Locomotive Railway Carriage & Wagon Review
64 (1958)
Key page
Number 785 (January 1958)
Incorrrct Volume number (63) on page 1
The Kent Coast electrification of British Railways. 1; 5, 2
illustrations
First phase (Thanet) nearing completion. Broad details of motive power,
mainly mulltiple unis, but with some electric and diesel electric
locomotives.
English Electric locomotives for the Eastern Railway of India, 2-4.
2 illustrations, diagram, table
Class EM/2: twelve 3120 hp locomotives 3000 V dc system
Conversion of German Federal Railway 4-6-2 locomotives to oil-burning.
4-5. 2 illustrations, diagram, table
Class 01. Shortage of domestic coal, high cost of imported coal, hence
use of Bumker C grade oil. Work involved Henschel & Sohn GmbH
French-built 50-cycle electric locomotives for the U.S.S.R. 6.
35 Co-Co 5500 h.p. locomotives to work on 25 Kv: ten for express passenger
and 25 for freight working: latter including ten with regenerative braking.
Dual-frequency Austrian locomotive to be exhibited. 6.
At the Brusselss Universal Exhibition
A British Railways rail-mounted viaduct inspection unit. 7-8. 3
illustrations, diagram
Hydraulic powered booms enabled the inspection platform to lowered
beneath the wagon and structure upon it was located.
Diesel traction in East Africa. 8.
Report by General Manager of the East African Railways & Harbours
envisaged diesel traction taking over from steam. Fifteen 1800-2000
hp and eight 1100 to 1400 hp would br required for the Nairobi-Nakuru-Kisumu
section.
New Garman-built sleeping cars for international services. 9. 5
illustrations, diagram (side elevation & plan)
Hansa Waggonbau GmbH and Waggonmachinenbau GmbH built forty Class
U cars for the International Sleeping Car Co. Each car had eleven compartments
which could be arranged for one-, two- or three- berth accommodation.
Minden-Deutzz bogies were fitted.
Trials of Krauss-Maffei 2,200 h.p. Co-Co diesel hydraulic units. 10-12,
3 illustrations, 2 diagrams (including side elevation), tablle
Supplied to Yugoslav State Railways. Dynamometer car tests in Germany
between Munich and Garmitsch and Mittenwald; also in Austria on the Semmering
line and on arrival in Jugoslavia on Jugoslav Express between Ljubliana,
Zagreb and Belgrade; on the Simplon orient Express between Belgrade, Ljubliana
and Postojna, and on the Taurus Express between Zagreb and Belgrade. Tests
included the curved 1 in 40 ascent between Rijeka and Drivenik. Illustrations
include a portrait of the locomotive, it on test on the Semmering and a 2-10-2T
and a 2-10-0 hauling a freight up the Semmering.
Commonweallth Railways "roomette" cars. 13-14. 3 illlustrations,
plan
Car supplied by Wegmann & Co. of Kassel with zig-zag corridor
arrangement and another built in Australia.
New electric multiple-unit depot at Ilford, B.R. 14
Extensions to enable Ilford to service the entire Great Eastern and
London, Tilbury & Southend electric multiple unit fleets.
Renault three-car diesel units for Algeria. 15. 2 illustrations, diagram
(side elevation and plan)
Eight three car articulated units with engines within body at each
end of unit
The G.E.C. traction motor works at Dudley Port. 16
80,000 ft2; capacity fifty main line motors per week
Improved driver's brake-valve for London Transport
stock. 16-17. diagram
For caption to diagram seee page 40
Stainless steel coaches for Brazil. 17. 2 illustrations
Budd Co. for Santos-Jundiai Railway
Diesel traction for Argentina. 17-18
Until recently little has been done towards introducing diesel traction
on any scale on the Argentine Railways. The Buenos Ayres Great Southern as
early as 1930 had acquired some experimental types which were not perpetuated.
They were for shunting and suburban services and one of them, with hydraulic
transmission never ran more than 50 km These were followed by two diesel-electric
power stations, running five-car multiple-unit trains, which were then
in poor condition. Following this came three 1,700 h.p. travelling power
houses, running eight- car trains, and one similarly powered locomotive.
All were still doing yeoman service but the later unitstwo Arrnstrong
l-A-A-A-l and two Hariand & Wolff l-AA-AA-l were destroyed by fire.
The only other locomotives, apart from railcars, were some little 100 h.p.
rod-driven 0-4-0 diesels with Gnrdner engine and mechanical drive.
The next move was made by the metre-gauge Central Northern Railway which,
just before becoming the General Belgrano Railway, ordered 70 Whitcomb 600
h.p. locomotives for suburban work. These were followed in 1950 by 75 General
Electric 1,000 h.p, main line diesel-electrics and in 1953 by five of 1,200
h.p. At the same time 25 G.E. 1,400 h.p, locomotives were delivered to the
Mitre (former Central Argentine) Railway and 51 Baldwins of 1,600 h.p. to
the General Roca (former B.A.G.S.) Railway. In 1955, Werkspoor delivered
fifty 600 h.p, locomotives to the San Martin (former Buenos Ayres Pacific)
Railway while the same firm a year later brought out ten 1,500 h.p. machines
to the same railway and thirty of 600 h.p. to the metre-gauge Belgrano Railway.
At the same time we have to record the only British order yet received, for
five English Electric of 1,000 h.p, The last deliveries to date are 25 General
Motors machines of 1,310 h.p. The last of these were being delivered as the
writer left Argentina, but, unfortunately, they are being put on main line
service in the winter and were not provided with steam heating boilers!
Twenty-five brake vans were now being titted with Merryweather pump boilers.
When the present Provisional Government took ever it was faced with the grave
problem of a totally deteriorated steam locomotive stock, since the foregoing
purchases had been used tu replace steam locomotives which either could not
be repaired or, for lack of spare parts, were passing through the shops at
a rare which promised delivery in some three to four years. In the meantime
Mr. Sacaggio at the Liniers works of the old Western Railway had
succeededin five yearsin producing two super-diesel-electric
locomotives. consisting of two units each supported on four four-wheel bogies,
all motored and powered by four diesel engines of some 800 h.p, These units
cost an appalling sum, but technically were successful as they could run
on from one to four diesel engines and from two to 16 electric motors.
Unfortunately, they have been used exclusively on the Mar del Plata luxury
Budd train, of four coaches only, instead of in their legitimate sphere of
mixed-traffic operation on lines with gradients varying between I in 500
to 1 in 80.
The writer has been called in unofficially to several meetings and has always
advocated that, dieselisation should start in the shunting yard, where the
greatest savings can be made. But the present situation, with some 40 per
cent of available steam locomotives laid off, calls for an immediate replacement
of these locomotives to be able to move the next harvest. The Provisional
Government had therefore placed orders for or is in negotiation with the
Import-Export Bank about the following locomotives:-
San Martin System
25 General Electric 1,800 h.p
Mitre System
25 Montreal '(ALCO) 1,800 h.p.
Roca System
25 Alsthom (France) one 750 h.p.
Administration of Ports
15 General Electric 550 h.p. (5 ft. 6 in. gauge)
Urquiza System (former C.B.A., E.Rios, Argentine N.E. and Slate Eastern)
20 General Electric 1,200 h.p.(4 ft. 8½ in. gauge)
To be divided between San Martin, Roca, Sarmiento and Roca Systems
130 ALCO 1,800 h.p. (5 ft. 6 in. gauge)
Belgrano System
50 General Electric 1,200 h.p. (Metre gauge)
Emergencies call for immediate action, but the future, with the heterogenous
stock in existence and on order, is going to prove a major difficulty. The
committee on which the writer served recommended that for future requirements
locomotives should be built to rigid specifications in units of 600 and 1,200
h.p., duplicating when necessary for higher powers, anJ all engines to be
multiples of 600 h.p. with all details interchangeable.
It has yet to be proved that for main-line passenger and goods working in
Argentina the diesel-electric is the most economical unit in the long run.
For similar powers the diesel-electric costs three times more than a steam
locomotive and must obviously run three times the mileage. Over months of
tests it was found that a steam locomotive could run 20,000 miles a month
on a selected passenger run of 925 miles for the return trip with two hours
for servicing at the end of the single trip. But a diesel unit on the same
run could do no better as it was found impossible to fit in an immediate
return trip because of traffic and single track limitations, and in a country
like Argentina, with its single tracks and intermittent goods traffic, it
would appear that unless the running and maintenance savings are three times
the This is especially true on sections where there is still an abundance
of firewood. amortisation charges a loss will result.
Fowler 0-4-0 diresel shunter with B.U.T. 230 h.p. engine. 18.
illustration
0-4-0 diesel shunting locomotive, built by John Fowler & Co. (Leeds)
Ltd., had been undergoing tests and demonstrations at Fowler's testing site
near Leeds. The engine specified for this prototype was the B.U.T. 926 cu,
in. direct-injection diesel engine. The locomotive could haul trains of up
to 720 tons on level track. It had an initial tractive effort of 15,000 lb.
at 3½ m.p.h, and a top track speed of 14½ m.p.h. Power units of
this type are already operated by British Railways and had been chosen to
power the 24 twin-engined railcars shortly to be shipped to the Indian Railways
from Australia under the Colombo Plan. The engine for the Fowler locomotive
had been specially derated to 176 b.h.p. at 1,500 r.p.m. Transmission from
the engine is through a 20 in. traction type fluid coupling and a Hardy Spicer
transmission shaft to a four-speed Self-Changing Gears epicyclic gearbox.
A further shaft and. bevel pinion co.ects the main gear- box to the forward
and reverse gearbox, which is of Fowler manufacture. Final drive is taken
by a jackshaft from the gearbox to coupling rods and so to the wheels.
The "Unionmelt" boxcar rebuilding tecnique of Seaboard Airline R.R., U.S.A.
18-19. 3 illustrations
Welding
New diesel depot at Crewe, B.R. 19-20. 3 illustrations, diagram
Atlas wheel turning machine Iikely to be used for tyre profiling on
multiple units as well as locomotives, and also for carrying out such work
for other neighbouring Motive Power Districts where the provision of an
additional machine is not justified.
News of the month. 20
Engineering company may take over Dundalk Works. 20
To produce even a quarter of the material which Ireland imports from
foreign engineering works would require thousands of Irish workers, according
to Frank· Aiken, Irish Minister for External Affairs, who recently outlined
the Governrnent's plans for the proposed Dundalk Enginering Works. The new
company has followed on the closing of sections of railways in Nurthern Ireland,
and the cutting off from the Dundalk railway works of all rail servicing
work, except what is necessary on the 50-mile section of the Great Northern
Railway from Dublin to the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland. The Government considered the alternatives of reducing the servicing
staff at Dundalk to the number required for the 50-mile section concerned,
or extending the facilities at Dundalk into a large national engineering
works. Aiken said that there were tens of millions worth of equipment coming
into Ireland every year made abroad by men with the same skills as those
who had been employed until now on railway work in Ireland. There were also
railway extension programmes in other countries te which rolling stock could
be sold if produced at a competitive price. He added that the Dundalk Engineering
Company would take over, free from capital liability, the premises and equipment
of the old railway works, and would have available hundreds of highly skilled
workers,
N.S.W.G.R. electrification. 20. illustration
The western main line of the New South Wales Government Railways was
now electrified as far as Lithgow. The route west of Penrith traverses the
Blue Mountains and has long sections of 1 in 33 gradients. Originally the
line included the celebrated zigzags near Lithgow, long superseded by an
ordinary deviation with many tunnels. Considerable accelerations have been
made, particularly of freight trains. The Commonwealth Engineering Co. Ltd.,
Australia, was expecting to complete in December its contract for 40 motor
and 40 trailer coaches for this line. With the delivery of this stock all
passenger traffic on this section .will be handled by eight-coach multiple-unit
trains, comprising two first class and two second class motor coaches and
four second class trailers. The electric locomotives which have been used
since the service began an 22 June 1957t will be freed for other purposes,
The multiple-unit stock is of stainless steel, the first use of this construction
on a large scale in Australia.
B.T.C. order Drewry Equipments for diesel shunting locomotives. 20
The British Transport Commission announced that 42 sets of engine
transmission and control equipments for 0-6-0 diesel mechanical shunting
locomotives of 200 h.p. had been ordered from the Drewry Car Company. The
completed locomotives will be allocated between the North Eastern and Southern
Regions.
Tulloch Ltd. to use German diesel engines. 20
The New South Wales manufacturing firm of Tulloch Limited' has concluded
an agreement with Mercedes-Benz and Fried. Krupp by which ir has the sole
use of Mercedes-Benz diesel engines and Krupp hydraulic transmission for
rail traction in Australia.
Letters. 20
Pierre Weil.
As perhaps one of its oldest readers (since 1897), may I congratulate
the Locomotive Magazine on its recent development into its present form,
which greatly enhances its status as a serious technical journal. In years
gone by it fulfilled a real want as a recorder of steam locomotive development
and news for popular consumption, and wias a source of great joy to the younger
generation interested in such matters, amongst whom I was a devoted enthusiast.
I well remember the eager anticipation in the 1890s with which I awaited
the next issue (price 2d!). Now, however, with the tremendous strides made
in electric (and diesel) traction since the War, the beloved magazine of
my schooldays has become a technical journal in the true sense.
To watch the departure of an 800-ton high-speed express (or rather rapide)
from the Gare de Lyon in Paris, headed by an ultra-modern 80-ton Bo-Bo or
120- ton Co-Co (or even by an already obsolescent 2-D-2) electric: locomotive,
is as thrilling an experience as that afforded by a train headed by the finest
and largest modern steam locomotive. An electric locomotive is no longer
just a motorised truck; it is a highly complicated machine with as much diversity
and personality instilled into it by its creators as the steam locomotive
always had, and still has. But it is a far more complicated and subtle
personality, and the Locomotive Magazine in its wisdom has realised this
and has risen nobly to the occasion. This does not signify that it has abandoned
our dear old and faithful friend, the beneficent and beloved steam locomotive.
It still gives us all necessary news regarding it in its old age, but in
the nature of things, the electric (and diesel) traction matters will necessarily
take top place more and more.
Number 786 (February 1958)
The manning of diesel and electric units on British Railways. 21
Double-manning agreement between BTC and ASLEF and NUR to convey second
man on runs longer than 100 miles, in hours of darkness (midnight and 06.00
and so on W.P. Allen called it a "victoory for commonsense".
[BR class 9F 2-10-0 No. 92178]. G.W. Morrison. 21
Fitted witth double chimney when built at Swindon
Dual-purpose diesel-hydraulic raicars for the Ulster Transport
Authority. 22-4. 3 illustrations, diagram
James Courtney design for express services between Belfast and
Londonderry/Derry or for limited freight haulage over same route. British
United Traction Leyland six-cylinder engines mounted on Metalastik shear
mounts with Self-Changing Gears Ltd Schneider torque converters manufactured
under licence.
Photographs of CIE K3 2-6-0 as modified to burn turf (T.K. Widd) and Bulleid
0-6-6-0 turf burner at Inchicore Works. 24
See also Volume 63 page 219
Dual frequency electric locomotive for French Railways. 25-6
Bo Bo capable of working on woorking on Swiss Railways at 15 kV and
French system at 25 kV
Diesel locomotive experience in the United States.
26-8. illustration
Precis: No other country in the world has so wide an experience of
diesel locomotive manufacture, operation and maintenance as the United States;
in no other country, indeed, has there been so revolutionary a change of
motive power in so short a time. In 1935 U.S.A. railways owned 42,000 steam
locomotives and 150 diesels; twenty years later the figures had become 6,000
and 24,700 respectively, and the diesels were handling 90 per cent of the
traffic, which itself was 50 per cent heavier than in 1935. By then some
£1,200 million had been invested by the railways in diesel power, but
this change had made possible an annual reduction of fully £100 million
in operating expenses.
Net ton-miles of freight trains per day had risen from 13,000 to 26,000 ;
average freight train speed had gone up from 16.4 to 19.0 m.p.h., all operating
stops included; and the average daily mileage of freight locomotives from
110 to 150. Over the 20 years, while the total locomotive stock, steam and
diesel, was falling by an average of 1,100 units annually, the diesel fleet
was growing by an average of 875 units each year, and this reduced number
was showing itself capable of handling a steadily increasing flow of traffic.
These striking facts formed the introduction to a paper read on December
18 last before the Institution of Locomotive
Engineers Paper 582 by H.G. McClean Export Manager of the Electro-Motive
Division, of General Motors Corporation, Chicago. If his paper showed some
slight bias in favour of railway dieselisation, this is hardly to be wondered
at, seeing that the foresight and enterprise of his own firm, more than any
other single factor, have been responsible for bringing about this revolution,
and that Electro-Motive has built 65 per cent, and still is building by far
the major proportion, of the diesel-electric locomotives at work on American
railways to-day.
The rapidity of this diesel development on United States railways has been
due in large measure to their acceptance, almost from the start, of the
manufacturers' standard locomo- tive designs. This acoeptance has made it
possible to streamline production and thereby to reduce the capital cost
of the motive power, while at the same time cutting down the stock of spare
parts necessary and reducing maintenance costs generally. In the Electro-Motive
designs, for example, the V -type diesel engine first introduced in 1938,
whether the six-, eight-, 12-, or 16-cylinder model, still retains the same
basic cylinder dimensions and continues to have completely interchangeable
pistons, liners, cylinder heads and valves.
By developing and improving these standard constituents it has been possible,
without any increase in cost, to double the life of the parts and at the
same time to increase engine out- put by 50 per cent. In conjunction with
the same range of diesel engines built into locomotives, now number- ing
some 20,000 in all, only two standard types of electric generator ·
and a single traction motor design have been used throughout; there has also
been a high degree of standardisa- non of bogies, wheels, axles, axle boxes
and brake equipment. The manufac- turers' slogan" twice the work at half
the cost", as compared with steam traction, has thus largely been realised.
The course followed by railway dieselisation in the D.S.A., Mr. McClean
continued, has been, first its application to shunting, then to passenger
services, and finally to main line freight operation. Economy in shunting
and marshalling was obvious with locomotives which could work around the
clock if necessary, and soon was found to be on such a scale that these economies
alone could pay the cost of a diesel shunter in two years. The first application
in passenger working was with high speed long- distance trains, such as those
making continuous 40-hr. runs over distances of 2,200 to 2,300 miles between
Chicago and the Pacific coast, with layovers up to 10 hr. at each terminal,
where again the continuous avail- ability of diesel power could be put to
maximum use.
But the real test of diesel economy in main line operation came in the second
stage, with the dieselisation of complete divisions, or of certain types
of service en bloc, in which the costly diesel units no longer monopolised
the cream of the operating assignments, and had also to provide stand-by-
power. For this stage between 300 and 40 separate detailed work studies were
made, in which the manufac- turers co-operated with the railways, before
final decisions were reached. Precise running times could be calcu- lated
and guaranteed by the manufac- turers, in working out the cycles of operation
and the number of units nee d e d ; previous experience supplied all the
information required as to unit operating costs.
By the time the third stage was reached, of 50 to 80 per cent diesel- isation,
the railways themselves had accumulated sufficient information to forecast
all the economies that could be effected by further substitution of diesel
power for steam. The present and final stage is an intensive study as to
how the existing diesel stock can be put to the maximum possible use before
the decision is reached as to how many additional units will be needed to
complete the diese1isation. On a number of the leading railways, of course,
this final stage has been attained already.
