1.
North British Locomotive Company
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Its main factories were located at the neighbouring Atlas and Hyde Park Works in central Springburn, as well as the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. The two other Railway works in Springburn were St. Rollox railway works, owned by the Caledonian Railway and Cowlairs railway works, latterly both works were operated by British Rail Engineering Limited after rail nationalisation in 1948. In 1918 NBL produced the first prototype of the Anglo-American Mark VIII battlefield tank for the Allied armies, NBL built steam locomotives for countries all over the world. This included North America, South America, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Asia, the New South Wales Government Railways purchased numerous North British locomotives, as did the Victorian Railways as late as 1951. The Western Australian Government Railways also purchased many North British Locomotives, between 1903 and 1959 NB supplied many locomotives of various classes to Egyptian State Railways. They included 40 of the 545 class 2-6-0 in 1928, between 1921 and 1925, NBL supplied New Zealand Government Railways with 85 NZR AB class locomotives. The whole fleet of AB class engines numbered 143, as built, in 1935 NB supplied six Palestine Railways P class 4-6-0 locomotives to haul main line trains between Haifa and the Suez Canal. In 1939 NB supplied 40 4-8-2 locomotives to the New Zealand Railways Department, in 1951 NB supplied another 16 JA class, though these did not have the American-style streamlining of the J class. Together with the NB predecessor firms, North British supplied about a quarter of the locomotives used by the NZR. In 1949 South African Railways bought more than 100 2-8-4 locomotives from NBL, additionally South Africa also purchased some of its Class 25, 4-8-4 engines from the company between 1953–55. These successful engines with various in-service modifications survived until the end of steam in South Africa in 1992, NB also introduced the Modified Fairlie locomotive in 1924. In total South Africa purchased over 2,000 locomotives from the North British Locomotive Company. As of January 2010, Umgeni Steam Railway operates SAR Class 3BR engine 1486 and she hauls vintage sightseeing trains some coaches of which date back to 1908. In 1953, RENFE in Spain acquired 25 2-8-2 locomotives from the North British Locomotive Company, one example, 141F2111 is preserved in working order. After 1923, customers included the Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway, Northern Counties Committee, Southern Railway, War Department. In 1922 the New Zealand Railways Department ordered a batch of its very successful AB class Pacifics from NBL, to be built, the trio 22878,22879 and 22880 were built amidst this batch. 22878 and 22879 were loaded aboard SS Wiltshire and she sailed for Auckland, New Zealand, remnants of both locomotives, and the Wiltshire can be seen on the sea floor. 22880 was dispatched on a subsequent sailing and was put into service in New Zealand as AB class number 745 and this locomotive was in service for more than 30 years but then hit a washout near Hawera
2.
South African Class 1 4-8-0
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The South African Railways Class 1 4-8-0 of 1904 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Colony of Natal. In 1904, the Natal Government Railways placed fifty Class B 4-8-0 Mastodon type steam locomotives in service, six of them were modified to a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in 1906. In 1912, when the remaining 44 4-8-0 locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, Hendrie was tasked to produce a locomotive of greater power and capable of longer distances without refuelling or rewatering to work the mainline’s steep 1 in 30 gradients. His resulting Class B achieved this, being powerful and with a longer range. When the designs were completed, Hendrie proposed that only five locomotives should be ordered so that they may first be tested in service before ordering more. The designs, however, were so well received that the NGR placed an order for fifty locomotives with the North British Locomotive Company. The NGR’s faith in Hendrie’s ability turned out to be justified, however. Delivered in 1904, the Class B 4-8-0 Mastodon type was the first tender locomotive to be placed in service by the NGR apart from the single home-built 4-6-2TT engine Havelock of 1888. Fifty were built, those numbered in the range from 275 to 299 at the NBL Hyde Park works, the type SH tender was introduced along with these locomotives. It rode on two-axle bogies and had a capacity of 6 long tons coal and 3,225 imperial gallons water. To prevent the fire entering the lower row of tubes, Hendrie arranged a vertical firewall towards the front of the grate. This combustion chamber pre-dated the Gaines type, which was practically identical, the Gaines type was introduced in the United States of America in 1908 and became widely used on American locomotives. The firebox, of which the dimensions were 9 feet 6 inches long and 6 feet wide, was arranged with finger bars. The headlight proved so successful that it replaced the old huge oil-burning lamps. Compared to the Reid Tenwheeler, the Class B was able to haul 7½% more load and, on average, ran 26,000 miles more before requiring repairs. Six of the locomotives, those numbered in the range from 319 to 324, were modified to 4-8-2 Mountain types in 1906,280, was equipped with steam reversing gear in 1907, also to Hendrie’s design. The steam reverser proved to be a success and was soon adopted as standard equipment on the rest of the Class. It was fitted to all engines which were designed by Hendrie
3.
