1.
Maschinenfabrik Esslingen
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It was founded by Emil Kessler on 11 March 1846 in Stuttgart, as a result of an initiative of the Kingdom of Württemberg to create a railway industry that was not dependent on foreign manufacturers. Emil Kessler brought vital experience from his time with the works in Karlsruhe, where he had been a member of the board since 1837. The foundation stone of the new factory was laid at Esslingen am Neckar on 4 May 1846, one year later, in October 1847, the first locomotive ordered by the Royal Württemberg State Railways or K. W. St. After the death of Emil Kessler in 1867 his 26-year-old son, Emil Kessler and he ran it until his death in 1895. From 1907 another Kessler took the helm of the works, Emil Kesslers youngest son. The one thousandth locomotive delivered in 1870 was given the name KESSLER to commemorate the founder of the factory, the engineering works worked closely with the Royal Württemberg State Railways so that almost all new engines for the railway company were built at Esslingen. The firm earned a good reputation, initially at home. Several takeovers of companies, the formation of Costruzioni Meccaniche Saronno in 1887. One phase was the construction of ships for inland waters at Ulm and Friedrichshafen, begun in 1852 and stopped by 1858, that saw it through the time of economic crisis after 1848. 50 boats for the river Danube, two steamships for the river Neckar, two steamers and two tugs for Lake Constance and were the result of this successful venture. Longer-lived was the involvement in steel structures and bridging, that it continued with until the end. Steam By the 1960s Maschinenfabrik Esslingen had delivered several thousand steam and diesel locomotives worldwide and it had a particular reputation for the construction of cog locomotives in many variations, including locomotives for Riggenbach, Abt and Strub rack railways. It was one of these engines that was the last steam locomotive to be made in Esslingen, electric The company was also involved in the production of electric locomotives, for example, in 1912 for the Wendelsteinbahn. After 1920 a batch of cars was produced, mainly for coal mines. Internal combustion In addition, internal combustion engined locomotives were built, such as the diesel locomotive, the Köf, the Esslingen railbus. Between 1956 and 1965, over 350 Class SSB GT4 trams were built in Esslingen for the Stuttgart tramways, even the cable car vehicles in Stuttgart were made at Esslingen. Finally the ME became a subsidiary of the Gutehoffnungshütte, in 1965 Daimler-Benz AG bought the company in order to use it factory facilities for its production and the construction of railway vehicles ceased. Today the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen AG still exists, but is just a real estate leasing company, today, old locomotives are rebuilt by the Verein zur Erhaltung der Lokomotiven der ME and handed over to museum railways for everyday operations
2.
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
3.
0-6-4
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The 0-6-4 wheel arrangement appears to have only been used on tank engines and Single Fairlies. The earliest known example was the Moel Tryfan narrow gauge locomotive and it was a Single Fairlie type, built by the Vulcan Foundry near Manchester in 1875. It was followed by the R class and S class, built by the Avonside Engine Company of England for the New Zealand Railways Department between 1878 and 1881, the South Australian Railways K class locomotives were introduced in 1884, designed by William Thow. They were noted to run more smoothly bunker-first, three members of New Zealands S class were also sold to the Western Australian Government Railways in 1891. New Zealand’s R class and S class Single Fairlies were popular with crews, the S class were limited to the Wellington Region when they were introduced, but the R class were distributed throughout the country. All were withdrawn by 1936, but R class no.28 is preserved as an exhibit in a Reefton park. This wheel arrangement provided the bulk of the power for the 3 ft 6 in Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. Between 1893 and 1898,17546 Tonner 0-6-4T steam locomotives were placed in service, the other eighteen locomotives in this order were delivered directly to the IMR, who diverted two of them to Lourenço Marques in Mozambique. In 1912, the remaining CSAR locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, the CFM eventually had at least thirty 46 Tonner locomotives in service. Between 1897 and 1898, some 46 Tonners were sold by the NZASM to the CFM, the two locomotives which were delivered after the outbreak of the war and diverted to Lourenço Marques upon arrival, were also taken onto the CFM roster at the end of the war. Later, between 1911 and 1920 during the CSAR and SAR eras, six more were sold to the CFM, other than examples for export, 0-6-4T locomotives enjoyed a brief vogue in the United Kingdom prior to the First World War, but were not widely used. Nine locomotives of type were supplied by Beyer, Peacock. William Dean built three crane tanks in 1901, and Kitson & Co. of Leeds supplied nine locomotives to the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway in 1904. Other examples included the Midland Railway 2000 Class of 1907, the Highland Railway Drummond 0-6-4T Class of 1909, the SECR J class of 1913, the type was eventually superseded by the popular 2-6-4T locomotive
4.
