Oil firing (steam locomotive)
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The use of oil firing in shipping and in fixed boiler systems was followed by the development of such firing systems in locomotive construction at the end of the 19th century .
history
The development of oil-fired steam locomotives goes back to good experiences with this fuel in stationary boiler and ship boiler systems. It was first used in countries with significant oil reserves such as Russia, Romania and the United States. The first oil-fired locomotive in Russia was based on a design by Professor Urquhart in 1885. Fuel was a residue from the distillation of crude oil, the masut . Two years later there were trials with oil-fired steam locomotives in Romania.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway began to equip them with oil firing in 1887. In 1912, over 800 locomotives were already in service with this firing system. At the same time, the Southern Pacific , which began converting many steam locomotives to oil-firing in the 1890s, had over 1200 oil-fired steam locomotives in service because this fuel was cheaper than coal in California.
distribution
In the 1920s Romania received from Germany four-cylinder Pacifics of the CFR 231 series from Maffei that were equipped with additional petroleum firing . As with many Romanian locomotives, they were fired using a mixture of heavy oil and lignite , both of which are domestic fuels.
In Germany, the development did not begin until after the Second World War , apart from a Prussian G 8.1 that was retrofitted with additional oil firing in 1920 . After an attempt with additional oil firing, the 01 1100 was the first DB locomotive to be equipped with a new boiler by the Henschel company in 1956 and converted to the main oil firing system. From 1957 onwards, 33 locomotives of this series were converted according to this model.
At the same time, 40 locomotives of the DR class 41 were converted and, from 1964, over 60 locomotives of the DR class 44 were converted . The development in West Germany was completed by the DB 10 002 , which was equipped with main oil firing from the start and, with 50 4011, the only oil-fired representative of this Franco Crosti locomotive series . Numerous oil-fired locomotives were part of the DB fleet until the steam traction finally ended in 1977.
At the Deutsche Reichsbahn , between 1957 and 1967 a total of 97 units of the 44 series were converted to main oil firing by the Meiningen RAW , 72 locomotives of the 50.35 series , 24 units of the Prussian T 20s that remained in the German Democratic Republic after the war , a large one Part of the DR series 01.5 and all 18 (in GDR parlance : reconstructed ) machines of the 03.10 series in the years 1965 to 1972.
technology
The conversion from coal to oil firing made it possible in Central Europe to use steam locomotives more effectively - despite structural changes in traction . The increasing consumption of light fuels was followed by the availability of sufficient amounts of refinery end products such as heating oil S , which were required for this type of combustion in steam locomotives. Double burners were used. At the DB, the construction with flat burners prevailed, other railways used round burners. The Henschel company , which carried out many modifications, had sufficient experience due to previous conversions and deliveries abroad. The necessary renovation work was technically and financially minor. Instead of the coal box in the tender, there is an insulated oil tank with an upper and a lower oil tank heating coil in order to achieve the required fluidity of the fuel.
The filling took place initially from above, later increasingly in the lower area. A shut-off valve and a quick-closing valve were followed by a metal hose connection between the tender and the locomotive. The grate, ash pan, spark arrester and wetting equipment from the locomotive have been removed. Another preheater on the fire box was located in front of the oil control valve, which regulated the feed to the burners mounted in the front part of the fire box. The mixture was swirled with the combustion air with a very fine jet of steam. In addition to the elimination of flying sparks and the associated risk of fire with coal-fired combustion, there was a higher boiler efficiency and an increase in output compared to the coal-fired version. In operation, the design relieved the heater, allowed a more flexible adaptation to the steam requirement, shorter idle times and, due to the more economical use of fuel, longer locomotive runs. A disadvantage of this type of firing was the need to supply external steam for longer periods of shutdown in order to be able to operate the oil firing system again with its own steam from around 5 bar. To avoid this, the parked machines were heated up in some places at regular intervals of a few hours.
literature
- Erich Flake: Oil-fired steam locomotives . In: Horst J. Obermayer (Ed.): Lok-Magazin . No. 142 . Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, W. Keller & Co. , 1976, ISSN 0458-1822 , p. 7-17 .