Do steam locomotives have gears?
Geared steam locomotive
A geared steam locomotive is a type of steam locomotive which uses gearing, usually reduction gearing, in the drivetrain, as opposed to the common directly driven design.
Piston rod
Almost all steam locomotives have used a similar design of cylinder, with a crosshead slide mounted adjacent to the cylinder and a short piston rod between them.
In some cases, tail rods were also used. These were rare in the United Kingdom, but relatively common in Europe, at least for large locomotives.
Tender (rail)
Certain early British steam locomotives were fitted with powered tenders. As well as holding coal and water, these had wheels powered from the locomotive to provide greater tractive effort. These were abandoned for economic reasons; railwaymen working on locomotives so equipped demanded extra pay as they were effectively running two locomotives. However, the concept was tried again on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's "River Mite", and the Garratt locomotive may be seen as an extension of this principle. Powered tenders were also seen on the 2-8-8-8-2 and 2-8-8-8-4 locomotives in the United States, but these experiments were not considered successful. Powered tenders were used extensively on geared logging steam locomotives like the Shay locomotive, Climax locomotive, and Heisler locomotive where the steep grades and heavy trains necessitated the extra tractive effort.
Joy valve gear
Joy valve gear is a type of steam locomotive valve gear, designed by David Joy (3 March 1825 – 1903), Locomotive and Marine engineer, and patented (no. 929) on 8 March 1879. The British patent has not been found but the US patent (US252224 of 10 January 1882) has. Joy's gear is similar to Hackworth valve gear but has a compensating mechanism which corrects for "the slight inequality in the motion of the valve arising from the arc of the lever".
Steam locomotive
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 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 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.
Queensland Beyer-Garratt class
A Garratt (also known as Beyer-Garratt) is a type of steam locomotive that is articulated in three parts. Its boiler is mounted on the centre frame, and two steam engines are mounted on separate frames, one on each end of the boiler. Articulation permits larger locomotives to negotiate curves and lighter rails that might restrict large rigid-framed locomotives. Many Garratt designs aimed to double the power of the largest conventional locomotives operating on their railways, thus reducing the need for multiple locomotives and crews.
Track gauge conversion
Few steam locomotives are constructed to allow for gauge change. Those that are include some in East African Railways, Garratts, and the Victorian Railways R class R766. Construction of steam locomotives in this way is difficult due to the position of the boilers and the fireboxes. The gauge change is only to a wider gauge.
Steam locomotive
Early locomotives were fitted with a valve controlled by a weight suspended from the end of a lever, with the steam outlet being stopped by a cone-shaped valve. As there was nothing to prevent the weighted lever from bouncing when the locomotive ran over irregularities in the track, thus wasting steam, the weight was later replaced by a more stable spring-loaded column, often supplied by Salter, a well-known spring scale manufacturer. The danger of these devices was that the driving crew could be tempted to add weight to the arm to increase pressure. Most early boilers were fitted with a tamper-proof "lockup" direct-loaded ball valve protected by a cowl. In the late 1850s, John Ramsbottom introduced a safety valve that became popular in Britain during the latter part of the 19th century. Not only was this valve tamper-proof, but tampering by the driver could only have the effect of easing pressure. George Richardson's safety valve was an American invention introduced in 1875, and was designed to release the steam only at the moment when the pressure attained the maximum permitted. This type of valve is in almost universal use at present. Britain's Great Western Railway was a notable exception to this rule, retaining the direct-loaded type until the end of its separate existence, because it was considered that such a valve lost less pressure between opening and closing.
Holcroft valve gear
When working for the GWR at Swindon, Holcroft schemed out and patented (in 1909) a conjugated valve gear for three-cylinder steam locomotives, which allowed for the elimination of the valve gear for the inside cylinder by deriving the motion for the inside valve from that of the outside valves. This would be done by an assembly of levers behind the cylinder block.
Steam locomotive
Locomotives with total adhesion, where all of 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 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.
Pennsylvania Railroad class J1
As with many of the Pennsylvania Railroad's steam locomotives, the J1 had its headlight above the smokebox. Like the M1 the J1 had a keystone numberplate, unlike the round numberplates seen on the rest of the PRR's freight steam locomotives. They were also equipped with Baker valve gear instead of Walschaerts valve gear which was more common on the PRR. Additionally, they had radial-stay fireboxes instead of the Belpaire fireboxes seen on nearly all of the Pennsylvania Railroad's steam locomotives. Mechanically, these locomotives were identical to the C&O's T-1 class 2-10-4s.
Steam locomotive
Later designs employed three or four cylinders, mounted both inside and outside the frames, for a more even power cycle and greater power output. This was at the expense of more complicated valve gear and increased maintenance requirements. In some cases the third cylinder was added inside simply to allow for smaller diameter outside cylinders, and hence reduce the width of the locomotive for use on lines with a restricted loading gauge, for example the SR K1 and U1 classes.
Piston valve (steam engine)
The usual locomotive valve gears such as Stephenson, Walschaerts, and Baker valve gear, can be used with either slide valves or piston valves. Where poppet valves are used, a different gear, such as Caprotti valve gear may be used, though standard gears as mentioned above were used as well, by Chapelon and others.
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
Early railway steam locomotives had no brakes, although some tenders were fitted with them, and there were no weatherboards, the driver and firemen wearing moleskin suits for protection. The YN&BR absorbed the locomotives of the earlier companies and established a locomotive works at Gateshead; those of the Brandling Junction, Newcastle and North Shields and Great North of England railways had six wheels, with two, four or six driven. Purpose built railway carriages began to be used from 1834, replacing the stage coaches that had been converted for railway use. Luggage and sometimes the guard travelled on the carriage roof; a passenger travelling third class suffered serious injuries after falling from the roof on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1840. Carriages were lit by oil lamps, smoking was banned by all the early railways and third class and many second class compartments had no upholstery. Mixed trains, passenger carriages coupled together with mineral and goods wagons, were common; coal was carried in chaldron wagons and goods on low sided trucks.
Stephenson valve gear
American locomotives universally employed inside Stephenson valve gear placed between the frames until around 1900 when it quickly gave way to outside Walschaerts motion. In Europe, Stephenson gear could be placed either outside the driving wheels and driven by either eccentrics or return cranks or else between the frames driven from the axle through eccentrics, as was mostly the case in Great Britain.
