1.
Swiss locomotive and railcar classification
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It started out as a uniform system for the classification and naming of all rolling stock, powered and unpowered, but had been replaced and amended by the UIC classification of goods wagons. The Swiss classification system was created by the Swiss federal railways department, in 1902, when the Swiss Federal Railways was founded as a government railway, that new railway also became bound by the system. The Swiss system is less precise than those other systems in the way it deals with axles, because it refers only to numbers, rather than to arrangements, of powered axles. The Swiss system is more a method of classifying locomotive. The classifications for which the Swiss system provides have always been adapted to new requirements. The last modification to the system occurred in 1968, with the publication of the Directory of the Rolling Stock of the Swiss Private Railways by the Swiss Federal Agency for Transport. For carriages and wagons, the system was progressively replaced from 1968 by the UIC international wagon classification system. However, all of Switzerlands powered rolling stock initially retained its Swiss type classification or class designation, the standard gauge private railways of Switzerland soon followed the example of the Swiss Federal Railways, and agreement was reached as to the allocation of number ranges. The narrow gauge railways have largely retained the old system for locomotives, railcars and passenger carriages, here is a description of the classification system as it operated up to 1989, and as it still operates in respect of narrow gauge private railway motive power. There is no provision for combining the codes A, B, C, D, E, G, R and T, the combination of H and G is possible. HG would therefore be a narrow gauge locomotive, with a mix of adhesion, since 1966, in respect of railcars and tractors, he or hm has meant pure rack rail drive, and eh or mh has meant a mix of adhesion and rack rail drive. Steam powered tank locomotives were given an E, and the maximum speed of the locomotive was designated with a lower case letter. Thus, an Ea 3/6 was a locomotive with vmax >80 kilometres per hour. With steam locomotives, separate driving mechanisms were displayed, so, for example, a Mallet locomotive was named G 2x2/2 or G 2/3+2/2, and not G 4/4 or G 4/5. Up until 1920, standard gauge locomotives were given the letter F. The class later designated as Be 5/7 was therefore originally named Fb 5/7, the designation R was originally intended for locomotives with an axle load of under 16 tonnes. These lightweight locomotives exert less stress on the rails when they negotiate curves, with the introduction of the Re 4/4II, the axle load limit was dropped following extensive testing. Several locomotives were given approval for higher cornering speeds, to which their type designation had not yet been adapted
2.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
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The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado. To create a demand for its services, the set up real estate offices. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult, the Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that included a tugboat fleet and an airline. Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, the AT&SF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercers On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, written for the film, The Harvey Girls. The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31,1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway was chartered on February 11,1859, to join Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, with Santa Fe, in its early years, the railroad opened Kansas to settlement. Much of its revenue came from wheat grown there and from cattle driven north from Texas to Wichita, rather than turn its survey southward at Dodge City, AT&SF headed southwest over Raton Pass because of coal deposits near Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, New Mexico. D&RG paid an estimated $1.4 million to Santa Fe for its work within the Gorge and agreed not to extend its line to Santa Fe, while Santa Fe agreed to forego its planned routes to Denver and Leadville. Building across Kansas and eastern Colorado was simple, with few natural obstacles and it set up real estate offices in the area and promoted settlement across Kansas on the land that was granted to it by Congress in 1863. It offered discounted fares to anyone who traveled west to land, if the land was purchased. AT&SF reached Albuquerque in 1880, Santa Fe, the destination of the railroad, found itself on a short branch from Lamy. In March 1881 AT&SF connected with the Southern Pacific at Deming, New Mexico, the railroad then built southwest from Benson, Arizona, to Nogales on the Mexican border where it connected with the Sonora Railway, which the AT&SF had built north from the Mexican port of Guaymas. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1866 to build west from Springfield, Missouri, the infant A&P had no rail connections. The line that was to become the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway would not reach Springfield for another four years, A&P started construction in 1868, built southwest into what would become Oklahoma, and promptly entered receivership. In 1879 A&P struck a deal with the Santa Fe and Frisco railroads to construct a line for each. The railroads would jointly build and own the A&P railroad west of Albuquerque, in 1883 A&P reached Needles, California, where it connected with an SP line. A&P also built a line between Tulsa, Oklahoma and St. Louis, Missouri for the Frisco, but the Tulsa-Albuquerque portion remained unbuilt, by January 1890, the entire system consisted of some 7,500 miles of track
3.
