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PRR S2
The Pennsylvania Railroad's S2 class was a steam turbine locomotive designed and built in a collaborative effort by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, as an attempt to prolong the dominance of the steam locomotive by adapting technology that had been widely accepted in the marine industry. One was built, #6200, delivered in September 1944. The S2 was the sole example of the 6-8-6 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, with a six-wheel leading truck keeping the locomotive stable at speed, eight powered and coupled driving wheels, and a six-wheel trailing truck supporting the large firebox. The S2 used a direct-drive steam turbine provided by the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, geared to the center pair of axles with the outer two axles connected by side rods; the fixed gear ratio was 18.5:1. Such design was to prevent energy loss and S2 achieved a mechanical efficiency of 97% which means only 3% of steam energy was lost w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete when demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951, before merging with the Lima Locomotive Works, Lima-Hamilton Corporation on September 11, 1951, to form the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation. The company has no relation to the E.M. Baldwin and Sons of New South Wales, Australia, a builder of small diesel locomotives for sugar cane railroads. History: 19th century Beginning Matthias W. Baldwin, the founder, was a jeweler and whitesmith, who, in 1825, formed a partnership with machinist David H. Mason, and began making bookbinders' tools and cylinders for calico printing. Baldwin t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belpaire Firebox
The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and square in cross-section, indicated by the longitudinal ridges on the top sides. However, it is the similar square cross-section inner firebox which provides the main advantages of this design i.e. it has a greater surface area at the top of the firebox where the heat is greatest, improving heat transfer and steam production, compared with a round-top shape. The flat firebox top would make supporting it against pressure more difficult (e.g. by means of girders, or stays) compared to a round-top. However, the use of a similarly shaped square outer boiler shell allows simpler perpendicular stays to be used between the shells. The Belpaire outer firebox is, nevertheless, more complicated and expensive to manufacture than a round-top version. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynamometer Car
A dynamometer car is a railroad maintenance of way car used for measuring various aspects of a locomotive's performance. Measurements include tractive effort (pulling force), power, top speed, etc. History The first dynamometer car was probably one built in about 1838 by the "Father of Computing" Charles Babbage. Working for the Great Western Railway of Great Britain, he equipped a passenger carriage to be placed between an engine and train and record data on a continuously moving roll of paper. The recorded data included the pulling force of the engine, a plot of the path of the carriage and the vertical shake of the carriage. The work was undertaken to help support the position of the Great Western Railway in the controversy over standardizing the British track gauge. In the United States, the Pennsylvania Railroad began using dynamometer cars in the 1860s. The first modern dynamometer car in the United States was built in 1874 by P. H. Dudley for the New York Central Rai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PRR S1
The PRR S1 class steam locomotive (nicknamed "The Big Engine") was a single experimental duplex locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed to demonstrate the advantages of duplex drives espoused by Baldwin Chief Engineer Ralph P. Johnson. The streamlined Art Deco styled shell of the locomotive was designed by Raymond Loewy. The S1 had a unique 6-4-4-6 wheel arrangement, meaning that it had two pairs of cylinders, each driving two pairs of driving wheels. To achieve stability at fast passenger train speeds (above 100 mph), articulation was not used. The S1 was completed on January 31, 1939, at Altoona shop, and was numbered 6100. At overall, engine and tender, the S1 was the longest reciprocating steam locomotive ever; it also had the heaviest tender (451,840 lb / 205 tonnes), highest tractive effort () of a passenger steam engine when built and the largest driving wheels (7 feet in diameter) ever used on a locomotive with more than three driving ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PRR T1
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) class T1 duplex-drive 4-4-4-4 steam locomotives, introduced in 1942 with two prototypes and later in 1945-1946 with 50 production examples, were the last steam locomotives built for the PRR and arguably its most controversial. They were ambitious, technologically sophisticated, powerful, fast and distinctively streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ... by Raymond Loewy. However, they were also prone to Locomotive wheelslip, wheelslip both when starting and at speed, in addition to being complicated to maintain and expensive to run. The PRR decided in 1948 to place diesel locomotives on all express passenger trains, leaving unanswered questions as to whether the T1's flaws were solvable, especially taking into account that the tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altoona Works
