1.
American Locomotive Company
–
The American Locomotive Company was formed in 1901 by the merger of Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory of Schenectady, New York with seven smaller locomotive manufacturers. The American Locomotive Automobile Company subsidiary designed and manufactured automobiles under the Alco brand from 1905-1913, the company changed its name to Alco Products, Incorporated in 1955. In 1964 the Worthington Corporation acquired the company, the company ceased trading in 1969. Samuel R. Callaway left the presidency of the New York Central Railroad to become president of Alco, when Callaway died on June 1,1904, Albert J. Pitkin succeeded him as president of Alco. In 1904, the American Locomotive Company acquired control of the Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1905, Alco purchased Rogers Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey, the second largest locomotive manufacturer in the United States behind Baldwin Locomotive Works. In the post World War II period, Alco operated manufacturing plants only in Schenectady and Montreal, after the American Locomotive Company ceased locomotive manufacturing in the United States in 1969, Montreal Locomotive Works continued to manufacture locomotives based on Alco designs. Alco was the second-largest steam locomotive builder in the United States, among these were a large number of well-known locomotives. Alco built many of the biggest locomotives ever constructed, including Union Pacifics Big Boy, during World War II, Alco produced many 2-10-0 Decapods for the USSR. Many of these were undelivered at the end of the war,75214, is preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum. Though the dual-service 4-8-4 steam locomotive had shown promise,1948 was the last year that steam locomotives were manufactured in Schenectady. These were the seven A-2a class 9400-series Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad 2-8-4 Berkshires and their tenders had to be subcontracted to Lima Locomotive Works, as Alcos tender shop had been closed. The building was converted to diesel locomotive manufacture, to compete with locomotives manufactured by the automobile industry, joseph Burroughs Ennis was a senior vice president between 1917 and 1947 and was responsible for the design of many of the locomotives manufactured. The company diversified into the business in 1906, producing French Berliet designs under license. Production was located at Alcos Rhode Island Locomotive Works in Providence, two years later, the Berliet license was abandoned, and the company began to produce its own designs instead. An Alco racing car won the Vanderbilt Cup in both 1909 and 1910 and competed in the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, driven on all three occasions by Harry Grant, but, ALCOs automotive venture was unprofitable, and they abandoned automobile manufacture in 1913. The Alco automobile story is notable chiefly as a step in the career of Walter P. Chrysler. In 1911 he left Alco for Buick in Detroit, Michigan, for a list of Alco diesel locomotive models, see List of ALCO diesel locomotives. Although strongly committed to the locomotive, Alco produced the first commercially successful diesel-electric locomotive in 1924 in a consortium with General Electric
2.
Track gauge
–
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
3.
3 ft 6 in gauge railways
–
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
4.
Safety valve
–
A safety valve is a valve that acts as a fail-safe in a thermal-hydraulics plant. Pilot-operated relief valves are a type of pressure safety valve. Safety valves were first developed for use on steam boilers during the Industrial Revolution, early boilers operating without them were prone to explosion. Vacuum safety valves are used to prevent a tank from collapsing while it is being emptied, when sizing a vacuum safety valve, the calculation method is not defined in any norm, particularly in the hot CIP / cold water scenario, but some manufacturers have developed sizing simulations. The earliest and simplest safety valve was used on a 1679 steam digester and utilized a weight to retain the steam pressure, however, on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the safety valve tended to go off when the engine hit a bump in the track. A valve less sensitive to sudden accelerations used a spring to contain the steam pressure and this dangerous practice was sometimes used to marginally increase the performance of a steam engine. In 1856, John Ramsbottom invented a tamper-proof spring safety valve that became universal on railways, Safety valves also evolved to protect equipment such as pressure vessels and heat exchangers. The term safety valve should be limited to compressible fluid applications, the two general types of protection encountered in industry are thermal protection and flow protection. Flow protection is characterized by safety valves that are larger than those mounted for thermal protection. They are generally sized for use in situations where significant quantities of gas or high volumes of liquid must be discharged in order to protect the integrity of the vessel or pipeline. This protection can alternatively be achieved by installing a high integrity pressure protection system, Relief valve, an automatic system that is actuated by the static pressure in a liquid-filled vessel. It specifically opens proportionally with increasing pressure, Safety valve, an automatic system that relieves the static pressure on a gas. It usually opens completely, accompanied by a popping sound, Safety relief valve, an automatic system that relieves by static pressure on both gas and liquid. Pilot-operated safety relief valve, a system that relieves on remote command from a pilot. Low pressure safety valve, a system that relieves static pressure on a gas. Used when the difference between the pressure and the ambient atmospheric pressure is small. Vacuum pressure safety valve, a system that relieves static pressure on a gas. Used when the difference between the vessel pressure and the ambient pressure is small, negative and near to atmospheric pressure
5.
Valve gear
–
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
6.
Railway coupling
–
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
7.
