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the locomotive is under steam

  • 1 steam

    A n
    1 ( vapour) vapeur f ; (in room, on window) buée f ; vegetables cooked in steam légumes cuits à la vapeur ; machines/trains powered by steam machines/trains à vapeur ; steam rose from the ground la vapeur montait du sol ; my breath turned to steam in the cold je faisais de la buée en respirant dans le froid ;
    2 Mech ( from pressure) pression f ; to get up ou raise steam mettre la chaudière sous pression ; the locomotive is under steam la locomotive est sous pression ; full steam ahead! Naut, fig en avant toute!
    B modif [bath, cloud] de vapeur ; [cooking] à la vapeur ; [boiler, iron, railway] à vapeur.
    C vtr Culin faire cuire [qch] à la vapeur [vegetables] ; steamed carrots carottes à la vapeur ; steamed pudding GB pudding cuit à la vapeur.
    D vi
    1 ( give off vapour) [kettle, pan, soup] fumer ; [water] bouillir ; [engine, machine] fumer ; [horse, ground, volcano] fumer ;
    2 Rail the trains used to steam across ou through the countryside autrefois les trains traversaient la campagne en crachant des nuages de fumée ;
    3 ○ ( move fast) se précipiter.
    to get up ou pick up steam [machine, vehicle] prendre de la vitesse ; [campaign] prendre de l'importance ; to run out of steam [athlete, orator, economy] s'essouffler ; [worker] peiner ; to let ou blow off steam ( use excess energy) se défouler ○ ; ( lose one's temper) se mettre en colère ; to get somewhere under one's own steam se rendre or aller quelque part par ses propres moyens.
    ■ steam ahead fig to steam ahead in the polls progresser dans les sondages ; she's steaming ahead with her thesis sa thèse avance bien.
    ■ steam off:
    ▶ steam off [train] s'éloigner dans un nuage de vapeur ; [person] ( in anger) partir furieux/-ieuse ;
    ▶ steam [sth] off, steam off [sth] décoller [qch] à la vapeur [stamp, wallpaper].
    ▶ steam [sth] open, steam open [sth] décacheter [qch] à la vapeur [envelope, letter].
    ■ steam up:
    ▶ steam up [window, glasses] s'embuer ;
    ▶ steam [sth] up embuer [window] ; to get steamed up fig [person] se mettre dans tous ses états (over à propos de).

    Big English-French dictionary > steam

  • 2 steam

    1. noun, no pl., no indef. art.
    Dampf, der

    let off steam — (fig.) Dampf ablassen (ugs.)

    run out of steam — keinen Dampf mehr haben; (fig.) den Schwung verlieren

    under one's own steam — (fig.) aus eigener Kraft

    2. transitive verb
    1) (Cookery) dämpfen; dünsten
    2)

    steam open an envelope — einen Umschlag mit [heißem] Wasserdampf öffnen

    3. intransitive verb
    Phrasal Verbs:
    - academic.ru/92081/steam_up">steam up
    * * *
    [sti:m] 1. noun
    1) (a gas or vapour that rises from hot or boiling water or other liquid: Steam rose from the plate of soup / the wet earth in the hot sun; a cloud of steam; ( also adjective) A sauna is a type of steam bath.) der Dampf, Dampf-...
    2) (power or energy obtained from this: The machinery is driven by steam; Diesel fuel has replaced steam on the railways; ( also adjective) steam power, steam engines.) der Dampf, Dampf-...
    2. verb
    1) (to give out steam: A kettle was steaming on the stove.) dampfen
    2) ((of a ship, train etc) to move by means of steam: The ship steamed across the bay.) dampfen
    3) (to cook by steam: The pudding should be steamed for four hours.) dämpfen
    •
    - steam-
    - steamer
    - steamy
    - steamboat
    - steamship
    - steam engine
    - steam roller
    - full steam ahead
    - get steamed up
    - get up steam
    - let off steam
    - run out of steam
    - steam up
    - under one's own steam
    * * *
    [sti:m]
    I. n no pl Dampf m
    he ran out of \steam ihm ging die Puste aus
    full \steam ahead! mit Volldampf voraus!; NAUT volle Kraft voraus!
    the age of \steam das Zeitalter der Dampfmaschine
    to let off \steam Dampf ablassen a. fig
    to pick [or get] up \steam (generate steam) feuern; (gain impetus) in Schwung kommen
    ▶ to do sth under one's own \steam etw in eigener Regie [o ÖSTERR, SCHWEIZ a. Eigenregie] tun
    II. n modifier Dampf-
    \steam locomotive Dampflok[omotive] f
    III. vi
    1. (produce steam) dampfen
    the ship \steamed into the port das Schiff lief [dampfend] in den Hafen ein
    IV. vt
    to \steam fish/vegetables Fisch/Gemüse dämpfen
    to \steam open a letter einen Brief über Wasserdampf öffnen
    * * *
    [stiːm]
    1. n
    Dampf m; (from swamp also) Dunst m

