Steam turbine locomotive
A steam turbine locomotive is a special type of steam locomotive . The first steam turbine powered locomotive was developed in 1907. 26 machines followed by 1954. With the steam turbine locomotive, attempts were made to achieve greater economic efficiency of the steam drive.
construction
The use of a steam turbine to drive a steam locomotive promised greater economy while maintaining the upper pressure and temperature limits of a normal steam boiler . By using a condenser , the pressure gradient in the steam power plant could be brought close to the vacuum . Savings of up to 30% steam or fuel have been calculated. In addition, the turbine could be accommodated cheaply on the locomotive . Thanks to the design, all parts of the vehicle in contact with steam could be designed without lubrication or cleaning. The closed water cycle resulted in scale-free feed water and the water losses in the system were extremely low.
There were various options for power transmission. In the case of mechanical power transmission, a reverse turbine or a reversing gear was also required. In order to achieve economically usable speeds, corresponding reduction gears had to be used.
Electric power transmission was therefore cheaper. Here the turbine drove a generator . The electrical energy was then transferred to the wheels by means of electric motors . However, this design required a greater mass, and the efficiency was also lower.
The disadvantage was that a turbine works best at a constant speed. In very few cases, however, this requirement coincided with the operational profile of a locomotive. So the steam turbine locomotives could only convince in long-distance service. In addition, there was the higher maintenance requirements of the complicated machines.
Improved turbines made it possible to dispense with condensation towards the end of the development of the steam turbine locomotive . This eliminated the disadvantage of the space-consuming and maintenance-intensive construction. However, with the advent of diesel locomotives, this technology was not further developed .
history
The Italian professor Giuseppe Belluzzo developed the first steam turbine locomotive in 1908 . In this machine, which was used as a shunting locomotive , four steam turbines connected one after the other in terms of flow drove the locomotive wheels directly. The performance of the locomotive was not yet satisfactory. Belluzzo therefore improved his design, which led to a machine manufactured by Breda in 1931 .
Another forerunner of the steam turbine locomotive was the steam-electric locomotive propagated by the Alsatian engineer and inventor Jean-Jacques Heilmann , the development of which he had been working on since 1884. The first of these locomotives with a two-cylinder composite steam engine and electric motor chassis with the Do'Do 'wheel arrangement was manufactured in 1892/93. The electrical equipment was supplied by Brown, Boveri & Cie. In 1897 he presented the second locomotive, called the 8001, on a journey from Paris Saint-Lazare train station to Mantes . It had been commissioned by the French Western Railway .
The British engineers Hugh Reid and Ramsay took a similar path in 1910. They coupled a generator for direct current to the steam turbine , which supplied the electric current for four series motors . This design was further developed by Ramsay, and in 1922 a test locomotive was built at Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. James Mac Leod and Hugh Reid designed the steam turbine locomotive with mechanical power transmission introduced in 1924. However, the complicated construction did not prove itself.
The design by the Swedish engineer Fredrik Ljungström was more successful . In his locomotive, presented in 1921, the condenser and the dry cooler were combined to form an air cooler that works without evaporation. Due to the design, the turbine had to be arranged together with the cooler in the rear part of the vehicle and the live steam had to be conducted through the driver's cab to the turbine. During a conversion, the locomotive was equipped with a preheater drum in the area of the smoke chamber. On the basis of this design, a locomotive was built for the Argentine railroad in 1923 and one for Beyer-Peacock in 1926. In 1927 the Swedish State Railways ordered a single copy of a Ljungström steam turbine locomotive.
Almost at the same time Heinrich Zoelly was working on a steam turbine locomotive in Switzerland . At Zoelly the surface condenser was located directly behind the steam turbine in front. The dry cooler was located on the tender. A class B 3/4 locomotive was converted in 1920 as a test locomotive . Based on Zoelly's patents, Krupp designed a steam turbine locomotive for the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1924 . At the same time Maffei received such an order. The Reichsbahn subjected the locomotives known as T 18 to an intensive test program. However, the outbreak of World War II prevented further development of the construction.
Also in the mid-1920s, Henschel fitted a Prussian P 8 locomotive with a drive tender with a steam turbine of the Zoelly type, road number DR T 38 3255 . The high maintenance costs did not promise economic continuous operation. Based on the good results of the T 18, the construction of streamlined locomotives with a tender was planned. The 1'D2 'locomotives of the planned T 09 series under construction at Krupp were lost in air raids in 1943.
The further improvement of the turbine technology made the use of the complex condensation unnecessary. After leaving the turbines, the exhaust steam was expelled as exhaust. This was first tested in 1932 on a locomotive converted by Breda. However, the machine was a bad design.
The locomotive commissioned at the same time from Nydquist & Holm by Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg-Oxelösunds Järnvägar (TGOJ), on the other hand, proved its worth, so that in 1936 two more locomotives were reordered. The machines designated as the Mt3 series were in use until 1954. Locomotive No. 71 is in the Grängesberg Railway Museum and is the only steam turbine locomotive that is still operational. This success prompted the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) to develop their own exhaust steam turbine locomotive. The locomotive was in service until 1944. A further development was discarded because of the advent of diesel locomotives.