Cape Government Railways
–
The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910. The first railways at the Cape were privately owned, the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company started construction from Cape Town in 1859, reaching Eerste River by 1862 and Wellington by 1863. Meanwhile, by 1864 the Wynberg Railway Company had connected Cape Town, for the moment, railway development at the Cape did not continue eastwards beyond Wellington because of the barrier presented by the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt. The discovery of diamonds, and the consequent rush to Kimberley that started in 1871, in his very first speech to the Cape Parliament he announced the purchase of all existing lines and the founding of the Cape Government Railways. The announced expansion was to see the construction of a network over ten times more extensive than the length of railway that existed in the whole of southern Africa at the time. This gauge went on to become the standard for all railways in southern, the government planned for lines to strike northwards, from the three ports of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London, towards Kimberley and the developing hinterland. These three lines became known as the Cape Western, Cape Midland and Cape Eastern lines respectively, the Cape Western Line was charted by the Prime Minister himself. The Cape Midland Line only began when the Cape Government took over the rudimentary and incomplete line of the Port Elizabeth, however building accelerated massively over the next few years, with twin lines reaching northwards to Graaff-Reinet, and eastwards to Grahamstown. These connected with the Cape Western Line at De Aar and thus to Kimberley, the Cape Eastern Line was built partially to serve the frontier, and its network of military forts. The port of East London was likewise chosen partly for strategic reasons, the line was begun in 1873, when the Prime Minister turning the first spades for both the East London harbour and the Eastern Railway Line on 20 August 1873. Though frontier wars disrupted construction from time to time, the line reached Queenstown in 1880, from an initial total of 92 kilometres in 1872, the Cape was now criss-crossed with over 2,000 kilometres of railway. In 1886 gold was discovered in the South African Republic, setting off the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and this line reached Bloemfontein in 1890, and the first trains operated from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 1892. In 1897 the OFS government took control of its portion of the line. The Cape railway network played a significant role in supporting and supplying the British forces during the Second Boer War, Cape Gauge Rail transport in South Africa Kleingeld, Christo. Locomotives of the South African Railways, ISBN 0-86977-211-2 Burman, Jose, Early Railways at the Cape, Cape Town, Human & Rousseau, ISBN 0-7981-1760-5
8.
Natal Railway 0-4-0WT Natal
–
The Natal Railway 0-4-0WT Natal of 1860 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Natal Colony. The first locomotive to run in service in South Africa. It made its run on 26 June 1860, during the official opening of the first operating railway in South Africa. The first revenue-earning railway service in South Africa commenced in Durban in the Colony of Natal on 26 June 1860, the train was hauled by a small broad gauge 0-4-0 well-tank engine named Natal, which was landed at Durban Harbour off the brig Cadiz on 13 May 1860. A young seaman named Austin was taken on as cleaner and greaser, a station on the Bluff was later named after Henry Jacobs. The locomotive Natal was, however, not the first locomotive to arrive in South Africa, the actual manufacturer was a firm by name of Carrett, Marshall and Company of Leeds, while Robert Legg was its London agent. The engine carried its water in a well-tank and the coal in a locker on the footplate, a donkey pump on the coal locker fed water to the boiler. The chimney had a conical shape and the wide opening was covered by wire mesh. The locomotive was erected in a timber shed on Market Square in Durban and was painted green, with copper-coloured wheels. When the locomotive arrived in Durban, the railway had already been in use for some time, the Natal Railways initial rolling stock consisted of six to eight trucks, two travelling cranes and one passenger coach. According to most publications, the opening of the newly mechanised Natal Railway took place on Tuesday,26 June 1860. The inaugural run was at 11,00 along a 2-mile stretch from the Market Square Ordnance Reserve in Durban to the newly built Point station at Durban harbour, near the Custom House. This was followed by passenger rides for the public for the rest of the day, the days festivities ended with a ball in the Masonic Hall. According to the plaque on the locomotive, however, the date of its first run was 23 June 1860. In fact, both dates are correct since a trial run had been conducted three days before the official inauguration, on Saturday afternoon,23 June 1860. After testing the locomotive over a distance, the passenger coach was coupled. At the Point it collected five trucks loaded with some 40 tons of sugar-mill machinery, the locomotive gave satisfactory service for several years, but was plagued by the sandy conditions of the track, which resulted in damage to moving parts from dust and beach sand. The constant repair work which required, led to frequent delays
9.
South African Class 2C 4-6-2
–
The South African Railways Class 2C 4-6-2 of 1910 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Colony of Natal. In 1910, the Natal Government Railways placed two Class A steam locomotives with a 4-6-2 Pacific wheel arrangement in service, built in their Durban workshops, in 1912, when these locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and designated Class 2C. The 2A and 2B classifications were never used, the Class 2C was the second locomotive type to be designed and built in South Africa, after the Natal Government Railways 4-6-2TT Havelock of 1888. The locomotive was designed during 1907 by NGR Locomotive Superintendent D. A. Hendrie as a version of his NGR Class A Hendrie A of 1905. They were equipped with Hendries steam reversing gear and had wide Belpaire fireboxes, the cylinders were mounted horizontally since the Walschaerts valve gear did not require inclined cylinders like those on the Class A Hendrie A with its Stephenson valve gear. The coupled wheels were retyred to a larger diameter, from 52 1⁄2 to 54 inches. When they were placed in service in 1910, they were also designated NGR Class A, the two locomotives joined the two Class A Hendrie A Pacifics of 1905 on the section from Estcourt to Charlestown. In 1912, the two locomotives were renumbered 765 and 766 and designated Class 2C on the South African Railways, the 2A and 2B classifications were never used by the SAR. Here they worked passenger and fast perishables trains until they were withdrawn, the pictures illustrate two of the NGR liveries which were applied to these locomotives
10.