    full steam ahead (Naut) — volle Kraft voraus; (fig) mit Volldampf voraus

    to get or pick up steam (lit) — feuern, Dampf aufmachen (dated); (fig) in Schwung kommen

    to run out of steam (lit) — Dampf verlieren; (fig) Schwung verlieren

    under one's own steam (fig) — allein, ohne Hilfe

    2. vt
    dämpfen; food also dünsten
    3. vi
    1) (= give off steam) dampfen
    2) (= move) dampfen

    the ship steamed into the harbour —

    the ship steamed out the runner came steaming round the last bend (inf) — das Schiff dampfte ab der Läufer kam mit Volldampf um die letzte Kurve (inf)

    * * *
    steam [stiːm]
    A s
    1. (Wasser)Dampf m:
    at full steam mit Volldampf (a. fig);
    full steam ahead Volldampf oder volle Kraft voraus;
    go full steam ahead with fig etwas mit Volldampf vorantreiben;
    get up steam Dampf aufmachen (a. fig);
    let ( oder blow) off steam Dampf ablassen, fig ( auch work off steam) auch sich oder seinem Zorn Luft machen;
    a) Dampf anlassen,
    b) fig Dampf dahinter machen umg;
    he was running out of steam fig ihm ging die Luft oder Puste aus;
    under one’s own steam mit eigener Kraft, fig a. allein
    2. Dunst m, Schwaden pl
    3. fig umg Dampf m, Schwung m, Wucht f
    4. obs Dampfer m
    B v/i
    1. dampfen (auch Pferd etc):
    steaming hot dampfend heiß
    2. verdampfen
    3. SCHIFF, BAHN dampfen (fahren)
    4. dampfen, brausen, sausen
    5. meist steam ahead, steam away umg
    a) sich (mächtig) ins Zeug legen,
    b) gut vorankommen
    6. steam up ( oder over) (sich) beschlagen (Glas etc)
    7. umg vor Wut kochen
    C v/t
    1. a) Speisen etc dämpfen, dünsten
    b) Holz etc dämpfen, Stoff dekatieren
    2. steam a letter open einen Brief über Dampf öffnen;
    steam a stamp off the envelope eine Marke über Dampf vom Umschlag lösen
    3. Gas etc ausströmen
    4. steam up Glas etc beschlagen:
    a) die Industrie etc ankurbeln, auf Touren bringen,
    b) jemanden in Rage bringen:
    be steamed up umg → B 7;
    get steamed up in Rage kommen ( over wegen);
    don’t let it steam you reg dich (darüber) nicht auf!
    6. sl einen Bus, Laden etc überfallen und die Passagiere oder Kunden ausrauben (Bande von Jugendlichen)
    * * *
    1. noun, no pl., no indef. art.
    Dampf, der

    let off steam — (fig.) Dampf ablassen (ugs.)

    run out of steam — keinen Dampf mehr haben; (fig.) den Schwung verlieren

    under one's own steam — (fig.) aus eigener Kraft

    2. transitive verb
    1) (Cookery) dämpfen; dünsten
    2)

    steam open an envelope — einen Umschlag mit [heißem] Wasserdampf öffnen

    3. intransitive verb
    Phrasal Verbs:
    * * *
    n.
    Dampf ¨–e m.
    Wasserdampf m. v.
    dampfen v.