Baldwin Locomotive Works
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The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was originally located in Philadelphia, and later moved to nearby Eddystone, although the company was very successful as the largest producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of diesels was far less so. Later, when the demand for diesel locomotives to replace steam tapered off. It stopped producing locomotives in 1956 and went out of business in 1972, having produced over 70,000 locomotives and this company is not to be confused with E M Baldwin of Australia who made small locomotives for such things as sugar cane tramways. The Baldwin Locomotive Works had a humble beginning, the original engine was in use and powered many departments of the works for well over 60 years, and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The Camden and Amboy Railroad Company had shortly before imported a locomotive from England and it had not yet been assembled by Isaac Dripps when Baldwin visited the spot. He inspected the detached parts and made notes of the principal dimensions, aided by these figures, he commenced his task. The difficulties attending the execution of this first order were such that they are not easily understood by present-day mechanics. It was under such circumstances that his first locomotive, christened Old Ironsides, was completed and tried on the Philadelphia and it was at once put in active service, and did duty for over 20 years. It was an engine, weighing a little over five tons, the driving wheels were 54 inches in diameter. The wheels were of heavy cast iron hubs, with spokes and rims, and wrought iron tires. It had a 30 inches diameter boiler which took 20 minutes to raise steam, Baldwin struggled to survive the Panic of 1837. Production fell from 40 locomotives in 1837 to just nine in 1840, as part of the survival strategy, Matthias Baldwin took on two partners, George Vail and George Hufty. Although the partnerships proved relatively short-lived, they helped Baldwin pull through the hard times. Zerah Colburn was one of many engineers who had an association with Baldwin Locomotive Works. Colburn was full of praise for the quality of Baldwins work, in the 1850s, railroad building became a national obsession, with many new carriers starting up, particularly in the Midwest and South. While this helped drive up demand for Baldwin products, it increased competition as more companies entered the locomotive production field. Still, Baldwin had trouble keeping pace with orders and in the early 1850s began paying workers piece-rate pay, taking advantage of human nature, this increased incentives and productivity
4.
2-10-2
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In the United States of America and elsewhere the 2-10-2 is known as the Santa Fe type, after the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that first used the type in 1903. The 2-10-2 wheel arrangement evolved in the United States from the 2-10-0 Decapod of the Atchison, Topeka, consequently, the ATSF added a trailing truck to the locomotives which allowed them to operate successfully in both directions. These first 2-10-2 locomotives became the forerunners to the entire 2-10-2 family, the trailing truck allows a larger, deeper firebox than that of a 2-10-0. Like all ten-coupled designs, the rigid wheelbase of the coupled wheels presented a problem on curves, requiring flangeless drivers, lateral motion devices. The 2-10-2s inherent problem was the low speed restriction on the type, further, the 2-10-2 had other inherent restrictions. In addition the 2-10-2, like the 2-6-2, had its main rod connected to the coupled axle, very near to the centre of gravity. The peak of the 2-10-2 design limitations was reached in the United States in 1926 and was overcome with the advent of the superior 2-10-4 design. Locomotives with a 2-10-2 wheel arrangement were used in a number of countries around the world, including those in North America, Western Europe, China, continental Europe saw a fair number of 2-10-2s, although the type was always less popular than 2-8-2 Mikados and 2-10-0 Decapods. A large number of European 2-10-2s were tank locomotives, taking advantage of the nature of the wheel arrangement. The metre gauge General Manuel Belgrano Railway in Argentina operated the E2 series of 2-10-2 locomotives and these required modification by Livio Dante Porta to achieve their full potential. Ten more powerful examples were introduced into service in 1964, two classes of 2-10-2 locomotives were used in the Belgian Congo. Two locomotives were built by Du Haine Saint-Pierre for the CF du Congo Superieur aux Grands Lacs Africains in 1937 and they had 510 by 530 millimetres cylinders and 1,060 millimetres diameter coupled wheels, with a working order mass of 64.7 tonnes. One locomotive was built for the CF du Bas-Congo au Katanga by Société Anonyme John Cockerill in 1947, numbered 901, in 1916, Canadian National Railways took delivery of ten Class T-1-a 2-10-2s from an order made by the short-lived Canadian Government Railways and built by ALCO. Ten more were delivered from the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1918, Canadian Locomotive Company produced five T-2-as in 1924. Ten ALCOs named T-3-as were acquired from the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1928, Canadian Locomotive Company produced the last series of 2-10-2s for CNR, a batch of 15 T-4-as in 1929, and 18 T-4-bs in 1930. The 2-10-2s began to be scrapped in the mid-1950s, with the last models being used until 1961, there are two surviving CNR 2-10-2 locomotives. One is no.4008 on display at the CNR Station in Rainy River, ON, the mainstay of Chinese steam was their 2-10-2 locomotives. This was the arrangement of the Chinese QJ class locomotives that were based on the Soviet LV class
5.