Steam locomotive
As early as 1975, railway enthusiasts in the United Kingdom began building new steam locomotives. That year, Trevor Barber completed his gauge locomotive "Trixie" which ran on the Meirion Mill Railway. From the 1990s onwards, the number of new builds being completed rose dramatically with new locos completed by the narrow-gauge Ffestiniog and Corris railways in Wales. The Hunslet Engine Company was revived in 2005, and began building steam locomotives on a commercial basis. A standard-gauge LNER Peppercorn Pacific "Tornado" was completed at Hopetown Works, Darlington, and made its first run on 1 August 2008. It entered main line service later in 2008, to great public acclaim. Demonstration trips in France and Germany have been planned. over half-a-dozen projects to build working replicas of extinct steam engines are going ahead, in many cases using existing parts from other types to build them. Examples include BR Class 6MT "Hengist", BR Class 3MT No. 82045, BR Class 2MT No. 84030, Brighton Atlantic "Beachy Head", the LMS "Patriot 45551 The Unknown Warrior" project, GWR "47xx 4709, BR" Class 6 72010 Hengist, GWR "Saint" 2999 Lady of Legend, 1014 "County" of Glamorgan and 6880 Betton "Grange" projects. These United Kingdom based new build projects are further complimented by the new build Pennsylvania Railroad T1 class No. 5550 project in the United States, which will attempt to surpass the speed record held by the LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard when completed.
Rack railway
Originally almost all cog railways were powered by steam locomotives. The steam locomotive needs to be extensively modified to work effectively in this environment. Unlike a Diesel locomotive or electric locomotive, the steam locomotive only works when its powerplant (the boiler, in this case) is fairly level. The locomotive boiler requires water to cover the boiler tubes and firebox sheets at all times, particularly the crown sheet, the metal top of the firebox. If this is not covered with water, the heat of the fire will soften it enough to give way under the boiler pressure, leading to a catastrophic failure.
Heisler locomotive
The Heisler locomotive was the last variant of the three major types of geared steam locomotives.
Johnson bar (vehicle)
Many steam locomotives have valve gear controls which are set using a Johnson bar as referenced in Fred Eaglesmith's "Back There": "Hey Porter, tell that engineer, tell him this train's too slow. Tell him to let go that Johnson bar. I got places I got to go."
Steam locomotive
Early steam locomotives had two cylinders, one either side, and this practice persisted as the simplest arrangement. The cylinders could be mounted between the main frames (known as "inside" cylinders), or mounted outside the frames and driving wheels ("outside" cylinders). Inside cylinders are driven by cranks built into the driving axle; outside cylinders are driven by cranks on extensions to the driving axles.
NER Class X
The reversing gear was originally mechanical, but was replaced on all but two of the locomotives (nos. 1355/8) by steam-operated reversing gear between 1932 and 1934. The steam reversing gear was removed again between 1941 and 1947.
In 1929, No. 1656 was moved to the newly built Whitemoor Yard at March, Cambridgeshire. In 1932, this locomotive was replaced by Nos. 1355 and 1358. Whitemoor preferred the ex-GCR 0-8-4T (LNER Class S1) for hump shunting, so in 1934 No 1358 was moved to Doncaster, and No. 1355 to Mexborough. In 1936, No. 1355 moved to King's Cross to shunt the engine shed for seven weeks, before joining No. 1358 in Doncaster. These two locomotives were scrapped at Doncaster in 1937. The remaining T1s continued to work coal trains at various docks and marshalling yards throughout North East England. After World War II, coal exports never returned to their pre-war levels. Hence, many of the T1s moved to other sheds for heavy shunting duties.
Steam turbine locomotive
General Electric built two steam turbine-electric locomotives with a 2+C-C+2 (4-6-6-4) wheel arrangement for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1938. These locomotives essentially operated as mobile steam power plants and were correspondingly complex. They were the only condensing steam locomotives ever used in the United States. A Babcock & Wilcox boiler provided steam, which drove a pair of steam turbines which powered a generator, providing power to the electric traction motors that drove the wheels, as well as providing head-end power for the rest of the train. Boiler control was largely automatic, and the two locomotives could be connected together into a "multiple unit", both controlled from a single cab. The boiler was oil-fired, and the fuel was "Bunker C" heavy fuel oil, the same fuel used in large vessels, and also the fuel which was later used in Union Pacific's gas turbine-electric locomotives. Union Pacific accepted the locomotives in 1939, but returned them later that year, citing unsatisfactory results. The GE turbines were used during a motive power shortage on the Great Northern Railway in 1943, and appear to have performed quite well. However, by the end of 1943, the wheels of both locomotives were worn to the point of needing replacement, and one of the locomotive's boilers developed a defect. The locomotives were returned to GE and dismantled.
Valve gear
Some larger steam engines employ a power reverse, which is a servo mechanism, usually powered by steam. This makes control of the valve gear easier for the driver.
Dispatch &amp; Garlick
The steam locomotives built at the beginning of the 20th century were unusual in many ways. Initially, steam winches were manufactured, which were adapted by a chain drive on the axles for transporting them on mainly wooden rails. As a rule, a boiler was mounted at one end of a frame and a winch at the other end. The two-cylinder winch motor powered a cable drum via a crankshaft, which also drove the 30 degrees downwardly inclined intermediate shaft via a bevel gear. Via a gearbox with sliding bevel pinions different ratios could be selected. Complicated bevel and spur gears transmitted the torque to the axles. Because of this complexity, the average lifespan was only 11 years. Later, Dispatch developed rail tractors, with which it became market leader in this market sector.
Lego Technic
Gears have been included within Lego Technic sets since 1977 as a way of transferring rotary power, and of gearing-up or down the speed. Gears come in several sizes: 8 tooth, 16 tooth, 24 tooth and 40 tooth spur gears; 12 tooth, 20 tooth and 36 tooth double bevel gears; and 12 tooth and 20 tooth single bevel gears. The double bevel gears are cut so they can also be meshed as spur gears. There is also a 16 tooth clutch gear, and a 24 tooth friction gear that slips when a certain amount of torque is put on it to prevent motors from damaging any parts or burning themselves out.
