOCOMOTIVE THEORY AND DATA

Action of the locomotive

Automatic supply of the working medium

Conversion of the working medium into tractive force and displacement

Boiler performance

The principal relationships

(i) Heat and weight of steam produced

(ii) Heat in steam produced and heat released in the firebox

(iii) Heat liberated by combustion and heat in coal consumed

(iv) The steam–coal relation

Coals

Origin and nature

Bituminous coal

Proximate or engineering analysis

Calorific value

Ultimate or chemical analysis

Grading for locomotive purposes

Properties of representative coals

Combustion

Definition

The chemistry of combustion

The physical complement of combustion

Cylinder performance

Draughting

Definition

Operation

The ejector action

Heat transfer

The measurement of coal and water consumption

PART II. STATIONARY TESTING PLANTS

Objects and origins

Brief description of the British stationary plants

Swindon

Rugby

PART III. DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES

PART IV. ROAD TESTING

Dynamometer cars

General description

Origin and development

Methods and systems of road testing

Discussion

Origin of road testing under controlled conditions

Comparative observational tests

Resistance of locomotives

(i) Machinery resistance

(ii) Inherent resistance

(iii) Incidental resistance

Resistance of vehicles

Coaching stock

Multiple unit main-line stock

Freight vehicles

Traction relations

The equivalent drawbar tractive effort

The rail tractive effort

The actual drawbar tractive effort

PART V. PERFORMANCE AND COST OF ENERGY

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE IN TRAFFIC

by O. S. NOCK, B.Sc.(Eng.), M.I.C.E., M.I. Mech.E.

PART I. CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

Introductory

Firing rates

Effect of fuel

Influence of gradients

Civil engineering restrictions

Rostering of locomotives

Cyclic workings

Route availability (the effect of hammer blow)

Locomotives for special service

Technical train timing

Ruling rate

Theoretical diagrams

Recovery time

PART II. STANDARDIZATION OF LOCOMOTIVE DESIGNS

Introductory

General utility locomotives

Need for general utility types

British 4−6−0 general utility types

Stanier class 5 4−6−0 workings

Range of standard designs

Great Western practice

The six-coupled suburban tank locomotives

Valve design: its importance

Contribution to standardization

Long-lap, long-travel valves

Overseas practice: a comparison

PART III. HUMAN FACTORS IN LOCOMOTIVE RUNNING

Introductory: the training and selection of enginemen

The British position

Allocation of engines to crews

Psychology in running

Signalling and automatic train control

Signal sighting

British systems

American practice

PART IV. PERFORMANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF SOME SEVERE PASSENGER DUTIES

British, French, and American work compared

Special train

Service train: Cornish Riviera express with dynamometer car attached

Exeter–Salisbury

Salisbury–Winklebury

Winklebury–Waterloo

Pennsylvania R.R. Class K-4 4−6−2

Steam versus diesel trials on N.Y.C. system

Working of Beyer-Garratt locomotives in Africa

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE ORGANIZATION OF A STEAM MOTIVE POWER DEPOT

by G. FREEMAN ALLEN, Parts I, II & III, and by P. RANSOME-WALLIS, Part IV

PART I. THE MOTIVE POWER DEPARTMENT

Allocation of locomotives

District organization

Local organization – the shedmaster and his staff

Clerks

Enginemen

Running foremen and locomotive inspectors

Shed grades

Tradesmen

PART II. THE PLANNING AND LAYOUT OF A RUNNING SHED

The roundhouse

The parallel-road shed

PART III. THE ROUTINE OF A LARGE RUNNING SHED

Cleaning of engines

Preparation of engines

Repairs and the X-day scheme

X-days – boiler washouts and periodical examinations

PART IV. STEAM ENGINE TERMINALS IN THE UNITED STATES

Engine terminals

The servicing shed

The maintenance termina

Hot boiler washout plant

CHAPTER NINE

UNCONVENTIONAL FORMS OF RAILWAY MOTIVE POWER

by P. RANSOME-WALLIS, M.B., Ch.B.