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
5.
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
6.
Trailing wheel
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On a steam locomotive, a trailing wheel or trailing axle is generally an unpowered wheel or axle located behind the driving wheels. The axle of the wheels is usually located in a trailing truck. On some large locomotives, an engine was mounted on the trailing truck to provide extra tractive effort when starting a heavy train. Trailing wheels were used in early locomotives but fell out of favor for a time during the latter 19th century. As demand for more powerful locomotives increased, trailing wheels began to be used to support the crew cab, trailing wheels first appeared on American locomotives between 1890 and 1895, but their axle worked in rigid pedestals. It enabled boilers to be lowered, since the top of the frames was dropped down behind the driving wheels. The firebox could also be longer and wider, increasing the surface area and steam generation capacity of the boiler. One-piece cast-steel trailer trucks were developed about 1915, to provide the strength for a booster engine to be fitted to the trailing axle. Finally, about 1921 the Delta trailing truck was developed with a centering device at the rear ends of the truck frame. Delta trucks were soon enlarged to carry four trailing wheels, in the Whyte notation, trailing wheels are designated by the last numbers in the series. For example, the 2-8-2 Mikado type locomotive had two leading wheels, eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels, some locomotives such as the 4-4-0 American type had no trailing wheels and were designated with a zero in the final place. In the UIC classification system, the number of rather than the number of wheels is counted. AAR wheel arrangement Steam locomotive nomenclature UIC classification Whyte notation
7.
Wheelbase
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In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles, the wheelbase is defined as the distance between the axle and the centerpoint of the driving axle group. In the case of a truck, the wheelbase would be the distance between the steering axle and a point midway between the two rear axles. The wheelbase of a vehicle equals the distance between its front and rear wheels, at equilibrium, the total torque of the forces acting on a vehicle is zero. So, for example, when a truck is loaded, its center of gravity shifts rearward, the amount the vehicle sinks will depend on counter acting forces like the size of the tires, tire pressure, and the stiffness of the suspension. If the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, extra torque is placed on the rear or front tire respectively, so, as is common experience, when the vehicle accelerates, the rear usually sinks and the front rises depending on the suspension. Likewise, when braking the front noses down and the rear rises, because of the effect the wheelbase has on the weight distribution of the vehicle, wheelbase dimensions are crucial to the balance and steering. For example, a car with a greater weight load on the rear tends to understeer due to the lack of the load on the front tires. This is why it is crucial, when towing a single-axle caravan, likewise, a car may oversteer or even spin out if there is too much force on the front tires and not enough on the rear tires. Also, when turning there is lateral torque placed upon the tires which imparts a turning force that depends upon the length of the distances from the CM. Wheelbases provide the basis for one of the most common vehicle size class systems, some luxury vehicles are offered with long-wheelbase variants to increase the spaciousness and therefore the luxury of the vehicle. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair was given a version of the Rover 75 for official use. In contrast, coupé varieties of vehicles such as the Honda Accord are usually built on shorter wheelbases than the sedans they are derived from. The wheelbase on many commercially available bicycles and motorcycles is so short, relative to the height of their centers of mass, in skateboarding the word wheelbase is used for the distance between the two inner pairs of mounting holes on the deck. This is different from the distance between the centers of the two wheel pairs. A reason for this use is that decks are sold with prefabricated holes. It is therefore easier to use the holes for measuring and describing this characteristic of the deck. A common misconception is that the choice of wheelbase is influenced by the height of the skateboarder, however, the length of the deck would then be a better candidate, because the wheelbase affects characteristics useful in different speeds or terrains regardless of the height of the skateboarder
8.