    English-german dictionary > steam

  • 3 steam

    sti:m
    1. noun
    1) (a gas or vapour that rises from hot or boiling water or other liquid: Steam rose from the plate of soup / the wet earth in the hot sun; a cloud of steam; (also adjective) A sauna is a type of steam bath.)
    2) (power or energy obtained from this: The machinery is driven by steam; Diesel fuel has replaced steam on the railways; (also adjective) steam power, steam engines.)

    2. verb
    1) (to give out steam: A kettle was steaming on the stove.)
    2) ((of a ship, train etc) to move by means of steam: The ship steamed across the bay.)
    3) (to cook by steam: The pudding should be steamed for four hours.)
    •
    - steamer
    - steamy
    - steamboat
    - steamship
    - steam engine
    - steam roller
    - full steam ahead
    - get steamed up
    - get up steam
    - let off steam
    - run out of steam
    - steam up
    - under one's own steam
    steam1 n vapor
    steam2 vb
    1. echar vapor / humear
    2. cocinar al vapor
    tr[stiːm]
    1 SMALLCOOKERY/SMALL (vegetables) cocer al vapor
    1 (boat) echar vapor; (soup, drink, etc) humear
    \
    SMALLIDIOMATIC EXPRESSION/SMALL
    full steam ahead! ¡avante toda!, ¡a todo vapor!
    to get steamed up indignarse ( about, por)
    to do something under one's own steam hacer algo por sus propios medios
    to get up steam (person) acelerarse 2 (project etc) coger impulso 3 (engine etc) dar presión, cobrar velocidad
    to go full steam ahead ir viento en popa
    to let off steam desfogarse, desahogarse
    to run out of steam quedar agotado,-a, quemarse
    to steam a letter open abrir una carta con vapor
    steam bath baño de vapor
    steam engine (locomotive) locomotora de vapor, máquina de vapor 2 (engine) motor nombre masculino de vapor
    steam iron plancha de vapor
    steam ['sti:m] vi
    : echar vapor
    to steam away: moverse echando vapor
    steam vt
    1) : cocer al vapor (en cocina)
    2)
    to steam open : abrir con vapor
    1) : vapor m
    2)
    to let off steam : desahogarse
    adj.
    • de vapor adj.
    n.
    • vaho s.m.
    • vapor s.m.
    v.
    • avahar v.
    • cocer al vapor v.
    • echar vapor v.
    • empañar v.
    • funcionar a vapor v.
    • humear v.
    stiːm
    I
    mass noun vapor m

    to get up steam — ( lit) \<\<engine/driver\>\> dar* presión

    to let off steam — desahogarse*, dar* rienda suelta a su (or mi etc) indignación (or energía etc)

    to run out of steam — \<\<person/project\>\> perder* ímpetu

    under one's own steam — por sus (or mis etc) propios medios; (before n)

    steam iron — plancha f de vapor


    II
    1.
    a) ( Culin) \<\<vegetables/rice\>\> cocinar or cocer* al vapor; \<\<pudding\>\> cocinar or cocer* al baño (de) María
    b)

    to steam a letter open — abrir* una carta con vapor


    2.
    vi
    1) ( give off steam) echar vapor; \<\<hot food\>\> humear
    2) (+ adv compl)
    •
    Phrasal Verbs:
    [stiːm]
    1.
    N vapor m

    to get up or pick up steam — dar presión

    full steam ahead! — (Naut) ¡a todo vapor!

    - go full steam ahead with sth
    - let off steam
    - run out of steam
    2. VT
    1) (Culin) cocer al vapor
    2)
    3. VI
    1) (=give off steam) echar vapor
    2) (=move)

    we were steaming at 12 knots — íbamos a 12 nudos, navegábamos a 12 nudos

    to steam ahead — (lit) avanzar; (fig) adelantarse mucho

    4.
    CPD

    steam bath N — baño m de vapor

    steam engine N — máquina f de vapor

    steam hammer N — martillo m pilón

    steam heat N — calor m por vapor

    steam iron N — plancha f de vapor

    steam organ N — órgano m de vapor

    steam room N — sauna f finlandesa, sala f de vapor

    steam shovel N — (US) pala f mecánica de vapor, excavadora f

    steam train N — tren m de vapor

    steam turbine N — turbina f de vapor

    * * *
    [stiːm]
    I
    mass noun vapor m

    to get up steam — ( lit) \<\<engine/driver\>\> dar* presión

    to let off steam — desahogarse*, dar* rienda suelta a su (or mi etc) indignación (or energía etc)