PART I. MULTI-CYLINDER STEAM LOCOMOTIVES

Reciprocating steam locomotives with gear drive

The Sentinel Patent locomotive

The Shay locomotive

Multi-cylinder steam locomotives with direct drive

The Paget locomotive (1908)

The Henschel 1−Do−1 locomotive (1941)

The Southern Railway Leader Class (1948)

Coras Iompair Eireann, peat-burning locomotive (1958)

PART II. STEAM LOCOMOTIVES USING VERY HIGH PRESSURES

PART III. STEAM TURBINE DRIVEN LOCOMOTIVES

Condensing turbine locomotives with electrical transmission

The Reid-Ramsay turbine-electric locomotive (1910)

The Ramsay turbine-electric locomotive (1920)

The Union Pacific R.R. 4−6−4+0−6−4 units (1938)

Condensing turbine locomotives with mechanical transmission

The Zolly turbine locomotive (1921)

The Krupp turbine locomotive (1922)

The Ramsay Macleod turbine locomotive (1924)

The Ljungstrom turbine locomotives (1924–28)

Non-condensing turbine locomotives with electrical transmission

Chesapeake and Ohio R.R. No. 500 (1947)

Norfolk and Western R.R. No. 2300 (1951)

Non-condensing turbine locomotives with mechanical transmission

Belluzzo’s engine (1907)

Grangesberg–Oxelosund (Sweden) 2−8−0 locomotive (1922)

Stanier 4−6−2 turbomotive for the L.M.S.R. (1935)

Pennsylvania R.R. 6−8−6 Class S-2 (1946)

Other applications of the steam turbine to the railway locomotive

PART IV. CONDENSING TENDERS FOR RECIPROCATING LOCOMOTIVES

South African 4−8−4 locomotives Class 25

PART V. RACK AND SIMILAR LOCOMOTIVES

Rack locomotives: steam

(i) Rack adhesion

(ii) Rack only

Rack locomotives: diesel

Railcars for the Monte Generoso Railway (1958)

Rack locomotives: electric

Some systems of rack working

The Riggenbach system

The Abt system

The Locher system

Braking systems

The Fell system

PART VI. MISCELLANEOUS UNCONVENTIONAL MOTIVE POWER

Dual powered locomotives

Diesel and electric locomotives

Diesel electric – electric locomotives

Electrically heated steam locomotives

The Kitson-Still locomotive, 1927

Propeller-driven railcars

CHAPTER TEN

THE GAS TURBINE IN RAILWAY SERVICE

by P. RANSOME-WALLIS, M.B., Ch.B.

PART I. GAS TURBINE-ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES

Outline of the basic principles of the working of a gas turbine-electric locomotive

Brief description of some gas turbine-electric locomotives

The first gas turbine-electric locomotive (1943)

Gas turbine-electric locomotives for British Railways

Gas turbine-electric locomotives for the Union Pacific Railroad of America

PART II. THE TURBO-DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE

Swedish turbo-diesel locomotives

French experimental turbo-diesel locomotive, No. 040. GA. 1

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CONCISE BIOGRAPHIES OF FAMOUS LOCOMOTIVE DESIGNERS AND ENGINEERS

by H.M. LE FLEMING, M.A.(Cantab.), A.M.I. Mech.E., M.I. Loco.E., M.N.E.C. Inst.

APPENDIX I. Wheel arrangement: steam power

APPENDIX II. Wheel arrangement: diesel and electric wheel notation

APPENDIX III. Glossary of Locomotive Terms

For Further Reading

Notes on Contributors

FEATURED PLATES

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Some useful conversion factors

(to two places of decimals)

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

DENSITY

1 cubic centimetre water at 4° centigrade weighs 1 gramme.

1 cubic foot water at 4° centigrade weighs 62.43 pounds.

1 litre water at 4° centigrade weighs 1 kilogramme.

1 gramme per cubic centimetre = 62.43 pounds per cubic foot.

___________________

PRESSURE AND FORCE

1 inch of mercury at o° C.