Locomotive frame
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A locomotive frame is the structure that forms the backbone of the railway locomotive, giving it strength and supporting the superstructure elements such as a cab, boiler or bodywork. The vast majority of locomotives have had a structure of some kind. The frame may in turn be supported by axles directly attached to it, or it may be mounted on bogies / trucks, the bogies in turn will have frames of their own. Three main types of frame on steam locomotives may be distinguished and they were mainly used in Britain and continental Europe. On most locomotives the frames would be situated within the driving wheels, some early designs were double framed where the frame consisted of plates both inside and outside the driving wheels. Others were sandwich frames where the frame was constructed of wood sandwiched between two metal plates and these were made of two steel bars which are usually 4–7 in thick. They were first used on the Bury Bar Frame locomotive during the 1830s, cast steel locomotive beds were a development of the final years of steam locomotive design in the United States. They were also exported to Britain and Australia from the USA, an articulated locomotive with no fixed wheels may have a separate frame beneath the superstructure, or the bodyworks internal structure may be load-bearing. Rarely is a monocoque structure used. Diesel and electric locomotives with a traditional, full-width body, known as cab units in North America, fully enclosed locomotives are used in some limited applications, mostly for passenger trains. These tend to be cowl units, in which the body is not load-bearing, chassis Locomotive bed Steam locomotive components Underframe
9.
Cylinder (locomotive)
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The cylinders of a steam locomotive are the components that convert the power stored in the steam into motion. Cylinders may be arranged in different ways. On early locomotives, such as Puffing Billy, the cylinders were often set vertical, the next stage, for example Stephensons Rocket, was to drive the wheels directly from steeply inclined cylinders placed at the back of the locomotive. Direct drive became the standard arrangement, but the cylinders were moved to the front, the front-mounted cylinders could be placed either inside or outside. The reason for this difference is unclear, from about 1920, outside cylinders became more common in the UK but many inside-cylinder engines continued to be built. Inside cylinders give a stable ride with less yaw or nosing. Some designers used inside cylinders for aesthetic reasons, the demand for more power led to the development of engines with three cylinders or four cylinders. As the cylinders are double-acting this gives four impulses per revolution, on a three-cylinder engine, two arrangements are possible, cranks set to give six equally spaced impulses per revolution – the usual arrangement. For a given tractive effort and adhesion factor, a locomotive of this design will be less prone to wheelslip when starting than a 2-cylinder locomotive. Outside cranks set at 90 degrees, inside crank set at 135 degrees and this arrangement was sometimes used on three-cylinder compound locomotives which used the outside cylinders for starting. This will give evenly spaced exhausts when the engine is working compound, two arrangements are also possible on a four-cylinder engine, all four cranks set at 90 degrees. With this arrangement the cylinders act in pairs, so there are four impulses per revolution, most four-cylinder engines are of this type. Pairs of cranks set at 90 degrees with the pair set at 45 degrees to the outside pair. This gives eight impulses per revolution and it increases weight and complexity, by requiring four sets of valve gear, but gives smoother torque and reduces the risk of slipping. This was relatively unusual in British practice but was used on the SR Lord Nelson class, such locomotives are easily distinguished by their exhaust beats, whicb occur at twice the frequency of a normal 2- or 4-cylinder engine. The valve chests or steam chests which contain the slide valves or piston valves may be located in various positions, if the cylinders are small, the valve chests may be located between the cylinders. For larger cylinders the valve chests are usually on top of the cylinders but, in early locomotives, the valve chests are usually on top of the cylinders but, in older locomotives, the valve chests were sometimes located alongside the cylinders and inserted through slots in the frames. This meant that, while the cylinders were outside, the valves were inside, there are many variations in the location of the valve gear
10.
