Twin sisters
The Twin Sisters (twin sisters) was an early steam locomotive .
construction
The three-axle Twin Sisters was the first C-coupled locomotive from Robert Stephenson & Co. and also the first to be delivered to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . The machine, priced at £ 550 , was handed over on July 2, 1829 (the year 1827 is often found in the literature, but this is incorrect). The locomotive got its name because of its unusual, eye-catching construction: It had two upright boilers arranged one behind the other , each of which had its own chimney. It was hoped that this construction method, which was an experiment, would provide particular performance, especially on incline sections. However, these expectations were not met and the double boiler construction proved to be fragile in operation.
Another, albeit successful, innovation was that the Twin Sisters, in contrast to the coal -fired locomotives built up to that point , used coke as fuel, which suppressed smoke. This was a test that was carried out with a view to the test drives planned for October 1829 in Rainhill ; One of the conditions of the competition was that the participating locomotives were not allowed to emit smoke, and with the Twin Sisters the Stephensons successfully tested the coke-firing system that was to be used in the Rocket .
commitment
The Twin Sisters was intended for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway as a construction locomotive for the construction of the railway line, not for the regular train service. This was also shown by the fact that it was never included in the numbering scheme or the locomotive lists of the railway company. After the line was completed in 1830, it was still used for ballasting work and carried trains with coke for the locomotives, which is why it was also called the Liverpool Coke Engine . Their withdrawal date and whereabouts are not known.
literature
- Chapman Frederick Marshall: A History of Railway Locomotives down to the End of the Year 1831 . Locomotive Publishing Company, London 1953
- The Newcomen Society for the Study of the History of Engineering and Technology (ed.): Transactions of the Newcomen Society , Vol. 1-2. London 1965
- James GH Warren: A Century of Locomotive Building by Robert Stephenson & Co., 1823-1923 . A. Reid & Co. Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne 1923