South African Class H2 4-8-2T
–
The South African Railways Class H2 4-8-2T of 1909 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Colony of Natal. Between 1899 and 1903, the Natal Government Railways placed 101 4-10-2 tank steam locomotives in service. W, altogether 101 of these locomotives were built by Dübs and Company and North British Locomotive Company, delivered between 1899 and 1903 and numbered in the range from 149 to 249. On the NGR, the type became known as the Reid Tenwheeler, until a classification system was introduced in 1905 or 1906. By 1912, five locomotives had already been modified to a 4-8-2T wheel arrangement and these were NGR numbers 170,173,175,217 and 240, all built by Dübs between 1901 and 1903. They were designated Class H2 and were renumbered in the range from 227 to 231 on the South African Railways roster, of the remaining 96 unmodified 4-10-2T Reid Tenwheelers, three had already been scrapped by 1912. The rest were designated Class H and were renumbered in the range from 232 to 324 on the SAR roster, after 1912, these Class H locomotives were gradually also modified to a 4-8-2T wheel arrangement. The first three to be modified after being rostered in SAR service, numbers 240,294 and 305, were reclassified to Class H2 as well and were renumbered once again, the rest retained their Class H numbers after modification and reclassification. The Class H2 was employed extensively in shunting service in parts of the country. By 1964, however, the large tank engines still active on the SAR were fourteen of the Class H2s. The Class H2s were all allocated to Greyville Loco Depot in Natal, because of their light axle loading, the last ones to remain in service were retained for use on the Bluff in Durban until 1977, more than three-quarters of a century after they entered service. Two of the Class H2s, numbers 329 and 330, were retained in service at Greyville Loco Depot, mainly to shunt the coal stage, the builders, works numbers and new numbers of the eight renumbered Class H2 locomotives are listed in the table. The main picture shows the retired Class H2 no,157, one of the first three Reid Tenwheelers to be modified to a 4-8-2T Class H2 after having originally being taken onto the SAR roster as an unmodified 4-10-2T Class H, no.240. It was earmarked for preservation and photographed on 29 March 1979, staged at Masons Mill in Pietermaritzburg
11.
Compound locomotive
–
A compound locomotive is a steam locomotive which is powered by a compound engine, a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more phases. Colloquially referred to as an engine, the locomotive is only one application of the compounding principle. Compounding became popular for railway locomotives from the early 1880s and by the 1890s were becoming common, large numbers were constructed, mostly two- and four-cylinder compounds, in France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the United States. It declined in popularity due to issues and because superheating provided similar efficiencies at lower cost. Nonetheless, compound Mallets were built by the Norfolk and Western Railway right up to 1952. In order to balance piston thrusts of a compound, the HP, LP cylinder volume ratio has to be carefully determined, in non-condensing engines, the HP, LP volume ratio is usually 1, 2¼. On geared locomotives, cylinder volumes can be more or less identical by increasing LP piston speed. Strictly speaking compound only stands for double-expansion, but the term is applied to any multiple-expansion engine. In situations where heavy grades and low axle loads were combined, however, in the past, optimum performance demanded constant attention and expert handling, which usually made single-manning advisable, thus reducing a locomotives availability. At the end of the age, this particular problem was being addressed by Andre Chapelon. This is especially true of locomotives built in the years of the 20th century. Resuperheating was also a feature of L. D, portas prototype 4-8-0 rebuild, Presidente Peron/Argentina. Most other systems employ starting valves of various kinds, another criterion is whether the valve gears of the two groups are wholly independent or linked together in some way. S. A in the early years of the 20th Century, notably on the Santa Fe. Jonathan Hornblower, the grandson of one of Newcomens engine erectors in Cornwall and he was prevented from developing it further by James Watt, who claimed his own patents were infringed. A method to lessen the magnitude of the heating and cooling of a single-expansion steam engine that leads to inefficiency was invented in 1804 by British engineer Arthur Woolf. Woolf patented his stationary Woolf high-pressure compound engine in 1805, the first design of a compound railway locomotive on record belongs to Thomas Craddock, who patented a design for a condensing compound locomotive in 1846. In this system, the two alternated as high and low pressure, with the change-over occurring halfway through each stroke. Two locomotives, one passenger and one goods, were converted to the system, nothing is known of this locomotives subsequent career and it does not appear to have been reproduced
.svg){kind=small}
