127-548: The Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST is a class of steam locomotive designed by Hunslet Engine Company for shunting . The class became the standard British shunting locomotive during the Second World War , and production continued until 1964 at various locomotive manufacturers. The 48150 class were built for the Guest Keen Baldwins Iron & Steel Company in 1937, being an enlarged version of
254-685: A 1,664 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge of five Portuguese feet – close enough to allow interoperability in practice. The new high-speed network in Spain and Portugal uses standard gauge. The dual-gauge high-speed train RENFE Class 130 can change gauge at low speed without stopping. The 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) gauge was first used in Great Britain in Scotland for two short, isolated lines,
381-469: A tender coupled to it. Variations in this general design include electrically powered boilers, turbines in place of pistons, and using steam generated externally. Steam locomotives were first developed in the United Kingdom during the early 19th century and used for railway transport until the middle of the 20th century. Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive known to have hauled
508-660: A (newly identified) Killingworth Billy in 1816. He also constructed The Duke in 1817 for the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway , which was the first steam locomotive to work in Scotland. In 1825, Stephenson built Locomotion No. 1 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway , north-east England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829, his son Robert built in Newcastle The Rocket , which
635-448: A balance has to be struck between obtaining sufficient draught for combustion whilst giving the exhaust gases and particles sufficient time to be consumed. In the past, a strong draught could lift the fire off the grate, or cause the ejection of unburnt particles of fuel, dirt and pollution for which steam locomotives had an unenviable reputation. Moreover, the pumping action of the exhaust has the counter-effect of exerting back pressure on
762-707: A century about the practicability of third rail operation, and numerous devices have been promoted to overcome the problem, especially at turnouts, including the "Brennan Switch". This gauge was once used by the United Railways and Electric Company and the MTA Maryland and is now used only by the Baltimore Streetcar Museum . As finally established, the Iberian gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in )
889-486: A crankpin on the driving wheel ( Main driver in the US) or to a crank on a driving axle. The movement of the valves in the steam chest is controlled through a set of rods and linkages called the valve gear , actuated from the driving axle or from the crankpin; the valve gear includes devices that allow reversing the engine, adjusting valve travel and the timing of the admission and exhaust events. The cut-off point determines
1016-400: A deployable "water scoop" fitted under the tender or the rear water tank in the case of a large tank engine; the fireman remotely lowered the scoop into the trough, the speed of the engine forced the water up into the tank, and the scoop was raised again once it was full. Water is essential for the operation of a steam locomotive. As Swengel argued: Broad gauge A broad-gauge railway
1143-608: A design dating from 1923. These developed into the 50550 class of 1941–42, with various modifications. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the War Department had initially chosen the LMS 'Jinty' 3F 0-6-0T as its standard shunting locomotive, but was persuaded by Hunslet that a simplified version of their more modern 50550 design would be more suitable. The first locomotive was completed at their Leeds works at
1270-429: A gauge mounted in the cab. Steam pressure can be released manually by the driver or fireman. If the pressure reaches the boiler's design working limit, a safety valve opens automatically to reduce the pressure and avoid a catastrophic accident. The exhaust steam from the engine cylinders shoots out of a nozzle pointing up the chimney in the smokebox. The steam entrains or drags the smokebox gases with it which maintains
1397-627: A gauge of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) but Luas , the Dublin light rail system, is built to standard gauge. Russia and the other former Soviet Republics use a 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in ) (originally 5 ft ( 1,524 mm )) gauge while Finland continues to use the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge inherited from the Russian Empire (the two standards are close enough to allow full interoperability between Finland and Russia). Portugal and
SECTION 10
#17327755719721524-467: A law stating "The width of the track or gauge of all roads under this act, shall be four feet ten inches between the rails." When American railroads' track extended to the point that they began to interconnect, it became clear that a single nationwide gauge was desirable. Six-foot-gauge railroads ( 6 ft [ 1,829 mm ]) had developed a large regional following in New York State in
1651-502: A load over a distance at Pen-y-darren in 1804, although he produced an earlier locomotive for trial at Coalbrookdale in 1802. Salamanca , built in 1812 by Matthew Murray for the Middleton Railway , was the first commercially successful steam locomotive. Locomotion No. 1 , built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company , was the first steam locomotive to haul passengers on
1778-488: A lower pressure in the smokebox than that under the firebox grate. This pressure difference causes air to flow up through the coal bed and keeps the fire burning. The search for thermal efficiency greater than that of a typical fire-tube boiler led engineers, such as Nigel Gresley , to consider the water-tube boiler . Although he tested the concept on the LNER Class W1 , the difficulties during development exceeded
1905-433: A lower reciprocating mass than three, four, five or six coupled axles. They were thus able to turn at very high speeds due to the lower reciprocating mass. A trailing axle was able to support a huge firebox, hence most locomotives with the wheel arrangement of 4-4-2 (American Type Atlantic) were called free steamers and were able to maintain steam pressure regardless of throttle setting. The chassis, or locomotive frame ,
2032-533: A modified Siemens Velaro High Speed Train on its flagship St Petersburg to Moscow service at 250 km/h (160 mph) and can run at 350 km/h (220 mph) on dedicated track. The country is planning to build its portion of the Beijing to Moscow high speed railway in broad gauge. Finland uses a modified Alstom pendolino on the Allegro service to Helsinki at 220 km/h (140 mph). Uzbekistan uses