1 millimetre of mercury

1 pound

1 foot of water

Standard Atmospheric Pressure

1 pound per square inch

1 pound per square foot

1 kilogramme per square centimetre

1 kilogramme per square millimetre

1 ton (long) per square inch

1 gramme per square centimetre

1 hectopieze (hpz)

C.V. (Metric horsepower)

___________________

TEMPERATURE

F. indicates degrees Fahrenheit scale.

C. indicates degrees centigrade scale.

1 degree F. = (9/5 × C.)+32.

1 degree C. = 5/9 (F.—32).

Abbreviations

Note: Where tons are given, these are always English long tons (2,240 lb.) except in Chapter 2, where tons refer to American short tons of 2,000 lb. Metric tons (2,204.6 lb.) are always written as tonnes or t.

Introduction

by THE EDITOR

Little more than a century and a half has passed since the invention of the steam engine started the incredible social and industrial revolution which has now reached the stage of the exploration of outer space, electronics and all that this implies, and the utilization of nuclear power in a wide range of application.

The use of steam as a means of land transportation did not really come into being until Stephenson demonstrated at the Rainhill Trials of 1829 that the multi-tubular boiler, draughted by the exhaust steam from the cylinders provided a machine which, the harder it was worked the more coal was consumed and the more steam was generated. Conversely, when the locomotive was worked lightly less coal was consumed and less steam generated. This so-called automatic action has been the corner-stone upon which all successful coal-burning steam locomotive practice has ever since been founded. By its very nature, therefore, the steam locomotive is a machine whose performance depends very greatly upon the skill of the men who drive it and who feed fuel to its boiler.

It is far from being a machine of precision in the accepted modern sense and men who work with steam locomotives, and indeed many who do not, have often endowed the machine with human attributes. Experienced and completely normal locomotive men may be heard talking to their engines in a manner that makes the uninformed observer question their sanity. But it is these men who, by being at one with the machine, have demonstrated time and again, that the steam locomotive is capable of almost incredible feats of power and performance when it is understood and sensitively handled. Considering the abuse to which it has often been subjected and at times the scanty maintenance which it has received, the steam locomotive has very seldom fallen down on the job and for all time it will remain as one of the staunchest friends man has ever had.

Some of the friendliness with which it has been treated must stem from the fact that unlike most other forms of power, it has never been adapted in war for the destruction of human life. Rather have its designers been at pains to produce, not only an efficient machine, but a thing of beauty, of graceful curves and perfect balance. In many countries, the fashion has been to embellish the machine with gaily coloured paint and with trimmings of polished steel, copper and brass.

In the realm of sound also, the steam locomotive possesses attributes which have the power to stir the souls of men. The rhythmic beat of the exhaust is the basis of music, its tempo denotes urgency, power, brutality when working hard, contentment, tranquillity and even lethargy, when running easily. Men have spent months of patient work to provide it with a warning cry which is at once penetrating, melodious, characteristic, and the locomotive whistle has become the most widely recognized sound in the world.

By its individualism and the fact that it demands of men a measure of conscientious hard and dirty work, the steam locomotive is becoming more and more of an anachronism in this modern age. For this is an age of impersonality, precision and remote control with the individual counting for less and less while the masses crowd ruthlessly on towards uncontrolled saturation.

In their endeavours to provide a more exact and precise instrument of transportation necessary to meet modern requirements, the engineers have somewhat belatedly turned away from steam towards electricity and the internal combustion engine. In these media they have found forms of power which depend upon no special skill in the driving and which can always be relied upon to give an exactly calculated output by the movement of a simple lever. No longer is it necessary to nurse the engine before making some extra demand of it, for the maximum of which the machine is capable is always and continuously available for the movement of a lever or the throwing of a switch. The human feeling towards the machine has gone and no longer do men address their charges as old girl or even as old bitch!

Such changes on a world-wide scale are taking place with great rapidity and with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of money. For modern railway motive power is expensive, even by post-war standards. In Britain one may quote the £200,000 paid for the 3,000 H.P. Deltic diesel-electric locomotive and compare it with the £8,000 paid for a main-line express steam locomotive only twenty-five years ago. Furthermore, experience on the dieselized railroads of the United States suggests that the economic life of a diesel locomotive is not more than fifteen years, about half of that of a steam locomotive, though during its life it produces as much as three times the amount of work. Also a very high degree of standardization is possible with both diesel and electric motive power and in the United States all the individual railroads are operated by no more than a total of eleven types of diesel locomotive, and this is rapidly being reduced to seven. With such opportunities for economy, it seems incredible that on the nationalized railways of Britain some forty-nine different types of diesel locomotive have been introduced since 1948.