Whyte notation
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The notation counts the number of leading wheels, then the number of driving wheels, and finally the number of trailing wheels, groups of numbers being separated by dashes. Other classification schemes, like UIC classification and the French, Turkish and Swiss systems for steam locomotives, in the notation a locomotive with two leading axles in front, then three driving axles and then one trailing axle is classified as 4-6-2. Articulated locomotives such as Garratts, which are two locomotives joined by a common boiler, have a + between the arrangements of each engine. Thus a double Pacific type Garratt is a 4-6-2+2-6-4, for Garratt locomotives the + sign is used even when there are no intermediate unpowered wheels, e. g. the LMS Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2. This is because the two units are more than just power bogies. They are complete engines, carrying fuel and water tanks, the + sign represents the bridge that links the two engines. Simpler articulated types such as Mallets, have a frame under a common boiler where there are no unpowered wheels between the sets of powered wheels. Typically, the frame is free to swing, whereas the rear frame is rigid with the boiler. Thus a Union Pacific Big Boy is a 4-8-8-4, four leading wheels, one group of eight driving wheels, another group of eight driving wheels and this numbering system is shared by duplex locomotives, which have powered wheel sets sharing a rigid frame. No suffix means a tender locomotive, T indicates a tank locomotive, in European practice, this is sometimes extended to indicate the type of tank locomotive, T means side tank, PT pannier tank, ST saddle tank, WT well tank. T+T means a tank locomotive that also has a tender, in Europe, the suffix R can signify rack or reversible, the latter being Bi-cabine locomotives used in France. The suffix F indicates a fireless locomotive, other suffixes have been used, including ng for narrow-gauge and CA or ca for compressed air. In Britain, small diesel and petrol locomotives are classified in the same way as steam locomotives. This may be followed by D for diesel or P for petrol, thus 0-6-0DE denotes a six-wheel diesel locomotive with electric transmission. Where the axles are coupled by chains or shafts or are individually driven, thus 4wPE indicates a four-wheel petrol locomotive with electric transmission. For large diesel locomotives the UIC classification is used, the main limitation of Whyte Notation is that it does not cover non-standard types such as Shay locomotives, which use geared trucks rather than driving wheels. The most commonly used system in Europe outside the United Kingdom is UIC classification, based on German practice, in American practice, most wheel arrangements in common use were given names, sometimes from the name of the first such locomotive built. For example, the 2-2-0 type arrangement is named Planet, after the 1830 locomotive on which it was first used, the most common wheel arrangements are listed below
4.
4-8-2
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Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-2 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of locomotive is commonly known as the Mountain type. The tank and tender locomotive versions of the 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement both originated in the Colony of Natal in South Africa, in 1888, the Natal Government Railways placed the first five of its eventual one hundred Class D 4-8-2 tank locomotives in service. The locomotive was designed by William Milne, the Locomotive Superintendent of the NGR from 1877 to 1896 and this was the first known use of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement in the world. In 1906, six NGR Class B 4-8-0 Mastodon locomotives, designed by D. A and these altered Class B locomotives were the first 4-8-2 tender locomotives in the world. The X class was, however, not considered to be a true Mountain type, in 1909, the NGR placed the world’s first true Mountain type locomotive in service when five Class Hendrie D 4-8-2 tender locomotives were commissioned. To accomplish this, the frame was equipped with a cast bridle at the rear to accommodate the improved firebox design. Five locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company and delivered in 1909, in 1951, six 4-8-2 locomotives were built by North British Locomotive Company to the design of the South African Class 19D for the Angolan Caminho de Ferro de Benguela as their 11th Class. The first 4-8-2 in Australia was the 3 ft 6 in gauge Q class of the Tasmanian Government Railways, nineteen were built in batches between 1922 and 1945 by Perry Engineering in South Australia, Walkers Limited of Maryborough, Queensland and Clyde Engineering of New South Wales. Until 1950, the class handled the majority of goods trains around the state. Armstrong Whitworth built ten 500 class 4-8-2 locomotives for the South Australian Railways in 1926 and they were the most powerful locomotives in Australia at the time and the heaviest non-articulated locomotives yet built in the United Kingdom. In 1929, they were modified to 500B class 4-8-4 Northern locomotives, the three-cylinder D57 class locomotive of the New South Wales Government Railways was one of the largest and most powerful locomotives ever built in Australia. Twenty-five were built by Clyde Engineering from 1929, the D57 design was developed further in 1950 with the smaller cylindered D58 class, of which thirteen were built at the Eveleigh and Cardiff Locomotive Workshops of the NSWGR. The Western Australian Government Railways introduced two classes of 4-8-2 locomotive for freight haulage on the states 3 ft 6 in network. The first was the S class, of ten were built at the WAGR Midland Railway Workshops from 1943. The second was the W class, of which 64 were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company in 1951 and 1952. The 4-8-2 layout allowed for the weight of these powerful locomotives to be spread over a number of axles. It also enabled the incorporation of a firebox for burning poor quality coal
5.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
6.