2159-642: A modified Talgo 250 on the Tashkent–Bukhara high-speed rail line at 250 km/h (160 mph). South Asia primarily uses the broad gauge for its passenger rail services and the fastest broad gauge train presently in the region is the Indian Railways' Vande Bharat Express (a.k.a. Train 18) . During one of the trial runs, the Vande Bharat Express achieved a peak speed of 180 km/h (110 mph). The sustained speeds of this train
2286-639: A number of Swiss steam shunting locomotives were modified to use electrically heated boilers, consuming around 480 kW of power collected from an overhead line with a pantograph . These locomotives were significantly less efficient than electric ones ; they were used because Switzerland was suffering a coal shortage because of the War, but had access to plentiful hydroelectricity . A number of tourist lines and heritage locomotives in Switzerland, Argentina and Australia have used light diesel-type oil. Water
2413-461: A number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency. Trevithick visited the Newcastle area in 1804 and had a ready audience of colliery (coal mine) owners and engineers. The visit was so successful that the colliery railways in north-east England became the leading centre for experimentation and development of
2540-578: A period of 36 hours, tens of thousands of workers pulled the spikes from the west rail of all the broad-gauge lines in the South, moved them 3 in (76 mm) east and spiked them back in place. The new gauge was close enough that standard-gauge equipment could run on it without difficulty. By June 1886, all major railroads in North America were using approximately the same gauge. The final conversion to true standard gauge took place gradually as track
2667-460: A public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , in 1825. Rapid development ensued; in 1830 George Stephenson opened the first public inter-city railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , after the success of Rocket at the 1829 Rainhill Trials had proved that steam locomotives could perform such duties. Robert Stephenson and Company was the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives in
SECTION 20
#17327755719722794-459: A rigid frame with a 30% weight reduction. Generally, the largest locomotives are permanently coupled to a tender that carries the water and fuel. Often, locomotives working shorter distances do not have a tender and carry the fuel in a bunker, with the water carried in tanks placed next to the boiler. The tanks can be in various configurations, including two tanks alongside ( side tanks or pannier tanks ), one on top ( saddle tank ) or one between
2921-401: A tank in the locomotive tender or wrapped around the boiler in the case of a tank locomotive . Periodic stops are required to refill the tanks; an alternative was a scoop installed under the tender that collected water as the train passed over a track pan located between the rails. While the locomotive is producing steam, the amount of water in the boiler is constantly monitored by looking at
3048-611: A total of 485 examples were constructed between 1943 and 1964. The NCB continued to use Austerities in the 1970s and a small number remained in service until the early 1980s, notably at Bickershaw Colliery , Greater Manchester . Some of the examples that survived the longest were those fitted with mechanical stokers and Kylpor blast pipes or Giesl ejectors to improve their performance and reduce smoke. Seventy Austerities have been preserved on heritage railways , many in working order. Several have been painted as LNER Class J94s to represent mainline rather than industrial use. During
3175-458: A variety of liveries including BR as well as several industrial liveries. This model has since become part of the EFE Rail range. Steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam . It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal , oil or, rarely, wood ) to heat water in
3302-520: Is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) used by standard-gauge railways . Broad gauge of 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in ), more known as Russian gauge , is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ( CIS states , Baltic states , Georgia , Ukraine ) and Mongolia . Broad gauge of 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ), commonly known as Five foot gauge ,
3429-418: Is a compromise between the similar, but slightly different, gauges first adopted as respective national standards in Spain and Portugal in the mid-19th century. The main railway networks of Spain were initially constructed to a 1,672 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 13 ⁄ 16 in ) gauge of six Castilian feet. Those of Portugal were initially built in standard gauge, but by 1864 were all converted to
3556-455: Is considerably lower, with a peak operational speed of 160 km/h and an average speed of 95 km/h, due to track limitations. Indian Railways has plans to introduce a higher speed Vande Bharat sleeper train that is capable of 200 km/h, but the project has encountered delays stemming from bids for rolling-stocks with poor local sourcing. A number of semi high speed railway projects using broad gauge tracks are being planned or built in
3683-475: Is crucial to the efficiency of any steam locomotive, and the internal profiles of the chimney (or, strictly speaking, the ejector ) require careful design and adjustment. This has been the object of intensive studies by a number of engineers (and often ignored by others, sometimes with catastrophic consequences). The fact that the draught depends on the exhaust pressure means that power delivery and power generation are automatically self-adjusting. Among other things,
3810-419: Is directed upwards out of the locomotive through the chimney, by way of a nozzle called a blastpipe , creating the familiar "chuffing" sound of the steam locomotive. The blastpipe is placed at a strategic point inside the smokebox that is at the same time traversed by the combustion gases drawn through the boiler and grate by the action of the steam blast. The combining of the two streams, steam and exhaust gases,
3937-630: Is mainly used in Finland . Broad gauge of 1,600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ), commonly known as Irish gauge , is the dominant track gauge in Ireland , the Australian state of Victoria and Adelaide in South Australia and passenger trains of Brazil . Broad gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ), commonly known as Iberian gauge , is
Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST - Misplaced Pages Continue
4064-783: Is still used on the streetcars in New Orleans , and the Pittsburgh Light Rail system. This gauge was also used for the now defunct Pittsburgh Railways , West Penn Railways , and trams in Cincinnati . Similar 5 ft 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 1,581 mm ) gauge is used in Philadelphia on SEPTA routes, 15 , the Media–Sharon Hill Line , the Subway–Surface Trolleys and