    to run out of steam — \<\<person/project\>\> perder* ímpetu

    under one's own steam — por sus (or mis etc) propios medios; (before n)

    steam iron — plancha f de vapor


    II
    1.
    a) ( Culin) \<\<vegetables/rice\>\> cocinar or cocer* al vapor; \<\<pudding\>\> cocinar or cocer* al baño (de) María
    b)

    to steam a letter open — abrir* una carta con vapor


    2.
    vi
    1) ( give off steam) echar vapor; \<\<hot food\>\> humear
    2) (+ adv compl)
    •
    Phrasal Verbs:

    English-spanish dictionary > steam

  • 4 steam

    steam [sti:m]
    1 noun
    (a) (vapour) vapeur f; (condensation) buée f;
    ∎ she wiped the steam from the mirror elle essuya la buée sur la glace
    ∎ to run on or to work by steam marcher à la vapeur;
    ∎ at full steam à toute vapeur, à pleine vitesse;
    ∎ full steam ahead! en avant toute!;
    ∎ to do sth under one's own steam faire qch par ses propres moyens;
    ∎ to get up or to pick up steam (vehicle) prendre de la vitesse; (campaign) être lancé;
    ∎ the battle against drugs is finally picking up steam la lutte contre la drogue est enfin bien lancée;
    ∎ familiar to let off steam se défouler;
    ∎ familiar to run out of steam s'essouffler□, s'épuiser□
    (boiler, locomotive etc) à vapeur
    ∎ steam the stamps off the envelope passez l'enveloppe à la vapeur pour décoller les timbres;
    ∎ to steam open an envelope décacheter une enveloppe à la vapeur
    (b) Cookery (faire) cuire à la vapeur;
    ∎ steamed vegetables légumes mpl (cuits) à la vapeur
    (a) (give off steam → soup, kettle, wet clothes) fumer
    (b) (cook in steam) cuire à la vapeur
    (c) (go → train, ship)
    ∎ the train steamed into/out of the station le train entra en gare/quitta la gare;
    ∎ the liner steamed into the harbour le paquebot entra dans le port;
    ∎ cargo boats regularly steamed across the Atlantic des cargos à vapeur traversaient régulièrement l'Atlantique;
    ∎ figurative my brother steamed on ahead mon frère filait devant;
    ∎ figurative she steamed into/out of the room elle est entrée dans/sortie de la pièce comme une furie
    ►► steam bath bain m de vapeur;
    steam coal charbon m à vapeur, houille f de chaudière;
    steam cooking cuisson f à la vapeur;
    steam engine Technology moteur m à vapeur; Railways locomotive f à vapeur;
    steam heat chaleur f fournie par la vapeur;
    steam iron fer m (à repasser) à vapeur;
    Technology steam jacket enveloppe f de cylindre, chemise f de vapeur;
    steam point point m d'ébullition;
    steam power vapeur f;
    British familiar old-fashioned steam radio (broadcasting) ≃ la bonne vieille radio (par opposition à la télévision); (set) poste m de radio antédiluvien;
    American steam shovel bulldozer m;
    steam turbine turbine f à vapeur;
    steam whistle sifflet m à vapeur
    (window, glasses) s'embuer, se couvrir de buée
    (a) (window, glasses) embuer
    ∎ to steam sb up mettre qn en pétard ou en boule

    Un panorama unique de l'anglais et du français > steam

  • 5 steam

    steam [sti:m]
    1. noun
    vapeur f ; (on window, mirror) buée f
    • full steam ahead! en avant toute !
    • to pick up steam [train, ship] prendre de la vitesse ; [worker, project] démarrer vraiment
    • to run out of steam [speaker, worker, project] s'essouffler
    ( = emit steam) fumer
    [boiler, iron, turbine] à vapeur ; [bath] de vapeur
    • don't get so steamed up about it! ne te mets pas dans tous tes états pour ça ! ► steam engine noun ( = train) locomotive f à vapeur
    [window, mirror] se couvrir de buée ; [bathroom] se remplir de buée
    * * *
    [stiːm] 1.
    1) ( vapour) vapeur f; (in room, on window) buée f
    2) ( from pressure) pression f

    full steam ahead! — fig en avant toute!

