CIÉ No. CC1
| CIÉ No. CC1 | |
|---|---|
| Number: | 1 |
| Manufacturer: | Inchicore Railway Works |
| Year of construction (s): | 1957 |
| Type : | C'C 'h4 |
| Gauge : | 1600 mm |
| Length over buffers: | 20.7 m |
| Service mass: | 130.5 t |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 1091 mm |
| Cylinder diameter: | 304.5 mm |
| Piston stroke: | 355 mm |
| Boiler overpressure: | 17.5 kg / cm² |
| Water supply: | 10.2 m³ |
| Fuel supply: | 7.7 tons of peat |
The No. CC1 of the Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), also known as the Turf Burner , was a 1957 Irish steam locomotive that was fired with peat . It was built at the Inchicore Railway Works in Dublin based on a design by Oliver Bulleid .
history
Because of its low calorific value, peat is not a suitable fuel for a locomotive. Tests showed that 100 tons of peat correspond to around 43 to 47 tons of hard coal . In Ireland it was still worth trying peat as a fuel because it cost only about a third of the cost of imported Welsh coal and made it independent of imports.
During the Second World War , the then Great Southern Railway (GSR) could no longer replenish its supplies of Welsh coal. The situation became increasingly critical from 1942, so that the trains had to be shortened. An attempt was made to fire the locomotives with fine anthracite mixed with peat . However, this fuel tended to bake together into a solid clinker-like mass, which led to many locomotive failures. The situation came to a head in the snowy, cold winter of 1946/48 because the import of British coal was restricted. As a result, the government hired the former GWR Director-General to review the transport infrastructure in Ireland, bringing in Oliver Bulleid as one of the three experts.
Bulleid made a good impression on the executives of CIÉ, which was only founded in 1945, so that after his career at Southern Railway (SR) he took on the job of chief engineer for train transport at CIÉ. The railway had already decided to switch from coal to diesel as fuel, but did not yet know how to achieve this. Bulleid questioned the approach because he wasn't sure whether the railroad could afford the expensive diesel locomotives and the high fuel costs. With the Leader class he developed at SR in mind, he asked for permission to develop a new steam locomotive that could only run on the local fuel peat.
Bulleid realized that using peat without the addition of coal still required some research to optimize the combustion process. It was therefore an old 1'C locomotive of the Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR), the predecessor company of the CIÉ. The locomotive of the K3 class with the number 356 was prepared as a mobile test stand, where tests were carried out with the peat bunker, the Franco-Crosti feed water preheating and forced air supply for the furnace. When building the peat locomotive at Inchicore Railway Works , the experience of the Leader class was taken into account. With 1000 hp it should have roughly the same power as the new diesel locomotives.
The locomotive designated as CC1 was completed in 1957 and covered approximately 3500 km during tests. Due to numerous minor problems, the Turf Burner was only used in front of light freight trains between Kingsbridge and North Wall in Dublin. The project ended when Bulleid retired in 1958. The peat locomotive was then shown at various events, but was never heated again. After standing around for several years, it was officially scrapped in 1963 and dismantled in 1965. The boiler was saved for later stationary use. For years the frame was still in a bush near Inchicore .
technology
The locomotive consisted of a box-shaped structure on two three-axle bogies . The complex components of the peat incineration plant were hidden behind the cladding of the superstructure, which, in addition to the boiler, also included elaborate fans for the combustion air supply and preheaters . The boiler was arranged on the welded frame in the middle, the water tank was arranged at one end and the peat bunker at the other. The locomotive had two driver's cabs, which were arranged behind the supplies towards the middle.
The bogies with Boxpok wheels were built much lighter than those in the Leader class. They also had the external drive chains known from the Leader for power transmission between the wheel sets , but without an oil bath. In each bogie there was a two-cylinder steam engine with piston valves, which were driven by a Heusinger control. The Leader's sleeve valves, which are prone to failure, have thus been dispensed with.
Two mechanical grate feeders supplied the fire box with peat fuel.
The structure of the Turf Burner was painted gray-blue, the motor bogies black, the buffer beams red.
Web links
- Rob Speare: Bulleid's Irish Connection - The Turf Burner Experiment. In: Building Bulleid's Locos. Retrieved on October 8, 2018 (English, with many pictures).
- CC1. In: Uncommon Steam Locomotives. Retrieved October 8, 2018 (English, technical data).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Rob Speare
- ^ Douglas Self: The Franco-Crosti Boiler System. In: Unusual Steam Locomotives. February 8, 2004, accessed on October 7, 2018 (the locomotive is shown at the very end of the page).
- ↑ Bulleid's turf burning locomotive. In: Mike Morant Collection. April 24, 1954, accessed on October 7, 2018 (English, picture of the test locomotive with peat tender and externally ventilated combustion).