4191-415: Is the principal structure onto which the boiler is mounted and which incorporates the various elements of the running gear. The boiler is rigidly mounted on a "saddle" beneath the smokebox and in front of the boiler barrel, but the firebox at the rear is allowed to slide forward and backwards, to allow for expansion when hot. European locomotives usually use "plate frames", where two vertical flat plates form
4318-501: Is the second most widely used gauge in the world, and spans the whole of the former Soviet Union/ CIS bloc including the Baltic states and Mongolia. Finland uses 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ). The difference is clearly lower than the tolerance margin, so through running is feasible. Care must be taken when servicing international trains because the wear profile of the wheels differs from that of trains that run on domestic tracks only. When
4445-656: The Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum (Dutch Railway Museum) in Utrecht. These replicas were built for the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Railways in 1938–39. The erstwhile Great Indian Peninsula Railway introduced a broad gauge of 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) for the first passenger railway line in India, between Bori Bunder and Thane . This was later adopted as the standard throughout
4572-533: The 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge was officially adopted as the standard gauge for the Province of Canada , becoming known as the Provincial gauge and government subsidies were unavailable for railways that chose other gauges. This caused problems in interchanging freight cars with northern United States railroads, most of which were built to standard gauge or a gauge similar to it. In
4699-692: The Chemins de Fer Tunisiens in 1946. One was used in Valentigney on the Peugeot industrial branch line. As the final War Department locomotives were being delivered, the National Coal Board was placing orders for identical locomotives to be used at their collieries. Between 1948 and 1964, 77 new "Austerity" locomotives were built for the NCB. A further fourteen engines were ordered in 1952 by
4826-924: The Drache , was delivered in 1848. The first steam locomotives operating in Italy were the Bayard and the Vesuvio , running on the Napoli-Portici line, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The first railway line over Swiss territory was the Strasbourg – Basel line opened in 1844. Three years later, in 1847, the first fully Swiss railway line, the Spanisch Brötli Bahn , from Zürich to Baden
4953-582: The Dundee and Arbroath Railway (1836-1847) and the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (1838- ). Both the lines were subsequently converted to standard gauge and connected to the Scottish rail network. Later this gauge was adopted as a standard for many British colonies such as Province of Canada and British India . In 1851, the 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge was officially adopted as
5080-589: The GWR from Hunslet and partially subcontracted to the Yorkshire Engine Company. Hunslet rebuilt many NCB locomotives and when the Army started to sell off locomotives again in 1959, they bought 15 examples that were to be rebuilt and sold on. The NCB bought 13 of these, the 14th was sold directly into preservation and the final locomotive was scrapped without being rebuilt. Ultimately from first to last,
5207-537: The Market–Frankford Line . Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in the San Francisco Bay Area was opened in 1972 with 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) gauge. The system has been extended multiple times since then, using new railcars custom built with this non-standard gauge. The use of a non-standard gauge precludes interoperability of rolling stock on railway networks. On
Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST - Misplaced Pages Continue
5334-591: The Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus, US. The authenticity and date of this locomotive is disputed by some experts and a workable steam train would have to await the invention of the high-pressure steam engine by Richard Trevithick , who pioneered the use of steam locomotives. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was the 3 ft ( 914 mm ) gauge Coalbrookdale Locomotive built by Trevithick in 1802. It
5461-567: The Watercress Line has been rebuilt from an 0-6-0 ST into a 0-6-0 T Thomas the Tank Engine lookalike, and another one into Douglas, also from The Railway Series . The Hunslet "Austerity" was produced as a model by Kitmaster from 1961 onwards in 00 gauge . The Kitmaster toolings were sold to Airfix in 1962 and later Dapol in 1981 when Airfix stopped production of model railway items; Dapol continued to use
5588-487: The "Rocket 150" celebrations in 1979, NCB Bold Colliery "Austerity" No. 7 Robert also participated in the cavalcade of locomotives at Rainhill. Enthusiasts often refer to them by the nickname of "Bucket". Not all have survived intact; the boiler of RSH 7135 of 1944 was used on the replica broad gauge locomotive " Iron Duke " built at the National Railway Museum in 1985. A former Hunslet Austerity at
5715-466: The 1870s (mainly between 1872 and 1874), Canadian broad-gauge lines were changed to standard gauge to facilitate interchange and the exchange of rolling stock with American railroads. Today, almost all Canadian railways are standard-gauge. In the early days of rail transport in the US, railways tended to be built out from coastal cities into the hinterland , and systems did not initially connect. Each builder
5842-606: The 1960s. Finland retained the original gauge with no re-standardisation. As part of the railway gauge standardisation considered by the United Kingdom Parliamentary Gauge Commission, Ireland was allocated its own gauge, Irish gauge. Ireland then had three gauges, and the new standard would be a fourth. The Irish gauge of 1,600 mm ( 5 ft 3 in ) is used in Ireland and parts of Australia and Brazil. A problem with
5969-585: The British Great Western Railway the 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) gauge was supposed to allow high speed, but the company had difficulty with locomotive design in the early years, losing much of the advantage, and rapid advances in railway track and suspension technology allowed standard-gauge speeds to approach broad-gauge speeds within a decade or two. On the 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) and 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) gauges,
6096-506: The British Army to supplement its 90 existing engines. The Yorkshire Engine Company also built eight locomotives to this design in 1954 for use in ironstone quarries and at Scunthorpe Steelworks . It has been suggested, although it has not been proven, that Hunslet sold some of the parts for the eight "Austerities" to the Yorkshire Engine Company as part of a subcontract settlement for the GWR 9400 Class 0-6-0 PT , ordered by