    2.
    noun modifier [ bath, cloud] de vapeur; [ iron, railway] à vapeur
    3.
    transitive verb faire cuire [quelque chose] à la vapeur [vegetables]

    steamed pudding — GB pudding cuit à la vapeur

    4.
    intransitive verb ( give off vapour) fumer, dégager de la vapeur
    Phrasal Verbs:
    ••

    to get up ou pick up steam — [machine] prendre de la vitesse; [campaign] prendre de l'importance

    to run out of steam — s'essouffler; [worker] peiner

    English-French dictionary > steam

  • 6 steam

    [sti:m] n
    Dampf m;
    he ran out of \steam ihm ging die Puste aus;
    full \steam ahead! mit Volldampf voraus!; naut volle Kraft voraus!;
    the age of \steam das Zeitalter der Dampfmaschine;
    to let off \steam Dampf ablassen (a. fig)
    to pick [or get] up \steam ( generate steam) feuern;
    ( gain impetus) in Schwung kommen
    PHRASES:
    to do sth under one's own \steam etw in eigener Regie tun n
    modifier Dampf-;
    \steam locomotive Dampflok[omotive] f vi
    1) ( produce steam) dampfen
    2) ( move using steam power) dampfen;
    the ship \steamed into the port das Schiff lief [dampfend] in den Hafen ein vt
    to \steam fish/ vegetables Fisch/Gemüse dämpfen;
    to \steam open a letter einen Brief über Wasserdampf öffnen

    English-German students dictionary > steam

  • 7 Trevithick, Richard

    [br]
    b. 13 April 1771 Illogan, Cornwall, England
    d. 22 April 1833 Dartford, Kent, England
    [br]
    English engineer, pioneer of non-condensing steam-engines; designed and built the first locomotives.
    [br]
    Trevithick's father was a tin-mine manager, and Trevithick himself, after limited formal education, developed his immense engineering talent among local mining machinery and steam-engines and found employment as a mining engineer. Tall, strong and high-spirited, he was the eternal optimist.
    About 1797 it occurred to him that the separate condenser patent of James Watt could be avoided by employing "strong steam", that is steam at pressures substantially greater than atmospheric, to drive steam-engines: after use, steam could be exhausted to the atmosphere and the condenser eliminated. His first winding engine on this principle came into use in 1799, and subsequently such engines were widely used. To produce high-pressure steam, a stronger boiler was needed than the boilers then in use, in which the pressure vessel was mounted upon masonry above the fire: Trevithick designed the cylindrical boiler, with furnace tube within, from which the Cornish and later the Lancashire boilers evolved.
    Simultaneously he realized that high-pressure steam enabled a compact steam-engine/boiler unit to be built: typically, the Trevithick engine comprised a cylindrical boiler with return firetube, and a cylinder recessed into the boiler. No beam intervened between connecting rod and crank. A master patent was taken out.
    Such an engine was well suited to driving vehicles. Trevithick built his first steam-carriage in 1801, but after a few days' use it overturned on a rough Cornish road and was damaged beyond repair by fire. Nevertheless, it had been the first self-propelled vehicle successfully to carry passengers. His second steam-carriage was driven about the streets of London in 1803, even more successfully; however, it aroused no commercial interest. Meanwhile the Coalbrookdale Company had started to build a locomotive incorporating a Trevithick engine for its tramroads, though little is known of the outcome; however, Samuel Homfray's ironworks at Penydarren, South Wales, was already building engines to Trevithick's design, and in 1804 Trevithick built one there as a locomotive for the Penydarren Tramroad. In this, and in the London steam-carriage, exhaust steam was turned up the chimney to draw the fire. On 21 February the locomotive hauled five wagons with 10 tons of iron and seventy men for 9 miles (14 km): it was the first successful railway locomotive.
    Again, there was no commercial interest, although Trevithick now had nearly fifty stationary engines completed or being built to his design under licence. He experimented with one to power a barge on the Severn and used one to power a dredger on the Thames. He became Engineer to a project to drive a tunnel beneath the Thames at Rotherhithe and was only narrowly defeated, by quicksands. Trevithick then set up, in 1808, a circular tramroad track in London and upon it demonstrated to the admission-fee-paying public the locomotive Catch me who can, built to his design by John Hazledine and J.U. Rastrick.
    In 1809, by which date Trevithick had sold all his interest in the steam-engine patent, he and Robert Dickinson, in partnership, obtained a patent for iron tanks to hold liquid cargo in ships, replacing the wooden casks then used, and started to manufacture them. In 1810, however, he was taken seriously ill with typhus for six months and had to return to Cornwall, and early in 1811 the partners were bankrupt; Trevithick was discharged from bankruptcy only in 1814.
    In the meantime he continued as a steam engineer and produced a single-acting steam engine in which the cut-off could be varied to work the engine expansively by way of a three-way cock actuated by a cam. Then, in 1813, Trevithick was approached by a representative of a company set up to drain the rich but flooded silver-mines at Cerro de Pasco, Peru, at an altitude of 14,000 ft (4,300 m). Low-pressure steam engines, dependent largely upon atmospheric pressure, would not work at such an altitude, but Trevithick's high-pressure engines would. Nine engines and much other mining plant were built by Hazledine and Rastrick and despatched to Peru in 1814, and Trevithick himself followed two years later. However, the war of independence was taking place in Peru, then a Spanish colony, and no sooner had Trevithick, after immense difficulties, put everything in order at the mines then rebels arrived and broke up the machinery, for they saw the mines as a source of supply for the Spanish forces. It was only after innumerable further adventures, during which he encountered and was assisted financially by Robert Stephenson, that Trevithick eventually arrived home in Cornwall in 1827, penniless.
    He petitioned Parliament for a grant in recognition of his improvements to steam-engines and boilers, without success. He was as inventive as ever though: he proposed a hydraulic power transmission system; he was consulted over steam engines for land drainage in Holland; and he suggested a 1,000 ft (305 m) high tower of gilded cast iron to commemorate the Reform Act of 1832. While working on steam propulsion of ships in 1833, he caught pneumonia, from which he died.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    Trevithick took out fourteen patents, solely or in partnership, of which the most important are: 1802, Construction of Steam Engines, British patent no. 2,599. 1808, Stowing Ships' Cargoes, British patent no. 3,172.
    Further Reading
    H.W.Dickinson and A.Titley, 1934, Richard Trevithick. The Engineer and the Man, Cambridge; F.Trevithick, 1872, Life of Richard Trevithick, London (these two are the principal biographies).
    E.A.Forward, 1952, "Links in the history of the locomotive", The Engineer (22 February), 226 (considers the case for the Coalbrookdale locomotive of 1802).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Trevithick, Richard