3 ft 6 in gauge railways
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Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in/1,067 mm were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways. From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire, there are approximately 112,000 kilometres of 1,067 mm gauge track in the world. 1795 One of the first railways to use 3 ft 6 in gauge was the Little Eaton Gangway in England, other 3 ft 6 in gauge wagonways in England and Wales were also built in the early nineteenth century. 1862 In 1862 the Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl constructed the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Norway,1865 In 1865 the Queensland Railways were constructed. Its 3 ft 6 in gauge was promoted by the Irish engineer Abraham Fitzgibbon,1868 In 1868 Charles Fox asks civil engineer Edmund Wragge to survey a 3 ft 6 in railway in Costa Rica. 1871 In 1871 the Canadian Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway,1872 In January 1872 Robert Fairlie advocated the use of 3 ft 6 in gauge in his book Railways Or No Railways, Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency v. Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance. 1872 also saw the opening of the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway in Japan,1873 On 1 January 1873, the first 3 ft 6 in gauge railway was opened in New Zealand, constructed by the British firm John Brogden and Sons. Earlier built 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in and broad gauge railways were converted to the narrower gauge. Also in 1873 the Cape Colony adopted the 3 ft 6 in gauge, after conducting several studies in southern Europe, the Molteno Government selected the gauge as being the most economically suited for traversing steep mountain ranges. Beginning in 1873, under supervision of Railway engineer of the Colony William Brounger, the Cape Government Railways rapidly expanded and the gauge became the standard for southern Africa. 1876 Natal also converted its short 10 kilometres long Durban network from 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in broad gauge prior to commencing with construction of a network across the colony in 1876. Other new railways in Southern Africa, notably Mozambique, Bechuanaland, after 1876 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century numerous 3 ft 6 in gauge tram systems were built in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In Sweden, the gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge, as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge. An alternate name for this gauge, Cape gauge, is named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, the term Cape Gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor, German Kapspur, Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape. After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as 1065 mm instead of 1067 mm, the gauge is sometimes referred to as CAP gauge, after C. A. The gauge name Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand, in Australia the imperial term 3 foot 6 inch is used. In some Australian publications the term medium gauge is also used, in Japan 1,067 mm gauge is referred to as kyōki, which directly translates as narrow gauge. It is defined in metric units, Cape Government Railways Heritage railway List of track gauges Norwegian gauge controversy South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia Why Did Japan Choose the 36 Narrow Gauge
7.
Leading wheel
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The leading wheel or leading axle or pilot wheel of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the wheels are normally located on a leading truck. Leading wheels are used to help the locomotive negotiate curves and to support the front portion of the boiler, importantly, the leading bogie does not have simple rotational motion about a vertical pivot, as might first be thought. It must also be free to slip sideways to a small extent, the sliding bogie of this type was patented by William Adams in 1865. The first use of leading wheels is commonly attributed to John B, Jervis who employed them in his 1832 design for a locomotive with four leading wheels and two driving wheels. In the Whyte system of describing locomotive wheel arrangements, his locomotive would be classified as a 4-2-0, in the UIC classification system, which counts axles rather than wheels and uses letters to denote powered axles, the Jervis would be classified 2A. Locomotives without leading trucks are generally regarded as unsuitable for high speed use, the British Railway Inspectorate condemned the practice in 1895, following an accident involving two 0-4-4s at Doublebois, Cornwall, on the Great Western Railway. A single leading axle increases stability somewhat, while a leading truck is almost essential for high-speed operation. The highest number of leading wheels on a locomotive is six as seen on the 6-2-0 Crampton type. Six-wheel leading trucks were not very popular, the Cramptons were built in the 1840s, but it was not until 1939 that the PRR used one on the S1. AAR wheel arrangement Adams axle Trailing wheel UIC classification Whyte notation
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