6223-674: The Dutch state, but soon by the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij (NRS), for its Amsterdam–Utrecht–Arnhem line. But the neighbouring countries Prussia and Belgium already used standard gauge, so the two companies had to regauge their first lines. In 1855, NRS regauged its line and shortly afterwards connected to the Prussian railways. The HSM followed in 1866. There are replicas of one broad-gauge 2-2-2 locomotive ( De Arend ) and three carriages in
6350-933: The Erie. These included the Walkill Valley, the Albany and Susquehanna (later part of the Delaware and Hudson); the Elmira, Jefferson & Canandaigua (later the Northern Central, becoming part of the Pennsylvania Railroad); the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western mainline (which also had a significant amount of trackage in Pennsylvania); predecessor lines of the New York and Oswego Midland (later
6477-638: The Finnish rail network was founded in 1862, Finland was the Grand Duchy of Finland , an autonomic state ruled by the Imperial Russia . The first border crossing railway to Russia was opened in 1870, while the first to Sweden was not until 1919, so railways were built to the broad Russian track gauge of 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ). In Russia, this gauge was re-standardized to 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in ) during
SECTION 50
#17327755719726604-416: The Irish Gauge in Australia is that it is only 165 mm ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) wider than the standard gauge used in other parts of Australia, principally New South Wales . Therefore, it is not considered advisable to use a third rail to allow dual-gauge operation on mainline sections of track, because of the danger of material lodging between the two rails. There has been argument for well over
6731-489: The Kitmaster toolings until they were destroyed by a fire at Dapol's Winsford headquarters in 1994. Dapol also produced a ready-to-run model of these locomotives; this tooling was sold in 1996 to Hornby who have continued to produce the "Austerity" as both the J94 class and in various industrial liveries. Graham Farish and subsequently Bachmann have produced the "Austerity" as the LNER/BR J94 class for N gauge . DJmodels also produced J94 and austerity tanks in 00 gauge in
6858-567: The New York and Erie would operate passenger cars up to 11 feet (3.4 m) wide. Building westward from the Hudson River, it eventually reached Lake Erie, establishing a mainline longer than 400 miles (640 km) providing a shortcut to the American Midwest region from the New York City vicinity, and helping spawn a regional network of six-foot-gauge railroads almost exclusively within New York State. Many early New York railways were Erie railroad-built branch lines, while others were independent railroads that wanted to partner and interchange with
6985-429: The New York, Ontario, and Western); and the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls (later becoming part of the New York Central railroad's Peanut Route along the shoreline of Lake Ontario). However, by the late 1870s, the trend was inevitable, and conversion to standard gauge began, some lines first becoming "dual gauged" with the addition of a third running rail. Between 1876 and 1880, most of the remaining six-foot gauge trackage
7112-406: The Saar (today part of Völklingen ), but neither could be returned to working order after being dismantled, moved and reassembled. On 7 December 1835, the Adler ran for the first time between Nuremberg and Fürth on the Bavarian Ludwig Railway . It was the 118th engine from the locomotive works of Robert Stephenson and stood under patent protection. In Russia , the first steam locomotive
7239-525: The Spanish Renfe system use a gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ) called Ancho Ibérico in Spanish or Bitola Ibérica in Portuguese (see Iberian gauge ); though there are plans to convert to standard gauge . In Toronto , Canada, the gauge for TTC subways and streetcars was chosen in 1861. Toronto adopted a unique Toronto gauge of 4 ft 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 in ( 1,495 mm ), an "overgauge" originally stated to "allow horse-drawn wagons to use
7366-423: The US), or screw-reverser (if so equipped), that controls the cut-off, therefore, performs a similar function to a gearshift in an automobile – maximum cut-off, providing maximum tractive effort at the expense of efficiency, is used to pull away from a standing start, whilst a cut-off as low as 10% is used when cruising, providing reduced tractive effort, and therefore lower fuel/water consumption. Exhaust steam
7493-443: The United States, including John Fitch's miniature prototype. A prominent full sized example was Col. John Steven's "steam wagon" which was demonstrated on a loop of track in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1825. Many of the earliest locomotives for commercial use on American railroads were imported from Great Britain, including first the Stourbridge Lion and later the John Bull . However, a domestic locomotive-manufacturing industry
7620-441: The War Department by 1947 (on orders placed during the war), with two further engines having been built for collieries (without the permission of the Ministry of Supply ). When the end of the war reduced the need for locomotives, the military started to review its fleet: Others were sold for industrial use. A number of those used on the continent are believed to have worked on light and industrial railways in France , six going to
7747-408: The additional costs of train procurement, due to the essential modifications of the rolling-stock for the broad gauge, from European rolling-stock manufacturers such as Alstom or Siemens would be softened through a large minimum order size of at least thirty train sets. A considerable debate has continued about the suitability of the high speed rail on standard gauge for the Indian travel demands and
SECTION 60
#17327755719727874-495: The adhesive weight. Equalising beams connecting the ends of leaf springs have often been deemed a complication in Britain, however, locomotives fitted with the beams have usually been less prone to loss of traction due to wheel-slip. Suspension using equalizing levers between driving axles, and between driving axles and trucks, was standard practice on North American locomotives to maintain even wheel loads when operating on uneven track. Locomotives with total adhesion, where all of
8001-402: The boiler materials to the point where it needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Start-up on a large engine may take hours of preliminary heating of the boiler water before sufficient steam is available. Although the boiler is typically placed horizontally, for locomotives designed to work in locations with steep slopes it may be more appropriate to consider a vertical boiler or one mounted such that
8128-404: The boiler remains horizontal but the wheels are inclined to suit the slope of the rails. The steam generated in the boiler fills the space above the water in the partially filled boiler. Its maximum working pressure is limited by spring-loaded safety valves. It is then collected either in a perforated tube fitted above the water level or by a dome that often houses the regulator valve, or throttle,
