I have a big quesition and its very importent please read the text below..?

Question

my question is that can any one tell me something about history of locomotives( trains) in the period 1870 - to 1970 (approx.). or if you have any kind of information about a countrys locomotives(trains) history. like history of British locomotive( trains), USA locomotives history on that period.

if you have baggrund information and it should be in your own word. i search alot on the internet but i couldnt find anything use full. please help me i have a big project and its very importent to me. you can send your answer also in my email.

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Answer 1

Back then if you didn't have enough to pay your train fee, some might have been more inclined to act like WWE's Umaga if Umaga was a train conductor, and according to a WWE "Sports Entertainment Promo" that'd be for TV during RAW or Smackdown while it was airing, if Umaga was a train conductor and the passenger didn't have enough for their train fee, Umaga would beat the c**p out of them right there on the train.

But back then, they probably didn't do anything more than maybe grab the passenger by the collar and shove'em off the train at the next stop, at very most.

Answer 2

A tall order, this.  

Best not to fast forward here.  To understand and appreciate the advances made in motive power in the period which you are interested, 1870 to 1970, a bit of history as well as a working knowledge of these critters is essential.  I’ll try not to be too boring.  The timing of the is question is interesting in that my 360 blog post of 4-24-07 addresses some goings on where steam power is concerned.

Your question suggests that motive power in Britain is a separate issue from US locomotive design.  The truth is, at least as far as steam powered, reciprocating engines are concerned, they are inextricably linked.  It was, after all, a Brit that gave the world the first truly operative steam engine as motive power, as opposed to a stationary steam engine, such as the huge Cornish Pumps that used to drain the coal mines of England of water.

Though Robert Fulton was the man that spearheaded the use of steam engines as power for a mode of transportation in the first steamships, the first steam locomotive that was  able to be the first to pull a train successfully was actually the second locomotive built by Englishman Richard Trevithick in 1804, dubbed the “Penydarran.”  His later experiments produced the “Catch Me Who Can,” which pulled a coach on a circular track in North London and gave, for the first time, the opportunity of buying a railroad ticket for a ride behind a steam locomotive, in 1808.  The Penydarran was successful by virtue of the fact that Trevithick had been able to produce ‘strong steam,’ that is to say, steam under pressure.  It was a simple design, but demonstrated that steam was a viable source of power.

The first steam locomotive to run with success in regular service in the US did so in 1831.  The key words here are “with success.”  The Stourbridge Lion was the first to actually run on an American railroad, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, built by the Foster, Rastrick and Company of Stourbridge, England, and made the first run on August 9, 1829.  But, it proved to be too heavy for American tracks and was converted to a stationary engine.  The first successful American built locomotive, dubbed “The Best Friend of Charleston”, was built in 1830 by the West Point Foundry of New York and purchased by the Charleston and Hamburg railroad, which came to be known as the South Carolina Railroad.  This eventually became the Southern Railway, still in operation today after several mergers, as the Norfolk Southern (NS).  The ‘Best Friend’ was able to move 50 passengers in five coaches at an unbelievable, scorching 21 MPH.

Almost immediately, locomotive design in Britain and America began to diverge, primarily because the needs of rail service were divergent between the two countries.

Steam was a good choice as a means of converting stored energy into mechanical energy.  As a matter of fact, only gasoline and atomic fuels surpass that available from expanding steam, which expands at a rate of near 80:1.  Even today, nuclear fuel is used to make steam to run turbines for production of electricity and the power of our nuclear navy turbines.  the only difference is choice of fuel.  In that regard, tapping the thermal energy stored in the fuel, expressed as ‘calories,’ the external combustion required for steam operation is less efficient than the energy produced by the same fuel in an internal combustion engine.

Design, size and detail of steam locomotives changed over the years, but the basic principal, having taken shape with the ‘Rocket,’ also designed in 1829, is essentially the same.  But to understand improvements, we need to speak of operating principal.  My apologies if this is more information than you were seeking, but it’s the only way I can see to proceed.  But, some may find it interesting.

In basic terms, the frames of the locomotive rest on the axle boxes, or ‘bearing blocks,’ of the wheels, spring loaded with leaf or coil springs for suspension.  The frames have slots in them which allow for ventricle movement of the axle boxes, called ‘horns,’ and some had the springs connected by a pivot to equalize the suspension.  These, the drive wheels, or ‘drivers’ were a rigid assembly, save for the suspension, with later engines with many drivers had a bit of side-play as well, to help the rigid engine corner better.