Steam locomotive
After 1945, problems associated with post-war reconstruction and the availability of cheap domestic-produced coal kept steam in widespread use throughout the two following decades. However the ready availability of cheap oil led to new dieselisation programmes from 1955, and these began to take full effect from around 1962. Towards the end of the steam era, steam motive power fell into a state of disrepair. The last steam locomotive built for mainline British Railways was BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star, which was completed in March 1960. The last steam-hauled service trains on the British Railways network ran in 1968, but the use of steam locomotives in British industry continued into the 1980s. In June 1975, there were still 41 locations where steam was in regular use, and many more where engines were maintained in reserve in case of diesel failures. Gradually, the decline of the ironstone quarries, steel, coal mining and shipbuilding industries – and the plentiful supply of redundant British Rail diesel shunters as replacements – led to the end of steam power for commercial uses.
GE steam turbine locomotives
The turbines were designed to operate at 12,500 rpm and were paired with a generator set with a 10:1 reduction gearing. A twin-armature DC generator was used to power the traction motors, while a three-phase, 220-volt AC generator powered auxiliary functions such as traction motor blowers and providing head-end power. The latter, which provided lighting, heating, and air conditioning to passenger cars, was unusual in 1939 and would not become standard until the 1970s.
Geared steam locomotive
The solution is to separate the crank from the wheels, firstly allowing for a reasonable piston stroke and crank radius without requiring larger than desired driving wheels, and secondly allowing for reduction in rotational speed via gearing. Such a locomotive is a geared locomotive. Most were and are still single speed, but some did employ a variable-ratio gearbox and multiple ratios.
Jackshaft (locomotive)
In a conventional steam locomotive, the crankshaft is one of the driving axles. In a jackshaft-driven steam locomotive, the crankshaft turns a jackshaft which, in turn, turns the driver. Some steam locomotives have had designs intermediate between these extremes, with crankshafts distinct from the driving axle. Phineas Davis's first B&O Grasshopper tested on the B&O in 1831 was in this class, as was the Stockton and Darlington Railway's "Swift" from 1836, where the crankshaft was directly between the driving axles. Both of these examples used vertical cylinders, with the crankshaft in the plane of the driving axles. The former used a geared drive to the first driving axle, the latter used side rods for this linkage. In the latter case, the reason inferred for using a crankshaft distinct from the driven axles was "to take the shocks of working away from the power shaft."
Steam locomotive
Railroads generally preferred locomotives with fewer axles, to reduce maintenance costs. The number of axles required 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 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.
Steam generator (railroad)
Steam generators were developed when diesel locomotives started to replace steam locomotives on passenger trains. In most cases, each passenger locomotive was fitted with a steam generator and a feedwater supply tank. The steam generator used some of the locomotive's diesel fuel supply for combustion. When a steam generator-equipped locomotive was not available for a run, a so-called "heating car" fitted with one or two steam generators was inserted between the last locomotive in the consist and the rest of the train.
Stephenson valve gear
During the 1830s the most popular valve drive for locomotives was known as "gab motion" in the U.K. and" V-hook motion" in the U.S.A. The gab motion incorporated two sets of eccentrics and rods for each cylinder; one eccentric was set to give forward and the other backwards motion to the engine and one or the other could accordingly engage with a pin driving the distribution valve by means of the gabs: - vee-shaped ends to the eccentric rods supposed to catch the rocker driving the valve rod whatever its position. It was a clumsy mechanism, difficult to operate, and only gave fixed valve events. In 1841 two employees in Stephenson’s locomotive works, draughtsman William Howe and pattern-maker William Williams, suggested the simple expedient of replacing the gabs with a vertical slotted link, pivoted at both ends to the tips of the eccentric rods. To change direction, the link and rod ends were bodily raised or lowered by means of a counterbalanced bell crank worked by a "reach rod" that connected it to the reversing lever. This not only simplified reversing but it was realised that the gear could be raised or lowered in small increments, and thus the combined motion from the “forward” and “back” eccentrics in differing proportions would impart shorter travel to the valve, cutting off admission steam earlier in the stroke and using a smaller amount steam expansively in the cylinder, using its own energy rather than continuing to draw from the boiler. It became the practice to start the engine or climb gradients at long cutoff, usually about 70-80% maximum of the power stroke and to shorten the cutoff as momentum was gained to benefit from the economy of expansive working and the effect of increased lead and higher compression at the end of each stroke. This process was popularly known as ""linking up"" or "“notching up”", the latter because the reversing lever could be held in precise positions by means of a catch on the lever engaging notches in a quadrant; the term stuck even after the introduction of the screw reverser. A further intrinsic advantage of the Stephenson gear not found in most other types was variable lead. Depending on how the gear was laid out, it was possible to considerably reduce compression and back pressure at the end of each piston stroke when working at low speed in full gear; once again as momentum was gained and cutoff shortened, so lead was automatically advanced and compression increased, cushioning the piston at the end of each stroke and heating the remaining trapped steam in order to avoid temperature drop in the fresh charge of incoming admission steam.
Electric locomotive
Modern electric locomotives, like their Diesel-electric counterparts, almost universally use axle-hung traction motors, with one motor for each powered axle. In this arrangement, one side of the motor housing is supported by plain bearings riding on a ground and polished journal that is integral to the axle. The other side of the housing has a tongue-shaped protuberance that engages a matching slot in the truck (bogie) bolster, its purpose being to act as a torque reaction device, as well as a support. Power transfer from motor to axle is effected by spur gearing, in which a pinion on the motor shaft engages a bull gear on the axle. Both gears are enclosed in a liquid-tight housing containing lubricating oil. The type of service in which the locomotive is used dictates the gear ratio employed. Numerically high ratios are commonly found on freight units, whereas numerically low ratios are typical of passenger engines.
Bahnbetriebswerk (steam locomotives)
Every large "Betriebswerk" had its own roundhouse with a turntable. The locomotives were turned on the turntable and berthed in the roundhouse. This was heated so that the steam locomotives did not fully cool down, otherwise raising steam took too long. 
In order to move steam locomotives that were stored 'cold', locomotive winches were installed. It was prescribed by almost all railway companies that at least 75% of all locomotives had to be able to be berthed in the locomotive shed, the rest would be stabled on stabling roads in the open.
Henry Roe Campbell
One of the most visually striking features of a steam locomotive is its "wheel arrangement" which is largely a function of its intended application and purpose. The fundamental principle of design for 19th century steam locomotives was tractive force which relies on adhesion. A switching locomotive for example, is relatively low-powered but with a high starting tractive effort for getting heavy cars rolling quickly. These locomotives are geared to produce high torque but are restricted to low top speeds and have small diameter driving wheels. Switchers are rail analogs to tugboats. For higher speeds, larger boilers were required which in turn led to the development of lead trucks.