Altoona Works (also known as Altoona Terminal) is a large railroad industrial complex in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was built between 1850 and 1925 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), to supply the railroad with locomotives, railroad cars and related equipment. For many years, it was the largest railroad shop complex in the world. History In 1849, PRR officials developed plans to construct a repair facility at a town newly established for this purpose, Altoona, Pennsylvania, Altoona. Construction was started in 1850, and soon a long building was completed in the 12th Street area that housed a machine shop, woodworking shop, blacksmith shop, locomotive repair shop and foundry. The 12th Street area facilities were replaced later by the Altoona Machine Shops. The first locomotive was built there in 1866. A total of 6,783 steam locomotive, steam, diesel locomotive, diesel and electric locomotives were manufactured in Altoona between 1866 and 1946. In time, additional PRR repair faci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, with which it shares a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western, Midwestern and West South Central United States. Founded in 1862, the original Union Pacific Rail Road was part of the first transcontinental railroad project, later known as the Overland Route. Over the next century, UP absorbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. In 1995, the Union Pacific merged with Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, completing its reach into the Upper Midwest. In 1996, the company merged with Southern Pacific Transportation Company, itself a giant system that was absorbed by the Denver and Rio Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Central Niagara
The New York Central Railroad's Niagara was a class of 27 steam locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company for the New York Central Railroad. Like many railroads that adopted different names for their 4-8-4s rather than “Northerns”, the New York Central named them “Niagaras”, after the Niagara River and Falls. The first Niagara was ordered in 1931: No. 800, an experimental locomotive that had its boiler divided into three sections of different pressure. This was another failed experiment in high pressure steam locomotives. By the 1940s, loads being hauled on the New York Central main line from New York to Chicago were as much as the famous J-class NYC Hudson 's could handle. The Chief of Motive Power for the railroad, Paul W. Kiefer, decided to order some 's which could sustain on the run between the two cities, day after day without respite. The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) proposed these locomotives, and although the class took inspiration from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Central
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest, along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse. The New York Central was headquartered in the New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal. The railroad was established in 1853, consolidating several existing railroad companies. In 1968, the NYC merged with its former rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad, to form Penn Central. Penn Central went into bankruptcy in 1970 and, with extensive Federal government support, emerged as Conrail in 1976. In 1999, Conrail was broken up, and portions of its system were transferred to CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), with CSX acquiring most of the NYC's eastern trackage and NS acquiring most o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smoke Deflector
Smoke deflectors, sometimes called "blinkers" in the UK because of their strong resemblance to the blinkers used on horses, and "elephant ears" in US railway slang, are vertical plates attached to each side of the smokebox at the front of a steam locomotive. They are designed to lift smoke away from the locomotive at speed so that the driver has better visibility. On the South Australian Railways they are called "valances". Overview Smoke deflectors became increasingly common on later steam locomotives because the velocity of the smoke exiting the chimney had been reduced as a result of efficiency gains obtained by improved smokebox design, such as the Kylchap exhaust and Giesl ejector, and as boilers became larger the size of the chimneys had to be reduced to maintain loading gauge. Styles Various styles of smoke deflectors have been used by different railway operators. However, many are essentially a variation of one of two designs of ''Windleitbleche'' (wind deflecting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smokebox
A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is exhausted to the atmosphere through the chimney (or funnel). Early locomotives had no smokebox and relied on a long chimney to provide natural draught for the fire but smokeboxes were soon included in the design for two specific reasons. Firstly and most importantly, the blast of exhaust steam from the cylinders, when directed upwards through an airtight smokebox with an appropriate design of exhaust nozzle, effectively draws hot gases through the boiler tubes and flues and, consequently, fresh combustion air into the firebox. Secondly, the smokebox provides a convenient collection point for ash and cinders ("char") drawn through the boiler tubes, which can be easily cleaned out at the end of a working day. Without a smokebox, all char m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
