NYC No. 999
| NYC No. 999 | |
|---|---|
 Locomotive 999 in Syracuse
|
|
| Manufacturer: | West Albany |
| Year of construction (s): | 1893 |
| Retirement: | Rebuilding in 1906 and finally in 1952 |
| Type : | 2'B n2 |
| Genre : | N |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Length: | approx. 17 m |
| Service mass: | 56.4 t |
| Friction mass: | 38.2 t |
| Top speed: | 181 km / h (?) |
| Indexed performance : | 1,600 kW |
| Starting tractive effort: | 72.6 kN |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 2,184 mm |
| Cylinder diameter: | 483 mm |
| Piston stroke: | 610 mm |
| Boiler overpressure: | 13.4 bar |
| Grate area: | 2.85 m² |
| Radiant heating surface: | 21.70 m² |
| Evaporation heating surface: | 177.50 m² |
| Water supply: | 13.3 m³ |
| Fuel supply: | 6.5 tons of coal |
The steam locomotive no. 999 of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad is considered the first vehicle that has a speed of 100 mph has exceeded (about 161 km / h).
On the record run of the locomotive , which was specially built for this purpose, in 1893 , even 112 mph (181 km / h) were measured, which also caused a worldwide sensation outside of railroad circles. However, experts doubt that this speed was actually achieved.
Emergence
In 1891 a new train , the Empire State Express, was introduced on the 702 km route between New York City and Buffalo . In order to beat the rival Pennsylvania Railroad in the run-up to the World Columbian Exposition , the world exhibition in Chicago , George H. Daniels, the person responsible for the railroad company for the passenger transport , came up with the idea of making a record run with the train. He planned to exceed the "magical" 100 mph limit (161 km / h), which was considered a daring undertaking because this speed was about a third above the normal maximum speed of the train and there was no experience in this speed range.
After the President of New York Central Cornelius Vanderbilt II and the management approved the project, a particularly fast locomotive was created under the direction of engineer William Buchanan , the railroad's chief designer, especially for this record run - the cost of which was USD 13,000 .
technology
The design of the new locomotive caused few problems, as it was based on the existing Class I locomotives, also designed by Buchanan. These were already considered very fast locomotives, and one of them was rumored to have come very close to 100 mph. They were locomotives with a 2'B ("American") wheel arrangement, ie with a leading two-axle bogie and two coupled axles . This was the predominant design for express train locomotives in North America at the time .
For the record locomotive, the drive wheel diameter was increased from 1981 mm to 2184 mm (86 inches) - the largest drive wheels that a 2'B locomotive has ever had - as well as the diameter of the running wheels of the locomotive and tender . With these measures, the speeds and thus the stress on the bearings and engine should be reduced at the planned high speed. For the first time ever on a locomotive, not only the drive wheels were braked, but also the wheels of the bogie , in order to ensure effective braking even at high speeds.
Because the cylinder dimensions remained unchanged compared to Class I, Buchanan increased the pressure of the boiler from 12.4 to 13.1 bar so that the pulling force did not drop too much despite the larger drive wheels.
The boiler was designed in the "wagon top" design, i. that is, it had a significantly larger diameter in the area of the standing kettle . The fire box was equipped with a "water table", a transversely installed, forward-sloping, flat water chamber that significantly enlarged the radiant heating surface, i.e. the particularly effective heating surface that is directly exposed to the heat radiation from the fire. The control was an internal Stephenson control with flat slides, as it was used almost without exception in the USA at that time .
The tender was equipped with a water scooping device , with which water could be picked up from troughs attached between the rails (see picture) .
The record run
The locomotive was completed in April 1893. Initially, the number 1000 was planned, but the more memorable number 999 was finally chosen . The first test drives were carried out in secrecy so as not to warn the competition . Everything went well, so the speed increased more and more. On May 9th, 1893, the 161 km / h was exceeded for the first time.
The following day, May 10, 1893, the official record run took place. As usual, the train consisted of four six-axle express train cars , each weighing around 40 tons. In addition to the passengers, there were some railway company officials on board, including Daniels and Buchanan, as well as invited guests and newspaper reporters. The speed should be measured with the help of stopwatches, because measuring vehicles did not exist at that time.