The diesel comes really into its own, however, when operating availability is assessed. With no fire to clean and no boiler to wash out, it is capable of giving six and a half days of service out of every seven, over long periods of time. It is true that when given equal conditions of maintenance, trials on the New York Central Railroad proved the modern steam locomotive to be but very little inferior to the diesel on all counts. But these trials were of limited duration and it is certain that if the period of trial had been extended to several years, the diesel would have been greatly superior. The over-all efficiency of the diesel is without doubt much higher than that of the steam locomotive.

A deciding factor in favour of diesel traction in many countries is the ever-increasing cost of coal, and in the recent past, shortages occasioned by strikes and inefficient working. The long strike in the coal industry in the United States after the last war was a very large factor in deciding the railroads to abandon the steam locomotive in favour of the diesel. On the other hand there is very real concern that in countries such as Britain, once said to be built on coal, a major part of the transportation system should become so dependent upon oil, all of which has to be imported by sea from vulnerable and politically unstable parts of the world.

Electric traction offers even greater precision in operation than does diesel traction. Because it has no reciprocating parts, the electric locomotive has great advantages over both its rivals in simplicity, maintenance, durability and efficiency. As, however, it is not in itself a prime mover but must draw its current from wire or rail, the electric locomotive or train requires a great deal of fixed equipment before it can function at all, and the cost of such equipment is very high. None the less it would appear that for many countries, especially those of Western Europe, the ideal transportation system for the future may well be electric, using current from nuclear-powered generating stations or from hydro-electric schemes where this is practicable. This appears at present to be the best solution to the dependence of ourselves and many others on Middle East oil.

Enormous improvements have been made in electrical traction equipment in recent years, and these have enabled high-voltage, single-phase industrial alternating current to be used in comparatively small locomotives and suburban train sets.

The pattern for the future seems to be one of electrified main lines with diesel-operated branch lines and secondary lines on which the traffic offering does not warrant the high first cost of electrification. It appears unlikely that locomotives individually powered by nuclear reactors will be available for many years to come. Nuclear power on such a small scale would be extremely costly, and economically unsound in the present state of our knowledge.

In spite of these and other modern trends in means of railway transportation, it is wrong to assume that the steam locomotive is dead. It is probable that it will survive for many years and indeed at this time new steam locomotives are being built for Africa, China, India, Turkey and the U.S.S.R., and this is by no means a complete list. Very much more than 50 per cent of the railway traffic of the world is still handled by steam locomotives and is likely to be so for a long time to come.

This Concise Encyclopedia appears then at a time when great changes are occurring throughout the world in the pattern of railway motive power. This time of transition is unique because there are at work, often in a single country, the steam locomotives of the past side by side with all the other different forms of railway locomotion which are likely to be used in the foreseeable future. It is probable that there never has been and never will be again a more interesting and important period.

In this book we have given an account of the immediate past, surveyed the present and anticipated what we think may be the future.

The book has been compiled by a team of experts, each a well-known authority in the subject on which he writes. The standard of the work is such that it will be a useful book of reference for the engineer and the railwayman for many years to come. There are many outside the railway whose interest in and knowledge of locomotives is searching and profound, and to them this volume should be a mine of information.

When planning this book we paid great attention to published works, and each subject has been planned partly with a view to filling the gaps in existing literature. For this reason there is an unavoidable, but not, we think undesirable, lack of uniformity between chapter and chapter. For example there is an abundance of literature on the history of the steam locomotive and on its technical description. So we have omitted the former and confined our technical description to a concise encyclopedia of components. It has, however, been possible to include some interesting and little-known information in this chapter. We have given a comprehensive survey of modern practice and authoritative accounts of locomotive testing, performance and operation. The history of electric traction has been dealt with in some detail, and a detailed survey of modern practice given. The emphasis in the chapter on diesel motive power is on engines and transmissions, which are very fully described and discussed.