The French company Schneider et Cie. delivered the class 232 Q 1 locomotive to the SNCF in 1941 . The machine had three steam turbines, each of which drove an axle via a hollow shaft and a spring cup drive. The construction was unsatisfactory and in 1944 the locomotive was destroyed by the effects of the war.
The American Pennsylvania Railroad also had Baldwin develop an exhaust steam turbine locomotive with mechanical power transmission. The locomotive, which was delivered in 1944, proved itself especially in freight and heavy express train service. At speeds below 50 km / h, however, stud bolts were often broken due to the oversized steam consumption and the associated pressure drop. The locomotive was retired in 1949 after a turbine failure.
More promising than the locomotives with mechanical power transmission were designs with electric drive. The Union Pacific Railroad therefore commissioned General Electric to build two such machines. The two locomotives delivered in 1938 had a fairing similar to the EMD diesel locomotives. The locomotives had a high-pressure forced circulation boiler with oil firing. The multi-stage turbines worked on a common gearbox and then on two generators arranged one behind the other. After a test phase, the locomotives were returned to General Electric in 1942, where they were scrapped at the end of the war.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and the Norfolk and Western Railway tried to find an alternative to the oil-burning diesel locomotives as coal transport railways. They therefore commissioned appropriate steam turbine locomotives with electrical power transmission. In 1947 and 1948 Baldwin delivered three locomotives to C&O as C&O class M-1 . However, the locomotives consumed more coal than conventional machines and were also more expensive to maintain. They were scrapped again in 1950.
In 1954, the Norfolk and Western received a steam locomotive from Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton with a steam turbine generator and electric single-axle drive in the wheel arrangement (Co'Co ') (Co'Co') as class TE1 . The design was based on the C&O machine and was largely functional. However, the locomotive known as "Jawn Henry" remained a one-off and was taken out of service on December 31, 1957.
Overview of the produced steam turbine locomotives
| designation | Construction year | Manufacturer | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belluzzo steam turbine locomotive | 1908 | Officine Meccaniche | Belluzzo design |
| Reid-Ramsay steam turbine locomotive | 1909 | North British Locomotive Company | Steam-electric locomotive type Reid-Ramsay |
| SBB No. 1801 | 1921 | Swiss locomotive and machine factory | Type Zoelly |
| Ljungström steam turbine locomotive | 1921 | Nydqvist & Holm | Ljungström type |
| Armstrong-Whitworth steam turbine locomotive | 1922 | Armstrong-Whitworth | Ramsay type |
| Mac Leod-Reid steam turbine locomotive | 1923 | North British Locomotive Company | Mac Leod-Reid type |
| T 18 1001 | 1924 | Friedrich Krupp AG | Type Zoelly |
| Ferrocarril Provincial de Santa Fe steam turbine locomotive | 1925 | Nydquist & Holm | Ljungström type |
| Beyer-Ljungström steam turbine locomotive | 1926 | Beyer-Peacock | Ljungström type |
| T 18 1002 | 1926 | YES Maffei | Ljungström type |
| SJ Å No. 1474 | 1927 | Nydquist & Holm | Ljungström type |
| DR T 38 3255 | 1928 | Henschel & Son | Drifting type Zoelly |
| TGOJ M3t No. 71 to 73 | 1930-1936 | Nydquist & Holm | Exhaust steam turbine |
| Belluzzo Breda steam turbine locomotive | 1931 | Breda | Belluzzo design |
| FS 685.410 | 1932 | Officine Meccaniche | Exhaust steam turbine |
| LMS # 6202 | 1935 | LMS Crewe Works | Exhaust steam turbine |
| SNCF 232 Q 1 | 1938 | Schneider et Cie. | Exhaust steam turbine |
| UP No. 1 and 2 | 1938 | General Electric | Steam-electric locomotive |
| PRR class S2 No. 6200 | 1944 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | Exhaust steam turbine |
| C&O class M-1 No. 500 to 502 | 1947 | Baldwin Locomotive Works | Steam-electric locomotive |
| N&W class TE1 | 1954 | Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton | Steam-electric locomotive |
literature
- Erich Preuß, Reiner Preuß: Lexicon inventors and inventions: Railway . 1st edition. transpress, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-344-00053-5 , p. 77-81 .
- Raimar Lehmann: Steam locomotive special designs . 2nd unchanged edition. VEB Verlag Technik, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-341-00336-3 , p. 142-155 .
- Rolf Ostendorf : Steam Turbine Locomotives . Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1971.
Web links
- "The Steam Turbine Locomotive" (English)
- Overview of the individual steam turbine locomotives (English)
- Overview of the steam turbine locomotives
- Exhaust steam condensation in turbine locomotives
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl-Ernst Maedel , Alfred B. Gottwaldt : German steam locomotives. The history of development . Transpress Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-344-70912-7 , p. 261 .
- ^ The Norfolk & Western Info Page C-C + CC TE1