Locomotive
[3] On 21 February 1804, the first recorded steam-hauled railway journey took place as another of Trevithick's locomotives hauled a train from the Penydarren ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, to Abercynon in South Wales.
[6] The design incorporated a number of important innovations including the use of high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency.
[8][9] Another well-known early locomotive was Puffing Billy, built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne.
This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent early builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe.
[10] The Liverpool & Manchester Railway, built by Stephenson, opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains.
The first internal combustion rail vehicle was a kerosene-powered draisine built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1887,[15] but this was not technically a locomotive as it carried a payload.
The earliest gasoline locomotive in the western United States was built by the Best Manufacturing Company in 1891 for San Jose and Alum Rock Railroad.
In this arrangement, one side of the motor housing is supported by plain bearings riding on a ground and polished journal that is integral to the axle.
The other side of the housing has a tongue-shaped protuberance that engages a matching slot in the truck (bogie) bolster, its purpose being to act as a torque reaction device, as well as a support.
[21] The first electrically worked underground line was the City & South London Railway, prompted by a clause in its enabling act prohibiting use of steam power.
Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897.
In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC, between a hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km.
The first implementation of industrial frequency single-phase AC supply for locomotives came from Oerlikon in 1901, using the designs of Hans Behn-Eschenburg and Emil Huber-Stockar; installation on the Seebach-Wettingen line of the Swiss Federal Railways was completed in 1904.
The 15 kV, 50 Hz 345 kW (460 hp), 48 tonne locomotives used transformers and rotary converters to power DC traction motors.
[33] Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than just a short stretch.
Kandó was invited in 1905 to undertake the management of Società Italiana Westinghouse and led the development of several Italian electric locomotives.
Another use is in industrial facilities where a combustion-powered locomotive (i.e., steam- or diesel-powered) could cause a safety issue due to the risks of fire, explosion or fumes in a confined space.
Battery locomotives are preferred for mines where gas could be ignited by trolley-powered units arcing at the collection shoes, or where electrical resistance could develop in the supply or return circuits, especially at rail joints, and allow dangerous current leakage into the ground.
The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors, with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators.
[39][40][41] Another example was at the Kennecott Copper Mine, Latouche, Alaska, where in 1917 the underground haulage ways were widened to enable working by two battery locomotives of 4+1⁄2 tons.
These locomotives weighed 85 tons and operated on 750-volt overhead trolley wire with considerable further range whilst running on batteries.
The Toronto Transit Commission previously operated a battery electric locomotive built by Nippon Sharyo in 1968 and retired in 2009.
In the early 1950s, Lyle Borst of the University of Utah was given funding by various US railroad line and manufacturers to study the feasibility of an electric-drive locomotive, in which an onboard atomic reactor produced the steam to generate the electricity.
At that time, atomic power was not fully understood; Borst believed the major stumbling block was the price of uranium.
With the Borst atomic locomotive, the center section would have a 200-ton reactor chamber and steel walls 5 feet thick to prevent releases of radioactivity in case of accidents.
Most steam locomotives have reciprocating engines, with pistons coupled to the driving wheels by means of connecting rods, with no intervening gearbox.
This means the combination of starting tractive effort and maximum speed is greatly influenced by the diameter of the driving wheels.
In diesel-electric and electric locomotives the control system between the traction motors and axles adapts the power output to the rails for freight or passenger service.
Some locomotives are designed specifically to work steep grade railways, and feature extensive additional braking mechanisms and sometimes rack and pinion.
The difference from conventional locomotives is that these power cars are integral part of a train and are not adapted for operation with any other types of passenger coaches.