2-8-4
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This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, though the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway used the name Kanawha for their 2-8-4s. In Europe, this arrangement was mostly seen in mainline passenger express locomotives and, in certain countries. In the United States of America, the 2-8-4 wheel arrangement was a development of the enormously successful United States Railroad Administration 2-8-2 Mikado. It resulted from the requirement for a locomotive with even greater steam heating capacity, the most practical solution was to add a second trailing axle to spread the increased weight of a larger firebox. The first American 2-8-4s were built for the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1925 by Lima Locomotive Works, the railroads route across the Berkshire mountains was a substantial test for the new locomotives and, as a result, the name Berkshire was adopted for the locomotive type. In Europe, 2-8-4 tender locomotives were designed mainly for passenger express trains, european 2-8-4 tank locomotives were a logical transition from the 2-8-2T locomotive types, allowing larger fireboxes and larger coal bunkers. They were mainly used for suburban services in heavily populated suburban areas of big cities. The Western Australian K-class was a class of 2-8-4T steam locomotives of the Western Australian Government Railways, between 1893 and 1898, the WAGR took delivery of 24 of these locomotives from Neilson and Company. They entered service on the Eastern Railway between Midland Junction and Northam, the South Australian Railways also operated 2-8-4s. Fleet construction commenced in 1930 and by the end of 1943, the design of these locomotives was based on American practices. After they were withdrawn from service by 1958, they were all scrapped, the heavy Class 214 1’D2’ two-cylinder simple expansion express passenger locomotive was developed in Austria in 1927. It was designed by engineers of the Floridsdorf Werke and was the largest Austrian steam locomotive, designed for the West railway express train service, they were to be used to haul 580 tons express trains from Wien Westbahnhof in Vienna over 317 kilometres to Salzburg. This mainline has three approximately 11. 3-kilometre long banks with gradients between 1 in 91 and 1 in 125, two prototypes were built in two-cylinder and three-cylinder versions. When tested, the two-cylinder version proved to be superior to the three-cylinder Class 114 version, in 1936, no.214.13 reached a speed of 156 kilometres per hour, the highest speed ever attained by an Austrian steam locomotive. The regular speed limit was 120 kilometres per hour, from 1938, the Deutsche Reichsbahn designated the locomotives class 12.0. In the summer of 1939, they hauled 600 tons express trains out of Vienna over Wienerwald at a speed of 65 kilometres per hour, in 1945, seven of these locomotives were taken over by the Soviet Military Administration when they occupied the Russian Zone in Austria. These locomotives had T painted before their numbers and were marked CCCP. The Russians did not transfer these locomotives out of Austria and, when they withdrew their forces in September 1955
6.
Driving wheel
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On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotives pistons. On diesel and electric locomotives, the wheels may be directly driven by the traction motors. Coupling rods are not usually used, and it is common for each axle to have its own motor. Jackshaft drive and coupling rods were used in the past but their use is now confined to shunting locomotives, on an articulated locomotive or a duplex locomotive, driving wheels are grouped into sets which are linked together within the set
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
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The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Its primary connections included Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, because of this extensive trackage in the midwest and mountain states, the railroad used the advertising slogans Everywhere West, Way of the Zephyrs, and The Way West. It merged into Burlington Northern in 1970, in 1967, it reported 19,565 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 723 million passenger miles, corresponding totals for C&S were 1,100 and 10 and for FW&D were 1,466 and 13. At the end of the year CB&Q operated 8,538 route-miles, C&S operated 708, the earliest predecessor of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Aurora Branch Railroad, was chartered by act of the Illinois General Assembly on October 2,1848. The Aurora Branch was built from Aurora, through Batavia, to Turner Junction in what is now West Chicago, the line was built with old strap rail and minimal, if any, grading. The line from Aurora to Chicago was built through the towns of Naperville, Lisle, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Berwyn. It was opened in 1864, and passenger and freight service began, regular commuter train service started in 1864 and remains operational to this day, making it the oldest surviving regular passenger service in Chicago. Both the original Chicago line, and to a lesser extent. With a steady acquisition of locomotives, cars, equipment, and trackage, the Burlington Route was able to enter the trade markets in 1862. From that year to date, the railroad and its successors have paid dividends continuously, the B&MR continued building west into Nebraska as a separate company, the Burlington & Missouri River Rail Road, founded in 1869. During the summer of 1870 it reached Lincoln, the designated capital of Nebraska and by 1872 it reached Kearney. That same year the B&MR across Iowa was absorbed by the CB&Q, by the time the Missouri River bridge at Plattsmouth, Nebraska was completed the B&MR in Nebraska was well on its way to the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado. That same year, the Nebraska B&MR was purchased by the CB&Q, Burlingtons rapid expansion after the American Civil War was based upon sound financial management, dominated by John Murray Forbes of Boston and assisted by Charles Elliott Perkins. Perkins was an administrator who eventually forged a system out of previously loosely held affiliates. Ultimately, Perkins believed the Burlington Railroad must be included into a powerful transcontinental system, though the railroad as far west as Denver and Billings, Montana, it had failed to reach the Pacific Coast during the 1880s and 1890s, when construction was less expensive. Though approached by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad, with its river line to the Twin Cities, the Burlington Route formed a natural connection between Hills home town of St. Paul, Minnesota, and the railroad hub of Chicago. Moreover, Hill was willing to meet Perkins $200-a-share asking price for the Burlingtons stock, by 1900, Hills Great Northern, in conjunction with the Northern Pacific Railway, held nearly 100 percent of Burlingtons stock. In 1901 a rebuffed Harriman tried to gain an indirect influence over the Burlington by launching a raid on the Northern Pacific
9.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
10.