Valve gear
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It can also serve as a reversing gear. It is sometimes referred to as the motion, in the simple case, this can be a relatively simple task as in the internal combustion engine in which the valves always open and close at the same points. A further benefit may be obtained by admitting the steam to the cylinder slightly before front or back dead centre and this advanced admission assists in cushioning the inertia of the motion at high speed. Instead, a system of eccentrics, cranks and levers is used to control a D slide valve or piston valve from the motion. Generally, two simple harmonic motions with different fixed phase angles are added in varying proportions to provide a motion that is variable in phase. A variety of mechanisms have been devised over the years. Both slide and piston valves have the limitation that intake and exhaust events are fixed in relation to each other, lap is provided on steam edges of the valve, so that although the valve stroke reduces as cutoff is advanced, the valve is always fully opened to exhaust. However, as cutoff is shortened, the exhaust events also advance, the exhaust release point occurs earlier in the power stroke and compression earlier in the exhaust stroke. Early release wastes some energy in the steam, and early closure also wastes energy in compressing an otherwise unnecessarily large quantity of steam and these inefficiencies drove the widespread experimentation in poppet valve gears for locomotives. Intake and exhaust poppet valves could be moved and controlled independently of each other, a very late British design, the SR Leader class, used sleeve valves adapted from internal combustion engines, but this class was not a success. In stationary steam engines, traction engines and marine engine practice, in stationary engines trip valves were also extensively used. Valve gear was a field of invention, with probably several hundred variations devised over the years. However, only a number of these saw any widespread use. They can be divided into those that drove the standard reciprocating valves, those used with poppet valves, slip-eccentric - This gear is now confined to model steam engines, and low power hobby applications such as steam launch engines, ranging to a few horsepower. The eccentric is loose on the crankshaft but there are stops to limit its rotation relative to the crankshaft, the engine is pushed forwards to put the eccentric in the forward gear position and backwards to put it in the backward gear position. There is no control of cutoff. These included the Teutonic, Greater Britain and John Hick classes, gab or hook gear - used on earliest locomotives. Allowed reversing but no control of cutoff, one component of the motion comes from a crank or eccentric
11.
Walschaerts valve gear
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The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear invented by Belgian railway mechanical engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844 used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam engines. The gear is sometimes named without the s, since it was incorrectly patented under that name. It was extensively used in steam locomotives from the late 19th century until the end of the steam era, the Walschaerts valve gear was slow to gain popularity. The Stephenson valve gear remained the most commonly used valve gear on 19th-century locomotives, the first locomotive fitted with the Walschaerts valve gear was built at the Belgian Tubize workshops, and was awarded a gold medal at the 1873 Universal Exhibition in Vienna. In 1874, New Zealand Railways ordered two types of Double Fairlie locomotives from Avonside, both the B class and E class Double Fairlies were fitted with Walschaerts valve gear. This was certainly the first use of technology to be used in New Zealand. The Mason Bogie, a modified Fairlie locomotive of 1874, was the first to use the Walschaerts gear in North America. The first application in Britain was on a Single Fairlie 0-4-4T, exhibited in Paris in 1878 and purchased by the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway in 1883. According to Ahrons, the locomotive saw very little service as nobody seems to have known how to set the valves, in the 20th century, the Walschaerts valve gear was the most commonly used type, especially on larger locomotives. In Europe, its use was almost universal, whilst in North America, the Walschaerts gear outnumbered its closest competitor, heusingers gear was closer to the form generally adopted, but most authorities accept Walschaerts invention as sufficiently close to the final form. The pressure of this provides the driving force. Soon before the space on one side of the starts to contract. In an economical setting, steam is admitted to the space for only part of the stroke, at a point set by the driver. Since the exhaust is also shut, during the rest of the stroke the steam that has entered the cylinder expands in isolation, thus, the most energy available from the steam is used. The Walschaerts valve gear enables the engineer to change the point without changing the points at which intake starts. Economy also requires that the throttle be wide open and that the pressure is at the maximum safe level to maximise thermal efficiency. For economy, an engine is used of a size such that the most economical settings yield the right amount of power most of the time. When greater power is necessary, e. g, with such a setting, when the exhaust opens, the steam in the cylinder is near full boiler pressure
12.