American diesel-electric units for passenger service are mostly of the AlA
- AlA type, from 2,000 to 2,400 h.p.; for freight of the B - B type, from
1,500 to 1,750 h.p.; and for shunting and general purpose duties also of
the B - B type, from 1,000 to 1,200 h.p., though there may be variations
from these stan- dards for special reasons. If automatic train control is
in use, the passenger diesels travel at up to 100 m.p.h. on certain main
lines, and 90 m.p.h. on others; typical freight diesels operate at speeds
up to 65 m.p.h., and normally maintain speeds up to 50 m.p.h. on the level
and 10 to 12 m.p.h. up 1 in 50 gradients. A modern freight train will be
worked by a triple-unit locomotive of 4,500 to 5,250 h.p., permanently coupled,
the middle or "B" unit being a hooster unit without driving cab, and the
two other "A" units.having driving cabs at the outer ends only. Many passenger
trains are operated by two A units coupled.
Some 75 per cent of the total American demand recently, however, has been
for general purpose or mixed traffic designs, which have a single driving
cab near one end of the unit, and good visibility along both sides of the
6 ft. wide hoods which house the engine-generator sets. These hoods have
deep side doors which facilitate inspection and maintenance. The body styles
involve a basic difference in body construction; with the narrow-hood diesels
the strength of construction is almost entirely in the underframe, with its
deep-section longitudinals, whereas in the streamline passenger and freight
locomotives, with their light underframes, of shallow depth, the strength
is in the deep girder members which extend for the length and depth of the
side-walls.
As the first American road diesels were for high-speed passenger service,
their bogies were designed accordingly, and this fact has affected all subsequent
bogie development. The AlA type passenger diesels have 36 in. wheels, 14
ft. 1 in. wheelbase, and a one-piece cast frame and bolster. Their equipment
includes roller-bearing axle boxes, 6½ in. x 12 in., which use parallel
rollers mounted on a sleeve; the whole is arranged to permit lateral movement
of the box, und with spring control (at first by leaf springs but later by
moulded rubber springs) providing for lateral movement which at first is
almost free but rapidly comes under restraint. Equalisers are provided between
adjacent ax1eboxes, with dual nests of coil springs between fheir upper sides
and the underside of the bogie frame. Four long outside swing hangers out-
side the bogie frame support two spring planks carrying four sets of fully
elliptic springs, on the top of which rests an H-shaped bolster with large
diameter centre-plate; the latter carries all the weight.
The freight and general purpose locomotive bogie is of the two-axle type
with 40 in. wheels, 9 ft. wheel-base, and a centre-plate 37 in. above rail.
As with the passenger bogie, the roller box is 6½ in. x 12 in., but
no equalisers are provided; double nests of coil springs are fitted between
the axle boxes and the one-piece cast bogie frames. Outside swing hangers
27½ in: long on 7 ft. 6 in. centres support the spring plank, which
carries two sets of elliptic springs to the bolster and a large-diameter
centre-plate. In the opinion of McClean these bogies have outstanding merit
in design and operation, though their development especially in the
matter of the long outside swing hangers has been possible only because
of the generous limits of the American loading gauge. In weight, the passenger
diesels average 100 lb. per h.p., and the freight diesels 135 lb. per h.p.
Initially, American permanent way engineers did not favour any greater
axle-loading with diesels than the maxima previously authorised for steam
power; the even torque and absence of hammer-blow with traction motors, as
opposed to reciprocating motion, has latterly permitted a relaxation to the
extent of 25 per cent, and diesel axle-loads on this increased scale are
now coming into general use. Mr. McClean considered, however, that then:
had been undue concentration by track engineers on the effect on track of
vertical loading, and too little on lateral effects, and that more attention
might well be paid to bogie construction and to lateral flexibility at' the
axleboxes in order to reduce track wear-and-tear. The general maximum
axle-loading now permitted for diesels in the U.S.A. is 60,000 lb. (27 tons)
on wheels of from 36 to 40 in. diameter.
In height, a maximum of 15 fr. above rail along the locomotive centre- line,
and 13 ft. 6 in. at the eaves level, is generally available, except over
the tunnelled railway approaches to New York that have overhead electric
equipment. With wheels up to 40 in. diameter, these limits allow generous
engine-room dimensions up to le ft. high and 10 ft. wide, affording ample
space for the installation of a V -type engine with the radiator above. In
length, most diesel locomotive units measure about 50 to 55 ft., with the
diesel-generator set occupying about 35 per cent of this total. Bogie centres
are located about 30 ft. apart, so that fuel tanks (and water tanks also,
if the unit carries a steam-heating boiler) can be accommodated below the
main frames between the bogies a suitable position both for refuelling
and for even distribution of weight. The diesel unit underframes are designed
to withstand from 800,000 to 1,000,000 lb. (360 to 445 tons) maximum push
or pull an important feature now that four-unit freight locomotives
frequently haul loads well in excess of 100 bogie wagons, that is, upwards
of a 5,000 tons loaded, over certain routes. Couplers are of the central
automatic type, and also are designed to withstand a maximum tension or
compression up to ],000,000 lb. (445 tons).
American locomotive ratings in general are conservative; with a 1,750 h.p.
freight unit, for example, the gross engine h.p. output is 1,910, and 16-cylinder
engines of this type have operated on continuous load for 100 hr. at up to
2,200 h.p. The aim is to assign the locomotive a rating which will ensure
reliable operation in all conditions, and yet be sufficiently high to enable
it to compete in hauling capacity with locomotives of other makes. There
are few countries in which more extreme operating conditions are met with
than in the United States. Diesel locomotives may have to' work in extremes
of ambient temperatures ranging from 30°F below zero to 120°F above.
Moreover, on through north to south runs the same locomotives may travel
from an area of heavy snow to one of arid desert in a single journey, or
vice versa. Through the Rocky Mountains several of the most important main
lines operate over summits ranging from 7,000 ft. to over 10,000 ft. in altitude.
Fuel conditions also may vary considerably on one through run; diesels working
through between Chicago and the Pacific Coast, for example, may refuel up
to four times en route with fuels of differing characteristics.
Of the four types of diesel engine, from all the different manufacturers,
now in general use in the U.S.A., the two which predominate are of the V-type,
and the other two are in line engines; the two most in use also are of the
two-stroke type, the other two being four-stroke. Cylinder dimensions range
from 8ý in. x 10 in. to 9 in. x 12 in., and engine speeds from S35
to 1,000 r.p.m. An advantage of the two-stroke V-type engine is accessibility
of the "top deck", either within the 10 ft. wide body of the streamline designs,
or through the side doors of the hood in the general purpose units. An even
greater advantage is the ease with which the condition of pistons, rings
and liners can be inspected through the ports in the liners. The engine radiator
system embodies a.c. electrically-driven fans, individually controlled by
thermostats, which ensure correlation of the temperatures of the engine,
cooling water and lubricating oil. Elaborate measures are taken also to ensure
the best possible filtration of fuel oil, lubricating oil, and air intake.
In the United States, diesel locomotives as distinct from railcars
have for the past twenty years been built exclusively with electrical
transmissions. As measured from the engine input at the generator to the
output of the traction motors at the wheels, transmission efficiency at full
load averaging 82 per oent can be relied on from one-fifth to maximum locomotive
speed, and a peak efficiency up to 84t per cent. Auto- matic load controls
are universal, the equipment, according to the notch used by the driver on
his controller, automatically adjusting the generator voltage and current
to ensure maxi- mum efficiency of transmission over the widest possible range
of operation without permitting either overheating or stalling of the engine.
Forced draught ventilation with filtered air is used for generators and traction
motors.
With the weight and speed of American trains, high capacity air-brakes are
essential. Each locomotive unit is equipped with a three-cylinder two-stage
compressor, air-cooled or water-cooled, working at from 275 to 835 r.p.m.;
at the full speed the displacement is 235 cu. ft. per min. The normal equipment
of an AlA-AlA type passenger diesel comprises 18 in. shoes with clasp brakes
on all wheels, and four 11 in. compressed air cylinders on each bogie.
Dynamic braking, first applied on locomotives working over long continuous
gradients, such as those through the Rockies, has since become so popular
as to have been installed on 40 per cent of the diesel locomotive stock.
On long and winding descents, the fact that dynamic brakes can hold heavy
trains at the specified maximum speed without any use of the air brakes has
effected very considerable savings in the wear and tear of brake blocks and
brake rigging, as well as in the avoidance of overheating of wheel tyres.
The use of dynamic braking now has spread to railways with relatively level
main lines also, particularly on locomotives operating fast and heavy freight
services, on which this type of braking does away to a considerable degree
with the use of air brakes.
The remainder of Mr. McClean's paper was devoted mainly to statistical'
comparisons which bear out the claims made in the first two para- graphs
of this review, showing how completely justified has been the revolutionary
changeover in the United States from steam to diesel power; they emphasise
also the remarkable fact that improved design and building techniques have
kept the price of diesel horsepower stationary, if not, indeed, on a slightly
falling scale during a period when there has been an increasing rise in the
cost of labour and materials. This is an achievement of which American
manufacturers may well be proud.
The effect of capital cuts on British Railways. 28
Although there is still no word from the B,T.C. as to the items of
the modernisation programme postponed because of the Government-imposed cuts
in capital expenditure, some answers given in Parliament at the end of the
year, although bare of detail, confirm that their effect on British Railways
will be by no means negligible. Electrification was not mentioned, supporting
our belief that the major projects proposed in the original plan, which are
advancing to schedule, are unaffected, but some other departments in which
the Minister of Transport & Civil Aviation has disclosed cuts of capital
expenditure are vital to the success of the modernisation plan, The most
serious is the enforced slowing down of the programme for the fitting of
freight stock with continuous brakes, for it is in freight operations that
re-equipmerit is most urgently necessary if the railways are to survive.
The Minister has also confirmed that future plans for diesel locomotives
have had to be reduced, and has revealed that there have been cuts in schemes
for new rolling stock, which presumably includes diesel multiple-units, It
is difficult to make much of the figures that are being mentioned to support
the Government view that the cuts stipulated are small, because of rises
in prices since the modernisation plan was announced, with the result that
the total of £1,240 million it was estimated to cost in 1955 has now
risen to around £1,500 million, As we go to press an officer of the
Southern Region at Exeter has disclosed that the a.c. electrification of
his Region's western Section main lines has been postponed because of the
capital cuts. .
An electrogyro locomotive for the National Coal Board. 29.
illustration
Oerlikon electrical equipment in locomotive built by Sentinels
(Shrewsbury) Ltd
A motorcar transporter for Anglo-Continental service. 30.
illustration
M.A.T. Transport Ltd two-tier vehicle built by Newton, Chambers &
Co. Ltd. of Sheffield. Prototype running between British Motor Corporation
at Oxford (Cowley) and Cologne via Harwich to Zeebrugge train
ferry.
New rolling stock for Boston Rapid Transit. 30-1. 2 illustrations
Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co. supplied 25 two-car sets of
welded all-steel construction with air bellow suspension to the Metropolitan
Transit Authority of Boston
Diesel services in Edinburgh District. 31
Inaugurated 3 February to Corstorphine and North Berwick. Later
to Galashields via Peebles, Rosewell, the southern loop via Morningside
Road and the Leith North branch.
The end of steam construction in Czechoslovakia. 32; 33
Skoda ceased to manufacture steam locomotives: photographs and leading
dimensions of 2-10-0 with Krauss-Helmholz truck and claimed to be most economical
freight locomotives in Europe and three-cylinder 4-8-2 and 4-8-4T passenger
classes. Alll were fitted with Kylchap double chimneys and smoke deflector
plates.
Prototype second class open coacch for B.R. by Birmingham R.C. & W.
Co. 32; 34. 2 illustrations
Sir Hugh Casson advised on interior design with foam rubber seating
for 39 second class passengers.
New lightweight rolling stock for the Ghana Raileway by Cravens.
34; 35. 7 illustrations, plan
Five car trains of welded steel construction with buffet cars anbd
rounded observation cars at rear.
G.E.C. transport contracts. 34; 36
General Electric Co. somewhat garbled text relating to North British
Locomotive Co. 3,300 h.p. Bo Bo presumably electric locomotives for LMR
electrification and to 1000 h.p. engines for diesel melectric Pullman trains
and to equipment for electric multiple units
Conversion of Stratford repair shop, B.R., for diesel working. 36-7.
illustration
Original structure completed just prior to WW1. A diesel engine section
for stripping, cleaning and overhauling diesel engines, with fabricated beds
TO accommodate any of the six different types of power units as well as
degreasing tanks, Parawash equipment, Colosyl bath and jib cranes over the
engine beds. The electrical section repairs main and auxiliary generators,
traction motors and control gear. A d.c. supply from a motor generator will
supply power for testing control gear and traction motors. This section also
contains battery charging sets and portable machine tools. Heavy repairs
to diesel shunting locomotives will also continue to be carried out in a
portion of this bay.
The heating system uses radiant heat created by water under high pressure
fed by an automatic oil fired boiler of the wet back double-pass type. Such
a system gives complete freedom of functional use of the entire shop floor
space, keeps down the movement of dust and makes for maximum economy in the
use of fuel.
News of the month. 37-
B.R. safety in 1956. 37
In view of the tragic collision at St. Johns, Southern Region, on
4 December 1958 and its inevitable publicity it is salutary to have the reminder
of The Chief Inspecting Officer's report to the Ministry of Transport &
Civil Aviation for 1956 that not a single passenger was killed in a train
accident proper on British Railways that year, despite an increase of 2.2
per cent m the number of passenger journeys and of 3.2 per cent in
passenger-miles over 1955. There was also a decrease in the total number
of casualties, but an increase of 6.1 per cent from 1,156 to 1,226: the total
number of train accidents of all kinds reported; in these three railway servants
and 15 other persons lost their lives, 13 of the latter being occupants of
road vehicles involved in level crossing collisions. In his review of the
year, the Chief Inspecting Officer comments that the number of accidents
directly caused by want of care or irregularities in working by operating
staff has been steadily increasing since 1950. The 1956 figure was nearly
24 per cent higher than that for 1950, and train crews were responsible for
most of (he increase; the number of accidents caused by them has practically
doubled since 1950, with a proportion of enginemen's to guard's mistakes
of about six to one. On the other hand, it is encouraging to note a steady
post-war decline in the number of accidents resulting from disobedience to
signals, with the result that a large proportion of the mishaps due to failure
of the human element have been minor, but the tendency of the latter to increase
is a disturbing trend to which the B.T.C. is giving careful attention. There
has also been a decline since 1951 in the number of accidents caused by technical
defects, from 15.1 to 10.1 per cent of the total for 1956.
Miniature buffets in B.R. coaches. 37. illustration
A new type of light refreshment service, a miniature buffet built
into an ordinary second class passenger coach, had been developed by British
Transport Catering Services for use on services for which a special catering
vehicle cannot be provided and to augment or replace existing restaurant
car services. The first of twelve vehicles being so equipped was introduced
on The Flying Scotsman on 13 January to augment the regular restaurant
car services on this train. As more second class vehicles are converted to
include the buffets they will be introduced on other Eastern Region services
between Liverpool Street and Cambridge, March, St Ives (Hunts. bet eating
prohibited on guided bus!) and Norwich.
London Transport new railway rolling stock. 37
London Transport order 248 cars for the Metropolitan Line, at a cost
er over £5 million to operate to Watford, and, when electrification
is extended beyond Rickrnansworth, to Amersham and Chesham. All seats in
facing pairs on each side of a central gangway. The seats to have higher
backs, those on one side of the gangway accommodating space for two passengers
and those on the other for three passengers. The cars will have air-worked
sliding doors and ample standing room so that they can handle heavy in-town
traffic on the tunnel sections between Finchley Road and Aldgate. Each train
will consist of four driving motor and four trailer cars. There will be rhree
pairs of double sliding doors on each side of the trailer cars and two double
sliding doors and one single for passengers as well as the motorman's door
on each side of the driving motor cars, The stock will have lightweight unpainted
aluminium alloy bodies, rubber suspension for smooth running and economical
maintenance, and fluorescent lighting. Replacing electric and steam-hauled
compartment-type coaches, it will give an improved service to all stations
on the outer part of the Metropolitan Line, with all eight-car trains instead
of the present mixed six-car and eight-car services. Passengers travelling
beyond Harrow-an-the Hill will have four more trains an hour in the morning
and evening peak periods. Delivery will be timed to begin with the
electrification of the Metropolitan Line between Rickmansworth and Amersham,
and Chesharn, and the four-tracking of the present double-track section between
Harrow-on-the-Hill and Rickmansworth, which are planned to be completed in
1961.
In the rush hour all Circle Line trains are to be increased from five to
six cars by adding to the District Line stock thirteen R stock cars of the
latest type which arc now on order. With the rearrangement of certain existing
trains and the conversion of some cars at Acton Works, it will then be possible
to transfer some cars from the District Line to lengthen the Circle Line
trains. This wil! also enable R stock to be used for the Olympia service.
Two prototype tube trains on trial on the Piccadilly Line were equipped with
under-floor motors giving one-seventh more passenger accommodation than the
present Piccadilly and Central Line trains. They have "silver" aluminium
body panelling with rubber suspension and fluorescent lighting. If they prove
successful in service, the design will be adopted as the basis for replacement
orders for the whole of the Piccadiliy Line and Central Line rolling
stock.
London Midland Region diesel success. 37-8
More than one-and-a-quarter million passengers a month were travelling
in lightweight diesel trains operated by the London Midland Region
317,000 more a month than were carried by the same services in 1956, when
some were still operated by steam locomotives. But even where the diesels
had been running for more than a year, there is still an upward trend in
passenger service carryings. The ten lightweight diesel unit services on
the London Midland and their carryings in a recent month compared with the
same period of 1956 were:-
1956 | 1957 | |
West Cumberlansd Area (whole scheme introduced by 7 February 7 1955) | 144,585 |
140,710 |
Watford-St. Albans (introduced 25 July 1955) | 37,877 |
35,095 |
Bury-Bacup (introduced 6 June 1956) | 101,614 |
92,688 |
Birmingham-Lichfield (introduced 5 March 1956) | 275,508 |
159,603 |
North Wales Area (introduced 28 May 1956) | 104,133 |
83,902 |
Banbury- Buckingham (introduced 13 August 1956) | 6,423 |
2,693 |
Manchester-Buxton/ Macclesfield (introduced 8 October 1956) | 316,400 |
186,858 |
Manchester-Hayfield/ Maccles field (introduced 17 June 1957) | 198,303 |
136,768 |
Harrow & Wealdstone-Belmont (introduced 6 August 1957) | 889 |
397 |
Crewe-Stoke-Derby (introduced 16 September 1957) | 84,249 |
60,154 |
These figures detail only trips beginning and ending within the areas served by the diesels and not those of which the trains were used for part of a journey, hence the low figure for the Belmont branch, which takes no ,account of passengers continuing north or south of Harrow on the main line. The L.M.R. announced in mid-December that 1958 would see extensions of the Manchester and Birmingham area schemes and the introduction of new diesel railcar workings between Liverpool Central and Gateacre and Liverpool Central and Warrington (from 6 January, at hourly intervals and using Gloucester C. & W. Co. units); between Derby and Nottingham; and in the Leicester area. Railbuses are to be tried on the Northampton- Blisworth, Bedford-Northampton and Bedford-Hitchin branches. New diesel railcar depots are in prospect for Allerton, Nottingham, Newton Heath, Nuneaton and Reddish. The Region expected to have 72 main line diesel locomotives at work by the end of this year.