8255-399: The boiler. Boiler water surrounds the firebox to stop the metal from becoming too hot. This is another area where the gas transfers heat to the water and is called the firebox heating surface. Ash and char collect in the smokebox as the gas gets drawn up the chimney ( stack or smokestack in the US) by the exhaust steam from the cylinders. The pressure in the boiler has to be monitored using
8382-492: The cost of construction led to the adoption of 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) gauge and then 2 ft 6 in ( 762 mm ) and 2 ft ( 610 mm ) narrow gauges for many secondary and branch lines. In the later part of the 20th century, due to interchangeability and maintenance issue, the railways in each of the countries in the Indian Subcontinent began to convert all metre-gauge and narrow-gauge lines to this gauge. Today,
8509-436: The country, as it was thought to be safer in areas prone to cyclones and flooding. The 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) gauge is now commonly referred to as Indian gauge . While some initial freight railway lines in India were built using standard gauge , most of the standard and narrow gauge railways have since been dismantled and relaid in broad gauge. Ireland and some states in Australia and Brazil have
8636-563: The dominant fuel worldwide in steam locomotives. Railways serving sugar cane farming operations burned bagasse , a byproduct of sugar refining. In the US, the ready availability and low price of oil made it a popular steam locomotive fuel after 1900 for the southwestern railroads, particularly the Southern Pacific. In the Australian state of Victoria, many steam locomotives were converted to heavy oil firing after World War II. German, Russian, Australian and British railways experimented with using coal dust to fire locomotives. During World War 2,
8763-508: The dominant track gauge in Spain and Portugal . Broad gauge of 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ), commonly known as Indian gauge , is the dominant track gauge in India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka , Argentina , Chile , and on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in the San Francisco Bay Area . This is the widest gauge in common use anywhere in the world. It is possible for trains on both Iberian gauge and Indian gauge to travel on each other's tracks with no modifications in
8890-431: The exhaust gas volume was vented through a cooling tower, allowing the steam exhaust to draw more air past the radiator. Running gear includes the brake gear, wheel sets , axleboxes , springing and the motion that includes connecting rods and valve gear. The transmission of the power from the pistons to the rails and the behaviour of the locomotive as a vehicle, being able to negotiate curves, points and irregularities in
9017-457: The extra width allowed bigger inside cylinders and greater power, a problem solvable by using outside cylinders and higher steam pressure on standard gauge. In the end, the most powerful engines on standard gauge in North America and Scandinavia far exceeded the power of any early broad-gauge locomotive, but then met limits set by other factors such as the capacity of manual stoking, the axle (and total) locomotive weight that would trigger upgrades to
9144-448: The firebox becomes exposed. Without water on top of the sheet to transfer away the heat of combustion , it softens and fails, letting high-pressure steam into the firebox and the cab. The development of the fusible plug , a temperature-sensitive device, ensured a controlled venting of steam into the firebox to warn the fireman to add water. Scale builds up in the boiler and prevents adequate heat transfer, and corrosion eventually degrades
9271-631: The first decades of steam for railways in the United Kingdom, the United States, and much of Europe. Towards the end of the steam era, a longstanding British emphasis on speed culminated in a record, still unbroken, of 126 miles per hour (203 kilometres per hour) by LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard , however there are long-standing claims that the Pennsylvania Railroad class S1 achieved speeds upwards of 150 mph, though this
9398-554: The first part of the 19th century, due to the influence of the New York and Erie , one of the early pioneering railroads in America, chartered in 1832, with its first section opening in 1841. The builders and promoters decided that a six-foot track gauge would be needed for locomotives to be larger and more powerful than were in general use at the time, for pulling very large trains. Also the six-foot gauge provided greater stability, and
9525-512: The frames ( well tank ). The fuel used depended on what was economically available to the railway. In the UK and other parts of Europe, plentiful supplies of coal made this the obvious choice from the earliest days of the steam engine. Until 1870, the majority of locomotives in the United States burned wood, but as the Eastern forests were cleared, coal gradually became more widely used until it became
9652-629: The gauge with the greatest mileage. Railways which had already received their enabling Act would continue at the 7 ft gauge. Ireland, using the same criteria, was allocated a different standard gauge, the Irish gauge , of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) which is also used in the Australian states of South Australia and Victoria. Broad-gauge lines in Britain were gradually converted to dual gauge or standard gauge from 1864 and finally
9779-418: The grate into an ashpan. If oil is used as the fuel, a door is needed for adjusting the air flow, maintaining the firebox, and cleaning the oil jets. The fire-tube boiler has internal tubes connecting the firebox to the smokebox through which the combustion gases flow transferring heat to the water. All the tubes together provide a large contact area, called the tube heating surface, between the gas and water in
9906-576: The high speed rail on the standard gauge over the broad gauge, for cost sensitive rail markets in South Asia, especially in India. This gauge is used by the Toronto streetcar system and the Toronto subway This gauge was first used in the United Kingdom and the United States before it became the standard gauge for most railways in the former Soviet Union. Russian gauge or CIS gauge 1,520 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 27 ⁄ 32 in )
10033-582: The highly mineralised water was available, and locomotive boilers were lasting less than a quarter of the time normally expected. In the days of steam locomotion, about half the total train load was water for the engine. The line's operator, Commonwealth Railways , was an early adopter of the diesel-electric locomotive . The fire-tube boiler was standard practice for steam locomotive. Although other types of boiler were evaluated they were not widely used, except for some 1,000 locomotives in Hungary which used