Slide valve
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The slide valve is a rectilinear valve used to control the admission of steam into, and emission of exhaust from, the cylinder of a steam engine. In the 19th century, most steam locomotives used slide valves to control the flow of steam into, in the 20th century, slide valves were gradually superseded by piston valves, particularly in engines using superheated steam. There were two reasons for this, With piston valves, the steam passages can be made shorter and this reduces resistance to the flow of steam and improves efficiency. It is difficult to lubricate slide valves adequately in the presence of superheated steam, the D slide valve, or more specifically Long D slide valve, is a form of slide valve, invented by William Murdoch and patented in 1799. It is named after the hollow central D-sectioned piston and this allowed two valves to do the work of four. The above description clearly relates to an engine with a vertical cylinder, where the cylinders are horizontal, as in a steam locomotive, the valves would be side-by-side. The balanced slide valve was invented by the Scottish engineer Alexander Allan and it was not much used in the UK but, at one time, had great popularity in the United States. It gave some of the advantages of a valve to a slide valve by relieving the pressure on the back of the valve, thus reducing friction
13.
Railway coupling
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A coupling is a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the gauge, since flexibility. The equipment that connects the couplings to the stock is known as the draft gear. The different types of coupling do not always have formal or official names and these couplings followed earlier tramway practice but were made more regular. The vehicles are coupled by hand using a hook and links with a turnbuckle that draws the vehicles together, in Britain, this is called a screw coupling. Vehicles have buffers, one at each corner on the ends and this arrangement limits the slack in trains and lessens shocks. The earliest buffers were fixed extensions of the frames. This coupling is still the standard in European countries, the link-and-pin coupling was the original style of coupling used on North American railways. After most railroads converted to semi-automatic Janney couplers, the link-and-pin survived on forestry railways, while simple in principle, the system suffered from a lack of standardisation regarding size and height of the links, and the size and height of the pockets. The link-and-pin coupler consisted of a body that received an oblong link. During coupling, a worker had to stand between the cars as they came together and guide the link into the coupler pocket. Once the cars were joined, the employee inserted a pin into a hole a few inches from the end of the tube to hold the link in place. This procedure was exceptionally dangerous and many brakemen lost fingers or entire hands when they did not get out of the way of the coupler pockets in time. Many more were killed as a result of being crushed between cars or dragged under cars that were coupled too quickly, brakemen were issued with heavy clubs that could be used to hold the link in position, but many brakemen would not use the club, and risked injury. The link-and-pin coupler proved unsatisfactory because, It made a connection between the cars, with too much slack action. There was no design, and train crews often spent hours trying to match pins. Crew members had to go between moving cars during coupling, and were injured and sometimes killed. The links and pins were often pilfered due to their value as scrap metal, john H. White suggests that the railroads considered this to be more important than the safety issue at the time
14.
Tractive force
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In railway engineering, the term tractive effort is often used synonymously with tractive force to describe the pulling or pushing capability of a locomotive. The published tractive force value for any vehicle may be theoretical—that is, the term tractive effort is often qualified as starting tractive effort, continuous tractive effort and maximum tractive effort. The product of μ and m is the factor of adhesion, Starting tractive effort, Starting tractive effort is the tractive force that can be generated at a standstill. This figure is important on railways because it determines the maximum weight that a locomotive can set into motion. Maximum tractive effort, Maximum tractive effort is defined as the highest tractive force that can be generated under any condition that is not injurious to the vehicle or machine. In most cases, maximum tractive effort is developed at low speed, due to the relationship between power, velocity and force, described as, P = vF or P/v = F tractive effort inversely varies with speed at any given level of available power. Continuous tractive effort is often shown in graph form at a range of speeds as part of a tractive effort curve, the period of time for which the maximum continuous tractive effort may be safely generated is usually limited by thermal considerations. Such as temperature rise in a traction motor, specifications of locomotives often include tractive effort curves, showing the relationship between tractive effort and velocity. The shape of the graph is shown at right, the line AB shows operation at the maximum tractive effort, the line BC shows continuous tractive effort that is inversely proportional to speed. Tractive effort curves often have graphs of rolling resistance superimposed on them—the intersection of the rolling resistance graph, once in motion, the train will develop additional drag as it accelerates due to aerodynamic forces, which increase with the square of the speed. Drag may also be produced at speed due to truck hunting, if acceleration continues, the train will eventually attain a speed at which the available tractive force of the locomotive will exactly offset the total drag, causing acceleration to cease. This top speed will be increased on a due to gravity assisting the motive power. Tractive effort can be calculated from a locomotives mechanical characteristics, or by actual testing with drawbar strain sensors. Power at rail is a term for the available power for traction, that is. An estimate for the effort of a single cylinder steam locomotive can be obtained from the cylinder pressure, cylinder area, stroke of the piston. The torque developed by the motion of the piston depends on the angle that the driving rod makes with the tangent of the radius on the driving wheel. For a more useful value an average value over the rotation of the wheel is used, the driving force is the torque divided by the wheel radius. Modern locomotives with roller bearings were probably underestimated, european designers used a constant of 0.6 instead of 0.85, so the two cannot be compared without a conversion factor
15.