Craven-built coaches on thr S.R. 38-9
The prototype coaches by Cravens, described in our August-September
1957 issue, are making the round the country. At the end of November they
were working on the L.M.R., running in the 14.30 p.m. Euston-Liverpool and
the 14.10 p.m. back, and were then moved to the Southern Region. From December
3-5 and 9-12 the two cars, Nos. E3082 and E4638, were incorporated in the
stock cf the 10.30 Waterloo-Bournemouth West and the 17.00 back, after which
they were due .to move in turn to the Western (for work from January 6-17),
the E. & N.E. Regions and, ultimately to Scotland. We learn that most
passengers using the cars have been much impressed. In December the Southern
Recion was also trying out two of the ether prototypes, Doncaster-devised
open second h No. M3721 (an existing coach converted) and Metro-Cammell corridor
second No. M25455; these cars were running in the 09.40 Brighton-Bournemouth
and l3.50 back from December 2-5 and in the 17.00 WaterJoo-Exeter and 07.30
back from December 9-13, after which they too were expected to gc to other
Regions. The Metro-Cammell car was on the 07.25 Wolverhampton-Paddington
from December 16 for several days and at least one Cravens car was seen in
the 14.10 Paddingtcn-Birkenhead on January 1.
Last British Atlantic No. 32424 Beachy Head passing Chelsea on 24
August 1957. S.C. Nash, photographer 39. illustration
On 12.35 Leicester to Hastings on West London line
Swindon to build more diesel-hydraulic locomotives. 39.
Swindon Works to build 30 main line 2,000 h.p, diesel-hydraulic
locomotives for use in the W'estern Region, additional to the three locomotives
of the same type at present under construction there. This order is a further
step in the programme for the complete change over to diesel traction of
all Western. Region services west of Newton Abbot, and of many of the through
services between Paddington, Bristol and the West of England. Of the 130
diesel-hydraulic locomotives required for this programme, replacing over
200 steam locomotives only 34 locomotives, also of 2000 h.p. remained to
be ordered. The 30 locomotives to be built at Swindon would undertake the
heaviest passenger and freight working between London and the West of England.
They will have Maybach diesel engines and Mekydro transmissions; and will
be of the BB wheel arrangement. The locomotives will be classified as Type
4 in the British Railways classification of diesel locomotives, and will
be numbered D.803-D.832. Contracts for the power equipments have been placed
with Brush Traction Ltd. (for the supply of the Maybach diesel engines) and
with J. Stone & Co. (Deptford) Ltd. (for the Mekydro transmissions).
The electric control equipments had been ordered from British Brown Boveri
Ltd .. London. The three 2,000 h.p. Maybach-Mekhydro locornotives nearing
completion at Swindon are now to be mounted en four-wheeled bogies, and will
not be AlA-AlA as previously announced.
A dual-purpose wagon. 39. 2 illustrations
MacGregor-Comarain. French open wagon capable of being covered by
a roof
New Metropolitan Vickerrs locomotives for National Coal Board. 39
Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd. has supplied many battery
locomotives to collieries of the National Coal Board, and orders had
been for collieries in the Scottish Division. The first of these was for
two 14-ton flame-proof battery locomotives for use at Rothes colliery; these
had been commissioned and two more locomotives ordered for the same colliery.
Six locomotives of the same type were also on order for Bilston Glen collierv.
These locomotives had cabs at both ends and employ a triple combination control,
which is economical in its demands on the battery. In operation the two halves
of the 200 V 420-Ah battery are first connected in parallel while the two
motors are in series; the battery halves are then connected in series with
the motors still in series, and finally the motors are connected in parallel.
In each of these combinations field weakening gives an additional intermediate
running notch. The whole scheme enables shunting and starting operations
to be carried out with the least possible waste of battery power in the starting
resistors.
Alco shipments to Argentina. 39-40
Alco Products, Inc. begun delivery of 130 new all-purpose export diesel
locomotives to the Argentine Railways. Sixteen of the six-motor, 1800-h.p.
DL- 540 road-switcher locomotives were shipped in January. The DL-540 is
an export version of Alco's widely used domestic road-switchers, the four-motor
DL-701 and the six-motor DL-702, introduced two years ago. Of the Argentine
order, 30 locomotives to be placed in service on the D.F. Sarmiento railway,
55 will go to the General Mitre and 45 to the General San Martin. The locomotive
ir:corporates wide gauge bogies identical to those on the Alco World locomotive.
It provides for an electric car-heating system to be installed to adapt the
locomotive for passenger service. The equipment includes compressed air brakes
for the locomotive and vacuum brakes for the train. The DL-540 is powered
by the Alco 12-cylinder, V-type, Model 251, turbo-charged diesel engine,
the power unit which is standard in one of three sizes on all Alco locomotives.
In designing the locomotive, Alco used a standard DL-701 frame and fitted
six General Electric Model 761 traction motors. The units in the Argentine
order develop 40,200 lb. continuous traction at 13 rn.p.h. and have a maximum
speed of 75 m.p.h. They are equipped for multiple-unit operation. The locomotive
has a maximum height of 14 ft. 8 in.
C.I.E. diesel hydraulic shunting locomotives with Maybach 400 h.p. engines. 40. illustration
Improved driver's brake-valve for London Transport
stock. 40.
Caption for diagram on page 16
Stone-Faiveley pantographs ordered by B.T.C.
40
See also Issue 780: bulk
oorders for electric multiple units on Scottish, London Midland and Eastern
Regions
Fish vans with roller bearing axleboxes. 40
Existing fish vans being fitted with Timken roller bearings for North
East Scotland: 12.30 Aberdeen to London express fish train: converted vans
being identified with a Blue Spot.
Diesel orders and deliveries. 40
Commonwealth Engineering Co. Ltd, Australia order for six Budd-type
stainless steel railcars for Malayan Railway with Rolls Royce 230 h.p. engines.
International General Electric Co. of America supplying 45 1200 h.p. diesel
electric locomotives to South African Railways.
C.I.E. Post Office vans. 40
Inchicore four-wheel and bigie TPO vehicles
Book reviews. 40
The Electrical Year Book, 1958. Emmett & Co.
The Mechanical World Year Book, 1958. Emmett & Co.
Number 787 (March 1958)
Meeting current steam locomotivbe demands. 41-3.
3 illustrations
Comment on the greatly accelerated schedules introduced on the Midland
Division of the London Midland Region from June 1957. Noted that time could
be kept with Class 5, notably No. 44985 which ran from Leicester to St. Pancras
in ten minutes less than the new scedules. Trains sometimes ran late on the
Nottingham route even with double heading. Greater availability of Class
7 locomotives would have helped: further Jubilee class should have been rebuilt
or rebuilt West Country Pacifics could have been employed.
British Railways "Warship" class diesel-hydraulic locomotives. 43-5. 3
illustrations, diagram (side elevation)
North British Locomotive Company A1A-A1A with MAN engines and Voith
transmissionjs. A demonstration run from Paddington behind No. 600 Active
achieved 94 mile/h down Dauntsey bank, but was followed by the faiure
of one of the engines and motoring back on one engine.
U.S. railroads store diesel power. 45
270 diesel engines had been placed in store by Class 1 railroads.
The Union Pacific was taking deliveryof fifteen 8500 h.p. gas turbine electric
locomotives from General Electric. Railroads still using steam power were
noted.
Locomotive testing at Rugby, B.R.: the quality of coal.
46-51; 53. 2 illustrations, 13 diagrams
From Locomotive Performance and Efficiency Test Bulletin. One advantage
of the steam engine over other types of prime mover is that it can tolerate
a wide variation in the nature of the fuel used without damage to itself
and with relatively little effect on its efficiency. This is a valuable feature
of the steam locomotive, which moves from place to place and receives its
fuel supplies from a number of different sources.
Even within the confines of Great Britain there are over 1,000 sorts and
sizes of coal liable to be supplied to the railways for locomotive use, besides
imported coal, opencast and patent fuel, but it is a little under one- third
of this total that is regularly supplied at present and some 90 per cent
of the tonnage is covered by about 250 sorts and sizes. In some areas several
collieries may work neighbouring parts of the same coal seams so that these
varieties will differ relatively little one from another and, in any case,
even the coal from one seam of one pit varies a little in quality as mining
proceeds. Even allowing for such grouping, however, the total number of kinds
and sizes is still very large. The quality varies from some of the best
locomotive coal in the world to coal which is not really suit- able for the
purpose at all. Coals of many qualities have been used by the railways for
a century or so, but, in general, for most of this period there has been
an ample supply of good coal available. This is no longer so, for the amount
of good locomotive coal mined is decreasing steadily year by year.
Because of the ready availability of , good coal in the past the great majority
of British locomotives were designed to burn such coal, even if its precise
nature and quality did vary to some extent. Although a steam locomotive'
can be designed to burn very low grade fuel effectively, it may not be easy
to burn coal of a quality much lower than that for which a particular locomotive
was designed, without an appreciable loss of performance. Wide as the toleration
of fuel quality may be it has its limits, and those limits are now being
reached in some cases and will be reached in many more before the steam
locomotive ceases to be an important factor in the motive power of British
Railways.
Two questions arise from this situation: how much are the locomotives really
affected and what can be done to restore them to their former state of
usefulness? It is first necessary to determine how the nature of the coal
does affect the performance of the locomotive. There are several quite distinct
effects but all result in one way or another in putting a limitation on the
power output of the locomotive. With any given kind of coal each locomotive
will have an upper limit to the amount of steam that it can produce, and
use, per hour.
If the draught available were strong enough, increasing with the rate of
steaming, it would be possible to in- crease the rates of firing and steaming
until the " grate limit" was reached. If stili more coal were fired and the
draught increased, the result would be the production of less steam instead
of more. The reason for this is found in the falling boiler efficiency and
the consequent parabolic shape of the curve of evaporation against firing
rate. The grate limit corresponds to the vertex of the parabola. This fall
in boiler efficiency is due almost entirely to coal being lost un- burnt.
As the draught gets stronger and stronger more and more coal is carried away
before it can be burned and eventually this loss becomes so large that it
has the effect mentioned. This phenomenon is only rarely met with, however,
because in most cases the draught available is not strong enough and a "front
end limit" is reached at a lower steaming rate than that corresponding to
the grate limit. 'I he available draught can no longer draw sufficient air
through the ashpan, grate and firebed and products of .combustion through
the boiler tubes, for a balance to be maintained between supply and demand.
Whereas the grate limit can be precisely .defined from the equation of the
boiler efficiency line, there is no absolute definition of the front end
limit, the determination of which involves a certain amount of judgment by
the testing staff, but it may be said that it is an estimate of the highest
steaming rate that can be reliably repeated without failing to satisfy the
normal standards of acceptability of the tests. The firing rate at which
such a limit is reached with any given kind of locomotive must depend on
the nature of the fuel, especially in hand-fired coal-burning locomotives,
in which a large part of the resistance to flow of air is due to the
firebed'Itseli. The resistance to air flow througb the firebed will depend
on the natun of the bed and on its thickness, both functions of the nature
of the coal. Is the coal one that cokes, sticking to- gether when heated,
or does it burst into small fragments? Does it swell or not? Does the ash
melt at the temperature of the firebed and form clinkers or does it accumulate
as powder? How large are the pieces of coal that are fired? All these questions
are involved.
Much of the problem cannot be dealt with by testing on a test plant but some
aspects can be So treated and some examples follow. One reason why the railways
cannot obtain the coal that they would like to have is that other users compete
for the same grades, and another is that the coal mined may be of the wrong
size, or that the preparation plant at the colliery may no longer be adequate
to prepare the coal in the desired way due to different methods at the coal
face or in underground transport One consequence of changes in min- ing methods
and of the exhaustion I)f some seams of coal is that more and more coal is
raised in the smaller sizes and less and less in the larger ones, It is generally
accepted that an ideal size of lump for use on a hand-fired locomotive is
a four-inch cube but pieces anything from half to double this size, say
three-inch to five-inch cubes, are good. Appreciably larger lumps will not
make a reasonably even firebed and smaller ones tend to cause a variety rof
troubles. In practice the lumps are of different sizes, but the variation
in size may be limited in 3 graded coal or almost unlimited in un-graded
coal or "run of mine" as it is termed in America. Even graded coal contains
some fines which result from handling and transport, especially in the case
of very soft coals. A few years ago it seemed probable that the Coal Board,
would have to supply a considerable tonnage of rail- way coal in much smaller
sizes than had hitherto been usual. It was known that the use of such small
coal was deleterious to the performance of the locomotives on which it would
be used but there was no information on how harmful it would be. A series
of tests were conducted at Rugby to investigate this matter. At the same
time it had been suggested that the pernicious effect of small coal might
br mitigateg byy mixing it with ssome large coal and tests were arranged
to include two mixtures as well as small coal alone and large coal to set
the standard.
The size of coal is usually described by name or by the use of two figures,
which are dimensions in inches. These are not dimensions as understood on
an engineering drawing. The first dimension is the size of mesh of the screen
through which the coal has passed and the second is the size of screen over
which it has passed without falling through. The same name is apt to be used
by different pits for various dimensions. Two sizes that have been found
very suitable for hand firing are 5 x 3 and 6 x 3, but the proportion of
larger and smaller pieces varies considerably. The size it was proposed to
supply was 2 x 1, Washed Doubles and two mixtures, one 8 x 1 and one 6 x
l, with different proportions of sizes. Pieces with one dimension larger
than the first figure can pass through the screens and pieces smaller in
some or all dimensions than the lower figure can be carried over the screens
; and there is some degrading of the 'coal in subsequent handling and transport.
Facilities for providing these various sizes were available at Markham Main
Colliery, near Doncaster, the coal concerned, from the Barnsley seam, being
graded 2B by British Railways wnen supplied as Washed Cubes,6 x 3.
The railway grading of' coals is as follows:-
lA Coal which is suitable for through runs up to 300 miles.
1B Not so good as lA but can be used when that is not available.
2A Coal which is suitable for through runs up to 150 miles.
2B Not so good as 2A but can be used when that is not available.
3A & 3B Coal suitable for shunting and trip working. A is better than
B.
U "Unwanted" coaL
The practice of mixing coals of different kinds, which is adopted on a
considerable scale by some Continental railways, is not used in Britain and
no facilities are available to make such mixtures. The term mixture as now
used refers to a mixture of coai sizes, not of different types of coal.
The locomotive available at Rugby at the time was a B.R. Standard Class 5
4-6-0, which had had its draughting improved as described in the supplement
to Bulletin No. 6.
Whilst there might be other effects the one expected to be most troublesome
from the railway operating point of view was a reduction in the front end
limit of the locomotive, since this would put a limit to the power that the
locomotive could be relied upon to produce in service, lower than hitherto
and possibly lower than the power output normally required on such
duties.
A Jubilee class 4-6-0 with improved draughting was also tested.
LOCOMOTIVE TESTING (Concluded from page 51) cern locomotives that steamed well. When the figures quoted at the outset are recalled, the magnitude of the problem will be realised and it will be plain that there is no possibility of subjecting all varieties of coal to systematic tests. Thus, reliance must continue to be placed mainly on the observation of behaviour in service and the judgment of the inspectors concerned. On the other hand it would appear that locornotives that do not steam well are liable to be affected more severely by inferior coal quality than those that do steam well, and in any case even a very small deterioration in the capability of a doubtful performer may be enough to render such a locomotive almost useless for its intended purpose. It is here that tests can play both a direct and an indirect part in helping to deal with the situation and :1 future article will deal with some of the work that has been done with the object of improving the steaming of certain locomotive classes,
Experience with steel fireboxes on the Southern Region,
B.R. 52-3
Precis of ILocoE Paper 584
Among the many departures from traditional locomotive practice
introduced with varying success in 1941 by O.V.S. Bulleid in his first Southern
Railway Merchant Navy Class Pacifies were the first all-welded steel boilers.
Experiments had been made in this country in the use of steel in place of
copper for fireboxes, but never before had welding replaced riveting. The
reason given by Bulleid for this change was that with the high working pressure
of 280 lb. per sq. in. which he proposed to use copper firebox plates might
have inadequate strength; there would also be the risk of wasting away of
stay-bolt heads, and of pitting of the steel tubes by electrolytic action.
Moreover, suitable steels were now available for firebox use, and steel also
would be free from the creep to which copper is subject.
On 12 February 1958 a paper was read before the Institution of Locomotive
Engineers by M.G. Burrows and A.L. Wallace reviewing the successful experience
of the Southern with these fireboxes which, it is interesting to note, have
been retained in the rebuilt versions of these engines whereas other less
satisfactory features, such as the chain-driven valve-motion, have been
abandoned. While these boilers at first were a considerable preoccupation
to those responsible for their maintenance, improved methods of' welding
'and avoidance of too rapid cooling off of the boilers cured the initial
cracking troubles, while the somewhat disturbing corrosion was almost completely
eliminated by applying the French T.I.A. (Traitement Integrale Armand) treatment
to the boiler feed water.
The paper dealt first with the welding methods developed at Eastleigh Works.
The material used in the firebox fabrication is a mild steel containing 0.15
per cent carbon and not exceeding 0.55 per cent manganese and 0.03 per cent
sulphur and phosphorus; a tensile strength of 24-28 tons per sq. in. is called
for, with an elongation of not less than 25 per cent in 8 in. As the result
of experience, a "make-and-break " technique was evolved in the butt-welding.
The plates are brought together with their edges forming an angle of 70°,
and with a nominal gap of 1/8 in. at the root of the "V".
An 8 gauge electrode is used, and is moved in a semi-circular arc from one
side of the "V" to the other, when the arc is broken; the process is then
repeated in the reverse direction, forming a bridge of metal. The bridge
is gradually built upwards at a rate of some 60 strikes per min. until the
root run is complete. The slag is then removed by taking a very light chip
with a broad-nosed chisel, after which a second run is taken along the length
of the "V" ; the latter, however, is a straight and not a make-and-break
run. For the third run the progressive down-hand method is used, but with
a No. 6 electrode.
The channel foundation ring is fabricated from separate pressings for the
sides, ends and corners, and in view of its importance as the link between
the inner and outer fireboxes and the number of welds involved, all the latter
are subjected to full X-ray examination with each firebox. The firebox is
held in a specially designed manipulator for welding, so that the down-hand
position may be used throughout. The biggest problems were those posed by
the necessity to control the shrinkage rate at the joints and to ensure correct
alignment of the plates, and, as the paper remarks, "blood and sweat", if
not actual " tears", were expended in the boiler shop at Eastleigh before
a reliable technique for all the operations was evolved.
All the firebox stays are of the direct type except for a ring of flexible
stays round the diaphragm plate at the lower end of esch of the two thermic
syphons with which each firebox is fitted. As the result of experience, monel
metal was substituted for the previous acid open hearth steel used at first
for certain of the water-space direct stays in the zones in which breaking
is most frequently experienced. The water- space stays are screwed in and
caulked at the outer ends and riveted over on the fire side, while the crown
stays are riveted over at both ends. At the firebox tube-plate the tubes
are expanded and beaded, and the joint is completed with a sealing weld round
the periphery of each bend. In order to reduce local stresses in the tube-plate
during the welding of the tube beads, steam is used to bring the boiler
temperature up to about 200°F., and a predetermined sequence is followed
in the welding operations. The paper goes in detail into all the procedure
both of fabrication and also of subsequent radiographic examination.