Firebox (steam engine)
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In a steam engine, the firebox is the area where the fuel is burned, producing heat to boil the water in the boiler. Most are somewhat box-shaped, hence the name, the hot gases generated in the firebox are pulled through a rack of tubes running through the firebox boiler. In the standard steam locomotive type boiler, the firebox is surrounded by water space on five sides. The bottom of the firebox is open to atmospheric pressure, if the engine burns solid fuel, like wood or coal, there is a grate covering most of the bottom of the firebox to hold the fire. An ashpan, mounted underneath the firebox and below the grates, catches and collects hot embers, ashes, in a coal-burning locomotive, the grates may be shaken to clean dead ash from the bottom of the fire. They are shaken either manually or by a powered grate shaker, wood-burning locomotives have fixed grates that cant be shaken. Wood ash is generally powder which will fall through the grates with no more required than the vibrations of the locomotive rolling down the track. The fire grates must be replaced due to the extreme heat they must endure. Combustion air enters through the bottom of the firebox and airflow is usually controlled by damper doors above the ash collection pocket of the ash pan, a locomotive that burns liquid fuel - usually Bunker C fuel oil or similar heavy oil - does not have grates. Instead, they have a metal gauge firing pan bolted tight against the bottom of the firebox. The firing pan is covered with firebrick and the firebox has a lining, usually up to the level of the firebox door. The oil burner is a nozzle containing a slot for the oil to flow out onto a steam jet which atomizes the oil into a fine mist which ignites in the firebox. The oil burner nozzle is mounted in the front of the firebox, protected by a hood of firebrick. Dampers control air flow to the oil fire, there is a large brick arch the front third to half of the firebox. It is supported on arch tubes, thermic syphons, or circulators, the brick arch directs heat, flames, and smoke back over the fire towards the rear of the firebox. Visible smoke contains unburned combustible carbon particles and combustible gasses, the purpose of this redirection is to cause more complete combustion of these particles and gasses which make the locomotive more efficient and causes less visible smoke to be emitted from the stack. Without the arch, flames and visible smoke would be sucked straight into the firetubes without having been fully burned, the brick arch and its supports require periodic replacement due to the extreme heat they endure. Firetubes are attached to one wall of the firebox and carry the hot gaseous products of combustion through the water, heating it
11.
Tank locomotive
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A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. A tank engine may also have a bunker to hold fuel, there are several different types of tank locomotive, distinguished by the position and style of the water tanks and fuel bunkers. The most common type has tanks mounted either side of the boiler and this type originated about 1840 and quickly became popular for industrial tasks, and later for shunting and shorter distance main line duties. Tank locomotives have advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional tender locomotives, the first tank locomotive was the Novelty that ran at the Rainhill Trials in 1829. It was an example of a Well Tank and these were E. B. Wilson and Company, William Fairbairn & Sons, George England, Kitson Thompson and Hewitson and William Bridges Adams. By the mid-1850s tank locomotives were to be performing a variety of main line and industrial roles. There are a number of types of locomotive, based on the location. These include the side tank, the tank, the pannier tank. A configuration very common in the U. K, the water is contained in rectangular tanks mounted on either side of the locomotive, near to the boiler but not quite touching. The tank sides extend down to the platform, if such is present. The length of side tanks was limited in order to give access to the inside motion. If it was desired to extend them to the front of the locomotive for greater capacity, with larger side tanks it was sometimes necessary to taper the tanks slightly at the front end to improve forward visibility. Side tanks almost all stopped at, or before, the end of the boiler barrel, a few designs did reach to the front of the smokebox and these were termed flatirons. The water tank sits on top of the boiler like a saddle sits atop a horse, usually the tank is curved in cross-section, although in some cases there were straight sides surmounted by a curve, or even an ogee shape. Saddle tanks were a popular arrangement especially for smaller locomotives in industrial use and it gave a greater water supply, but limited the size of the boiler and restricted access to it for cleaning. However, the locomotive has a centre of gravity and hence must operate at lower speeds. The drivers vision may also be restricted, again restricting the safe speed, Water in the tank is slightly pre-heated by the boiler, which reduces the loss of pressure found when cold feedwater is injected into the boiler. However if the water becomes too hot, injectors lose efficiency, for this reason, the tanks often stopped short of the hotter and uninsulated smokebox
12.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
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