Netherlands-South African Railway Company
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The Netherlands-South African Railway Company or NZASM was a railway company established in 1887. The company was based in Amsterdam and Pretoria, and operated in the South African Republic during the late 19th century, at the request of ZAR president Paul Kruger, the NZASM constructed a railway line between Pretoria and Lourenço Marques in Portuguese East Africa. The British conquered the Cape Colony in 1806, the new administration was not universally accepted by the Dutch colonists and after the 1830s thousands of Dutch-speaking colonists migrated to the interior of Southern Africa. This migration, known as the Great Trek, resulted in the establishment of 14 independent republics, by the mid 19th century these republics had merged into the two larger republics, The Republic of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. The British Empire eventually recognized the independence of these republics in 1852, the relationship between the British and the Boers remained strained throughout the 19th century, especially as a result of the First Boer War. Both republics were located in the interior of what is now South Africa, Paul Kruger, president of the ZAR, decided that an alternative trade route to the ocean was a priority for the ZAR. In 1874 the Volksraad of the ZAR decided that a railway would be connecting the ZAR with Lourenço Marques on Delagoa Bay in Portuguese East Africa. A commission was established in 1874 to create a plan for the construction of this railway, after initial success in raising capital and acquiring a railway concession from the Portuguese government, the project was stalled by the outbreak of the First Boer War. After the end of the war in 1881 the project was resumed, the Pretoria - Delagoa Bay line, with a length of 562 kilometres, was opened on 6 November 1894 and is still in use today. The railway company employed about 3000 people, of these, about 1500 were employed in the construction of the Pretoria - Delagoa Bay Line. It adopted the 3 ft 6 in of the neighbouring Cape Government Railways, on 19 February 1896, a train loaded with dynamite was struck by a shunter while being unloaded. The resulting Braamfontein Explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history, in 1897, a new station was constructed in Johannesburg. The building was constructed in 1895 in Rotterdam and was used in the Amsterdam Exhibition before being dismantled and shipped to Johannesburg, where it was rebuilt in 1897. Although Johannesburg Park Station has twice been reconstructed, the 1897 building was preserved and moved to a distance to Newtown where it still stands, unused. By 1899, the NZASM had constructed 1147 kilometres of railway, the line was opened on 17 March 1890, with the first train being hauled by a 14 Tonner locomotive. It became known as the Randtram, even though it was actually a railway in every aspect and this was the first working railway line in the Transvaal. The concession was extended the following year to continue the eastward to Springs, where coal was known to exist. The entire 49-mile line was opened to traffic on 10 February 1891, in 1889 and 1890, the NZASM obtained three tramway steam locomotives with an 0-4-0T wheel arrangement for use on the Randtram line
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Transnet Freight Rail
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Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. Customer complaints about serious problems with Transnet Freight Rails service were reported in 2010 and its head office is in the Inyanda House in Parktown, Johannesburg. Transnet Freight Rail is a logistics and passenger transport railway. It is the largest freight hauler in Africa, Transnet also formerly owned Shosholoza Meyl, the non-luxury long distance passenger rail service. Shosholoza Meyl was transferred to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa on 23 December 2008, a line in the Eastern Cape is leased to Kei Rail. In May 2010, Transnet revealed a five-year-plan involving rail projects costing R52Bn, most of this would be spent on new rolling stock, including 304 locomotives and 7231 wagons. R4Bn would be spent on infrastructure connecting Majuba coal-fired power station with the Richards Bay freight railway, Transnet is upgrading the rail corridor which connect the Port of Ngqura with manganese mines around Hotazel in the Northern Cape. The corridor would be 1,003 kilometres long, and would mostly involve upgrades of existing lines, swazilink is expected to connect from Lothair to Sidvokodvo in Swaziland, at a cost of R17 billion. Category, Locomotives of South Africa Hex River Tunnel List of South African locomotive classes Official website Transnet website South African Trains – A Pictorial Encyclopaedia
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Union of South Africa