Since the introduction of these welded fireboxes, the main troubles which
have been experienced and overcome have been divided into two groups, first,
cracking, and, at a later date, corrosion. In the earliest days fractures
varying in length from tin. to 3 in., and generally radiating from stay holes,
began to develop, the greatest concentration being below the necks of the
thermic syphons. Occasionally, staff carrying out repairs inside the fireboxes
were alarmed by loud reports, caused by the sudden development of fractures
up to 20 in. long and opening out to 1/16 in. wide. To a lesser
degree similar cracks were found in the back-plate, concentrated chiefly
below the firehole door.
Careful investigation established that the cause was a too sudden and uneven
cooling down of the fireboxes prior to washing out or repairs, leaving high
residual stresses. A system was then evolved to ensure a more gradual cooling,
and this has completely eliminated the large cracks and reduced the small
ones to a minimum. Partial failures of the welds between the syphon necks
and the pockets in the throat-plate were brought to an end by the same means.
It may be noted that when the earlier groups of Merchant Navy fireboxes became
due for renewal, the syphons were found to be in a condition good enough
for re-use as they stood, though the increased present life of these fireboxes
will level up this difference in future.
After the first of the light or West Country Pacifies had been in service
for a year, a defect peculiar to this class was discovered ; it was the
development of horizontal fissures in the foundation ring corners, on the
water side of the inner leg of the channel section, and chiefly at the back
corners. Careful investigation showed this to be a combined resul: of erosion
and corrosion, probably due to the rapid circulation of unsatisfactorily
treated boiler water. An immediate remedy was found by welding a
1/8 in. layer of stainless steel as a corrosion-resisting
material to the corners affected, and then stress-relieving them. These measures
were taken with a few boilers only, however, for shortly after this the 'decision
was reached, as mentioned earlier, to apply the French T.I.A. treatment of
feed water to all the Bulleid Pacifies.
Up to 1946 it was suspected that corrosion was developing in some of the
welded steel boilers, being made evident by leaking stays all round the fireboxes
in the fire area and various other signs. But in that year it became a matter
of greater conncern when bulging was discovered in the side wrapper plate
of one of the first ten Merchant Navy Pacifies. Investigation showed that
extensive corrosion had taken place on the water side, to such an extent,
indeed, as in part to reduce the thickness of the plate from the original
3/8 in. to ¼ in. The boiler in question had been in service for just
over four years and had run 169,000 miles. The firebox was then taken out,
and was found to have suffered extensive corrosion, particularly at the back
end of the crown-plate and on either side of and between the syphons. In
no case had any of the welded seams been attacked, and so far as the syphons
were concerned, it was present only in the part of the flanges forming the
rear end of the crown-plate. Physical and metallurgical examination proved
that there was nothing in the manufacture or composition of the steel to
account for the defect and it was clear that if these steel fireboxes were
to prove reliable in service, some comprehensive system of feed water treatment
was essential. Until then the only such treatment that had been used on the
then Southern Railway was by introducing soda-tannin briquettes into tender
tanks, and into the boilers of all locomotives after washing out. Such treatment
was somewhat haphazard in its application, however, except west of Exeter,
where softer water was in use, and briquettes were fed systematically to
the water supply by means of a by-pass feeder.
In these circumstances the decision was reached to experiment with the French
T.I.A. system of water treatment. Five new West Country Pacifies working
between Victoria and Ramsgate were fitted in 1947, and the results achieved
in the elimination of scale and reduction of boiler corrosion were so promising
that it was then decided to equip in the same way all the engines of both
the Merchant Navy and West Country classes without further delay. Already
the life of these boilers, which previously averaged about seven years, has
been extended to twelve years, and may well continue for some time longer.
Recently a new method of internal water treatment, known as tube feeding,
has been devised, and has been applied with considerable success to six West
Country Pacifies that had not up till then required the boiler renewal which
would have been accompanied by the fitting of the T.I.A." equipment. As the
tube feeding equipment has been proved to equal the T.I.A. method in its
effectiveness, and is cheaper to fit and maintain than the latter, it is
likely to supplant the T.I.A. treatment in future.
With the welded steel boilers, inspection is carried out once every two months
instead of the once in four months that is customary with copper fireboxes.
Also, the presence of thermic syphons in the fireboxes adds about 45 min.
to the time needed for boiler inspection, but the increased frequency and
time of inspection have proved to be thoroughly justified by the results.
The first Bulleid Pacifies were stationed at Salisbury and Exmouth Junction,
and when cracking or other defects came to light, welders had to be sent
from Eastleigh to the depots concerned to carry out any welding repairs that
might be required. But as more of the engines were built, it was realised
that so much time might be wasted in travelling in this way that it would
be more economical to station qualified welders, drawn from the ranks of
the boiler smiths, at each principal depot housing engines of these classes.
Eventually a welding school was established at Eastleigh, and here trainees
spend twelve weeks practising welding with both AC. and DC. sets, followed
by a further twelve weeks in the boiler shop working under supervision on
loco- motives. An examination in butt welding is then taken, and if the trainee
passes this, he is ready to be transferred to a locomotive depot when a vacancy
occurs. From then on he has to pass a practical test in welding annually
to confirm that he is still proficient.
The paper concluded with an analysis of welded boiler records on the Southern
Region. Whereas the boilers of the first twenty Merchant Navy class engines
ran an average mileage of 229,000 only, the second fireboxes, benefiting
from the improved conditions of maintenance and the water treatment, have
averaged 560,000 miles each, with from one to three lifts each intermediately
for examination and/or major repairs. The average mileage from entering service
to the first boiler lift has gone up from 176,000 to 257,000. None of the
fireboxes built for the 110 "West Country" class Pacifies has yet required
renewal; their average mileage from first entry into service to first boiler
lift has gone up from 97,000 to 245,000. The highest mileage yet achieved
by a West Country boiler has been 546,000. During 1956 the 30 Merchant Navy
Pacifies ran an average of 50,520 miles apiece, and the 110 West Country
Pacifies, many of which are engaged on secondary duties, an average of 43,950
miles. The effect of the water treatment has been that whereas before its
application the majority of boiler lifts were necessary at mileages up to
150,000, average mile ages of 250,000 and more are now obtained
regularly.
A.C. Cars Ltd. railbus for British Railways. 54-5. 3 illustrations
Partially an introduction to the railbus prograame which attempted
to reduce costs by employing a crew of two: driver and guard. The A.C. railbuses
used the standard BUT 150 h.p. engine, Dunlopillo seating, sliding doors
and light steel bodies.
A 975 h.p. narrow gauge diesel-electric locomotive for the U.S. Army
Transportation Corps. 55-7. illustration, diagram (including sectionalised
side elevation & plan)
Convertible for 3ft, 3ft 6in and metre gauges built General
Electric Co.
Norfolk & Western R.R. steam turbine electric locomotive No. 2300 Jawn
Henry. 57.illustration
Coal fired turbine electric locomotive: taken out of service: photograph
by J.N. Westwood
Bagnall diesels for the National Coal Board. 58. illustration
West Midlands Division. 0-6-0 with seven-cylinder 308 h.p. engine,
Vulcan-Sinclair fluid flywheel and Wilson epicyclic gearbox
More Rolls-Royce rail engines ordered. 58 illustration
Eighty 180 h.p. diesel engines
Italian dual-voltage electriuc railcars. 58-9. illustration, diagram
(side elevation, plan)
Three-phase 3700 V and 3000 V d.c. for Liguria and Piedmont
Book reviews. 60
Deutschlands dampflokomotiven gestern und heute. (German steam locomotives
of yesterday and today). K.E. Maedel. VEB Verlag Technik, Berlin.
Although native ingenuity was not lacking, the retarded political
condition of the German State was not conducive to early construction of
steam railways or locomotives to operate them. It was Stephenson therefore
who supplied the first locomotive, Der Adler, for the first German
railways, opened in 1835 between Nuremberg and Furth. Saxony led the way
in 1838 in home manufacture of locomotives, but British influence continued
for some years. The Americas, too. entered the field, with Norris furnishing
the new lines in Prussia with unmistakably transatlantic 4-2-0s. From these
beginnings the book traces the course of German locomotive design through
some 120 years to the present day. The leading types of the State systems
and their successors, the Reichsbahn and Bundcsbahn, are described and
illustrated and the result is a valuable work of reference which the student
of Contiental locomotives will welcome .
On the old lines. Peter Allen Cleaver-Hume Press.
Peter Allen is a lover of train usv for its own sake and fortunate
enough to have business which takes him all over world. He admits unabashedly
that he is no technician. It is the railway atrnosphere as a whole which
attracts him, and steam railway at that. for he deplores what to him is the
lack of soul of the diesel and electric, while recognising their utility
His picture gallery therefore is primarily of steam, though here and there
its rivals and supplanters peep out to acquit the author of any charge of
being ultra reactionary. There are some choice things like the pilgrims'
light railways in Teheran and one of those centenarian 0-6-0s which incredibly,
are still at work in Spain. But all is not quaintness. Mr. Allen has an
appreciative eye, too, for the modern and massive and his book is a
representative albeit personal, record of steam throughout the world in its
final flowering .
The Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway. D.S.M. Barrie Oakwood
Press.
The Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway, now no more, was an Irish
out of the Euston empire, a foothold to enable the North Wlestern to develop
a new sea route to Ireland. But the project came too late for Holyhead-Greenore
to establish itself as a really popular competitive route. Hit by the Partition
of Ireland and the formation of the L.M.S., the passenger steamer service
succumbed at last to the General Strike. No better chronicler than Mr. D.
S. M. Barrie could have been found to set down the chequered but plucky career
of this little company, to the zeal and devotion of whose staff. through
many difficult days this officially-sponsored history pays deserved tribute.
The production is excellent and the illustrations well convey the North Western
atmosphere. B.G.W.
Number 788 (April 1958)
The monorail revival. 61
Partly historical, mainly Alweg system invented by Swedish Axel Wener-Gren
O.S. Nock. The locomotives of Sir William Stanier.
62-7. 6 illustrations (including portrait), 2 tables
Introduction: compares LMS motive power with that on the GWR where
there was nothing like the 4F 0-6-0 or the Fowler 0-8-0 and there was a total
lack of a modern mixed traffic 4-6-0 recently represented by the Hall class
on the GWR
The British Railways standard automatic train control system.
67-8. 2 illiustrations, diagram
J.H. Currey, Signal & Communications Engineer, British Railways:
Official system: trial section (King's Cross to Grantham) extended to York;
Euston to Blisworth; Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street
B.U.T. licensees for Uerdingen body suspension principles. 68
Park Royal diesel multiple units for British Railways. 69-71. 4
illustrations
Power car with two B.U.T. 150 hp diesel engines seating 52 second
classs passengers and trailer seating 48 second and 12 first class passengers
who enjoyed curtains and arm rests.
Diesel multiple-units of the Western Region, British Railways. 70;
71-2., 4 illustrations, diagram (side elevation, plan)
Cross Country type was main focus, but table shhowed main dimensions
of Inter City, suburban and single car
New dual-power locomotives for the New Haven R.R. 73. 2
illustrations
Straight electic (600V dc) to enter Grand Central station in New York;
diesel electric for elswhere
New suburaban eleectric stock for the South African Railways. 74-6.
6 illustrations
Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co, stock for 3000V dc
A Krupp 800 h.p. Bo-Bo diesel-hydraulic locomotive. 77-8. illustration,
4 diagrams
Had two 440 h.p. eight cylinder M.A.N. diesel engines and a central
cab. Diagram of hydraulic transmission gear..
News of the month. 78-80
Fewer defects in U.S. diesel and electric locomotives. 78
Interstate Commerce Commission statutory examination of locomotives
ending mid-1956 recorded a 10.9% reduction in failures. Accidents to train
crew were caused by oil spillages.
B.T.C. hopper wagon contract for Charles Roberts & Co. 78
Ninety 24 ton covered hopper wagons to convey bulk chemicals
Tests of lubricating oil on Pennsylvania R.R. 78
Quantometer installed at Altoona analysed lubricants for the presence
of metals which showed that wear had taken place.
Derailment at Uddingston, Scottish Region. 78
Mid-day Scot partiallly derailed on 17 June 1957 due to incomplete
repair by a carriage examiner at Carlisle who failed to open release valve
and brake applied to tyre which failed on hitting point. One passenger was
killed and four were injured. The train was hauled by No. 46235 City of
Birmingham whose crew did not notice the extra drag.
The Hampshire diesel multiple unit scheme. 79
High mileage achieved, and greater passenger numbers especially on
Portsmouth to Southampton and to Salisbury services
Western Australian locomotive conversion. 79
U class 4-6-2 to 4-6-4T to work peak suburban services at comparable
speeds to diesel multiple units.
Staiinless steel stock for Paris-Lille electric service. 79
Etablissements Carel-Fouché coaches to work services with speeds
up to 93 mile/h.
Three-car diesell train at Birmingham New Strreet. M. Mensing, photographer
Birmingham R.C. & W. Co. unit on 13.37 to Rugby
Northern Aluminium Co. Ltd. expansion. 79
Rolling mill at Rogestone
Aluminium wagon tests in Canada. 79-80
Both covered and uncovered aluminium wagons were tested under tropical
conditions in Jamaica and on the Roberval & Saguenay Railway for fatigue.
Tests included being loaded with crushed rock.
Former Caledonian Railway 4-2-2 No. 123 leaving Perth with press special for Edinburgh Princes Street. W.J.V,. Anderson, photographer. 80
Improved ventilation for Interfrigo meat wagons. 80
Conveying meat exports via the Harwich to Zeebrugge and Dover to Dunkirk
train ferries: electric ventilation installed.
Carriage heaters for new electric rolling stock. 80
Order by Eastern Region for 8960 convector heaters for 25 kV electric
multiple units placed with Generaal Electric Co.Ltd.
Decision on Rhodesian electrification. 80
Decision shelved to electrify Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland
Railway.
New diesel maintenance depot at Bristol. 80
At Marsh Junction
G.E.C. equipment for Portuguese electric trains. 80
Estoril Railway 1500 V dc
Book review. 80
Casting in steel. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd.
Number 789 (May 1958)
A comparison of world diesel multiple-unit designs.
81
Report to Intertnational Railway Congress by G.A. Gaebler of the German
Federal Railways at the Madrid meeting. Notes errors in report on British
data and records costs of items like air conditioning.
English Electric 2,000 h.p. diesel-electric 1Co-Co1 locomotives for British
Railways. 82-5. 2 illustrations, diagram (2 side elevations, plan)
Type 4 assembled in Vulcan Foundry. 16 SVT Mark II which ran at 850
rpm. Six axle hung nose suspended traction motors. Bogie layout similar to
Southern Region diesel electric. One unusual feature water pick up scoop
to pick up water from troughs for steam heating boiler.
The performance of the new locomotive and a Class 7 4-6-2 compared.
85-6. 2 illustrations
On 18 April 1958 a special formed of nine coaches hauled by D200 described
above was scheduled to reach Norwich from Liverpool Street in 2 hours, but
through no fault of the locomotive and not surprisingly failed to achieve
this due to signal checks and a bridge reconstruction. 90 mile/h was achieved
at Diss and 88 mile/h on the descent into the hollow in which Norwich is
located. On 16 April a Crusaders' Union special to Norwich hauled by Britannia
4-6-2 No. 70030 Sir Christopher Wren achieved a time of two hours
in both directions..
Experiments with silicones for traction motors by London Transport.
87-9. diagram
Silicones were developed by Frederic Stanley Kipping at the University
of Nottingham in 1896/7 where he was awarded an FRS for this work. They were
used to replacce mica in traction motors, notably in armature insulation
and in Metadyne machines. They were lighter, but problems were experienced
in curing. They were used as resins, varnishes, ekastomers, and in adhesive
tapes
The enemies of timber. 89.
Cuprinol booklet
Electrification in Portugal. 89
Work was underway to extend electrification between Oporto and Aveiro,
Ermesinde to Campanha and Entroncamento to Aveiro. Bo Bo electric locomotives
and stainless steel coaches were in service. Diesel mototor coaches were
also in service, both on broad and metre gauge lines.
Prototype Deltic locomotive leaving Liverpool Lime Street. (photograph). 89
A single-anode rectifier for transport and industry. 90-1. illustration,
diagram
Generaal Electric Co. Com-Pak with liquid cooling
Electronics in railway engineering. 91; 95
British Railways Research Department mobile laboratory. Paper by J.H.
Litttlewood and P.H. Mansfield presented at Southport. Work on rough ridimg
rebuilt Scot class and on freight train axleboxes and the protection of goods
in transit from buffing shocks.
Cecil J. Allen. Modern Swiss electric locomotive devlopment and
performance1. 92-5. 4 illustrations, table
Brief history oof Switzerland's loss of coal supplies from Germany
and France during WW1 which led to the strategic decision to electrify its
railways. Locomotive development is also considered. Table shows major
classes.
Metalastik axlebox and body suspension for the A.C. Cars railbus. 96. 3
illustrations, diagram (elevation and plan)
Bonded rubber to metal springs for primary and secondary suspension.
Primary used chevron springs working in shear.
S.A.R. oders dining cars from Germany. 96
Weggman & Co. of Kassel supplying air-conditioned cars for Blue
Train and Orange Express
The Hunslet "Yardmaster" diesel shunter. 97. illustration
Centre cab. Powered by Gardber 4LW or Dorman 4LB. Transmission
through Layrub coupling and Hunslet torque converter
Battery railcar for the Scottish Region. 97-8. illustration
Trial on Aberdeen to Ballater branch. Control equipment supplied by
Siemens-Schuckert. Car modified Derby light weight type
News of the month. 98-100
Kent Coast electrification. 98
Victoria to Margate in 100 minutes at regular intervals; a ten to
twenty minute reduction on steam times. Trains would divide at Gillingham.
The Bo Bo electric locomotives were being built at Dncaster Works.
Important Pakistan order for British manufacturer. 98
£2.25 million order placed with R.Y. Pickering & Co. for
1344 freight vans and 400 cattle wagons
Large order for David Brown gearboxes. 98-9
North British Locomotive Co. had placed a £250,000 order for
56 sets of axle mounted gearboxes for incorporation in 52 main line diesel
hydraulic locomotives. They would be manufactured by the David Brown General
Gear Division at the Park Works.
G.E.C. camshaft controllers for London Transport. 99
Pneumatic pawl escapement. Protype to be tested on Piccadilly
Line.
Paxman engine performance. 99
In Scotland on Scottish Region 200 h.p. locomotives and on Neew South
Wales Government Railways Bo Bo diesel electric locomotives
British Standards for diesel engines. 99
BS 2953 Diesel engines for rail traction
Plastics in lighting. 99
ICI exhibition. Products included coach lighting bby J. Stone &
Co. and station platform lighting by Ionlite Ltd and by Falk Stadelmann &
Co.
Hunslet diesel locomotives. 99
With Paxman 6PHH engines
Turbo-charged opposed-piston diesel engine. 100
Fairbanks, Morse turbo-supercharged two-cycle, opposed-piston diesel
engine, adding up to 50 per cent to the output and making it available in
ratings up to 3.600 h.p.
Book reviews. 100
The Great Northern Railway. O.S. Nock. Ian Allan.