10160-573: The last of Brunel's broad gauge was converted over a weekend in 1892. In 1839, the Netherlands started its railway system with two broad-gauge railways. The chosen gauge of 1,945 mm ( 6 ft 4 + 9 ⁄ 16 in ) was applied between 1839 and 1866 by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) for its Amsterdam–The Hague–Rotterdam line and between 1842 and 1855, firstly by
10287-458: The late 1930s. The majority of steam locomotives were retired from regular service by the 1980s, although several continue to run on tourist and heritage lines. The earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along rail tracks . In 1784, William Murdoch , a Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of a steam road locomotive in Birmingham . A full-scale rail steam locomotive
10414-681: The locomotive ran on a circular track in the factory yard. It was the first locomotive to be built on the European mainland and the first steam-powered passenger service; curious onlookers could ride in the attached coaches for a fee. It is portrayed on a New Year's badge for the Royal Foundry dated 1816. Another locomotive was built using the same system in 1817. They were to be used on pit railways in Königshütte and in Luisenthal on
10541-436: The locomotive wore out in 1913. The gauge initially proposed by Brunel was 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ) exactly but this was soon increased by 1 ⁄ 4 in (6 mm) to 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) to accommodate clearance problems identified during early testing. George Stephenson was to add an extra half inch to his original 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge for
10668-421: The locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels. In most locomotives, the steam is admitted alternately to each end of its cylinders in which pistons are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels. Fuel and water supplies are usually carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in
10795-403: The main chassis, with a variety of spacers and a buffer beam at each end to form a rigid structure. When inside cylinders are mounted between the frames, the plate frames are a single large casting that forms a major support element. The axleboxes slide up and down to give some sprung suspension, against thickened webs attached to the frame, called "hornblocks". American practice for many years
10922-509: The mainframes. Locomotives with multiple coupled-wheels on a rigid chassis would have unacceptable flange forces on tight curves giving excessive flange and rail wear, track spreading and wheel climb derailments. One solution was to remove or thin the flanges on an axle. More common was to give axles end-play and use lateral motion control with spring or inclined-plane gravity devices. Railroads generally preferred locomotives with fewer axles, to reduce maintenance costs. The number of axles required
11049-470: The moment when the valve blocks a steam port, "cutting off" admission steam and thus determining the proportion of the stroke during which steam is admitted into the cylinder; for example a 50% cut-off admits steam for half the stroke of the piston. The remainder of the stroke is driven by the expansive force of the steam. Careful use of cut-off provides economical use of steam and in turn, reduces fuel and water consumption. The reversing lever ( Johnson bar in
11176-527: The nationwide rail network in Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Nepal is entirely on this gauge, whereas India , under Project Unigauge , and Bangladesh are still undergoing gauge conversion. This gauge is the widest gauge in regular passenger use in the world. Some railways in the United States were laid with a gauge of 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ). The Gualala River Railroad operated 5 feet 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (1,740 mm) tracks for
11303-797: The original John Bull was on static display in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The replica is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania . The first railway service outside the United Kingdom and North America was opened in 1829 in France between Saint-Etienne and Lyon ; it was initially limited to animal traction and converted to steam traction early 1831, using Seguin locomotives . The first steam locomotive in service in Europe outside of France
11430-468: The piston in turn. In a two-cylinder locomotive, one cylinder is located on each side of the vehicle. The cranks are set 90° out of phase. During a full rotation of the driving wheel, steam provides four power strokes; each cylinder receives two injections of steam per revolution. The first stroke is to the front of the piston and the second stroke to the rear of the piston; hence two working strokes. Consequently, two deliveries of steam onto each piston face in
11557-523: The possible exclusion of the existing rail network in India. The recent discussions around the Kerala semi-high speed rail has highlighted the limitations of high speed rail on broad gauge. Since most of the global high speed rail infrastructure is built using the standard gauge, the cost benefits of using off-the-shelf rolling-stocks with minimal customizations and the availability of extensive, well proven technical know-how, are significant factors in favor of
11684-411: The purpose of which is to control the amount of steam leaving the boiler. The steam then either travels directly along and down a steam pipe to the engine unit or may first pass into the wet header of a superheater , the role of the latter being to improve thermal efficiency and eliminate water droplets suspended in the "saturated steam", the state in which it leaves the boiler. On leaving the superheater,
11811-600: The rails and bridges, the maximum wheelbase and/or boiler length compatible with an individual route's curves. In the 1930s German engineering studies focused on a Breitspurbahn system of railways of 3 meter gauge to serve Hitler's future German Empire. Spain uses standard gauge track for its high speed railways in order to provide cross-border services with France and the rest of Western Europe, but runs high speed trains on its legacy broad gauge network at 200 km/h (120 mph) and are developing trains to travel at speeds in excess of 250 km/h (160 mph). Russia uses
11938-445: The rails" on the horse-drawn streetcar lines of the day but with the practical effect of precluding the use of standard-gauge equipment in the street. The Toronto Transit Commission still operates the Toronto streetcar system and three heavy-rail subway lines using this unique gauge. The light metro Scarborough RT and two light rail lines under construction ( Eglinton Crosstown line and Finch West ) use standard gauge. In 1851,