A survey of the impact of the diesel-electric locomotive in the United States gives an up-to-date description of this recent form of motive power in a country which is, by now, nearly one hundred per cent dieselized.

In the chapter on unconventional motive power, a brief account is given of the efforts of engineers to find a locomotive which would improve upon the low efficiency of the Stephenson engine. A section on the gas turbine locomotive shows what has been and is being done to adapt this form of power to railway traction.

The bibliography has been carefully compiled to include most of the important works on railway motive power, and the appendices include several useful items which have not hitherto been published in a single volume.

In spite of our title, it has not been found convenient or rational to keep slavishly to encyclopedic form, though wherever possible this has been done, and it was thus decided that an index was not necessary if a reasonably detailed table of contents was given.

Some repetition of facts and formulae, as between chapter and chapter has been allowed for the sake of continuity and completeness when dealing with each subject. In addition, the work is adequately cross-referenced.

The preparation of this book has been an enormous task of selection, reference, and research. The contributors have worked as a team – I think a happy team – and have given every possible assistance to their Editor, a fact which he has deeply appreciated. For he is the only one among them who is not professionally connected in some way with world locomotives.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Editor and the Contributors wish to thank the many individuals and organizations who have so generously assisted them in the preparation of this book.

For their reading of part or all of the manuscript and for most helpful advice their thanks are due to: B. K. Cooper, Esq., P. C. Dewhurst, Esq., M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., M.I.LOCO.E. and Robert G. Lewis, Esq. (U.S.A.).

For information and data willingly provided, thanks are especially due to: The Association of American Railroads; British Railways; The Curator of Historical Relics; British Transport Commission; Coras Iompair Eireann; The English Electric Co., Ltd; The General Electric Company of America; Messrs Henschel-Werke; The Institute of Locomotive Engineers, London; The Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London; A. Reidinger, Esq., M.I.LOCO.E.; Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français; The Society for Cultural Relations with the U.S.S.R.; A. Stephan, Esq.; Messrs The Swiss Locomotive & Machine Works; Messrs The Swiss Industrial Company; The Union Pacific Railroad Co; J. William Vigrass, Esq., and many others.

In response to our requests, many hundreds of photographs, and with them much information, have been received from all over the world. Credits are given beneath each photograph published and our thanks are due not only to those whose names appear, but to all those who have submitted illustrations for our selection. Suitable colour photographs have been very difficult to obtain. We are especially grateful to: W. A. Coons, Esq., of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, for his help in obtaining colour transparencies from the United States, and to: P. J. Bawcutt, Esq., The Norwegian State Railways and The Swiss Federal Railways, all of whom have made special colour transparencies for this book. The Canadian National Railways, The Canadian Pacific Railway Co. and Messrs. J. Stone & Co., Deptford, have been most generous in allowing us to use their colour transparencies and art work.

Frank Garnham drew the line diagrams.

CHAPTER 1

Diesel Railway Traction

by J. M. DOHERTY

Part I. Engines

BASIC REQUIREMENTS

The exacting and often conflicting nature of the demands made on diesel traction engines employed for main line railway service, present the engine builder with a number of difficult problems. Failure in service can cause severe dislocation to traffic, and in order to secure maximum availability the engine must be capable of working for long periods between overhauls with the minimum of attention. A high degree of robustness and durability is therefore required.

Service demands create wide fluctuations in speed and power output, and engines may be required to work at or near their maximum capacity for long periods. Furthermore, severe limitations of weight and space are often imposed. To facilitate overhaul and servicing, careful attention must be given to accessibility, and this is intimately linked with the general design of the locomotive or railcar in which the engine is to be installed.

For low-powered locomotives which are not subjected to severe weight limitations, a robustly constructed low-speed engine, naturally aspirated, is often preferred. An engine of this type gives exceptionally long life coupled with low maintenance costs. A more difficult problem arises in the case of engines required for intensive duty, and subjected to severe limitations with regard to space and weight, such as occur in high-powered diesel-electric locomotives. In these cases it has become necessary to adopt every available means for improving the power-weight ratio even when this entails an increase in cost and complication. The principal problem facing the engine builder is to meet these exacting requirements, without sacrificing reliability or unduly increasing operating expenses.