The early history of the Great Northern is one of the most lively
of any of the major .pre-1923 companies, and Nock's fresh account of the
efforts of the Euston Square confederacy to frustrate Denison's ambitions
makes absorbing reading. He has resolutely kept his interest in locomotives
and their performance within the bounds of proportion and has generally produced
a very well-balanced and, as always, extremely readable account
of the various activi- ties cf one of the most enterprising of the old companies,
The balance does not, perhaps, extend to the illustrations, which arc decidedly
overweighted on the locomotive side; one would have liked to see some attention
to coaching and wagon stock here, and also to some of the Great Northern's
more ambitious civil engineering works. With this reservation, the illustrations
are varied and well reproduced, and there is an admirable collection of maps
and diagram, in the text. Enthusiasts for Nock's writings on locomotives
will find the feats of G.N. power given their just measure of description
and appreciation; in this department it is interesting to have on record
for the first time the full details of Gresley's comparative trials of his
own and Raven's Pacific in the summer of 1923.
ABC of British Railways diesels. Ian Allan
In the new edition of this extremely useful reference bcok the
multiple-unit section has been completely re-organised, with a great advance
in clarity; a great deal of statistical information not available for the
first edition has been included, enhancing the ABC's value to railwayman
and amateur considerably.
Tralee and Dingle Railway. P.B. Whitehouse.
Locomotive Publishing Co.
The Tralce & Dingle's many devotees will welcome this well documented
little history. Full details of its locomotives and rolling stock are included,
and the many illustrations include some excellent diagrams of them, as well
as a well-executed map, gradient profiles and station layouts. An offset
printing process has dealt uncertainly with the photographic illustrations,
but some line sketches are much better served and prettily decorate the
work.
100 years of steam locomotives. Compiled and edited by Walter A. Lucas
Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, New York,
Picture. and drawings of more than 20\0 North American locomotives
covering a century of steam locomotive development which, so far as the United
States is concerned, closed in 1949, make up this compendious work of 278
pages. The variety of wheel arrangements of locomotives of orthodox type
represented would alone make the book outstanding but the inclusion of
articulated and .other unorthodox designs still further enhances its value
as a collector's piece.
Eisenbahn-modern. H.K. Stockklausner. Zeitschriftenverlag Ployer &
Co., Vienna
With widening interest amongst British amateurs in developments overseas,
it is surprising that so much of the output of railway literature in this
country relies on digging up the British past. An English edition of this
handsome, large-size book would be of considerable value. Its author is one
of the most widely knowledgeable writers on European railways to-day, and
his work is an up-to-date and copiously illustrated survey of locomotives
and rolling stock in use throughout the world to-day (the comprehensive data
and pictures of East European equipment are particularly valuable). The book
is divided into sections covering steam, diesel, electric and gas-turbine
power and coaches, and in each the latest examples of all the major
railway-operating countries are discussed and illustrated.
The Railway Magazine miscellany; edited Henry Maxwell. George Allen
& Unwin.
Our contemporary The Railway Magazine celebrated its Diamond Jubilee
and to mark the occasion this anthology of excerpts from its 1897-1919 issues,
has been compiled. Miscellany is the word, for precious space has been accorded
to some curious trivia reports of new paperweight productions, the
development of commercial modelrnaking, and editorial self-congratulation
on increased circulation, for example that might usefully have been
devoted, from the reader's viewpoint, to railway events of more lasting
significance'. Although important chapters from the past receive a reasonable
measure of attention, and ;t is pleasant tu re-read in the reporting of the
time the stories of such excitements as the racing up from Plymouth at the
beginning of the century, The Railway Magazine Miscellany is rather a mirror
of amateur railway enthusiasts· and enthusiasm of the time even
more prone, it seems, to weighty pontification without full possession of
the facts than it is now in some quarters than a landscape of railway
development. As such it will give enormous pleasure to the older generation
of amateurs.
Trains, tracks and travel. T.W. and R.G. Van Mètre ,
Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, New York.
Since the first edition was published In 1926 this work has deservedly
established itself as a classic of transatlantic railway literature. The
present edition, the ninth, is the result of collaboration between T.W. Van
Metre, Professor (Emeritus) of Transportation, Columbia University, and his
son, to instruct whom, as a boy, the work was first written. Van Metre junior,
a mechanical engineer, has extensively revised the chapters on steam locomotives,
permanent way and rolling stock, and has written those on electric and diesel
locomotives and motive power depots, Even in the five years which have elapsed
between the appearance of the eighth and ninth editions there have been profound
changes in the American railway scene, The diesel has all but completed its
conquest of steam. Lightweight vehicles have largely ousted the traditional
heavy coach on some important services, new methods of signalling, train
control and freight handling have transformed operating, and mechanical aids
have ligh tened the task of maintaining rolling stock and track, All these
developments are ably chronicled within the 500 pages of a book which every
student of American railways will find of absorbing interest.
Mechanical Handling on Show. 100
Mechanical Handling on Show, a 16 mm. colour
film made by the journal Mechanical Handling, was shown in London
last month. Its object is to provide a pictorial record' of some of the main
exhibits at the Mechanical Handling Exhibition which is held in London every
two years and is being staged at Earls Court this year from May 7 to 17.
The film features many modern handling methods and appliances, including
action shots of a tippler, manufactured by Strachan & Henshaw Limited,
handling a 20-mn wagon; a model of an aerial ropeway as developed by British
Ropeway Engineering Co, Ltd.; and a new system of passenger transport by
belt conveyor, for which the licensees in this country are Richard Sutcliffe
Ltd,
Electric locomotive maintenance practice. 101-2.
International Railway Congress in Madrid: K.J. Cook: approximately
1000 lcomotives in countries surveyed. Mileages for passenger and freight.
Tyre wear; rail wear. Traction motor overhaul periods. Pantograph performance.
Costs.
English Electric diesel-electric locomotive No. D201 near Stevenage on
trial Sheffield Pullman. M. Thompson, photographer. 101
29 April 1958: return journey from Sheffield to King's Cross
New Type 1 on trial. 102
NBL/GEC 800 h.p. locomotive had been on test at Dumfries. Being returnned
to North British before being forwarded to Doncaster for Estern Region
acceptance trials.
Tests of the English Electric "Deltic" diesel locomotive.
103-4. illustration
Bulletin No. 19. Report
of the Locomotive Testing Sub-Committee of the British Transport Commission
into the performance and efficiency. Locomotive was capable of hauling
20 coaches weighing 643 tons up a 1 in 100 gradient at 56 mile/h. Tests conducted
on Settle & Carlisle line. Report had few reservations other than noise
from exhaust
Cecil J. Allen. Modern Swiss electric locomotive devlopment and
performanceII. 104-7. 3 illustrations
Two classes were the subject of cab rides: Re 4/4 Bo-Bo No. 441 on
the Rhone-Isar from Geneve to Zurich and (from train) No. 444 from
Zurich to Berne and with Ac 6/6 Co-Co. No. 11401 Ticino on the Gotthard
route from Lucerne to Lugano.
O.S. Nock. The locomotives of Sir William Stanier. Part
II. 107-11. 6 illustrations, 5 tables
Broad policy beyond Pacifics: 5XP three-cylinder 4-6-0 devloped from
Patriot/Baby Scots; two-clinder mixed traffic 4-6-0; two-cylinder 2-6-0 developed
from Horwich type; Class 4 2-6-4T developed from Fowler design; 2-6-2T developed
from Fowler design; and 2-8-0 freight locomotive. All were to have Swindon
style taper boilers with Belpaire fireboxes. Boiler proportions are tabulated.
Fails to question why class 5 and class 5XP had slightly different boilers,
but tabulates cylinder diameter to stroke ratios for the GWR Saint, GWR Star,
LNWR Claughton and LMS Royal Scot, class 5 and 5XP 4-6-0s. Swindon practice
extended to the use of vacuum pumps (quickly abandoned on the LMS)
and coupled wheel axleboxes. Notes use of Class 5 on Ulster Express
which was both heavy and fast. Also initial work of Jubilee 5XP class.
Illustrations: Class 5 No. 5051 fitted with indicator shelter; Class 5XP
No, 5583 with domeless boiler. vacuum pump and no name; Class 5 No. 45223
passing Kingmoor with Manchester to Glasgow express (Eric Treacy); Class
5 2-6-0 leaving Oxenholme pre-1939 with heavy northbound freight (H. Gordon
Tidey); Class 4 2-6-4T No. 42544 near Shap Summit with 17.00 Oxenholme to
Carlisle stopping train in 1950 (E.D. Bruton); Jubilee No. 45564 New South
Wales in Lune Valley on Edinburgh to Birmingham express (P. Ransome-Wallis)
New single unit railcars for B.R. 111. 2 illustrations
Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. units seating 65. Photographs
by P.J. Sharpe
Locomotive testing at Rugby. Improvement of steaming. Part
one. 112-15. 5 diagrams
When it becomes desirable to improve the steaming of a locomotive
it is not necessarily because an increase in the maximum output in service
is required bur sometimes that the existing maximum is wanted reliably rather
than the reverse. Nevertheless such more reliable performance can usually
be expressed by the amount of margin that exists between the desired maximum
attainable on test and that required in regular service, so that anv alteration
to improve reliability does usually result in a greater maximum cutput, even
though this may never be used in practice.
Most locomotives steam badly because not enough air can be brought into contact
with the fuel to burn it at tae rate required. To increase the flow of air
through a locomotive boiler two different approaches are possible. The force
inducing the air fiow may be increased or the resistance to flow may be
decreased. In general, the kind of alteration that makes any appreciable
difference to the resistance to air flow through a boiler amounts to a major
re-design of the boiler and is very expensive, such as the fitting of new
tubes of different sizes and the new tubeplates to suit. Even the fitting
of a different grate or a re-designed ashpan may be a far larger task than
it would appear. The problem is therefore most often attacked, from the smoke
box end, by various means to improve the draught. Even in doing this there
are relatively cheap and expensive ways of doing the job, both in first cost
and in costs of operation and maintenance. Anything in a locomotive smokebox
is bound to have a hard life and, in general, the less "ironmongery", and
especially removable equipment, there is in the smokebox the better. Actual
moving parts are best avoided altogether as they are apt to become inoperable
before long. When they have been regarded as indispensable they have been
fitted only at a price exacted in the form of higher maintenance and reduced
availability and utilisation. It is for this reason that variable blast pipes,
superheater dampers and such have long ceased to be fitted and that even
such items as extended petticoats or self-cleaning equipment are regarded
with very mixed feelings by those who have to deal with them.
Another important factor is, that the circumstances of each case differ from
those of another and may dictate the approach, if not to the problem, at
least to the solution. If somethinz must be done quickly to a number of
locomotives, then time is limited to find a solution to the problem and that
solution must be one that can he rapidly applied.
The best solution, in the circumstances, may not be the ideal one from anyone
point of view. None of the improvements made or suggested after tests at
Rugby has been claimed as the best possible but only as a practicable means
of achieving the desired object, in most cases ones that had been found effective
within a reasonable period of time. It is more useful to give an answer to
the prob- lem that is partially effective in a matter of months than to give
the perfect solution after several years. So many are the possible variables
that tests could easily take years if toe' ultimate object were not kept
plainly in view. . There has hardly been a locomotive class tested at Rugby
that could not have benefited to some extent from improvement of its combustion
and mostly from improvement of draughting. In many cases the improvement
would have been marginal and was not necessary to enable the engines to do
their work, but in other cases it was very desirable or even essential. As
a first example a marginal case will be mentioned briefly.
Stanier Class 5
In 1950, when the design of the B.R. Standard locomotives was in progress,
some alterations to the chimney and blast pipe of the L.M.S. 2F 2-6-0 locomotive,
then being tested at Swindon, were found to make a large improvement in the
performance of the engine. A remit was given to Rugby to examine the effect
of a similar alteration to the chimney of an L.M.S. Class 5 4-6-0, then being
tested there. In the Class "2F" the alterations had consisted, briefly, in
reducing the diameter of the chimney choke, reducing the taper in the upper
part of the chimney from about 1 in 7 to 1 in 14 and in increasing the diameter
of the blast pipe cap, this last being made possible by the better proportions
of the modified chimney, correctly located in relation to the blast pipe
cap.
On the Class 5 the situation was different, there being no question of reduction
of the choke diameter, which was considered to be, if anything, a trifle
on the small side. The only alteration to the chimney was to reduce the taper
from 1 in 6.964 to 1 in 14 and to increase the length from
243/8 in. to 28 in. above the choke. The blast pipe cap was
not altered from its usual diameter of 51/8 in.
The effect was to increase the draught and the air flow through the boiler,
the latter despite adjustment of the ash pan dampers to prevent excessive
carry over of unburnt fuel by the greater air flow, the former partly because
of this adjustment. The net effect was a draught some 11 per cent greater.
At that date it was not part of the remit to investigate any increase in
the "Front end limit", nor was there any intention of altering the L.M.S.
Class 5 locomotives, which a:re reputedly good steamers.
BR Standard Class 5
The alteration just mentioned was, however, the basis of the chimney for
the B.R. Class 5 4-6-0. At the time of the tests it was important that some
results should be available quickly as the B.R. Standard loco- motives were
then being designed and would soon be under construction. Indeed, work on
some was already in progress. The next example relates to the B.R. Class
5 4-6-0 itself. On first being tested at Rugby it compared well with the
L.M.S. Class 5 when Grade lA coal was used, both being capable of producing
25,000 lb/hr. of steam. The two boilers are closely similar in most main
dimensions but the L.M.S. boiler uses superheater elements with short return
bends, and the grates are different. These differences in the boiler itself
must roughly have counterbalanced the improved draught due to the modified
chimney profile.
When grade 2B coal was used on the B.R. locomotive the performance was rather
disappointing, but nothing comparable was known of the L.M.S. locomotive
when this coal was used, ac it had not been tested with it. The maximum
production attained with the B.R. locomotive was some 18,000 lb/hr. in test
conditions though rather more could be obtained with a relaxation of the
standard of combustion. Moreover, though acceptable, the combustion was not
good even at lower rates of steaming. Though the likelihood of trouble in
service was foreseen it was not so great as to require immediate action.
It was soon found in service, however, that with any but the best coal the
engines were not reliably up to requirements. The Hulson type of firebar,
with which the grate was equipped, was not suitable for much of the lower
grade fuel that the engines were liable to use, and grid type firebars were
substituted. This is an example of a difficulty, often encountered with
locomotive grates, in that some compromise is needed since no one grate may
give the optimum results with all the kinds of coal that the locomotive may
be required to burn. However desirable it may be to get the best results
with as many coals as possible, it is even more necessary that the locomotive
should not be rendered incapable with any variety of coal that it is likely
to receive in the course of its normal duties.
In this instance the change of grate had two effects. With no change m the
blast pipe or chimney the "Front end limit" was increased by 1000 Ib /hr.,
or 5½ per cent, when using Blidworth coal, but the boiler efficiency
over most of the effective working range was reduced slightly.
With the grid type bars the combustion of the coal that was bur was more
complete, there being formation of carbon monoxide, hydrogen unburned and
less emiss of smoke, but the loss of unbun coal was slightly greater. At:
rates of firing the former effects I dominated but at the higher re the latter
effect.
This small loss in boiler efficiency with the engine working on moderate
to fairly hard duties would be a very small price to pay for any improvement
in reliability. However the small increase in output was by no means sufficient
to bring the loconotive into line with other Class 5 4-6-0 types, such as
the Hall the B1, and indeed its maxirm steam production, with Bliisworth
coal, was less than that from the smaller boiler of the B.R. Standard Class
4 4-6-0.
German-built railbuses for British Railways. 116-17. 2 illustrations,
plan
Five Waggon und Maschinenbau GmbH of Donauwörth supplied to be
used on Cambridge to Mildenhall, Witham to Maldon and to Braintee and Audley
End to Saffon Walden branches. Used Ferrozelll guides for SKF
roller bearing axleboxes and Buessing engines
New railcars for India. 117
Commonwealth Engineering Co. Ltd. supplying 22 railcars with Albion
diesel engines and Voith-Sinclair fluid flywheels.See also
p. 160
D. Patterson. The correction of dynamic balance. 118-20. 2 illustrations,
3 diagrams
Ballancing machines
Diesel m.u. practice. 120.
International Railway Congress Association report by A.S. Canavezes
of the Rolling Stock & Traction Diviision of the Portuguese
Railways
News in brief. 120
Stone air conditioning for new Hungarian coaches. 120
J. Stone & Co. order for £1 million worth for Hungarian State Railways
being supplied by Wilhelm Pieck works at Gyö.
New furnaces for Crewe Works. 120
Birlec Ltd electric arc melting furnaces, capacity 21 tons per
day.
New electric units for Manchester-Bury line. 120
English Electric Co. Ltd to supply 26 four-car units to operate 1200
V dc system.
No. 791 (July 1958)
British Railways technical development. 121
The British Transport Commission decided in 1957 on an important technical
reorganisation which arose from the need to regroup the technical departments
of the British Railways Regions and redistribute their duties in the light
of the change from steam to electric and diesel traction inherent in the
Modemisation Plan. The Mechanical and Electrical and the Carriage & Wagon
Engineering Departments are being merged and placed under a Chief Mechanical
& Electrical Engineer in each Region. The Motive Power Department will
gradually lose its independence and become part of the Operating Department,
which will be responsible for the serviceability of locomotives arid rolling
stock to standards prescribed by the Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer.
This change, initiated during the year and referred to in the newly-issued
Report of {he B.T.C. for 1957, means that there will be only three chief
engineering officers in each Region, the C.M.E.E., the Chief Civil Engineer,
and the Signal Engineer, all stationed at Regional headquarters and reporting
directly to the General Manager.
The Report gives due prominence to the intensive research being carried cut
into such matters as braking, lubrication, bogie suspension, train heating
and goods vehicle design, all made necessary by the changes to which the
Plan looks forward. Variations from the present design of vacuum brake are
being tested on a special site brought into use last year, and extensive
running trials are to begin this year. Work continued on designs of spring
and hydraulic buffers to be tried on new types of wagon, with the aim of
reducing maintenance costs and the risk of damage to consignments. As the
advantage of fitted freight stock is partly offset by the extra time now
needed to couple and uncouple trains and test the brakes in yards, a
fully-automatic coupler is being developed. A change over device will
automatically ensure the different braking required by 16-ton mineral wagons
when empty and when loaded; the number of vacuum cylinders for each wagon
will thereby be reduced from two to one. Diesel traction involves problems
of lubrication demanding closer control than was necessary with steam
locomotives. Apart from the correct selection of the type of oil to be used,
it is necessary to introduce a proper system of controlling the state of
oil in the sump so as to detect the onset of deterioration. Spectrographic
analysis assesses both deterioration of the oil and engine wear, and a Direct
Reading Spectrograph is on order for one of 'the Commission's laboratories.
Novel forms of suspension and roller-bearing axleboxes are incorporated in
162 experimental coach bogies being built or converted. Riding tests were
made with trains in which all the tyres had been turned to a modified profile
giving a smoother ride. The behaviour of bogies with axle-hung electric motors
was also studied, from the point of view both of smooth riding and reaction
on the track. The problem of train heating posed by the change from steam
haulage was carefully considered during the year. To demonstrate to loading
and shunting staff the effect of shunting on the goods inside, two covered
vans fitted with transparent perspex sides toured the system. More demonstrations
are to be made, after which the vans will be used for research.