Prior to 1832, the typical locomotive for general road service on American roads was a 2-2-0 which could be built with either inside or outside steam cylinders. The critical element of the design was the single pair of driving wheels placed either in front of the firebox, as in the Norris engines, or in back of the firebox, as patented in 1834 by E. L. Miller and used extensively by in the Baldwin engines.
Steam locomotive
Most British express-passenger locomotives built between 1930 and 1950 were 4-6-0 or 4-6-2 types with three or four cylinders (e.g. GWR 6000 Class, LMS Coronation Class, SR Merchant Navy Class, LNER Gresley Class A3). From 1951, all but one of the 999 new British Rail standard class steam locomotives across all types used 2-cylinder configurations for easier maintenance.
Steam whistle
Locomotive steam trumpets were soon replaced by steam whistles. Air whistles were used on some Diesel and electric locomotives, but these mostly employ air horns.
Johnson Bar (locomotive)
The reversing lever in locomotive history is documented from about 1842. The American Railway Master Mechanic's Association had members that published illustrations. Parts for the reversing lever are drawn in the "Locomotive Dictionary", 1st edition (1906), by George Little Fowler. The lever is linked to the valve gear piston inside the high pressure steam port. The steam pressure faucet is closed to cut off power, and after coming to a halt, the valve gear piston could safely be moved a short distance using the lever as a fulcrum linked to the piston inside. Although the linkage was designed to give leverage, the Johnson Bar would take a firm throw to move and lock in position. Some locomotives had a screw reversing gear instead.
Live steam
The generally accepted smallest gauge for a live steam locomotive is Gauge 1, although O scale live steam models are also common. Producing smaller-scale models remains problematic, as the laws of physics do not themselves scale: creating a small-scale boiler that produces useful quantities of steam requires careful engineering. Hornby Railways has produced commercial live steam-powered locomotives in OO scale by utilising an electrically heated boiler mounted in the tender, with cylinders in the locomotive, and control provided by electrical- signals fed through the track from a remote control unit. They are less mechanically realistic than models in larger scales; the visible valve gear is a dummy, as on the electric-motor-powered models, and steam admission to the cylinders is controlled by a rotary-valve servo inside the boiler casing, which is also a dummy. Nevertheless, the locomotive is driven by steam that is created on board the locomotive and is hence a genuine "steam" locomotive.
Steam locomotive
More-powerful locomotives tend to be longer, but long rigid-framed designs are impractical for the tight curves frequently found on narrow-gauge railways. Various designs for articulated locomotives were developed to overcome this problem. The Mallet and the Garratt were the two most popular, both using a single boiler and two engines (sets of cylinders and driving wheels). The Garratt has two power bogies, whereas the Mallet has one. There were also a few examples of triplex locomotives that had a third engine under the tender. Both the front and tender engines were low-pressure compounded, though they could be operated simple (high-pressure) for starting off. Other less common variations included the Fairlie locomotive, which had two boilers back-to-back on a common frame, with two separate power bogies.
Booster engine
A booster engine for steam locomotives is a small two-cylinder steam engine back-gear-connected to the trailing truck axle on the locomotive or, if none, the lead truck on the tender. A rocking idler gear permits it to be put into operation by the engineer. It would drive one axle only and could be non-reversible with one idler gear or reversible with two idler gears.
Steam locomotive
Locomotives used bells and steam whistles from earliest days of steam locomotion. In the United States, India and Canada, bells warned of a train in motion. In Britain, where all lines are by law fenced throughout, bells were only a requirement on railways running on a road (i.e. not fenced off), for example a tramway along the side of the road or in a dockyard. Consequently, only a minority of locomotives in the UK carried bells. Whistles are used to signal personnel and give warnings. Depending on the terrain the locomotive was being used in, the whistle could be designed for long-distance warning of impending arrival, or for more localised use.
Omaha Zoo Railroad
Visitors to the Henry Doorly Zoo ride behind one of three locomotives for the trip around the park. Two of the engines are steam locomotives, and though they are similar in the basic principle of their operation, the two locomotives are otherwise quite different and guests can easily distinguish between them. The third engine is a diesel, which operates very differently from the steam locomotives. New coaches have been added and replacing the old coaches.
North Bay Railway
The four Diesel-Hydraulic locomotives are of common vintage and were constructed in the same works. The first two belong to Scarborough Borough Council, have operated on the North Bay Railway since construction, and are currently leased to the operating company. The other two locomotives are directly owned by the operating company and were originally built for the Golden Acre Park in Leeds. After its closure they were also used at Morecambe, Kilverstone and Great Woburn Safari Park. They were moved to the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway for storage before finally being relocated to Scarborough in December 2006. In 2016 "Georgina", the railway's first ever steam locomotive, was finally completed and entered revenue earning service over the Easter holiday. She has proved to be very popular, with the crews and public alike, and is easily capable of hauling a loaded, five coach, train up the steep hill, to Scalby Mills station.
Train whistle
Steam whistles were almost always actuated with a pull cord (or sometimes a lever) that permitted proportional (tracker) action, so that some form of "expression" could be put into the sound. Many locomotive operators would have their own style of blowing the whistle, and it was often apparent who was operating the locomotive by the sound. Modern locomotives often make use of a push button switch to operate the air horn, eliminating any possibility of altering the horn's volume or pitch.
Brienz Rothorn Railway
All steam locomotives are Class H2/3, indicating that 2 axles of the 3 are driven, giving a wheel arrangement (Whyte System) of 0-4-2. The older locomotives are a side tank, "kneeling cow" design of a standard SLM product. The modern steam locomotives use an efficient "light oil" fired steam technology and were built by SLM (former Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works) of Winterthur.
DRG locomotive classification
The renumbering of electric locomotives followed in 1926/1927 and used a similar scheme as that employed for the steam locomotives, with a main class number and a serial number. They were distinguished from steam locomotives by a preceding letter "E". The engines were arranged according to top speed and the number of driven and carrying axles.If the characteristics and design were otherwise the same, locomotives with a side-rod drive were given lower class numbers than those with individually driven axles.
Geared steam locomotive
No geared steam locomotives remain in commercial use in America. However, several are in operation on tourist lines.