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The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies, Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony and it included the territories formerly part of the Boer republics annexed in 1902, South African Republic and Orange Free State. The Union of South Africa was a dominion of the British Empire and it was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with the Crown represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end when the 1961 constitution was enacted, on 31 May 1961 the country became a republic and left the Commonwealth, under the new name Republic of South Africa. Unlike Canada and Australia, the Union of South Africa was a state, rather than a federation. A bicameral parliament was created, consisting of a House of Assembly and Senate, during the course of the Union the franchise changed on several occasions always to suit the needs of the government of the day. Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg were given financial compensation, the Union initially remained under the British Crown as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. With the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the Union and other dominions became equal in status to the United Kingdom, the Monarch was represented in South Africa by a Governor-General, while effective power was exercised by the Executive Council, headed by the Prime Minister. Louis Botha, formerly a Boer general, was appointed first Prime Minister of the Union, heading a coalition representing the white Afrikaner, prosecutions before courts were instituted in the name of the Crown and government officials served in the name of the Crown. Some extremist Nationalist organisations, like the Ossewa Brandwag, openly supported Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the Afrikaner-dominated Government consequently withdrew South Africa from the Commonwealth. Natal, which had an English-speaking majority, voted against, following the referendum result, some whites in Natal even called for secession from the Union. Five years earlier, some 33,000 Natalians had signed the Natal Covenant in opposition to the plans for a republic, subsequently the National Party Government passed a Constitution that repealed the South Africa Act. The features of the Union were carried over with little change to the newly formed Republic. The decision to transform from a Union to Republic was narrowly decided in the referendum, the South Africa Act dealt with race in two specific provisions. Second it made native affairs a matter for the national government, the practice therefore was to establish a Minister of Native Affairs. Several previous unsuccessful attempts to unite the colonies were made, with proposed political models ranging from unitary, Sir George Grey, the Governor of Cape Colony from 1854 to 1861, decided that unifying the states of southern Africa would be mutually beneficial. He believed that a united South African Federation, under British control and his idea was greeted with cautious optimism in southern Africa, the Orange Free State agreed to the idea in principle and the Transvaal may also eventually have agreed. However, he was overruled by the British Colonial Office which ordered him to desist from his plans and his refusal to abandon the idea eventually led to him being recalled
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Transvaal Colony
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The physical borders of the Transvaal Colony were not identical to the defeated South African Republic, but was larger. In 1910 the entire territory became the Transvaal Province of the Union of South Africa, both the Boer republics, the South African Republic known as ZAR and the Orange Free State were defeated in the Anglo Boer War and surrendered to Britain. That all burghers so surrendering will not be deprived of their property No Civil or Criminal proceedings against burghers for acts of war, the Commission would also feed the homeless and assist with the reconstruction of homes affected by the war. To that end, the crown agrees to a grant of £3,000,000 as well as loans at no interest for two years to be repaid at 3 percent interest over years thereafter. In 1902, with following the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging. The political issue faced depended on what side of politics you stood on, the existing British administrators under Alfred Milner wished to anglicise the population through two main means. One by increasing the English speaking population of the Transvaal and secondly teach the Boer children in English with very little Dutch used, followed by self-rule, the Transvaal Boers political objectives was the restoration of self-rule in the colony and the political environment to be dominated by the Boer. As the war ended the British were faced with a proportion of Boer men as prisoners of war. As the British followed a scorched earth policy in the Transvaal, Boer lands, stock, roman Dutch law was translated into English so the law courts could continue, with some old acts repealed and a considerable amount of new law promulgated by the authorities in Johannesburg. The Resident Magistrate then submitted the names of three members of the district to the