The Commission authorised last year a Carriage & Wagon Engineering
Development Unit in Faverdale Wagon Works, Darlington. Until now, prototype
development of both complete units and components has been carried cut by
different Regions in existing design drawing offices and fitted in with current
production in the regional workshops, often causing delay. As well as initiating
new projects, the unit will co-ordinate ideas which emanate from the Regions
and guide development work on rolling stock carried out for the Commission
by private firms.
Thirteen prototype long-distance coaches, some built by British Railways
and others by contractors, were exhibited in London and then put into service
on main line routes. It will take some time to determine the reaction of
passengers to them, and in any event newly-imposed cuts in capital expenditure
will affect the construction of locomotive-hauled stock in 1958 and 1959.
Development work has shown that more comfortable long-distance travel can
be afforded in second class vehicles of the present overall size by arranging
the accommodation in centre-gangway instead of compartment coaches. All
second-class main line stock in the 1959 programme will be of the open type.
The freight vehicle programme includes the replacement of the old timber-bodied
mineral wagon by all-steel wagons of greater capacity, the introduction of
specialised types for important traffic flows and the gradual reduction of
the whole fleet. Cuts in the programme dictated by capital restrictions arc
being applied as far as possible to normal rather than special types of wagon.
Some 270 vacuum-fitted wagons of 33-ton capacity for carrying iron ore in
bulk in Scotland and 400 for carrying imported ore between Newport Docks
and Ebbw Vale were delivered. One hundred air-slide wagons for conveying
certain bulk traffics wen: ordered for delivery last year: 600 more are to
follow this year. The 24-ton covered hopper wagons for bulk chemicals traffic
and open wagons to convey bricks on pallets are in quantity production.
Particular attention is being directed to promoting container and pallet
traffic, and a new range of containers for special, including bulk, traffics,
with associated handling equipment and special wagons is being
produced.
Locomotive testing at Rugby. Improvement of steaming. Part
two. 122-5. illustration, 6 diagrams
Double chimneys and blastpipe arrangements for Stanier Jubilee
class.
"RDC" diesel railcar operation on the Boston & Maine R.R. 125-7.
illustration
Rail Diesel Car built by Budd with hydraulic transmission withh two
275, later 300, h.p. diesel engines. Boston & Maine R.R. had 108 in
service
Diesel locomotive development on the German Federal Railway. 127-9.
3 diagrams (side elevations & plans)
V320 diesel huydraulic design with two 1900 h.p. diesel engines with
Voith transmission; also V100 and V160 types
The Italian State Railways Series D341 diesel-electric Bo-Bo. 128-9.
illustration, diagram (side elevation & plan)
For service in the South of Italy in Calabria
Ten-coupled steam locomotives in Greece. P. Ransome-Wallis. 129-30.
3 illustrations
Hellenic State Railways 2-10-2 builr by Breda and Ansaldo
Expansion of Ruston air-cooled diesel range. 130
Ruston & Hornsby YWA and YDA types
O.S. Nock. The locomotives of Sir William Stanier. Part
III. 131-6. 4 illlustrations, 7 tables
Princess Royal Pacifics. The coupled wheel size and cylinder dimensions
led to the class having an identical tractive force to the Collett King class.
Initially two locomotives were built and they were used on the Royal Scot
express where differrent coals (Yorkshire hards at Camden and Scottish softs
at Polmadie) caused steaming problems which were accentuated by the poor
trimming properties on the initial tenders. On a footplate run on the up
Royal Scot Nock observed that steam ppressure remained within the range 200
to 215 psi for the whole journey. No. 6200 was fitted with a new boiler
in 1935 with an improved tube layout and higher superheat and on 27 June
1935 Nock observed Riddles step off the cab of the up Liverpool flyer which
had arrived 14 minutes early (details of this run are tabulated). Subsequent
trials between London and Glasgow confirmed the improved haulage capacity
and speed of the modified locomotive. Illustrations: No. 6207 Princess Arthur
of Connaught vclimbing Camden Bank (H. Gordon Tidey); No 6201 PPrincess Elizabeth
with stove pipe double chimney; No. 6201 in o0riginal condition at Euston
withh up Royal Scot; No. 46203 Princess Margaret Rose between Lamington and
Abington with Glasgow to Birmingham express (W.J.V. Anderson).
New motive power depot at Thornaby, N.E. Region, British Railways.136-7.
6 illustrations
Had a sand and water gantry (illustrated) and notes its locomotive
allocation which included 34 Q6 0-6-0, 30 WD 2-8-0 and 64 former North Eastern
Railway 0-6-0. Official opening on 5 June with opening speech by T.H. Summerson,
Chairman North Eastern Area Board.
New rolling stock for British Railways. 138-9. 4 illustrations, plan,
2 tables
Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd. to supply fifteen
2-car diesel multiple units: ten for London Midland Region (Stoke Division
and five to the Eastern & North Eastern Regions. British Transport Commission
orders placed with Metropolitan Cammell Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd.
to supply 46 3-car diesel multiple units, 20 for North Eastern and 26 for
Scottish Regions, and ten 3-car diesel multiple units with Rolls Royce engines
and buffets for the North Eastern Region and one diesel motor brake with
two B.U.T. engines. Orders for catering vehicles had been placed with Charles
Roberts Ltd for 12 kitchen cars for the London Midland Region; Cravens Ltd
for 27 kitchen buffet cars: 15 for Eastern Region and 12 for LMR. Birmingham
Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd. were to supply 19 unclassified restaurant
cars mainly for Eastern and North Eastern Regions (but 4 for Scottish); 4
first class reatuarnt cars for LMR and 38 restaurant buffet cars: 3 ER; 13
LMR; 6 Scottish; 9 Southern and 8 Western. Illustrations: Bristol Eastern
Coachworks diesel railbus (P.J. Sharpe); buffet car in 4 BEP electric multiple
unit; 2-car HAP unit for London to Gillingham service (with plan) and Birmingham
Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd 2-car diesel multiple unit.
News in brief. 140
Fastest electric suburban service in the world. 140
Address by G.F. Fiennes, Line Traffic Manager of the Eastern Region,
looked forward to electric trams leaving Royston three times each peak hour
for London, calling at Baldock, Letchworth and Hitchin and then running non-stop
from Hitchin to Kings Cross in thirty minutes at an average speed' of 64
mile/h.. and three separate trains an hour from Stevenage calling only at
Knebworth and Finsbury Park and reaching Kings Cross in thirty-five minutes.
No suburban service in the; world would match those speeds, but it would
need the support of fifteen hundred passengers an hour in each of the two
groups of trains to justify it.
Analogue computer for time-table revision. 140
The British Transport Commission has installed a special purpose analogue
computer in the office of the Chief Electrical Engineer, British Railways
Central Stall, for use in pre-determining train performance with the new
forms of motive. power which are being introduced under the railway modernisation
prczra+ime. The advance infurmation obtained will be used to compile revised
timetables, designed for the maximum utilisation of the new equipment. To
carry out such a revision the information is required long before the trains
enter service arid is usually pre-determined at the design stage, before
the equipment is even manufactured. This is made possible by the precise
characteristics to which modem traction equipment can be built, and by the
knowledge that all the units produced of a particular type will reach standard
performance.
From known data of a type of locomotive or train, and' details of a particular
linegradients, speed restrictions, and stopping placesit is a
srraightforward process to work out the time taken to travel from one place
to another. The production of the information, however, can be substantially
speeded-up by the use of a computer, and in particular by an analogue computer
of the type which employs angular rotation or voltage to represent the magnitude
of the physical quantities concernedacce'erating or decelerating effort,
speed, time, and distance.
Either-side operation of diesel shunters. 140
One of the objections to the abolition of a second man on diesel shunting
engines is the difficulty of an unaccompanied driver if he has to cross the
footplate to see signals or signs from yard staff on the opposite side of
the engine, hidden from the driving position by the engine- room hood. A
time-lag is usually allowed between release of the deadman's handle or pedal
before the diesel engine automatically cuts out or the brakes are applied,
but this is unlikely to be more than a few seconds, and the driver may require
a longer interval than that before returning to the driving position, To
meet this difficulty, the Unted States firm of General Motors Diesel Limited
developed a portable locomotive control set which weighs no more than 14
lb., and measures 9 in. long, 8 in. deep and 5 in. wide, connected by a cable
with the locomotive controls. The handle of this box performs the same function
as the deadrnan pedal; provided the box is held by the handle, its weight
ensures continued operation. The box contains a combination throttle and
reversing handle, a reducing valve, two solenoid valves and a check valve
for control of the locomotive brakes. The brake-handle applies and releases
the locomotive brakes by means of the electrically-controlled solenoid valves
which begin the supply to or exhausting of air from the brake cylinder at
a controlled rate. If the circuit is interrupted, the brakes are applied
automatically. If preferred, pneumatic instead of electric throttle control
can be installed.
£350,000 locomotive order for Yorkshire Engine Company. 140
The Yorkshire Engine Co. Ltd. obtained an order worth £350,000
for the supply of 16 diesel-electric shunting locomotives to the Port of
London Authority. The order follows the success of six Yorkshire Engine
diesel-electric locomotives which had been operating at Tilbury docks for
the past year. Some od' the locomotives now on order will be twin-engined
400 h.p, units similar to those at Tilbury and the others will be powered
by single 300 h.p. engines. All the engines are of Rolls Royce manufacture
and the electrical equipment will be supplied by B.T.H.
Hudswell, Clarke diesels for Sierra Leone. 140
Hudswell, Clarke & Co. Ltd. received from the Crown Agents for
Oversea Governments & Administrations an extension to their contract
for a further eight main line diesel-hydraulic locomotives for the Sierra
Leone Government Railway, This addition brings to 16 the number of locomotives
which the company was building for the railway, and the total value of the
contract is approximately £500,000. The locomotives are being fitted
with a Paxman Hi-Dyne (Constant h.p.) diesel engine, as well as a Vulcan
Sinclair dual fiuidrive transmission unit. This type of locomotive has been
developed by Hudswell, Clarke over the past four years under the name of
the Enterprise series, according to the power ranges required.
Beclawat (Australia) Pty. Ltd. 140
Following the visit made by R. Antony Beckett, Managing Director of
Beckett, Laycock & Watkinson Limited, in January and February last to
Australia and New Zealand, it is announced that the Company has now formed
a wholly-owned subsidiary in Australia called Beclawat (Australia) Pry. Ltd.,
incorporated in Victoria. An existing engineering company with works in Melbourne
has been acquired, and operations are now in train to develop the company
to suit Beclawat potential in Australia.
Ghana repeats order for English Electric locos. 140
The English Electric Co. Ltd. was to supply 12 more 750-h.p. Bo-Bo
diesel-electric locomotives to the Ghana Railway. Fourteen units, the first
diesel-electric locomotives to operate in Ghana, were supplied by English
Electric in 1955 and have been well tried in service on shunting and transfer
duties and as single units on light passenger and freight trains. They also
operate in multiple unit on the heavier main-line services. The locomotive,
which weighs 53 tons in working order, is powered by an English Electric
six-cylinder SKRT type diesel engine, manufactured at the company's Preston
Works, and current is generated tu four electric traction motors which drive
the locomotive through reduction gears. The maximum service speed is geared
to 55 m.p.h. The locomotives now ordered will be built by Robert Stephenson
& Hawthorns Ltd., Darlmgton, a member of the English Electric Group,
In addition to . the locomotives of this type operating i:l Ghana,
diesel-electrics of generally similar design have been supplied for service
in Nigeria, Jamaica, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania Repeat
orders for locomotives have been received by the company from South Africa,
.Rhodesia, Spain and Malaya.
London Transport acquires another Western Region locomotive. 140
To replace a 57-year-old 0-6-2 ex-Metropolitan Railway F class tank
locomotive London Transport had acquired another 5700 class 0-6-0 steam pannier
tank locomotive from the Western Region. The 0-6-0, now L.92, formerly Western
Region No. 5786, was built in 1929 at Swindon. The other two locomotives
of this class, L.90 and L.91, were taken over from the Western Region in
1957. It was proposed to increase the London Transpcrr fleet of these loxcmotives
as existing locomotives require extensive boiler repairs. Two more will probably
be acquired towards the end of this year and will be carried as additions
to the London Transport stock of 11i steam locomotives until completion of
the Metropolitan Line quadrupling and electrification scheme.
Abandonment of steam by Norfolk & Western. 140
Norfolk & Western RR announced that it would acquire 268 new diesel
locomotives at an investment of about 50 million dollars. The company's
President, Stuart T. Saunders, has said that delivery of the units will probably
begin in October and continue at the rate of 12 to 15 a month. Tne acquisition
of the units will enable the company to turn over completely to diesel working
the operations at present traffic levels. Of the 262 steam locomotives then
owned, 202 to be withdrawn between then and the end of 1960. The remaining
60 to be used as stand-by power to meet demands for locomotives during peak
levels of traffic and in emergencies, This programme will enable the railway
to exhaust the serviceable mileage remaining on its fleet of steam locomotives.
The new units will be general-purpose road-switchers, like the 198 already
owned, and switchers. Some of them were to be equipped for passenger
service.
No. 792 (August 1958)
High daily mileages by British Railways diesel-electric multiple-units.
141
By both the Hampshire two car and Hastings six car units: notes success
of low speed diesel engines, but problems with hard riding.
New buffet cars for Hastings diesel-electric trains. 141-2. 2
illustrations, plan
Gangways fitted with rubber elements to reduce noise
New rolling stock for British Railways. 142-3. 2 illustrations, 3
diagrams (side elevations & plans)
Bogie General Utility Vans manufactured by Presssed Steel Co. at Paisley
with end doors for loading motor cars and ninety horse boxes with welded
steel bodies and groom's compartment with toilet and electric lighting.
Australian order for English Electric. 143
Victorian Railways order for 90 motor coaches and 120 trailer coaches
for Melbourne 1500 V dc suburban services placed with English Electric Co.
(Australia) Ltd
A 2,200 h.p. diesel-hydraulic locomotive for British Railways. 144-7.
4 illustrations
Warship class No. D800 Sir Brian Robertson built at Swindon
Works with Maybach engines and transmission
A 1,160 h.p. diesel-electric locomotive for British Railways. 147-51.
4 illustrations, 2 diagrams including side elevation
Derby built with Sulzer engines and British-Thomson-Houston electrical
equipment built to conform to the London Transport 12ft 8in high loading
gauge. Nos. 5000-5029. Engine mounting limited to hard rubber strips.
Diesel-hydraulic 300 h.p. shunting locomotives for British Railways.
152. illustration
North British Locomotive Co. design with M.A.N. diesel enging for
London Midland Region: No. 2905 illustrated.
More International G.E. diesels for Tata. 152
Tata Iron & Steel Co. purchased six diesel-electric locomotives
from the International General Electric Co.
No. D8400, North British Locomotive Co. 800 h.p. diesel electric locomotive.
152. illustration
Photograph by P. Tait of freight locomotive for use on Eastern Region
in London area
The French Railways panoramic diesel railcar. 153. diagram (side
elevations, plan)
Renault X 4200 vista dome seating 44 first class passengers plus 44
second class passengers on scenic routes, such as Grenoble
Budd Pioneer III coaches for Pennsylvania Railroad electric multiple-unit
services. 153-4. 2 illustrations
Six Pioneer III for Philadelphia suburban services
The exclusion of dirt from diesel locomotives. 154-7.
J.W. Horine, Electrical Engineer Pennsylvania RR ASME paper: dust
major proplem on Santa Fe (paper by M.B. Adams, General Supervissor of Diesel
Engiines, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, P. Kangas and W.C. Kern
of the Baltimore & Ohio RR with W.L. Richardson of Westinghouse on electric
precipitation method of cleanin air and D.H. Noble of the Chicago, Rock Island
& Pacific RR and R.L. Indy on the economics of cleaning
News of the month. 157-60
Beyer Peacock (Hymek) Ltd. 157
Consoortium of Beyer Peacock, Armstrong Sideley and the Brush Group
to exploit hydraulic transmission
New B.R. diesel multiple-unit services. 157-8
Oldham and Rochdale: two power cars to cope with steep gradients:
1 in 50 via Hollinwood and 1 in 27 via Werneth Incline. Also new Scotttish
service including Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Princes Street and in Fife
and based on Dundee
Suspension system for Iternational G.E. Universal locomotives. 158
Four curved rubber mounts on each bogie placed between the bogie bolster
and the bogie frame capable of absorbing high frequency vibration. Locomotives
using this suspension had been sold to railways in Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia and Turkey.
L.T. 1909 stores locomotive renovated. 158. illustration
L9 (illustrated) and L8 were supplied as battery locomotives by W.R.
Renshaw of Sutton-on-Trent. In 1925 the batteries were removed and the
locomotives became straight electrics. The traction motords have been replaced
several times, but the vehicles are still useful for conveying materials
between Acton Works and Ealing Common.
New rolling stock for London Transport Metropolitan Line. 158-9.
illustration
For services to Amersham, Chesham and Watford: mock-up of seating
and luggage racks.
Transistor units for railway coach fluorescent lighting. 159.
illustration
Fluorescent lighting in first class compartments for
Caledonian service on London Midland and Scottish Regions.
More main line diesel electric locomotives for B.R. 159-60.
As parrt of the accelerated programme of partial conversion to diesel
traction on British Railways the British Transport commission placed orders
for 124 main-line diesel-electric locomotives for mixed traffic duties. A
batch of forty complete locomotives is to be built at Brush Electrical
Engineering Co. and 84 at BR workshops incorporating traction equipment supplied
by British Thornson-Houston Co. Ltd. Deliveries of the locomotives and traction
equipment will begin early in 1959. The Eastern Region will take 106 of the
124 locomotives now ordered. The remaining 18 units to be allocated to the
North Eastern Region. All the locomotives would be in the 1000-1250 h.p.
range, classified as Type 2 in the main-line diesel locomotives
classification.
Britannia Class 4-6-2 working on St Pancras-Manchester main line of the L.M.R. leaving Loughborough on on up express. J.F. Henton, photographer. 160
Multiple unit diesel trains for West Country service, Western Region.
160
The first multiple-unit diesel trains to enter service in the West
Country were to be provided from an order for 48 diesel cars and trailers
placed by the British Transport Commission for the Western Region. Most of
the vehicles were intended for West of England services and over half
of them would operate as three-car train sets, each with a buffet car. The
remainder to be used as single-units or with trailer cars. All the vehicles
63 ft. 6 in. long. Two B.U.T. 150 h.p. engines fitted to each of the 32 powered
cars. Details of the vehicles, ordered from the Pressed Steel Co. Ltd., Paisley,
were as follows:
Motor brake open composite and Motor open second with lavatories: 9 three-car
sets
Trailer open second with buffets: 10 three-car sets
Motor second broke with driving cab at each end 14 for use singly or with
driving trailer second: 6
New railcars for India. 160
Additional information about the twenty four 5ft. 6in.-gauge railcars
the Commonwealth Engineering Co. Ltd. (see also page 117)
was supplying to India and of which some particulars appeared in our June
1958 issue. The vehicles incorpor- ate B.U.T. 0.900 type power units rated
at 200 b.h.p. at 1,800' r.p.m. This engine i;; a Leyland design, manufactured
at the Albion works. This unit was specifically designed as a horizontal
six-cylinder unit for rail traction duty. For this particular installation,
the engines were fitted with 20 in. fluid flywheels based on the standard
type built by B.U.T. parent companies for British Railways. Twelve of the
cars were for operation on the Tuni-Tadepalliguden section and its branches,
on the Southern Railway, and twelve on the Northern Railway between Lahore
and Ludhiana and from Ambala Cantonment.