Joy valve gear
There is a modified Joy gear designed by Henry Greenly for miniature railway steam locomotives.
Fairlie locomotive
In both the UK and the USA, single Fairlies were the first locomotives in each country to use the European Walschaerts valve gear. The Stephenson link gear, which was usual at the time, used multiple eccentrics between the frames but the Walschaerts gear was mounted "outboard" of the frames and connecting rods. This was advantageous because the Fairlie system required this space between the frames for the bogie pivot.
South African Class 14E
Unlike the later dual voltage Classes 19E, 20E and 21E which were equipped to automatically transition between AC and DC mode on the run, the Class 14E had to be stopped and then restarted under the different voltage. Upon their introduction in 1990, these were some of the most powerful electric locomotives on the Spoornet roster. They featured three-phase AC motors (induction motors) made by Siemens. In addition, they incorporated Siemens' sophisticated train communication network system.
All earlier South African electric locomotives, with the exception of the Orex Line's Class 9Es, ran on spoked wheels using spur gears. Amongst South African electric locomotives, the Class 14E was the first to have solid wheels with double helical or herringbone gears and with a traction motor to wheel gear ratio of 20:103. This gear ratio had the result that, while the three prototypes were very fast, they struggled to pick up a load. The locally built Class 14E1, on the other hand, ran on spoked wheels with helical gears and had a more conservative traction motor to wheel gear ratio of 18:67..
Train
The first trains were rope-hauled, gravity powered or pulled by horses, but from the early 19th century almost all trains were powered by steam locomotives. From the 1910s onwards, steam locomotives began to be replaced with less labor-intensive (and cleaner) diesel and electric locomotives, although these new forms of propulsion were far more complex and expensive than steam power. At about the same time, self-propelled multiple unit vehicles (both diesel and electric) became much more widely used in passenger service. Dieselisation of locomotives in day-to-day use was completed in most countries by the 1970s. Steam locomotives are still used in heritage railways which are operated in many countries for the leisure and enthusiast market.
Baker valve gear
After about 1910 Baker valve gear was the main competitor to Walschaerts valve gear for steam locomotives in the United States. Strictly speaking it was not a valve gear but a variable expansion mechanism adapted to the Walschaerts layout replacing the expansion link and sliding die block. The Baker arrangement used more pivot bearings or "pin joints", but avoided the die slip inherent to the expansion link, with the aim of lessening wear and the need for service; it could also facilitate longer valve travel.
Garratt
A Garratt (often referred to as a Beyer Garratt) is a type of steam locomotive that is articulated into three parts. Its boiler is mounted on the centre frame, and two steam engines are mounted on separate frames, one on each end of the boiler. Articulation permits larger locomotives to negotiate curves and lighter rails that might restrict large rigid-framed locomotives. Many Garratt designs aimed to double the power of the largest conventional locomotives operating on their railways, thus reducing the need for multiple locomotives and crews.
Steam locomotive
The cylinders are double-acting, with steam admitted to each side of 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 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 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.
Steam turbine locomotive
Henschel converted a normal DRG Class 38 steam locomotive to use a steam turbine in 1927. The locomotive itself was little modified, the major changes being to the tender which was fitted with coupled driving wheels in a 2-4-4 layout, driven by separate forward and reverse turbines. Both turbines were driven by intermediate pressure exhaust steam from the original cylinders. A condenser in the tender provided a vacuum for the turbine exhaust, increasing thermal efficiency. As the final exhaust was at negligible pressure, the original smokebox blastpipe had to be replaced by an electric draught fan in the smokebox.
Geared steam locomotive
There was also an earlier Class A Climax with a vertically mounted marine-type steam engine, working through a similar drive-line, via a two-speed gearbox.
Branford Steam Railroad
Just as steam locomotives gave way to diesels on the line in the 1950s 
so too did the rolling stock change as the side-dump gondola cars gave way to 
triple-bay hopper cars lettered for the New Haven 
Trap Rock Company. Whereas the steam locomotives had been lettered for the 
same company ("e.g." steam locomotive No. 43 carried the words 
"N.H. Trap Rock Co." on her saddle tank), some of the new diesels 
ironically carried the lettering of "The Branford Steam Railroad" 
despite the fact that it no longer was a steam railroad.
SR Leader class
Each of the two bogies had three cylinders, with the driving wheels connected by chains enclosed in an oil-bath, based upon Bulleid's chain-driven valve gear on his Pacific locomotives. The valve gear used the unusual sleeve valve arrangement that was also tested on the ex-LB&SCR H1 class "Hartland Point" in parallel with the construction of the first Leader locomotive. The Leader was the first steam locomotive to use a form of sleeve valve since Cecil Paget's locomotive of 1908 and the concurrent testing of the principle on "Hartland Point" hints at the rushed nature of the locomotive's conception. The locomotive sat on the unusual Bulleid Firth Brown wheels, which were lighter, yet stronger, than the spoked equivalent.
Steam motor
All steam motors had the following characteristics:
Motors were of a standard size, according to the manufacturer's product line. Where greater power was required, multiple motors were used, one per axle or bogie.
The crankshaft and often the valve gear, was enclosed within a crankcase that contained an oil sump. This provided a generous supply of lubrication and also excluded dirt.
This allows a high crankshaft speed, encouraging efficiency. Although not all geared steam locomotives made use of this, particularly the US designs such as the Shay and the Climax, it was an essential part of the steam motor concept.
Cylinder (locomotive)
On engines with outside cylinders there are three possible variations:There are three common variations:There are three common variations:There are many other variations, e.g. geared steam locomotives which may have only one cylinder.
The only conventional steam locomotive with one cylinder that is known is the Nielson One-Cylinder Locomotive.
GWR steam rail motors
The steam rail motors (SRM) were self-propelled carriages operated by the Great Western Railway in England and Wales from 1903 to 1935. They incorporated a steam locomotive within the body of the carriage.
Steam motor
The final drive of early Sentinel locomotives was by chain. Later designs, particularly those by Abner Doble, preferred spur gears. Gear drives required the steam motor to be mounted low-down, alongside the axle.
Naming of British railway rolling stock
Since the invention of the very first railway steam locomotive in 1804, railway companies have applied names to their locomotives, carriages and multiple units. Numbers have usually been applied too, but not always; the Great Western Railway only applied names to its own broad gauge locomotives (though numbers were given to such locomotives that it inherited from elsewhere).