12065-509: The region, with sustained speeds of 200 km/h with future-proofing for 250 km/h. India's current high speed railway project is being built on the standard gauge due to limitations imposed by the Japanese consortium funding the project, however the feasibility reports by both the French and German consultants preferred a broad gauge high speed railway. These European reports stated that
12192-539: The same reason. While the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was initially prepared to authorise lines built to the broad gauge of 7 ft ( 2,134 mm ), it was eventually rejected by the Gauge Commission in favour of all new railways in England, Wales and Scotland being built to standard gauge of 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ), this being
12319-418: The side of the piston receiving steam, thus slightly reducing cylinder power. Designing the exhaust ejector became a specific science, with engineers such as Chapelon , Giesl and Porta making large improvements in thermal efficiency and a significant reduction in maintenance time and pollution. A similar system was used by some early gasoline/kerosene tractor manufacturers ( Advance-Rumely / Hart-Parr ) –
12446-427: The standard gauge for the Province of Canada , becoming known as the Provincial gauge , and government subsidies were unavailable for railways that chose other gauges. In the 1870s, mainly between 1872 and 1874, Canadian broad-gauge lines were changed to standard gauge to facilitate interchange and the exchange of rolling stock with American railways. Today, all Canadian railways are standard-gauge. In US, this gauge
12573-527: The start of 1943. Hunslet subcontracted some of the construction to Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. , W. G. Bagnall , Hudswell Clarke , Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and the Vulcan Foundry in order to meet delivery requirements. After D-Day , they were used on Continental Europe and in North Africa , as well as at docks and military sites in Britain. A total of 377 had been built for
12700-504: The steam exits the dry header of the superheater and passes down a steam pipe, entering the steam chests adjacent to the cylinders of a reciprocating engine. Inside each steam chest is a sliding valve that distributes the steam via ports that connect the steam chest to the ends of the cylinder space. The role of the valves is twofold: admission of each fresh dose of steam, and exhaust of the used steam once it has done its work. The cylinders are double-acting, with steam admitted to each side of
12827-477: The steam locomotive. Trevithick continued his own steam propulsion experiments through another trio of locomotives, concluding with the Catch Me Who Can in 1808, first in the world to haul fare-paying passengers. In 1812, Matthew Murray 's successful twin-cylinder rack locomotive Salamanca first ran on the edge-railed rack-and-pinion Middleton Railway . Another well-known early locomotive
12954-434: The track, is of paramount importance. Because reciprocating power has to be directly applied to the rail from 0 rpm upwards, this creates the problem of adhesion of the driving wheels to the smooth rail surface. Adhesive weight is the portion of the locomotive's weight bearing on the driving wheels. This is made more effective if a pair of driving wheels is able to make the most of its axle load, i.e. its individual share of
13081-433: The two cylinders generates a full revolution of the driving wheel. Each piston is attached to the driving axle on each side by a connecting rod, and the driving wheels are connected together by coupling rods to transmit power from the main driver to the other wheels. Note that at the two " dead centres ", when the connecting rod is on the same axis as the crankpin on the driving wheel, the connecting rod applies no torque to
13208-430: The vast majority of cases. In Great Britain , broad gauge was first used in Scotland for the Dundee and Arbroath Railway (1836–1847) and the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (1838–1848). Both short and isolated lines, they were built in 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ). The lines were subsequently converted to standard gauge and connected to the emerging Scottish rail network. The Great Western Railway
13335-419: The water level in a transparent tube, or sight glass. Efficient and safe operation of the boiler requires keeping the level in between lines marked on the sight glass. If the water level is too high, steam production falls, efficiency is lost and water is carried out with the steam into the cylinders, possibly causing mechanical damage. More seriously, if the water level gets too low, the crown sheet (top sheet) of
13462-401: The water-tube Brotan boiler . A boiler consists of a firebox where the fuel is burned, a barrel where water is turned into steam, and a smokebox which is kept at a slightly lower pressure than outside the firebox. Solid fuel, such as wood, coal or coke, is thrown into the firebox through a door by a fireman , onto a set of grates which hold the fuel in a bed as it burns. Ash falls through
13589-408: The wheel. Therefore, if both cranksets could be at "dead centre" at the same time, and the wheels should happen to stop in this position, the locomotive could not start moving. Therefore, the crankpins are attached to the wheels at a 90° angle to each other, so only one side can be at dead centre at a time. Each piston transmits power through a crosshead , connecting rod ( Main rod in the US) and
13716-411: The wheels are coupled together, generally lack stability at speed. To counter this, locomotives often fit unpowered carrying wheels mounted on two-wheeled trucks or four-wheeled bogies centred by springs/inverted rockers/geared rollers that help to guide the locomotive through curves. These usually take on weight – of the cylinders at the front or the firebox at the rear – when the width exceeds that of
13843-406: The will to increase efficiency by that route. The steam generated in the boiler not only moves the locomotive, but is also used to operate other devices such as the whistle, the air compressor for the brakes, the pump for replenishing the water in the boiler and the passenger car heating system. The constant demand for steam requires a periodic replacement of water in the boiler. The water is kept in
13970-878: The world also runs in Austria: the GKB 671 built in 1860, has never been taken out of service, and is still used for special excursions. In 1838, the third steam locomotive to be built in Germany, the Saxonia , was manufactured by the Maschinenbaufirma Übigau near Dresden , built by Prof. Johann Andreas Schubert . The first independently designed locomotive in Germany was the Beuth , built by August Borsig in 1841. The first locomotive produced by Henschel-Werke in Kassel ,
14097-562: Was Puffing Billy , built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley . It was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display at the Science Museum, London . George Stephenson , a former miner working as an engine-wright at Killingworth Colliery , developed up to sixteen Killingworth locomotives , including Blücher in 1814, another in 1815, and