The cylinders powered one set of drivers by way of the ‘side rods,’ with the other drivers were joined by the ‘connecting rods.’  As locomotives became larger, other wheels that were not powered were added to help support the increasing weight of the locomotive design, and were one of the first design changes born of necessity.  These, when ahead of the drivers, are called ‘pony trucks,’ and are usually two or four wheels.  There were trailing trucks as well, also two or four wheeled, with some exceptions, like the Allegheny, which was readily identifiable by the six wheel trailing truck.  The pony trucks, in addition to helping to support the locomotive, also assisted in guiding the engine along the rails, primarily when traversing curves.  The trailing trucks however allowed for a much more significant design change, in that they allowed for the ‘grate area’ of the fireboxes to grow in size, which meant more power could be developed.

The cylinders of a steam engine, with the pistons inside running back and forth, as opposed to up and down as in an automobile engine (there are some exceptions to this, however, when speaking of 3 types of engines called the ‘Shay’, the ‘Climax’ and the “Heisler.’  In addition, these were geared locomotives and did not utilize side rods.  Their low gears were perfect for logging railroads, where they saw most of their service) but differs from your run of the mill internal combustion engine, whether two or four stroke, in that they were pushed by steam injected into the cylinder on each stroke, first being pushed back, then pushed forward.  With power applied in both directions on each stroke, the advantages are obvious.

Usually the cylinders were outside the frame in the configuration we are all familiar with, but others did have cylinders mounted inboard, out of view, and applied power to the first set of drivers via a ‘crank’ on the axle of the first driver.  With two more power strokes per revolution of the drivers, these were some of the most powerful of rigid locomotives, outside of ‘articulated engines,’ which were developed much later.  More on them in a minute.

Just as in your car engine, there are valves that regulate the introduction of fuel, compression, ignition and exhaust, internally contained and out of view.  But, the valve works of the steam engines that were contained in the ‘steam chest,’ had their timing and drive mechanism outside the steam chest – cylinder assembly.  There have been many types, but the two most commonly found on locomotives built in the US was the ‘Stevens’ valve gear and the ‘Walschearts’ valve gear.  The Stevens is a relatively simple mechanism, used on earlier engines, as well as later designs found on smaller engines, such as switchers.  There were others however, that were proprietary in nature, designed by individual railroads for use on their locomotives, such as the ‘Southern’ valve gear, used on a number of that carrier’s engines.

The early engines were completely devoid of creature comforts.  One thing that I find intriguing, is that the locomotive cab, as we have come to know them on steam engines, was an improvement more than 18 years in the making, with the first ones not appearing on US locomotives until 1849. Prior to this time, the engine crew had nothing more than a makeshift, awning looking affair, open to the front, and providing very little protection from the elements.  It wasn’t until as late as 1851 that cabs were built into the design of all engines then manufactured.

Between 1870 and the end of the steam era, which lasted until as late as 1964 in some operations until being relegated to tourist railways or museums, the major advances came in boiler design, boiler size, fuels and operations.  Again my apologies, but to understand the improvements made to the steam engines, the basic operating principals of the boilers must be understood first.

By your requested time frame, beginning in 1870, locomotives were using ‘fire tube’ type boilers.  The boiler itself was horizontal, replacing the inefficient, early upright boilers they replaced.  At the rear of the boiler was the ‘fire box.’  As its name implies, this is where fuel was burned to heat the water to produce the steam.  The earliest engines were wood fired.  Later engines were either coal or oil fired.  The choice of railroads opting either for coal or oil fuel was dictated primarily by the availability of these fuels.  Consequently, most eastern railroads opted for coal as a fuel, because of the proximity of the sources, from the coal mines of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky.  In the west, where coal had to be shipped in great supply if used as a fuel, oil was the preferred fuel.