List of locomotives
This is a list of locomotives (classes, or individual locomotives) that currently have articles in Wikipedia. Steam
Diesel
Steam locomotive
Steam locomotives are fitted with sandboxes from which sand can be deposited on top of the rail to improve traction and braking in wet or icy weather. On American locomotives the sandboxes, or sand domes, are usually mounted on top of the boiler. In Britain, the limited loading gauge precludes this, so the sandboxes are mounted just above, or just below, the running plate.
Live steam
More complex locomotive models can use valve gear similar to real steam machine with the reversing done mechanically, most frequently the Walschaerts type.
Steam motor
Other beneficial characteristics were commonly found, but were not essential.
This was usually poppet valves driven by camshafts. In the steam motors built by Sentinel, the motor was derived from their already advanced steam wagon design.
In a conventional steam locomotive, the 'gear ratio' is set by the size of the driving wheels. As a steam motor uses a geared drive, the wheel size can be reduced. This makes for a lighter and more compact chassis, particularly by reducing the unsprung weight of large wheels. Small wheels also allow the motor to be mounted on a bogie within a passenger coach to form a railcar, rather than the large wheels being the size of a locomotive.
Egide Walschaerts
Whilst at Mechelen in 1844 he developed a new type of valve gear (a mechanism that allows for adjustment of the travel of the valves that distribute the steam to the cylinders and enables a steam locomotive to be put into reverse and to economise steam). He was not permitted by the company to patent the device himself as he was deemed of too lowly a rank. An engineer colleague and friend, M. Fisher, applied for the patent on his behalf but never claimed any contribution to it. Walschaerts name on the documents erroneously omitted the final 's' causing confusion over its correct spelling over the succeeding years. A locomotive built at the Tubize workshops fitted with the Walschaerts valve gear was awarded a gold medal at the 1873 Universal Exhibition in Vienna. This valve gear came to be used in the majority of steam locomotives, and became almost universal throughout the 20th Century.
Climax locomotive
In 1893 Scott proposed a geared steam locomotive, in which the frame of the boiler was hinged to the frame of the tender. The running gear underneath the boiler was firmly connected to it and was driven by common lateral cylinders and side rods. Underneath the tender was a truck which was similar to the Climax locomotives driven by a central shaft which took the power from the front axle of the locomotive via a hypoid bevel gear. For the first time, the design used closed axle drives with housings on one hand protecting the gear unit from and on the other hand also containing the gear lubricant.
Locomotive
Diesel–hydraulic locomotives use one or more torque converters, in combination with gears, with a mechanical final drive to convey the power from the diesel engine to the wheels.
Coupling rod
A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunters, also have them. The coupling rods transfer the power of drive to all wheels.
Locomotive change
For as long as there have been railroads, locomotive changes have been essential to the officials of the railroads, so that a locomotive could be exchanged for the rest of the trip to the next locomotive changing facility or the destination of the train. Without these facilities, locomotives will suffer from wear and tear or in the era of the steam locomotive, the locomotive will also suffer a lack of fuel and water. Many of the original locations where steam was exchanged for another steam locomotive for the remainder of the trip have been closed since diesel locomotives replaced steam locomotives on the point of both freight and passenger trains.
Wagonway
In 1804, Richard Trevithick, in the first recorded use of steam power on a railway, ran a high-pressure steam locomotive with smooth wheels on an 'L' section plateway near Merthyr Tydfil, but it was more expensive than horses. He made three trips from the iron mines at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal and each time broke the rails that were designed for horse wagon loads. There was general doubt at the time that smooth wheels could obtain traction on smooth rails. This resulted in proposals using rack or other drive mechanisms.
Mr Blenkinsop of Middleton Colliery patented the use of cogged wheels in 1811 and in 1812, the Middleton Railway (edgeway, rack rail) successfully used twin cylinder steam locomotives made by Matthew Murray of Holbeck, Leeds. George Stephenson made his first steam locomotive in 1813 (patented 1815) for the Killingworth colliery, and found smooth wheels on smooth rails provided adequate grip. Although he later recounted that they called this locomotive 'My Lord' as it was financed by Lord Ravensworth, it seems that it was known at the time as Blücher. In 1814 William Stewart was engaged by Parkend Coal Co in the Forest of Dean for the construction of a steam locomotive, which when trialled was reported to be successful. Stewart did not receive his expected reward and the two parties parted on bad terms. Stewart was 'obliged to abandon the engine to that Company'. In 1821, a wagonway was proposed to connect the mines at West Durham, Darlington and the River Tees at Stockton, George Stephenson successfully argued that horse-drawn wagonways were obsolete and a steam-powered railway could carry 50 times as much coal. In 1825 he built the locomotive "Locomotion" for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England's northeast, which became the world's first public steam railway in 1825, via both horse power and steam power on different runs.
Steam locomotives of Ireland
Note that narrow gauge locomotive classes included the letter N after the prefix letter, letter C was also used for Bo-Bo diesels, and that letters B, C, D, F, J, and K were used for the same wheel arrangements by the London and North Eastern Railway, while E and G changed places.
Steam locomotives of British Railways
Former main line locomotives, along with various smaller industrial shunters, form the backbone of steam motive power for heritage railways. Main line running on charter trains is possible and they run under TOPS code as Class 98.
Mount Rainier Railroad and Logging Museum
The railroad currently has three steam locomotives, as well as a diesel locomotive in regular service, along with several other locomotives of both types. Most of the railroad's engines are geared steam locomotives. These specialized types of steam engines — Shay locomotives, Heisler locomotives, Climax locomotives, and a Willamette locomotive were used in the early 20th century for logging. Compared to conventional steam locomotives, geared locomotives were better-suited for the steep grades, sharp curves and uneven profiles of hastily laid track typical of logging operations. Thus, the MRRR seeks to preserve and operate historic geared locomotives and related logging technology in order to present visitors with a sense of a bygone logging era critical to the development of the Pacific Northwest.
District Railway steam locomotives
District Railway steam locomotives were used on London's Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway). When in 1871 the railway needed its own locomotives, they ordered twenty four condensing steam locomotives from Beyer Peacock similar to the A Class locomotives the Metropolitan Railway was using on the route. As they were intended for an underground railway, the locomotives did not have cabs, but had a weatherboard with a bent-back top and the back plate of the bunker was raised to provide protection when running bunker first.