The journey led from the Syracuse locomotive exchange station to Buffalo, which was about the last third of the total route of the Empire State Express . About 60 km from Buffalo, a 23 km stretch of the route had been carefully prepared and checked, and the regulatory authority had lifted the speed limit for this section. The gradient was about 3 ‰.
The stopwatches measured times between 31 and 32 seconds per mile on this section, the latter value being 112.5 mph (181 km / h), the former even 116.1 mph or 187 km / h. A calculation shows that the locomotive had to generate an output of around 2,200 hp (1,600 kW) for this trip, which it could only have been able to do for a short time due to its heating surface.
With this performance, the No. 999 remains the fastest 2'B locomotive of all time to this day; Only a few years later, the Atlantic (2'B1) type was created, which displaced the American locomotives from the fastest trains.
In a time in which the car had just been invented, there were no airplanes were and electric rail vehicles at best as a tram - and transport - motor coaches existed, caught the quick drive worldwide sensation, and the desired advertising effect exceeded all expectations. Following the record run, the locomotive was exhibited as the "fastest locomotive in the world" at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago and became one of the most famous locomotives ever. A stamp was even issued with an illustration of the No. 999, and more than 3,000 miniature replicas of the locomotive were sold to amusement parks around the world.
Credibility of the speed data
As described, there were no precise methods of measuring speed at that time. For this reason the speed information is subject to a certain inaccuracy for technical reasons. In addition, there was no documentation in the form of measuring strips and that all information on the measured speeds was initially given verbally. It cannot be ruled out that not only railway employees, but also reporters and passengers have exaggerated a little in their enthusiasm. Skeptical experts assume that the 100 mph of steam locomotives was not actually exceeded until the 1920s or 1930s, and that the speed actually achieved by the No. 999 or the speed measured by experts at the time was, according to some sources, only 82 mph ( 132 km / h).
In the years after the record run, however, there have been other locomotives in the USA that can reach speeds of 100 mph e.g. T. should have exceeded significantly. The most famous of these is the Pennsylvania Railroad's Atlantic No. 7002 , which is said to have reached 205 km / h on June 12, 1905. This seems impossible for technical reasons, but is sometimes given in American sources as the fastest journey of a steam locomotive.
Operational use and modifications
After the end of the world exhibition, the 999 was used in normal planing service, but here there were weaknesses in the starting tractive effort, which were due to the large drive wheels. However, the locomotive was too big and therefore uneconomical for lighter trains that could easily be started.
Until 1899, the 999 was used before the Empire State Express and other prominent trains. But then it was radically rebuilt by providing it with drive wheels measuring only 1,778 mm, which also required a new frame. The impellers were also reduced to the usual size of 914 mm and the boiler pressure was reduced to 12.4 bar. The tender was replaced with a more modern model and the class designation was changed from N to C-14.
In 1906 another renovation took place in which the boiler was replaced. The wooden driver's cab was later replaced by one made of metal and finally the locomotive was redrawn when the numbering system was changed from 999 to 1086. It ran in this form on a branch line in Pennsylvania until 1924.
The locomotive was almost scrapped, but at the last moment someone recognized its identity and the machine was rebuilt, including an old tender. However, the locomotive itself could only be matched in color to the original, because apart from a few individual parts nothing of the record locomotive was left and the original proportions have been greatly changed due to the smaller wheels and the boiler, which has a larger diameter than the original boiler .
The locomotive remained in service in this form for a while and was shown at the 1938 World's Fair in New York and at a railroad fair in Chicago in 1940. At the beginning of the 1950s, however, the railway turned away from steam operation and the No. 999 no longer seemed suitable as a figurehead. In 1952 the now somewhat shabby locomotive, which was used in shunting, was finally retired and finally handed over to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in 1962 , where it is still standing today. In the 1990s it was restored and largely returned to the condition it had been in after its "rediscovery" in the 1920s.
literature
- Wilhelm Reuter: record locomotives. The fastest on the rails. 1848-1950. 3. Edition. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-87943-582-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fleet-wheeled wonder
- ↑ Which steam locomotive reached 100 mph first? ( Memento from July 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Pennsylvania Railroad's "record engine"
