Steam locomotive

“ The fascinations of a model steam locomotive, with its furnace, hissing of steam, business-like puffings, and a visible working of piston and connecting rods, are not to be denied, any more than that a full-sized steam locomotive is a more imposing object at rest or in motion than its electric rival. On the other hand, the ease of control already noticed, and the absence of burning fuel, water leakage, smoke and fumes, are strong points in favour of the electric track, which does no more harm to a carpet than to a front lawn, being essentially clean to handle. ”

“ Blackett that locomotive engines with smooth wheels could be employed in drawing loads on his tramroad; and the construction of an engine was immediately proceeded with. This was completed and put to work early in 1813. It had a cast-iron boiler, and a single internal flue; the solitary cylinder was 6in. in diameter, and a fly-wheel was employed after the model of Trevithick’s engine. The steam pressure was 50lb. This four-wheel engine drew six coal trucks at five miles an hour, and, therefore, did the work of three horses—not a very powerful example of a steam locomotive, it will be observed. ”

“ The construction of an ordinary steam locomotive is an intricate operation, necessitating machine-shops, erecting-shops, foundries, forges, etc., covering acres of ground, as at Crewe, Doncaster, Derby, or Swindon. Not a hundred engines are exactly alike in pattern, and each one is supposed to be composed of over five thousand different parts, all of which have to be stowed away in a necessarily limited space. ”

“ Although Walker and Rastrick had reported to the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in favour of stationary engines, there were some of them who were enlightened enough to be desirous of giving steam locomotives a fair trial. The Stephensons being locomotive engine builders, naturally were not behindhand in fully and frequently describing the superiority of locomotive traction. ”

“ A gas turbine loco which will be more powerful than No. 18000 is under con-struction in this country now. ‘But no one would dream of suggesting that the age of the steam locomotive is past in Britain. Indeed, for many years to come British Railways will have to depend mainly on the steam locomotive. Whether it’s intended for shunting or hauling goods trains, or for passenger expresses, as this one is, the steam loco is still a satisfactory piece of mechanism, and it is as fast as any rival form of traction. ”

“ The first steam locomotive that we know about, like that of Stephenson, was a crude mechanism with a primitive boiler and steam-chest and drive-wheels, and as a whole it had but a low degree of efficiency measured by our modern standard; but as time went on inventive genius changed one little part after another until greater and greater efficiency was obtained, and at the present time we find many varied products of locomotive evolution. ”

“ Here and there a steam engine will be saved, but the people of a different era will note them and quickly pass on, wondering. Only a few will pause to marvel and ponder over the development of the steam locomotive. ”

“ As we look back upon all the wonderful changes presented by the nineteenth century, from the steamship to the telegram, it is probably the steam engine which comes puffing into the centre of the picture as the greatest and most substantial innovation of them all. The locomotive indeed filled a priceless place in the scheme of things, for it linked up in a manner never before comprehended the goods and the market. ”

“ Not only does he save weight by carrying no coal or water and so put that weight into motive machinery—his strength to-day is 7000 horse-power as against but about 3000 of our largest steam locomotives—but he actually goes 5000 miles without having to receive the inspection attention that his old-fashioned steam brother apparently has to have at the end of 150. Which means that for days at a time—and even a week or a fortnight, if the necessity arises—he can remain in steady service, going from one train to another, and only changing crews. The locomotive is always ready. ”

“ Trevithick, who a few years earlier had constructed several successful steam vehicles for use on the highways, in February 1804 completed the construction of a machine at Pen-y-darran, near Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales, for use at the Pen-y-darran Iron Works of Samuel Homfray. It is thought to have been the first steam locomotive ever propelled along a railway.
The first trip was made on Monday, February 13, 1804. Among the several trips made by the locomotive was one of 9 miles, between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon, drawing 5 cars with a load of 10 tons of iron and 70 men. ”

“ Whilst railway officers, with the intelligence for which they are justly distinguished, have always evinced a proper desire to be acquainted with the evolution of the “steam horse,” the spread of education has increased and quickened a desire for knowledge concerning the locomotive amongst all classes in a remarkable manner. ”

“ In connection with the marvellous growth of our railway system there is nothing of so paramount importance and interest as the evolution of the locomotive steam engine.
At the present time it is most important to place on record the actual facts, seeing that attempts have been made to disprove the correctness of the known and accepted details relative to several interesting, we might almost write historical, locomotives. ”

“ Before closing these remarks on modern Great Western Railway locomotives, some description of No. 36 is necessary. Here again we have an adaptation of American practice—a six-wheels-coupled engine, with a leading bogie, and an extension, smoke-box. The cylinders are inside, 20in. diameter by 24in. stroke, with the steam chests below them. ”

“ Robinson, Leupold, and other writers and scientists, who hinted at the possibility of steam locomotion. Nor does the writer propose to discuss the alleged use of railways and steam locomotives in Germany at a date prior to their general introduction into England. The claims of Cugnot, Symington, Evans, Murdoch, and others as builders or designers of actual or model steam road locomotives will also be passed without discussion. ”

“ The following were the principal arguments which influenced his mind to work out the use of the locomotive in a directly opposite course to that pursued by a number of ingenious inventors, who, between 1820 and 1836, were engaged in attempting to apply steam-power to turnpike roads. Having ascertained that resistance might be taken as represented by 10 lbs. to a ton weight on a level railway, it became obvious to him that so small a rise as 1 in 100 would diminish the useful effort of a locomotive by upward of fifty per cent. ”