Steam locomotive
All locomotives are fitted with a variety of appliances. Some of these relate directly to the operation of the steam engine; while others are for signalling, train control or other purposes. In the United States, the Federal Railroad Administration mandated the use of certain appliances over the years in response to safety concerns. The most typical appliances are as follows:
Water (feedwater) must be delivered to the boiler to replace that which is exhausted as steam after delivering a working stroke to the pistons. As the boiler is under pressure during operation, feedwater must be forced into the boiler at a pressure that is greater than the steam pressure, necessitating the use of some sort of pump. Hand-operated pumps sufficed for the very earliest locomotives. Later engines used pumps driven by the motion of the pistons (axle pumps), which were simple to operate, reliable and could handle large quantities of water but only operated when the locomotive was moving and could overload the valve gear and piston rods at high speeds. Steam injectors later replaced the pump, while some engines transitioned to turbopumps. Standard practice evolved to use two independent systems for feeding water to the boiler; either two steam injectors or, on more conservative designs, axle pumps when running at service speed and a steam injector for filling the boiler when stationary or at low speeds. By the 20th century virtually all new-built locomotives used only steam injectors – often one injector was supplied with "live" steam straight from the boiler itself and the other used exhaust steam from the locomotive's cylinders, which was more efficient (since it made use of otherwise wasted steam) but could only be used when the locomotive was in motion and the regulator was open. Injectors became unreliable if the feedwater was at a high temperature, so locomotives with feedwater heaters, tank locomotives with the tanks in contact with the boiler and condensing locomotives sometimes used reciprocating steam pumps or turbopumps.
British Australian Tramway, Coffs Harbour
The first steam locomotive was procured second-hand in Tasmania in 1904. Originally, it was a 4-6-0 type with two non-driven leading axles and three coupled drive axles before the BAT had one drive axle removed during a conversion so that it had the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement. The locomotive coped well with the journey over Macaulay's Headland, but after the route had been extended to Bruxner Park, it was found to be inadequate. The locomotive was too heavy for the easily laid rails of the forest railway and spread the rails several times in different places. Therefore, Dalgety Holdings sought a more suitable locomotive, and acquired a 25 or 27 ton Shay locomotive, which was delivered on July 8, 1909 on the ship "Cooloon". The Shay could be used without major problems along the entire length of the forest railway.
Steam locomotive
Steam locomotives required regular and, compared to a diesel-electric engine, frequent service and overhaul (often at government-regulated intervals in Europe and the US). Alterations and upgrades regularly occurred during overhauls. New appliances were added, unsatisfactory features removed, cylinders improved or replaced. Almost any part of the locomotive, including boilers, was replaced or upgraded. When service or upgrades got too expensive the locomotive was traded off or retired. On the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad two 2-10-2 locomotives were dismantled; the boilers were placed onto two new Class T 4-8-2 locomotives and the residual wheel machinery made into a pair of Class U 0-10-0 switchers with new boilers. Union Pacific's fleet of 3-cylinder 4-10-2 engines were converted into two-cylinder engines in 1942, because of high maintenance problems.
Geared steam locomotive
Some geared steam locomotives are still at work in the sugar plantations of Indonesia, and no doubt elsewhere too, but in most countries they may now be seen only on tourist lines, preservation sites and museums. The particular advantage in cane sugar operations is the ability to use the dried solid residue of pressing the cane (see bagasse) as a fuel of trivial cost, providing that low cost technical labor is available to maintain the locomotives.The Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ontario has an operational 50 ton class B Shay Locomotive, that is in operation Sundays and Wednesdays in July and August.
Valve gear
Two eccentrics joined by a curved or straight link. A simple arrangement which works well at low speed. At high speed, a Walschaerts-type gear is said to give better steam distribution and higher efficiency.Both components of the motion come from a single crank or eccentric. A problem with this arrangement (when applied to locomotives) is that one of the components of the motion is affected by the rise and fall of the locomotive on its springs. This probably explains why radial gears were largely superseded by Walschaerts-type gears in railway practice but continued to be used in traction and marine engines.These enable a 3-cylinder or 4-cylinder locomotive to be built with only two sets of valve gear. The best known is Gresley conjugated valve gear, used on 3-cylinder locomotives. Walschaerts gear is usually used for the two outside cylinders. Two levers connected to the outside cylinder valve rods drive the valve for the inside cylinder. Harold Holcroft devised a different method for conjugating valve gear by linking the middle cylinder to the combination lever assembly of an outside cylinder, creating the Holcroft valve gear derivative. On a 4-cylinder locomotive the arrangement is simpler. The valve gear may be inside or outside and only short rocking-shafts are needed to link the valves on the inside and outside cylinders.
Fyansford Cement Works Railway
Of the original twelve locomotives, seven (one diesel and six steam locomotives) are still in existence today. With the relocation to Queenscliff of the Australian Standard Garratt from the Australian Railway Historical Society Museum in May 2013, all six steam locomotives existing at the time of the line's closure are now in preservation at the Bellarine Railway.
Reversing gear
The development of articulated locomotives was a major impetus to the development of power reverse systems, because these typically had two or even three sets of reverse gear, instead of just one on a simple locomotive. The Baldwin Locomotive Works used the Ragonnet reversing gear, and other American builders generally abandoned positive locking features. In British use, locking cylinders remained in use. The Hadfield reversing gear, patented in 1950, was in most particulars a Ragonnet reversing gear with added locking cylinder.
Most Beyer Garratt locomotives used the Hadfield system.
Many American locomotives were built, or retro-fitted, with power reverse, e.g. PRR K4s, PRR N1s, PRR B6, PRR L1s.
CGR Railmotor
A single Railmotor was delivered to the Cape Government Railways (CGR) in 1906. The railmotor was a self-contained motor-coach in which the locomotive and coach were embodied in a single vehicle, with a driver's station at the rear end of the coach for reverse running. The locomotive part was a 0-4-0 side-tank engine which was built by North British Locomotive Company, while the coach part was built by Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage & Wagon. It was the first steam railmotor to enter service on the CGR and was allocated the number 6, later M6.
Locomotive
A gas turbine locomotive is an internal combustion engine locomotive consisting of a gas turbine. ICE engines require a transmission to power the wheels. The engine must be allowed to continue to run when the locomotive is stopped.