The fire box had above on the side walls, called ‘water walls’ and around it fire brick.  Below was the grate and ash pan, fitted with air intakes and dampers.  The upper part of the front of the firebox, above the ‘crown sheet’ on which the water lay, was found the ‘tube plate,’ where as many as 200 or more fire tubes lead the fire forward the length of the boiler on its way to the ‘smoke box,’ at the very front of the boiler.  Under power, the draft created in the smoke box was assisted by exhausting expanded steam from the cylinders, as well as being controlled by the fireman through the use of the ‘blowers’ and dampers.  The boiler also had water tubes, and as the heat traveled the length of the boiler, there was more area for heating the water in addition to the crown plate directly above the fire box.

Perhaps the greatest improvement in boiler design was the introduction of the means of making ‘superheated steam.’  As its name implies, the steam reaches the cylinders at much higher temperature than with conventional boilers, which produced ‘saturated steam.’   The engineers usually referred to these as ‘soakers.’  Because of the higher operating temperature, as well as higher steam pressure (between 280 and 300 psi on the superheated engines, with 250 psi or less for the soakers) more power was produced with the use of less water and fuel, both important to the operation and ultimately, the bottom line.

Of course, boiler size, and length of driving wheel base, was limited when dealing with steam engines of the ‘rigid’ type.  The next big improvement was the introduction of the ‘articulated engine.’  The articulated locomotives were very much in evidence by 1910.

Let’s take just a moment to try to clear up some confusion often encountered by folks trying to fathom the intricacies of motive power and its operation.  The problem arises when folks inadvertently interchange words that are actually not interchangeable.  Primary of these,  are the words ‘engine’ and ‘locomotive’.

When dealing with steam power alone, the two words can be interchanged, except for, when speaking of steam powered locos, one must under stand that the ‘engine’ is that which lies beneath the boiler, consisting of the steam chest, cylinders, valve gear, side rods and connecting rods.  When speaking of an articulated steam engine, there are two ‘engines’ under one boiler.  When we add diesel-electric locomotives to the mix, it gets even more confusing.  Diesel-electric locomotives do have a diesel engine as their primary source of power, operating the main alternator, companion alternator, auxiliary generator and mechanical devices, such as an air compressor.  The proper term for this ‘engine’ is the ‘prime mover,’ since it is the primary source of power.  Further complicating understanding is referring to the diesel electric as an ‘engine,’ when the proper term is ‘unit.’  On railroad property an ‘engine’ is defined as, “a unit propelled by any form of energy, or a combination of units operated from a single control, used in train or yard service.”  So, when people erroneously say, “I saw a train with four engines on it,” what they should say, properly, is, “I saw a train with a four unit engine on it.”  Simple, yes?

The big articulated steam engines represented the last of the major improvements to these external combustion behemoths.  They came in a variety of wheel arrangements, and two different methods of operation not yet discussed, which is the ‘single expansion’ engine, also referred to as a ‘simple’ engine, and ‘compound’ steam engines.  With the simple engines, steam was injected into the cylinders, expanded, and then exhausted through the smoke box.  A compound engine would expand the steam twice; first, in the ‘low pressure cylinders’ of the first engine under the boiler, then that steam was expanded a second time as the exhaust steam was routed to the high pressure cylinders.  By the end of the steam era, most of the articulateds had been converted to simple engines.  There were compound engines that were used on the rigid engines as well.  In this instance, the low pressure cylinder was on one side, and the high pressure cylinder on the other.  They operated under the same principal, but were referred to as ‘cross compound’ steam engines.

There was a brief flirtation with steam turbine engines and gas turbine-electrics, but they were a nightmare to maintain and so loud they could only be used without complaint in the deserts of the southwest.

The end for the graceful ladies of steam came about primarily due to the extensive maintenance needed to keep them running, though other improvements in the ‘30s and ‘40s, such as sophisticated lubrication systems, which eliminated the need for the fireman and/or engineer to hit the ground during stops to manually ‘oil around,’ being able to scoop water into the tender from a trough without having to stop, as well as the introduction of ball bearings for drive wheels, allowed for the engines to run far greater distances before needing service.  In the 1870s, the steam engines were never ran more than 100 miles before needing much service.  The other primary consideration is that, while this may sound odd, it’s true, a steam engine, with relatively low starting tractive effort when compared to a diesel-electric locomotive, could pull more tonnage than it could start moving, while the diesel-electric could start moving more tonnage than it can pull.