The railcars were 70 ft. long over headstocks, had 48 ft. 6 in. bogie centres
and a bogie wheelbase of 9 ft. 6 in. They had a full-width driver's cab at
one end and a half cab at the other.
[A3 class with double chimneys]. 160.
illustration
All the Gresley A3 4-6-2s of British Railways to be modified with
double blast-pipes and chimneys. No. 60055 Woolwinder was the first
to be treated. Photograph by P.Tait.
Book reviews. 160
Great Western steam. W.A. Tuplin. George Alien
& Unwin. .
Tuplin's new book, following closely on the heels of
H. Holcroft's authoritative work
on the same subject, must inevitably stand judgment alongside it, and
will be found wanting. Holcroft recounted history as seen from the "inside",
a factual study, interlaced with personal experience and accounts of schemes,
experiments and trials and the reasons behind them. In this book, after an
opening on the aesthetic merits of double-framed engines as seen through
a boy's eyes, G.W.R. locomotive practice is dealt with in a curiously vague
manner. Much of it is laced with "apparently" and "it seemed that ... ",
and persistently Tuplin intrudes to show what he would have done in Churchward's
shoes. Three cylinders, single-axle drive, low boiler pressure and valve
proportions, are favourite themes of the author which are here reiterated.
The last parr of the book is devoted to accounts of footplate work and of
specific footplate trips. Some clearly spring from personal observations,
though they are in very general terms, while others might be described as
semi-technical and slanted story-telling more appropriate to the more enlightened
boys' magazines. This section seems to set out to prove that the undoubted
G.W.R. esprit de corps among footplate staff arises from doing a job under
the worst conditions. The serious student of Swindon locomotive practice
will learn little from this book that is not available elsewhere in better
form.
The locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part
5. Railway Correspondence & Travel Society. 160
Part Five of this historv covers the six-coupled tank engines of the
Great Western Railway design. with the exception of the standard 2-6-2 tanks
to be included in Part Nine. It displays the painstaking detail which has
characterised the parts (l. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 11) which have already appeared.
There are 96 pages of text and 147 illustrations, including a number from
the collection of the Locomotive Publishing Company.
Von Salzburg Nach Bad Ischl (From Salzburg to Bad Ischl). Josef
Otto Slezak
The recent closing of the Salzkammer gut-Lokalbahn has deprived Austria
of one of its most delightful minor railways. It was well-known to British
tourists for its 42 miles of 0.76 m. gauge line traversed a region of great
scenic charm, a charm which for British railway enthusiasts was matched by
that of the line itself, almost wholly steam worked, most of the engines
being 0-6-2s built in the 1890s, aided by some 0-8-0s and an 0-10-0 tender-tank
manufactured by Borsig in 1939. Herr Slezak ably tells the history of this
little system, which in Hapsburg times was graced by the presence of the
Emperor Francis Joseph, and brings the story up to date with an account of
the circumstances which led up to the decision to close the line. Austrian
devotees of the minor railway may well envy Britain its virile preservation
societies and one hopes that Slezak's little book may encourage similar action
there. The book, which runs to 20 pages and contains eight illustrations
and a map, is published by and obtainable from the author
No. 793 (Sepember 1958)
The maintenance of relectric locomotives. 161-2
Mario Viani, Head of the Electrical Department, Spanish National Railways
reported on global practice (sixteen countries rresponded to a questionnaire)
on electric locomotive maintenance at the International Railway Congress
held in Madrid. Tyre, pantograph and rail wear depended to an extent on
conditions including the extent to which motors were sprung.
Henschel diesels for South African Railways. 162
Seven 75-ton four-axle diesel hydraulic locomotives with General Motors
engines and Voith transmissions
O.S. Nock. The locomotives of Sir William Stanier. Part
IV. 163-7. 3 illustrations, 4 tables
Class 5 4-6-0: tabulates boiler types, the mileages achieved by
locomotives fitted with manganese axlebox liners and argues that suuperior
on express passenger work to both the Claughton and L&YR 4-6-0 ttypes
and the greater haulage capacity of the Class 5 than the Highland Railway
Castles and Claans.
North British/G.E.C. Type 1 diesel-electric locomotives for British
Railways.167-9. 2 illustrations
No. D8403 of Stratford mpd illustrated
New railbuses for British Railways. 1. Bristol Commercial/Eastern Coach
Works. 169-71. 4 illlustrations
Two railbuses with chassis built in Bristol and body at Lowestoft
where bus components were used. Gardner 112 bhp diesel engine. Chassis conveyed
by road from Bristol. Conveyed 56 seated passengers. Svenska Aktibolaget
Bromsregulator resilient wheels. Self Changing Gears transmission. Metalastik
suspension. Dunlop Monitor Brake System.
New railbuses for British Railways. 2. Park Royal. 171-3. 2
illustrations
Five railbuses with seats for 50 passengers, BUT 150 hp diesel engine.
Self Changing Gears transmission
Cecil J. Allen. Electric locomotive development and performance on
the Rhaetian Railway. 173-7. 5 illustrations, table
Three locomotive types: C-C 1500hp; Bo-Bo 1600 hp; Bo-Bo-Bo 2400 hp.
Cab ride on C-C Noo. 610 Viamain on 16.15 Chur to St. Moritz on which
1 in 29 gradients were common. Also menntions powerful railcars on Arosa
branch
Developments on London Transport. 1.Improved shaft insulation for traction
motor reverser switches. 177. 2 illustrations
Glass cloth insulation
Developments on London Transport. 2.New stock for Piccadilly Line.
177; 179
Rubber suspension. Fluorescent lighting; unpainted aluminium
bodies
Berkeley mechanical stoker for three B.R. class "9"
2-10-0s. 178-9. 3 illustrations
Three locomotives, all with double chimneys for Saltley to Carlisle
workings.
Book review. 179.
British narrow gauge railways. R.B. Jones A. &
C. Black.
Incrreasing standardisation on British main lines, which has robbed
them of some of their old interest for not a few devotees', and the success
of the Talyllyn and Festiniog revivalists have turned the attention of many
enthu- siasts still more towards the remaining narrow gauge lines, diverse
in their loca- tion, operation and rolling stock. There has been no lack
of literature to support this trend and, indeed, the market might be said
to be temporarily glutted. Jones describes 15 lines, from the defunct to
the very much alive and ranging in gauge from the 15 in. of the Rornney,
Hythe & Dymchurch and the Ravenglass & Eskdale to the Glasgow
Underground, whose gauge of only 8½in. less than standard makes it a
shaky candidate for inclusion. The treatment is' strictly factual and one
would welcome the relief \)of a 'little atmosphere. It is a pity that here
and there the text has not been brought up to date since the completion of
the typescript, so that the Festiniog still appears as awaiting reopening
to Penrhyndeudraeth, let alone Tan-y- Bwlch, though in this case a caption
makes amends. The reader well addicted to the narrow gauge will learn little
that is new but the book may usefully introduce a wider public to the delights'
of railway microcosmcgraphy,
New diesel parcels car. 180. 3 illustrations
Cravens Limited built three diesel parcels cars for service on British
Railways. Each was fitted with two 150 h.p. B.U.T. engines and standard
transmission and a standard 56 ft. l l in. underframe. The illustrations
show (left) guard's compartment, parcels section and exterior.
More main-line diesels for British Railways. 180
Contracts for 83 more main-line diesel locomotives had been placed
by the British Transport Commission. Sixty three of 2,000 h.p., with a maximum
speed of 90 m.p.h., for express passenger and freight services, and 20 of
1100 h.p., capable of 75 m.p.h. on general mixed-traffic duties.
Details of the orders are as follow:- North British Locomotive Co., Ltd.
33, diesel-hydraulic, of 2000 h.p. (Type 4). 20, diesel-electric, of 1100
h.p, (Type 2).
English Electric Co., Ltd. 30 diesel-electric, of 2000 h.p. (Type 4).
The 33 locomotives of 2000 h.p. with hydraulic transmission were for use
in the Western Region and will be introduced from early 1960 all heavy passenger
and freight trains between London and the West of England. They represent
the final instalment of a scheme for the cornplete replacement of over 200
steam locomotives by 129 diesel-hydraulic locomotivcs on services west of
Newton Abbot, and on many through trains between Paddington, Bristol and
the West Countrv, Deliveries of the diesel-electric locomotives of both power
ranges wiII begin in 1959.
Northbound Heart of Midlothian approaching Offord &Buckden,
hauled by Type 4 English Electric l-Co-Co-l diesel- electric locomotive No.
D206. 180. photograph
Intensive use was being made of five of these locomotives on the East
Coast main line in the winter schedules, which call for a weekly rostered
mileage of more than 4500 per unit.
No. 794 (October 1958)
Diesel locomotive utilisation on the Eastern Region, British Railways.
181-2. 2 illustrations, table
Tablle shows weekly rostered mileage of more than 4500 per unit mainly
on Newcastle to King's Cross workings (including some freight and overnight
sleeper services and on Sheffield Pullman.
Dieselisation & electrification on the L.M.R. 182-4. 2 photographic
illustrations, 2 artists impressions, diagram (side elevation & plan)
Stoke maintenance depot; impressions of diesel Pullman and electic
multiple unit and locomotive and diagram and plan of St. Pancras to Bedford
diesel multiple unit outer suburban train
Multiple operation of Union Pacific gas turbine units. 184.
Cecil J. Allen. Diesel-hydraulic main line locomotive performance
on the Western Region. 185-7. 2 illustrations
North British A-1-A+A-1-A Ark Royal on down Cornish Riviera
non-stop to Plymouth. Arrival 4 minutes early. 92 mile/h mamimum speed
near Taunton. Speeds attained on South Devon banks comparable to those of
good club cyclist or by Grayling's bi-modes
Wickham railbuses foor B.R. 187-9. 3 illustrations, table.
Five supplied by D. Wickham & Co. Metalastik Cushyfoot
mountings. Radius arm controlled axleboxes. Air operated sliding doors.
Gear change as on London TRansport buses. Six cylinder Meadows diesel engine.
Seats for 44 paseengers plus four on tip up seats. In service on Buntingford
branch
The New York Central "Flexi-van" road-rail system. 190. 3
illustrations
Fruehauf Trailer Company, Detroit
O.S. Nock. The locomotives of Sir William Stanier. Part
V. 191-6. 4 illustrations, diagram, tables
Turbine locomotive: in effect an abstract of
Bond ILocoE Paper 458. Records rebuilding
as reciprocating Pacific Princess Anne with photograph of her leaving
Crewe by P. Ransome-Wallis..
New Fowler hydraulic-mechanical shunting locomotives. 196-7. illustration,
diagram, table
Schneider torque converter and Wilson epicyclic gearbox. Leyland/Albion
185 b.h.p. diesel engine
New South Wales interurban electric units. 197-8. illustratiuon, diagram
(plan)
Commonwealth Engineering Co. supplying forty motor cars and forty
trailer cars for 1500 V dc Sydney-Lithgow (Blue Mountains) and Sydney-Gosford
sections. Budd staiinless steel Shotweld construction.
English Electric diesels for East Africa. 198
Eight main line diesel electric locomotives ordered by East African
Railways & Harbours from English Electric: 1800 hp at an altitude of
5500 feet. Capable of handling 700 ton trains. Class 90 1-C-C-1 layout
News of the month. 198-200
B.R. diesel multiple units. 198
English Electric had received an order for 600 h.p. for diesel elctric
equipment to upgrade the Southern Region Hampshire diesel electric multiple
units for four motor coaches, four driving trailers and 22 non-driving trailers
to enable the two car units to be enlarged to three car units.
The North Eastern Region was introducing four car diesel units on the Yorkn
to Harrogate service; two car units on the Newcastle to Sunderland and Sunderland
to South Shields services and was receiving some Derby light weight
units.
British electrification developments. 198-9
A British Thomson Houston silicon power rectifier had been installed
in one of the motor coaches on the Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham line.
The Colchestrer to Clacton branch electrified at 25 kV was being used to
run trials of the rolling stock intended fpr London Tilbury & Southend
services. These English Electric units had seats for 344 second class and
19 first class passengers and were equipped with double bolster bogies. The
foundations for the overhead supports for electrification were being constructed
between Jordanhill and Kilpatrick for thge Glasgow northside system.
Two new German specialised wagors. 199. 2 illustrations
Shown at the Brussels Exhibition.Gantry-type wagon built by Waggonfabrik
Talbot; the raised hopper to allow direct gravity unloading to lorry, conveyor
belt or other device. Road-rail vehicle with separate rood and rail wheels,
built by Christaph Schöttler Maschinenfabrik and Waggon und Maschinenbau
Donauwörth. In this the buffer coupling wheel asse:nbly is rolled into
position whilst the vehicle is jacked up, the road wheels being then high
enough to clear the track,
New end-loading vans for British Railways Ferry Services. 199.
illustration
Since the notes on the general utility vans were published in our
August issue we learn that a production batch of the four-wheel vans is now
being placed in service. These vehicles, built at Lancing Works, Southern
Region, are virtually identical to the prototype four-wheel general utility
van built in 1956, but are regarded as freight vehicles since they are painted
brown and numbered in the wagon stock series. The vans, which are intended
for the conveyance of cars and other traffic between Great Britain and the
Continent, incorporate a number of detail modifications compared with the
prototype. These include the provision of attachments on the solebars to
take the ropes securing the vans while on board ship, the fitting of Continental
type large buffers and drawgear, Westinghouse air brakes in addition to the
normal vacuum and hand brakes, through electric jumper cables and modified
wheel tyre profile. Accommodation for cars is rather limited as it is possible
to take only two cars of the 8-10 h.p. range or one vehicle if it is more
than about 15 ft. in length.
Former Devon Belle Pullman observation car on North Wales Land Cruise
train at Barmouth. P.H. Wells (photographer). 199. illustration
This and its companion vehicle, working between Glasgow and Obnn,
had been repainted in British Railways maroon.
B.R. diesel orders. 199
Orders for diesel locomotives and rolling stock placed by the British
Transport Commission comprised four l65-h.p. diesel-electric and three 88-h.p.
diesel- mechanical shunting units from Ruston & Hornsby Ltd. and eight
diesel parcels vans from the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co.
Ltd. The shunting locomotives were allocated to the Civil Engineers' depots
of the Western and North Eastern Regions. The parcels vans, powered by twin
230 h.p. engines and with driving cabs at each end, would be used in the
Western and London Midland Regions.
Henschel diesels for South African Railways. 199-200
Seven 75-ton four-axle diesel-hydraulic locomotives were being built
by Hensche1 for the South African Railways, which will probably use them
in the Transvaal. They will be powered by two General Motors 6-567C engines
of 710 h.p. each, driving two Voith L.306r hydraulic transmissions. Their
continuous rated tractive effort will be 38,000 lb. at 10 m.p.h. These
locomotives were additional to the 45 General Electric Universal-type Bo-Bo
diesel-electric units delivered to S.A.R.
Brush A-1-A-A-1-A 1,250 h.p, diesel-electric locomotive. 200. 2 illustrations
Locomotive No. 5511 had been on trial on the Highland, West Highland,
Waverley and Aberdeen-Edinburgh routes of the Scottish Region; it has now
returned to the Eastern Region. Illustrctions show it alongside 0-4-0 saddle
tank No. 56011 at Inverness Motive Power Depot [F.E. Rowley] and entering
lnvergordon on Wick-Inverness test train [E.J. Dew]
Metrovick CoB 1,200 h.p. diesel-electric locomotive No. 5700 at Derby. photograph by A.N. Yeates. 200
South African Railways 1958-59 Budget . 200
The largest increase in the current estimates of the South African
Railways was that for new locomotives and rolling stock from
£105,074,400 in 1957-58 to £150,869,000. Of this sum, £27,956,774
to be spent in 1958-59, an increase of £14,047,250 over the preceding
year. There is no provision for the purchase of more steam locomotives, and
future expenditure on motive power is now directed to electric and diesel
locomotives. The total estimate for electric locomotives has increased from
£12,280,000 in last year's estimates to £2:0,850,000; a new item
indicates that another large order for electric locomotives will be placed,
covering .110 Class 5E units at a cost of £7,000,000. The increase in
the estimates for new diesel locomotives is from £9,175,000 in 1957-58
to £14,785,000. Forty-five diesel-electric locomotives had been delivered
and the first of seven German-builr diesel-hydraulics was expected. Additional
items in the estimates cover the purchase of 55 more main line and 21 branch
line diesels. Five three-car diesel units are also being acquired. In addition
to the sum allowed for the present deliveries of suburban electric rolling
stock, a new amount, totalling £5,001,200, has been included for 292
lightweight trailers. Another new item relates to 102 electric motor coaches,
at a cost of £3,876,000. The current estimates for goods vehicles are
£61,330,100, compared with £37,401,600 in 1957-58. The estimate
for diesel running sheds had gone up from £595,000 to £905,400,
accounted for by the addition of £90,400 to the cost of the Gerrniston
sheds and the provision of £220,000 for sub-depot facilities at De Aar,
Upington and in South West Africa.
MetropoIitan-Carnmell sponsors new South African rolling stock manufacturing
company. 200
The Metropolitan-CammeIl Carriage &Wagon Co. Ltd. and Dorman,
Long (Africa) Ltd. jointly sponsored a new company in South Africa, called
Metro-Donnan Carriage Company (Pty.) Ltd., to construct passenger rolling
stock in South Africa. The initial intention is to manufacture lightweighr
steel coaches in an extension of the wagon works of Dorman, Long (Africa)
Ltd., Germiston, where wagons had been built since 1944. When production
demands, the new company will build its own plant.
Australian Rolling Stock Manufacturers Export Group. 200
Eleven Australian manufacturers of diesel locomotives and rolling
stock formed an export group called The Railway Rolling Stock Manufacturers'
Association of Australia. Its object is 'Cl foster and develoo exports of
Australian- manufactured railway equipment. The group provides emnloyrnent
directly and indirectly for 25,000 skilled employees and has an annual turnover
of some £A17,000,000.· The firms concerned were: Clyde Industries
Ltd.; Commonwealth Engineering Co. Ltd.; A. E. Goodwin Ltd.; Evans, Deaki:1
& Co. Ltd.; Moriscn & Bearbv Ltd.; Tulloch Ltd.; Vickers, Hoskins
Ltd.; A. Goninan & Co. Ltd.; Bradford Kendall Ltd.; Industrial Steels
Ltd.; and Tomlinson Steel Ltd .
Spanish Railways modernisation. 200
The Spanish National Railways have issued details of a new five-year
modernisation plan. The total cost is to be 24,700 million pesetas.
Electrification is to be extended to all lines running north from Madrid
and not so far converted, to Saragossa and, later, to Barcelona and also
to lines south of Seville. Motive power and rolling stock requirements are
:-
50 high-power diesel locomotives 162 350-h.p. and 70 130-h.p. diesel shunting
locomotives
Conversion to oil burning of 100 steam locomotives
Ten 172-passenger railcars
30 light railcars
11 324-passenger Talgo-type trains
15 Talgo locomotives
100 coaches
130 vans
10,000 wagons
400 ore hopper wagons
50 tank wagons
No. 795 (November 1958)
Driving wheel diameter, coupled wheels and speed.