Gas turbine-mechanical locomotives, use a mechanical transmission to deliver the power output of gas turbines to the wheels. A gas turbine locomotive was patented in 1861 by Marc Antoine Francois Mennons (British patent no. 1633). There is no evidence that the locomotive was actually built but the design includes the essential features of gas turbine locomotives built in the 20th century, including compressor, combustion chamber, turbine and air pre-heater. In 1952, Renault delivered a prototype four-axle 1150 hp gas-turbine-mechanical locomotive fitted with the Pescara "free turbine" gas- and compressed-air producing system, rather than a co-axial multi-stage compressor integral to the turbine. This model was succeeded by a pair of six-axle 2400 hp locomotives with two turbines and Pescara feeds in 1959. Several similar locomotives were built in USSR by Kharkov Locomotive Works.
Gas turbine-electric locomotives, use a gas turbine to drive an electrical generator or alternator which produced electric current powers the traction motor which drive the wheels. In 1939 the Swiss Federal Railways ordered Am 4/6, a GTEL with a of maximum engine power from Brown Boveri. It was completed in 1941, and then underwent testing before entering regular service. The Am 4/6 was the first gas turbine – electric locomotive. British Rail 18000 was built by Brown Boveri and delivered in 1949. British Rail 18100 was built by Metropolitan-Vickers and delivered in 1951. A third locomotive, the British Rail GT3, was constructed in 1961. Union Pacific ran a large fleet of turbine-powered freight locomotives starting in the 1950s. These were widely used on long-haul routes, and were cost-effective despite their poor fuel economy due to their use of "leftover" fuels from the petroleum industry. At their height the railroad estimated that they powered about 10% of Union Pacific's freight trains, a much wider use than any other example of this class.
Steam locomotive
Early locomotives used a simple valve gear that gave full power in either forward or reverse. Soon the Stephenson valve gear allowed the driver to control cut-off; this was largely superseded by Walschaerts valve gear and similar patterns. Early locomotive designs using slide valves and outside admission were relatively easy to construct, but inefficient and prone to wear. Eventually, slide valves were superseded by inside admission piston valves, though there were attempts to apply poppet valves (commonly used in stationary engines) in the 20th century. Stephenson valve gear was generally placed within the frame and was difficult to access for maintenance; later patterns applied outside the frame were more readily visible and maintained.
Stephenson valve gear
Stephenson valve gear is a convenient arrangement for any engine that needs to reverse and was widely applied to railway locomotives, traction engines, steam car engines and to stationary engines that needed to reverse, such as rolling-mill engines. It was used on the overwhelming majority of marine engines. The Great Western Railway used Stephenson gear on most of its locomotives, although the later four-cylinder engines used inside Walschaerts gear.
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a type of railway locomotive that produces its pulling power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning combustible material – usually coal, wood, or oil – to produce steam in a boiler. The steam moves reciprocating pistons which are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels (drivers). Both fuel and water supplies are carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons (tenders) pulled behind.
Fairlie locomotive
A Fairlie is a type of articulated steam locomotive that has the driving wheels on bogies. The locomotive may be double-ended (a double Fairlie) or single ended (a single Fairlie). Fairlies are most associated with the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales.
Swiss locomotive and railcar classification
Steam powered tank locomotives were always given an "E", and the maximum speed of the locomotive was designated with a lower case letter. Thus, an Ea 3/6 was a tank locomotive with v > , three coupled drive axles, and three unpowered axles. With steam locomotives, separate driving mechanisms were displayed. So, for example, a Mallet locomotive was named G 2x2/2 or G 2/3+2/2, and not G 4/4 or G 4/5.
Steam locomotive
The chassis, or locomotive frame, 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.
Geared steam locomotive
The Cass Scenic Railroad State Park in West Virginia uses only geared locomotives, and features the largest remaining and last Shay locomotive ever built, the 162-ton former Western Maryland Railway #6. The railroad also owns a Climax locomotive and a Heisler, enabling all three types to be seen.
Locomotive
Electric locomotives almost universally use axle-hung traction motors, with one motor for each powered axle. In this arrangement, one side of the motor housing is supported by plain bearings riding on a ground and polished journal that is integral to the axle. The other side of the housing has a tongue-shaped protuberance that engages a matching slot in the truck (bogie) bolster, its purpose being to act as a torque reaction device, as well as a support. Power transfer from motor to axle is effected by spur gearing, in which a pinion on the motor shaft engages a bull gear on the axle. Both gears are enclosed in a liquid-tight housing containing lubricating oil. The type of service in which the locomotive is used dictates the gear ratio employed. Numerically high ratios are commonly found on freight units, whereas numerically low ratios are typical of passenger engines.
Locomotives of India
The Indian Railways primarily operates electric and diesel locomotives. Steam locomotives are operated on a few World Heritage sites and also run occasionally as heritage trains. A locomotive is also known as a loco or engine. The country's first steam locomotive ran on the Red Hill Railway (built by Arthur Cotton to transport granite for road-building) from Red Hills to the Chintadripet bridge in Madras in 1837.
Locomotives were classified by track gauge, motive power, function and power (or model number) in a four- or five-letter code. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes motive power (diesel or electric), and the third letter denotes use (goods, passenger, mixed or shunting). The fourth letter denotes a locomotive's chronological model number.
Valve gear
The valve gear of a steam engine is the mechanism that operates the inlet and exhaust valves to admit steam into the cylinder and allow exhaust steam to escape, respectively, at the correct points in the cycle. It can also serve as a reversing gear. It is sometimes referred to as the "motion".
Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive 1
Electric drive is almost universal because a railroad locomotive is a difficult environment for a mechanical gearbox, as the loads vary widely from second to second as the slack action runs in and out. Only on very small locomotives, pulling a limited number of cars, generally on level track, have there been any successful gearbox locomotive drives. In the case of Locomotive 1, the four-speed gearbox drives a jackshaft under the cab which is connected with side rods to the two driving wheels. The choice of mechanical drive may also have been driven by war availability – a generator and traction motor take hundreds of pounds of copper, which was scarce.
Geared steam locomotive
The Class B Climax locomotive has two inclined cylinders driving a transverse crankshaft, geared to a longitudinal driveshaft placed centrally on the locomotive and driving the powered trucks via internal gearing.
Steam locomotive
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 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.
Driving wheel
On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled together with side rods (also known as coupling rods); normally one pair is directly driven by the main rod (or connecting rod) which is connected to the end of the piston rod; power is transmitted to the others through the side rods.