14224-430: Was adopted for many lines, but soon fell out in favour of standard gauge. Today, only California's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) uses this gauge. In British India , some standard gauge freight railways were built in initial period, though they were dismantled later. Later, in the 1850s, the gauge of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) was adopted as standard for the nationwide network. Attempts to economize on
14351-644: Was built in 1834 by Cherepanovs , however, it suffered from the lack of coal in the area and was replaced with horse traction after all the woods nearby had been cut down. The first Russian Tsarskoye Selo steam railway started in 1837 with locomotives purchased from Robert Stephenson and Company . In 1837, the first steam railway started in Austria on the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway between Vienna-Floridsdorf and Deutsch-Wagram . The oldest continually working steam engine in
14478-760: Was constructed for the Coalbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire in the United Kingdom though no record of it working there has survived. On 21 February 1804, the first recorded steam-hauled railway journey took place as another of Trevithick's locomotives hauled a train along the 4 ft 4 in ( 1,321 mm )-wide tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil , to Abercynon in South Wales. Accompanied by Andrew Vivian , it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated
14605-482: Was converted. In 1886, the railways in the Southern United States agreed to coordinate changing gauge on all their tracks. After considerable debate and planning, most of the southern rail network was converted from 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge to 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) gauge, nearly the standard of the Pennsylvania Railroad , over two days beginning on 31 May 1886. Over
14732-443: Was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1838 with a gauge of 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ), and retained this gauge until 1892. Some harbours also used railways of this gauge for construction and maintenance. These included Portland Harbour and Holyhead Breakwater, which used a locomotive for working sidings . As it was not connected to the national network, this broad-gauge operation continued until
14859-411: Was dictated by the maximum axle loading of the railroad in question. A builder would typically add axles until the maximum weight on any one axle was acceptable to the railroad's maximum axle loading. A locomotive with a wheel arrangement of two lead axles, two drive axles, and one trailing axle was a high-speed machine. Two lead axles were necessary to have good tracking at high speeds. Two drive axles had
14986-487: Was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains . Before the arrival of British imports, some domestic steam locomotive prototypes were built and tested in
15113-617: Was free to choose its own gauge, although the availability of British-built locomotives encouraged some railways to be built to standard gauge. As a general rule, southern railways were built to one or another broad gauge, mostly 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), while northern railroads that were not standard gauge tended to be narrow gauge. Most of the original track in Ohio was built in 4 ft 10 in ( 1,473 mm ) Ohio gauge , and special "compromise cars" were able to run on both this track and standard gauge track. In 1848, Ohio passed
15240-410: Was maintained. Some North American tram (streetcar) lines intentionally deviated from standard gauge. This may have been to make the tram companies less tempting targets for takeovers by the steam railways (or competing tram companies), which would be unable to run their trains over the tram tracks. Pennsylvania trolley gauge of 5 ft 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,588 mm ),
15367-709: Was named The Elephant , which on 5 May 1835 hauled a train on the first line in Belgium, linking Mechelen and Brussels. In Germany, the first working steam locomotive was a rack-and-pinion engine, similar to the Salamanca , designed by the British locomotive pioneer John Blenkinsop . Built in June 1816 by Johann Friedrich Krigar in the Royal Berlin Iron Foundry ( Königliche Eisengießerei zu Berlin),
15494-566: Was never officially proven. In the United States, larger loading gauges allowed the development of very large, heavy locomotives such as the Union Pacific Big Boy , which weighs 540 long tons (550 t ; 600 short tons ) and has a tractive effort of 135,375 pounds-force (602,180 newtons). Beginning in the early 1900s, steam locomotives were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives , with railways fully converting to electric and diesel power beginning in
15621-534: Was opened. The arid nature of south Australia posed distinctive challenges to their early steam locomotion network. The high concentration of magnesium chloride in the well water ( bore water ) used in locomotive boilers on the Trans-Australian Railway caused serious and expensive maintenance problems. At no point along its route does the line cross a permanent freshwater watercourse, so bore water had to be relied on. No inexpensive treatment for
15748-419: Was proposed by William Reynolds around 1787. An early working model of a steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794. Some sources claim Fitch's model was operable already by the 1780s and that he demonstrated his locomotive to George Washington . His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The model still exists at
15875-522: Was soon established. In 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 's Tom Thumb , designed by Peter Cooper , was the first commercial US-built locomotive to run in America; it was intended as a demonstration of the potential of steam traction rather than as a revenue-earning locomotive. The DeWitt Clinton , built in 1831 for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad , was a notable early locomotive. As of 2021 ,
16002-403: Was supplied at stopping places and locomotive depots from a dedicated water tower connected to water cranes or gantries. In the UK, the US and France, water troughs ( track pans in the US) were provided on some main lines to allow locomotives to replenish their water supply without stopping, from rainwater or snowmelt that filled the trough due to inclement weather. This was achieved by using
16129-404: Was to use built-up bar frames, with the smokebox saddle/cylinder structure and drag beam integrated therein. In the 1920s, with the introduction of "superpower", the cast-steel locomotive bed became the norm, incorporating frames, spring hangers, motion brackets, smokebox saddle and cylinder blocks into a single complex, sturdy but heavy casting. A SNCF design study using welded tubular frames gave
#971028