But, the period between 1939 and 1959, often referred to as the ‘transition era,” did see steam engines, diesel-electric, steam turbine and electric traction share the rails of the United States.  As far as electric traction is concerned, I’ll have to defer to some of the other regular contributors to the rail category when it comes to this area, as I have very limited knowledge along these lines.

Diesel-electric locomotives have come a long way since there inception and inclusion into regular service amongst the nation’s railroads around 1939.  Those of today are truly significant feats of tractive efficiency, dynamic braking, power, fuel efficiency and track/train dynamics.  But, within your time frame ending in 1970, the kings of the road at that juncture were the diesel-electric locomotives produce by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) that were built in LaGrange, Illinois.  Of the locomotives in service at that time, their SD-45 was the top of the line and the most common in service for many railroads. Many locomotive manufacturers initially were able to keep up with diesel-electric development, including, most notably, the now defunct American Locomotive Company (Alco) and the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Morrison-Knudsen and Krause-Maffei, a German manufacturer of diesel-hydraulic locomotives that failed to make the grade in the US.  These simply could not handle the massive tonnage moved by our nation’s carriers, which often runs as high as 16,000 tons for unit trains of grain or coal.  Other steam locomotive manufacturers fell by the wayside long before dieselization, including Stevens, Rogers, Lima and a host of others, many lost to history.

Today’s most powerful beasts are built by EMD and General Electric, now operating on AC current.  The diesels of your time frame did not, but were less efficient DC powered locomotives.

The operation is relatively simple and still based on the earliest concepts.  A prime mover turns an alternator that produces electricity that is fed through switch gear to electric traction motors that are axle hung on the trucks with the drive wheels.  A simple ‘ring and pinion’ arrangement powers the wheels.

Outside of the relatively recent development of the AC locomotives, the major improvements to the locomotive design has been primarily around the development of higher power prime movers.  The earliest diesel-electrics boasted 600 horsepower, with modern prime movers producing ten times as much power with 6,000 horsepower prime movers.

With our SD-45s of 1970, 3,600 horsepower was the norm.  Though they operated with DC power traction motors, the prime mover turned the AR-10 main alternator.  Since the motors were DC, large banks of rectifiers were needed to convert the AC current developed by the alternator to DC current, so the traction motors could use it.  As with any alternator, just as in your car, they require a source of electricity to, ‘put them to work,’ shall we say.  This was accomplished with the prime mover also operating the companion alternator, which supplied electricity to the main alternator, called ‘excitation,’ to allow it to produce the electricity.  In addition, the prime mover powered the auxiliary generator which supplied power for low voltage needs, such as battery charging and operating lights.

Union Pacific did run some locomotives with two prime movers aboard, in the guise of the DD-35s.  They also ran the Alco built 'Century' gas turbines.

How much electricity can one prime mover generate with the alternator?  A staggering 9,000 amperes across a 600 volt field.  Enough to supply the electrical needs of a small town.

When comparing the two side by side, the diesel-electric and steam locomotives, each had advantages over the other, but it was economics that dictated change.  The diesels were much easier to maintain, needed less maintenance when required, could be configured to any needed horsepower by adding locomotives to the consist, had a range of 1,000 miles typical, depending on fuel tank capacity and terrain over which it operated, required only an engineer, had much higher starting tractive effort and need for frequent water stops were eliminated.

The steam engines could pull more tonnage than the diesel electric, were expensive to maintain, even at the end with the ‘modern’ steam engines, required at least two men to operate (sometimes with two firemen to keep the coal feeding into the fire box non-stop), required more people to perform necessary maintenance, including boiler makers, pipe fitters, engine wipers and extensive round house and maintenance facilities.

But, are they gone forever?  You won’t see me take that bet.  In the early 70s, within your time frame, during the first major oil shortage precipitated by OPEC and our own short sightedness, a design was proposed for a hybrid steam/diesel-electric locomotive that would allow the benefits of each to work in unison, with the diesel-electric portion being utilized to start the tonnage moving, with the dteam powered portion pulling the tonnage along after it was already moving.  Micro-processor controlled (we’ve made huge advancements here since these were first conceived of) with pre-packaged 50 ton bins of coal, and utilizing condensers to reuse water, there time may yet come.

And there ya go, written in my own words, as requested, but not without significant reference to the sources listed below.  Hope this helps you with your project.

Answer 3

try searching "First Transcontinental Railroad" Wikipedia, it opens up all you need