The following types of engines are employed for traction duty:

(i) Low-powered engines operating at 600–800 r.p.m. suitable for shunting (switching) and low-powered freight locomotives.

(ii) High-duty, low-speed engines, operating at 600–800 r.p.m. provided with pressure chargers (see page 31) and sometimes with intercoolers (see page 31), suitable for high-powered locomotives where ample space is available.

(iii) Moderate speed engines operating at 800–1,200 r.p.m. with or without pressure charging according to requirements, suitable for both moderate and high-powered locomotives.

(iv) Moderately powered, high-speed engines used for railcars, operating at 1,500–2,000 r.p.m sometimes provided with pressure charging.

(v) High-speed engines operating at 1,200–1,600 r.p.m. provided with pressure charging and intercooling. Used in high-powered locomotives and diesel trains of advanced design.

CONSTRUCTION

Camshafts may be one or two in number, depending on the design of the engine. The drive from the crankshaft is through a train of helical gears, or by means of a duplex roller chain incorporating a device which automatically maintains the chain tension. In addition to actuating the inlet and exhaust valves, the camshaft also drives the fuel pumps and engine governor.

Connecting rods are steel stampings or forgings, the small ends having bronze bushes, press fitted, working on floating gudgeon pins, which are prevented from moving endways in the pistons by means of circlips.

The crankcase forms the principal structural member of the engine, and must be very rigidly constructed to resist distortion and preserve the alignment of the crankshaft bearings. The bottom part is usually made separate from the upper part, being structurally integrated with it to form the engine bed, which incorporates the lower halves of the crankshaft bearing housings (Plate 1A, page 41).

Alternatively, the bottom part may act merely as an oil sump. With this type of construction the crankshaft is underslung, the upper halves of the bearing housings forming part of the upper portion of the crankcase (Plate 1E, page 41). Whichever type of construction is used, a rigid assembly is secured by locating the bearing caps sideways in the crankcase. Additional security is sometimes provided by means of cross ties consisting of long bolts which pass through the crankcase and bearing caps.

The cylinder blocks may be integral with the crankcase or form separate units attached by means of studs (Plate 1D, page 41). Crankcases are constructed of cast iron or aluminium alloy but for the larger type of engine an all-steel fabricated construction is often preferred, in which the transverse members are sometimes steel castings.

In the tunnel-type crankcase used both by Maybach and Saurer, the crankshaft is supported in roller bearings mounted on the crankshaft webs which are circular in shape. The crankcase is of cast iron or fabricated construction, and forms a tunnel-like structure surrounding the crankshaft, closed at the bottom by the oil sump. A short and stiff crankshaft can thus be incorporated in conjunction with a very rigid supporting system.

Another type of construction is used by Sulzer Bros, in which the fabricated crankcase is extended at one end to form a bed for the electric generator. The crankcase extends above the centre line of the crankshaft, and incorporates deep U-shaped bearing housings. Massive bearing caps are let into the housings and held firmly in position by the cylinder block, no studs being used.

Crankshafts are generally steel forgings, hardened and ground on the wearing surfaces, with separate balance weights bolted to the webs. A vibration damper is frequently mounted at the free end to damp out torsional vibrations. Four-, six- and eight-cylinder V-type engines are inherently unbalanced, and require the addition of secondary balancing systems, gear driven from the crankshaft.

Crankshaft and big-end bearings are usually of the steel-backed precision type, in which a thin layer of lead–copper bearing metal is backed by a steel shell. Such bearings, which do not require hand fitting, are non-adjustable and must be scrapped when worn. One of the crankshaft bearings is generally designed to locate the crankshaft endways, and is provided with thrust faces which bear against the webs of the adjacent cranks.