“ George Stephenson saw that the efficiency of locomotives must, in a great measure, depend upon what kind of roads they had to run upon. Many were sanguine that steam-carriages would some day come into use on common roads. After a long series of experiments George Stephenson said, "No, the thing wouldn't pay." For a rough surface seriously impairs the power of a locomotive; sand scattered upon the rails is sufficient to slacken and even stop an engine. ”

“ This “most powerful” locomotive was constructed for the 4ft. 81⁄2in. gauge on Fairlie’s double-bogie system. She had four cylinders, 15in. diameter and 22in. stroke, eight wheels, all drivers of 4ft. 6in. diameter, and with steel tyres.
Amongst other useful features claimed for this “most powerful” locomotive, we read that she “would take a load up an incline at a speed exceeding that of any other engine at present known, and would round the sharpest curves with ease.” ”

“ In addition to the coupled wheels there are also a pair of leading and a pair of trailing wheels. There is no steam dome, and the side tanks are as long as the boiler barrel, being extended on each side to the smoke-box. The inspection car is fixed on to the back of the coal bunker, its floor is some distance below the level of the engine frames, and the car is entered from a platform at the end, which is in turn entered from the outside by steps on either side, as in a tram-car. ”

“ Up to that time the inventive faculties of man had lain almost dormant, but with the advent of the steam-engine there commenced that splendid series of discoveries and inventions which have since, to use the words of Dr. Bruce, revolutionised the state of the world. Amongst these the most momentous in its consequences to the human race is the railway system— (cheers) —and with that system including the locomotive engine as its essential element, the name of George Stephenson will ever be pre-eminently associated. ”

“ With the 9ft. driving wheels the double piston strokes per minute at 60 miles an hour fall to 186, and consequently with so considerable a reduction in the movements of the reciprocating and rotating machinery of the locomotive, it is only reasonable to expect and obtain a much more steady movement of the machine. ”

“ The modern railway was created by the Stephensons in 1830, when they built the locomotive "Rocket." The development of the railway since is due to the development of the locomotive. Civil engineering has done much, but mechanical engineering has done more.
The invention of the steam-engine by James Watt, in 1773, attracted the attention of advanced thinkers to a possible steam [2] locomotive. Erasmus Darwin, in a poem published in 1781, made this remarkable prediction:
"Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! ”

“ It is not too much to say that the success of the locomotive depended upon the adoption of the steam-blast. Without that, by which the intensity of combustion, and the consequent evolution of steam, were maintained at the highest point, high rates of speed could not have been kept up, the advantages of the multitubular boiler afterwards invented could never have been fairly tested, and locomotives might still have been dragging themselves unwieldily along at little more than five or six miles an hour. ”

“ After the discovery of the power of steam, man toyed with the idea of a steam engine that could move itself. The implications of such an invention were far reaching. The first steps were taken in England in the early part of the nineteenth century and a locomotive which successfully hauled a train of vehicles was built there in 1825. The first American locomotive was the Tom Thumb built by Peter Cooper. ”

“ In 1815, therefore, we may say that the modern locomotive steam-engine came into existence, for it is this invention of the blast-pipe that gives it its life, and it is the mechanical adaptation of this and of the other organs of the steam-engine to locomotion that gives George Stephenson his greatest claim to distinction. ”

“ To most travellers time is more valuable than money, and so everything about a train is planned to facilitate rapid travelling. Almost every part of a locomotive is controlled from the cab, which prevents unnecessary stopping to correct defects; from his seat the engineer can let the condensed water out of the cylinders; he can start a jet of steam in the stack and create a draft through the fire-box; by the pressure of a lever he is able to pour sand on a slippery track, or by the manipulation of another lever a snow-scraper is let down from the cowcatcher. ”

“ The astonishment with which such performances must be viewed, might be qualified, if the art of transport by steam on railways had been matured, and had attained that full state of perfection which such an art is always capable of receiving from long experience, aided by great scientific knowledge, and the unbounded application of capital. But such is not the present case. The art of constructing locomotive engines, so far from having attained a state of maturity, has not even emerged from its infancy. ”

“ But probably the most important improvement in locomotive construction in recent years is the introduction of the compounding principle in the use of steam—a system whereby practically the entire energy of the steam is utilized, instead of a considerable portion of it being a dead loss, as in the older type of engine. As every one knows, the passage of the steam through a single cylinder of an engine does not exhaust its entire energy. ”

“ The steam vehicle for stationary purposes, and also for the locomotive, were being rapidly developed and refined. The railroad settled down to the idea of a power unit drawing numerous wagons. That has been consistently adhered to to the present day, and only in the past decade have we gone back to the old and first principles of embodying the mechanical propelling means in the same vehicle that transports the passengers or goods. ”

“ A short cylindrical dome was placed over the fire-box, and on this were fixed two “Salter” pattern safety valves, covered by a brass casing. [Pg 139]
“Light locomotives” was the popular name of tank engines when the general use of such engines was being urged as a method of reducing the working expenses of unremunerative railways. We have previously alluded to Mr. W. Bridges Adams and his combined engines and carriages. This gentleman and Mr. England were the principal advocates of the “light” locomotive, and both attained some success in connection therewith. ”

“ The locomotive needed something more, some magic touch to render it less clumsy and more effective. What was it?
Then came the first great practicable improvement after the smooth wheels on smooth rails. It was the steam-blast in the funnel, by which the draught in the furnace was greatly increased. Indeed, the faster the engine ran the more furiously the fire would burn, the more rapid would be the production of steam, and the greater the power of the engine. ”