Governor for district commission under the magistrate. They would consist of one British subject, and two Boers, one from those who had surrendered early on in the war and one who had fought until the end. Repatriation depots were established in the districts and they were stocked with food, seed, agricultural equipment, transport, plough animals and stone, the rail transport network struggled to compete with the transport of army requirement to maintain a garrison and civilian requirements to repair the colony. All feed for transport animals had to be brought to the depots as process started in the winter of 1902, refugees from the concentration camps and prisoners of war were returned to their districts in a system of drafts. At the depots, they would receive farm equipment, tents and rations to start again, food rations were provided for almost a year. The loan scheme was never going to compensate a person for the actual loss experienced by the war, damage and the reconstruction required varied from district to district, In the larger towns, municipal or health boards were “appointed” to manage them under the resident Magistrate. They had limited functions and the rates they levied were for sanitary functions. The British administrators set out to place most Boer farmers back on their land by March 1903 with nineteen million pounds spent on war damages, grants, the administrators reformed the state agricultural departments to modernise farming in the colony which resulted in a maize and beef surplus by 1908. They also attempted to solve the poor white problem by settling them as tenant farmers on land but lack of capital
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South African Republic
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The territory of the ZAR became known after this war as the Transvaal Colony. Constitutionally the name of the country was Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, many people also called the ZAR Transvaal, in reference to the area over the Vaal River including the British press and the press in Europe. In fact the name Transvaal was later so often used later the British objected to the use of the real name. The British pointed out that the Convention of Pretoria of 3 August 1881 referred to the Transvaal Territory and that the Transvaal and the South African Republic did not have the same boundaries. However, in the London Convention dated 27 February 1884, a subsequent treaty between Britain and the ZAR, Britain acquiesced and reverted to the use of the true name and this proclamation was issued during the Second Boer War and whilst the ZAR was still an independent country. On 20 May 1903 an Inter Colonial Council was established, to manage the colonies of the British Government, the name Transvaal was finally changed in 1994, when the ANC government broke up the Transvaal area and renamed the core to Gauteng. In paleolithic times, between 2.2 and 3.3 million years ago, hominids lived within the area of the ZAR. The earliest hominid bones, between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, were discovered at Sterkfontein in 1994, in 1938 Paranthropus robustus bones were found at Kromdraai, and during 1947 several more examples of Australopithecus africanus were uncovered in Sterkfontein. The capital was established at Potchefstroom and later moved to Pretoria, the parliament was called the Volksraad and had 24 members. The South African Republic became fully independent on the 27 February 1884 when the London Convention was signed, the country independently also entered into various agreements with other foreign countries after that date. On 3 November 1884 the country signed a Postal convention with the government of the Cape Colony, on the November 1859 the independent Republic of Lijdenburg merged with the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek. On 9 May 1887, burghers from the territories of Stellaland, on 25 July 1895 the burghers that took part in the battle at Zoutpansberg, were granted citizenship of the ZAR. The constitution of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek has been referred to as interesting for its time. It contained provisions for the division between the leadership and office bearers in government administration. The legal system consisted of higher and lower courts and had adopted a jury system, the laws were enforced by the South African Republic Police which were divided into Mounted Police and Foot Police. Also established was a Municipal Government, Witwatersrand District court and the High Court of Transvaal, initially the State and Church were not separated in the constitution of the ZAR, citizens of the ZAR had to be members of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1858 these clauses were altered in the constitution to allow for the Volksraad to approve other Dutch Christian churches. The Reformed Church was approved by the Volksraad in 1858, which had the effect of allowing Paul Kruger, the Bible itself was also often used to interpret the intention of legal documents
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