Cylinders up to eight in number may be arranged vertically (Plate 2, page 42) or horizontally in line, the latter type of construction being suitable for underfloor mounting in railcars. When more than this number of cylinders are required, the V-type of construction is generally adopted, the angle between the cylinder banks ranging from 45° to 90° (Plate 3, page 43).

The cylinders in the opposing banks may be staggered so that the two opposing connecting rods can work side by side on a common crank pin. This arrangement is used by English Electric, Mirrlees, Crossley, M.A.N., Daimler and Deutz. Alternatively, the cylinders in each bank may be in line with those in the opposite bank, thereby enabling the overall length of the engine to be reduced. When this is done the connecting rods are constructed on the fork and blade principle, or an articulated construction is adopted which causes the stroke of one piston to be slightly greater than the opposite one. The fork and blade construction is used by Paxman and Maybach, but most European builders employ the articulated arrangement.

By increasing the angle between the banks to 180° the horizontal twin bank engine is produced, which is suitable for underfloor mounting in high-powered rail-cars. The vertical twin bank engine developed by Sulzer has two parallel crankshafts driving the armature of the electric generator by means of step-up gearing so that it revolves at about 1½ times the engine speed.

The Napier Deltic engine, originally developed for fast motor-boats, consists of three banks of opposed piston two-stroke engines, arranged in the form of an inverted triangle, with the three crankshafts located at the corners. The connecting rods are of the fork and blade pattern. A train of gears is used to couple the three crankshafts together, and drive the main generator. The gear train also provides drives for the auxiliary generator, centrifugal type scavenger blower, fuel pumps, etc. (Plates 4 and 12A, pages 44 and 70).

Another type of opposed piston engine has been built by Fiat, in which there are four banks arranged in the form of a square with the crankshaft at the corners. Each bank contains four cylinders, and the crankshafts are coupled together by gearing.

Cylinder heads containing the fuel injector, inlet and exhaust valves, are made of cast iron or aluminium alloy, and are attached to the cylinder blocks by means of studs. When single inlet and exhaust valves are used, the inertia of the valves and valve operating mechanism may be considerable, particularly at high speeds. Most makers, therefore, provide two inlet and two exhaust valves per cylinder, when the bore exceeds seven inches. Maybach provide six valves per cylinder. The valve rocker gear for each cylinder is mounted on the cylinder head (Plate 1C, page 41).

Cylinder liners of hard, close-grained cast iron, often specially treated to reduce wear, are inserted in the cylinder blocks, where they are held firmly in position by the cylinder heads. Wet type cylinder liners are in direct contact with the cooling water, and at the lower end, a sealing ring prevents the leakage of water into the crankcase. Dry type cylinder liners are press fitted into circular housings formed in the cylinder blocks (Plate 1B and D, page 41).

Pistons which are cooled by oil under pressure are frequently constructed of cast iron. In most other cases aluminium alloy, which possesses good heat conducting properties, is used, and effectively dissipates the heat generated by combustion.

The pistons are provided with three or more cast iron piston rings which retain the compression and prevent leakage. In addition, two or more rings with oil retaining grooves are provided to distribute the lubricant, and scrape the cylinder walls on the downward stroke, so as to prevent lubricating oil entering the combustion space. One of these rings may be located just below the compression rings and the other in the piston skirt.

DEVELOPMENT

The first internal combustion engine to use an injection system in which the fuel oil was forced into the combustion space under pressure from a pump, was constructed in 1890 in accordance with the patents of the English inventor Akroyd-Stuart, thus anticipating by many years the system of fuel injection which was ultimately generally applied to diesel engines. This engine was developed by the firm of Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham, under the name of the Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine, and in 1896 a small internal combustion locomotive was constructed incorporating an engine of this type.

The Hornsby-Akroyd engine employed a comparatively low compression ratio, so that the temperature of the air compressed in the combustion chamber at the end of the compression stroke was insufficient of itself to initiate combustion. In order to achieve this, combustion took place in an unjacketed combustion chamber, communicating with the cylinder through a passage, which prior to starting was heated by a blowlamp, and afterwards maintained at the required temperature by the heat generated during combustion.

The first compression ignition engine designed so that the temperature of the air compressed in the combustion space was sufficient to