201-2.
In the last years of steam locomotive building in Great Britain,
construction has concentrated almost exclusively on locomotives of mixed
traffic types, with coupled wheels of moderate diameter, in order to make
them suitable for passenger or freight haulage at will. The purpose, of course,
is maximum potential utilisation. Express engines with the traditional driving
wheel diameter of 6 ft. 6 in. to 7 ft. are limited in their tractive effort,
and thus in their ability to handle heavy freight trains; in general, therefore,
at the end of a lengthy outward journey an express locomotive may remain
idle for several hours awaiting a suitable return assignment. With improved
front end design, however, the modern mixed traffic locomotive with coupled
wheels of from 6 ft. to 6 ft. 2 in. diameter is constantly demonstrating
its capacity to travel at speeds almost if not fully equal to those of the
larger-wheeled express engines, so that an engine of the former type can
tackle freight or passenger duties with equal competence. So, over any main
line or in any area where fairly dense passenger and freight traffic is operated,
it is possible to arrange the rosters of mixed traffic locomotives in such
a way that the maximum possible proportion of their working day is spent
in the movement of traffic. Up to the end of the last century the preference
of not a few railways in the express passenger realm was for locomotives
with single driving wheels of 7 ft. 6 in. to 8 ft. diameter. Although their
adhesion weight might be no more than 18 to 20 tons at most, this was adequate
with the light train-loads commonly hauled, and it was considered that the
absence of coupling-rods was of advantage in reducing the internal resistance
of the locomotive. But with the introduction of corridor stock, the weight
of trains began to increase considerably, and additional adhesion became
a necessity; the result was the gradual abandonment of the "single-drivers",
and concentration on coupled types. While the latter were mainly four-coupled
engines, by 1899 the North Eastern Railway was introducing its first 4-6-0
express locomotives, while the Great Western Railway followed suit in 1902.
But whereas the N.E.R. from 1903 until all but the end of its independent
existence joined the other East Coast Companies in building 4-4-2 rather
than 4-6-0 locomotives for express passenger service, the G.W.R. concentrated
on the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, and soon demonstrated, with the help of
Churchward's high steam pressure, enlarged steam-pipes, passages and cylinder
ports, long-lap and long-travel piston-valves, and full regulator and short
cut-off working, that six-coupled engines could more than match any existing
single or four-coupled types in sustained high speed capacity,
In subsequent years all the world's principal speed records with steam have
been made by locomotives with six-coupled driving wheels. They include the
43 miles covered by the L.N.E.R. Pacific Silver Link at an average
of 100 m.p.h. in 1935, the 113 m.p.h, attained by the sister engine Silver
Fox in 1936, and, of course, the historic 126 m.p.h. "blue riband" for
steam secured by Mallard in 1938, an engine of the same type but with
the advantage, in regard to freedom of exhaust, of a double blast-pipe and
double chimney. These maxima were attained with driving wheels of 6 ft. 8
in. diameter, and they were matched by the 114 m.p.h. reached in 1937 by
the L.M.S.R. Pacific Coronation, with 6 ft. 9 in. wheels. With the
German streamlined Pacific No. 05.002. a party of members of the Institution
of Locomotive Engineers was entertained in 1936 to a maximum speed on the
level of 118 m.p.h., and another engine of the same type was credited with
a top speed of 124 m.p.h., in this case with 7 ft. 6 in. coupled wheels.
In the United States one of the fine 4-6-4 locomotives of the Chicago, Milwaukee,
St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, built for working the Hiawatha
streamlined trains" has maintained an average speed of 104.9 m.p.h. over
48 miles of level track continuously. These engines, since displaced by
diesel-electric power and scrapped, had 7 ft. driving wheels.
Until about the 1930s most of the British locomotives built for mixed traffic
service, with driving wheels of from 5 ft. 8 in. to 6 ft. or 6 ft. 3 in.
diameter, were sluggish machines, rarely attaining any speed much in excess
of 60 m.p.h., and except in emergency not used on any passenger work other
than the haulage of moderately-timed excursion trains. But as improved front-end
design became general, so the speed potential of the mixed traffic types
began to increase, until with such engines as the extensively built Stanier
Class 5 4-6-0s on the L.M.S.R. 80 m.p.h. speeds in passenger service became
cornmon, and an ability was displayed on occasion even with 6 ft. wheels
to attain 90 m.p.h. Equally a 6 ft. Western Region Hall 4-6-0, called upon
at short notice to take over the up Bristolian after a failure of
the train engine, has covered the 77.3 miles from Swindon to the Paddington
stop in 59 min. 37 sec., with from 80 to 84 m.p.h. maintained for 57 miles
continuously. Finally, when the Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacifies were introduced
in 1941 and the light West Country Pacifies in 1945, although with 6 ft.
2 in. driving wheels they have teen classed nominally as mixed traffic
locomotives these designs were intended for passenger service exclusively,
and both have shown themselves to be among the speediest locomotives the
country has known. But in the last two decades high speed records have been
made with locomotives having still smaller driving wheels, and, moreover,
with more pairs coupled. The second notable rebuilding carried out by Chapelon,
when he was in charge of Paris-Orleans locomotive design, was a conversion
of a Pacific to the 4-8-0 wheel arrangement, with 5 ft. 11 in. driving wheels,
compound propulsion, oscillating-cam poppet-valves, thermic syphons, and
a working pressure of 290 lb. per sq. in. With a 635-ton train, worked from
Calais to Paris, one of these engines was timed in 1935 to maintain an average
of 79.7 m.p.h. over 46.6 miles of level track, and to reach a maximum of
91 m.p.h. down 1 in 200. Still more surprising was the feat of one of the
highly efficient J class 4-8-4 locomotives of the Norfolk & Western Railway,
U.S.A., in attaining 110 m.p.h. on level track with a train of 935 tons weight,
but with the considerable assistance of roller bearings through-out both
locomotive and coaches.
These reflections have been prompted by an extraordinary performance in August
last by one of the new Class 9 heavy 2-10-0 British Railways standard freight
locomotives. As is generally known, these were used extensively on passenger
service during last summer on such trains as the former steam-hauled Master
Cutler and the South Yorkshireman; on the occasion now under review
one of them was attached at Grantham to the up Heart of Midlothian",
to work this train to Kings Cross. After clearing Stoke Summit, No. 92184,
hauling a train with a tare weight of 462 tons and a gross weight of 485
tons, attained 78 m.p.h. by Corby Glen, 86 by Little Bytham, and 90 before
Essendine, keeping up an average of all but 86 m.p.h. for 12!- miles. At
the 90 m.p.h. speed, the 5 ft. driving wheels were revolving 8!- times per
second, and the 21 ft. 8 in. coupling rods were moving round a circle of
2 ft. 4 in. diameter at the same speed. Later on in the same journey the
engine maintained from 75 to 78 m.p.h. for some distance on practically level
track. One could hardly imagine that such speeds, if attained frequently
with ten-coupled 5 ft. diameter wheels, would be beneficial from the main-
tenance point of view, but such a performance is of considerable interest
as a measure of the vast change which has taken place during the past
half-century in the relation between driving wheel diameter, the coupling
of wheels, and maximum attainable speed.
Loconotive testing at Rugby: regulator tests. 202-5.
5 diagrams
With certain large locomotives, especially those with a high boiler
pressure, it has occasionally been found very difficult to close a regulator
of the sliding type in the event of the engine slipping severely. When the
engine slips, with the regulator only partly open, there is a relatively
high pressure drop through the regulator, imposing an increased load on the
face of the slide and this load may be so great that it becomes beyond a
man's strength to move the slide against friction, even with the large leverage
usually provided by the regulator handle and linkage. In the case of a regulator
in the dome, it is not practicable to lubricate the regulator slide, as can
be done with a similar regulator in the smokebox, because any excess lubricant
would find its way into the boiler where its presence would be most unwelcome.
This trouble was found to occur occasionally with the BR Standard Class 9
2-10-0. An attempt to lubricate the slide of the regulator with a coating
of molybdenum disulphide proved to be effective for only a few days and thought
was given to the fitting of a smaller regulator, as the total pressure on
the smaller slide would be less and so the force needed to move it would
be less and, possibly, a smaller total movement would enable the leverage
to be greater. It has, however, been regarded as a matter of good design
to provide a large cross sectional area for the whole steam circuit of modern
locomotives and the question naturally arose of how great an effect the reduction
of area of the regulator parts would have on the normal performance of the
locomotive. The work of Chapelon, in particular, has shown the great benefits
that accrue from the provision of steam passages of ample size, so that any
step in the opposite direction might be regarded as retrograde and harmful.
Only an actual test could show if the proposed change was sufficiently harmful
to matter or to warrant some other more costly solution of rhe problem. The
essential parts of the regulator originally fitted to the B.R. Standard Class
9 are shown in Fig. 53.. This regulator is of the type in which the main
valve consists of a slide, with a number of slots in it, which moves over
a horizontal surface, with a number of similar slots also, on the body of
the regulator and which carries a smaller slotted pilot valve. Fig. 54 shows
how the port opening increases in area as the regulator is opened. The horizontal
scale shows both the movement of the pin and that of the main valve after
the lost motion has been taken up. The diagram refers only to the opening
and not to the closing of the valve, when the effect of the lost motion is
to leave the main valve open, whilst the pilot valve closes, so that movement
of the pin at first has very little effect in reducing the area that is open.
When this valve is fully open the area through the ports is
34.2in2. The regulator that it was proposed to substitute for
the original one is that normally fitted to the B.R Standard Class 4 2-6-4
tank engine, having a maximum port area of 24.3 sq. in.. The essential parts
of this regulator are shown in Fig. 55. For the purpose of the test, however,
a new regulator was not fitted but a special stop was applied to the large
regulator to stop die slide in the appropriate position. The resistance to
flow through the larger regulator thus partly open would probably be a little
greater than that through the smaller regulator with its valve fully open
and the slots in the valve and in the head correctly in line with one another.
The usual stop on the operating handle was removed so that there was no doubt
that the regulator valve was really moved right on to the stop of the regulator
itself whether in the fully open or in the restricted position.
See also letter from E.V.M. Powell on p. 240
Two more historic locomotives preserved. 205. 2 illustrations
GNSR D40 No. 62277 Gordon Highlander and L&YR 2-4-2T No.
1008 ex-BR No. 50624
Dual-voltage electric multiple-units for the Brussels-Amsterdam service.
206-8. illustration. 2 diagrams
Twelve two car units capable of operating on 3000V or 1500V with
pantographs for each voltage built by Werkspoor
O.S. Nock. The locomotives of Sir William Stanier. VI. 208-14. 6
illustrations, 10 tables
Class 4 2-6-4T evolved from excellent Fowler design, but the initial
Stanier locomotives were a three-cylinder variant and this was followed by
a two-cylinder version with a higher route availability. Nock does
not postulate a reason for the three-cylder version, although these were
always associated with Southend services. Details of performance between
Bushey and Euston in which the two and three cylinder types and the Fowler
original all operated were remarkably similar. The 8F 2-8-0 is then
comsidered
More Barclay diesel shunters for British Railways. 214. illustration,
table
Andrew Barclay 204hp diesel-mechanical 0-4-0: No. D2413
illustrated
Diesels as assistants to Milwaukee electric locomotives. 215
Between Avery, Idaho, and Deer Lodge, Montana.
New B.R. multiple units. 215
Derby light weight unit at Whitby Town (M. Mensing) and Western Region
Cross Country unit built by Gloucester R.C.&W. Co. (R.J. Sharpe)
G.T. Bevan. Track weight and bogie type considerations in changing
from steam to diesel operation. 216-17. 4 tables.
The balance weights used on steam locomotives led to pounding
and stress on the permanent way. Initially the designers of diesel locomotives
tended to be excessively cautious and the A1A-A1A layout was adopted, but
this reduced the weight available for adhesion and many American locomotives
of this type were converted to Co-Co. or Bo-Bo to increase their haulage
capacity and adhesion
New electric multiple-units for British Railways, Eastern Region.
217-18
For London, Tilbury & Southend Line
Motive power changes on the Great Eastern Line.
218. 2 illustrations
Photograph of No. 72009 Clan Stewart leaving Colchester on
a Clacton to Liverpool Street service (K.L. Cook) and No. 70000
Britannia leaving Sheffield Victoria with Liverpool to Harwich boat
train (J.K. Morton): caption gives details of complex working.
Diesel developments on the Great Northern Line of British Railways, Eastern
Region. 218-19. illustration
Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd. Type 2 diesel-electric
locomotives allocated for use between King's Cross and Hitchin and Hertford
North; also Craven's two-car dmus
New stock for London Transport Central Line. 219-20
Twelve prototype motor cars ordered from Cravens Ltd to be used in
association with reconditioned trailer cars from the Piccadilly Line
[22-ton Platefit wagons]. 219. 2 illustrations
Modified at Shildon for conveying containers and equipped with SKF
roller bearings to work Freight Liner service between Hendon and Gushetfaulds
Glasgow.
News of the month. 220
Kent Coast electric stock. 220
Eastleigh turning out a series of four-car units (CEP and BEP) at
rate of three per fortnight
More Western Region diesel multiple-unit trains. 220
Being built by Pressed Steel Co. at Paisley and Birmingham Railway
Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd for Paddington suburban services and in the
Bristol area and in Devon and Cornwall.
Book reviews. 220
Directory of Railway Officials and Year Book, 1958-59. Tothill Press
Twenty locomotive men. C. Hamiilton Ellis.
Ian Allan
Just before WW2 Hamilton Ellis began in The Locomotive a series
of entertaining essays on some of the better-known British locomotiveengineers
of yesteryear. They were well received and now Ian Allan Ltd., with which
the Locomotive Publishing Co. is associated, has had the happy idea of presenting
some of the essays in book form, augmented by new contributions from Mr.
Ellis to bring the number up to the "Twenty" of the title. The earlier essays
have been amended where necessary in the light of the author's later researches.
The result is an engrossing collection spanning almost a century- and-a-half,
from the birth of its first subject, William Bridges Adams, to the death
of Sir John Aspinall twenty-one years ago. Autocrats to a man, knowing just
what they wanted, and getting it, Mr. Ellis's characters were diverse enough
in temperament. The apparently unspeakable Craven, unlikeable Webb and
ill-starred Sacre rub shoulders with the jovial bon viveur William
Adams and the firm but kindly Manson. The Railway Age bred them, they were
of it, though a few outlasted it. Now all have passed and we shall nut see
their like again.
[Duke of Edinburgh inspecting British Timken stand]. 220. illustration
Brussels Exhibition
No. 796 (December 1958)
The mechanics of the train.. 221-2. illustration
Abstract of Institution of Locomotive
Engineers Paper 588 by S.O. Ell.
Cecil J. Allen. Electric locomotive performance on the
Bern-Lötscberg-Simplon Railway. 223-7. 6 illustrations, table
Locomotive development including the Be 5/7 1-E-1 type with
Krauss-Helmholz trucks at both ends; the Be 6/8 1Co-Co1 with Sécheron
individual axle drive and Ae 4/4 Bo-Bo. There were also powerful electric
railcars. A cab ride from Spiez to Brigue is descibed.
Wickham articulated railcar for Brazil-Bolivia Railway. 227-9. 4
illustrations, diagram (side elevation)
For the Corumba Santa Cruz section. Fitted with B.U.T. engines
J.N. Westwood. Liquified gas locomotive in Russia. 229-30. 4
diagrams
Two papers presented in Soviet journal Railway Transport which
described experiments at Baku to burn liquified natural gas (mainly propane)
in a steam locomotive boilers. Another experiment in the North Caucasus described
using a propane/butane mixture as liquid gas.
Metropolitan-Vickers 1200 h.p. diesel-electric locomotives. 231-5.
2 illustrations, 2 diagrams (including 2 side elevations, lleft and right
& plan)
Crossley two-stroke engine
Stone's equipment for railway service. 235-8. 3 illustrations
Exhibition of its products at its works. Included Stone-Faiveley
pantograph, inter-coach electricity coupler (Stone-Keops couplers); Stone-Mekydro
hydraulic power transmissions; Stone-Vapor steam generators for heating and
pressure ventilation and air conditioning equipment.
Notes visit by Insitution of Locomotive
Engineers on 31 October 1958
Hunslet diesels for Scottish Region. 238. illustration
201 h.p. diesel mechanical 0-6-0
A collapsible light alloy container for B.R. 239. 2 illustrations
Neoprene sealing strip. Experimental
News of the month. 239-40
Davey, Paxman agreement with French firm. 239
Sociét des Forges et Chamtiers de la Meditérranée
to build Paxman YL diesel engine at Le Havre
New diesel multiple-units for B.R. 239
100 cars to be poweered by single 238 h.p. Rolls Royce engine: 50
to be fitted with torque converter rtansmission
Completion of new diesel depot at Stratford, Eastern Region. 239-40.
illustration
Boasting asbestos sheeting! Photograph shows inside depot: on extreme
right Brush 1,250 h.p Type 2 diesel-electric is being lubricated with the
aid of a Wakefield oil dispenser mounted on a Worksaver truck. On the adjacent
road a Type 4 English-Electric 2,000 h.p. diesel electric. undergoes an
inspection of cab equipment.
Letters . 240
Regulator tests. E.V.M. Powell.
Re article on November Locomotive: it appears that trouble is experienced
in shutting a slide valve regulator, when a relatively high pressure drop
occurs through the regulator due to severe slipping. I have never handled
a slide valve regulator with as much as 250 psi. on it, but from experience
with 180 psi engines I can well believe it. What astonishes me is the adherence
in modern locomotive design to the old slide valve regulator. There are at
least two types of regulator on the market that do not suffer from the trouble
described, are easy to open or close, and offer fine control of steam admission,
without having to tug on the regulator handle; I refer to the M.L.S. multiple
valve regulator and the Joco regulator. My experience of the former was limited,
but once the stiffness of the external operating gear had worn off, the operation
was easy and smooth. The Joco regulator, I found, was the answer to the
engineman's prayer. Its three concentric poppet valves provide a very nicely
graduated control, and the pilot valve gives just enough steam to run the
engine light about the yard, with no risk of slipping.
I am sure in my own mind that a lot of the violent slipping of the Southern
Region Pacifies is due to the absence of an intermediate valve in their poppet
valve regulators, their pilot valve being very small, and the main valve
unduly large. In the light of the Rugby tests it looks as though the S.R.
Pacifies could do with a smaller regulator.
To make pilot valves smaller, as suggested in the penultimate para. of your-
article, without providing an intermediate valve would reduce conditions
to that of the S.R. Pacifies.
I am well aware of the dislike of home railway locomotive departments of
purchasing any proprietary article (it was F. W. Webb's boast that every
bit of his locomotives was made in Crewe except the rubber vacuum fittings),
but it does seem a pity that so little use seems to have been made of one
of these two excellent regulators, and apparently no extensive trial carried
out of the other. I have handled all sorts, rotary, ... double- beat, slide
and these two modern ones, and the Joco arid M.L.S. are, in my opinion,
unequalled.
Wagon bearing unit. 240. 2 illustrations
Developed by British Timken Limited, in conjunction with the Western
Region of British Railways, for application to existing wagon bogie. New
5 ft. 6 in. wagon bogie built by the Metropolitan Cammell Railway Carriage
& Wagon Co. Ltd. and fitted with British Timken wagon bearing
units.