  • 8 Chapelon, André

    [br]
    b. 26 October 1892 Saint-Paul-en-Cornillon, Loire, France
    d. 29 June 1978 Paris, France
    [br]
    French locomotive engineer who developed high-performance steam locomotives.
    [br]
    Chapelon's technical education at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris, was interrupted by extended military service during the First World War. From experience of observing artillery from the basket of a captive balloon, he developed a method of artillery fire control which was more accurate than that in use and which was adopted by the French army.
    In 1925 he joined the motive-power and rolling-stock department of the Paris-Orléans Railway under Chief Mechanical Engineer Maurice Lacoin and was given the task of improving the performance of its main-line 4–6–2 locomotives, most of them compounds. He had already made an intensive study of steam locomotive design and in 1926 introduced his Kylchap exhaust system, based in part on the earlier work of the Finnish engineer Kyläla. Chapelon improved the entrainment of the hot gases in the smokebox by the exhaust steam and so minimized back pressure in the cylinders, increasing the power of a locomotive substantially. He also greatly increased the cross-sectional area of steam passages, used poppet valves instead of piston valves and increased superheating of steam. PO (Paris-Orléans) 4–6–2s rebuilt on these principles from 1929 onwards proved able to haul 800-ton trains, in place of the previous 500-ton trains, and to do so to accelerated schedules with reduced coal consumption. Commencing in 1932, some were converted, at the time of rebuilding, into 4–8–0s to increase adhesive weight for hauling heavy trains over the steeply graded Paris-Toulouse line.
    Chapelon's principles were quickly adopted on other French railways and elsewhere.
    H.N. Gresley was particularly influenced by them. After formation of the French National Railways (SNCF) in 1938, Chapelon produced in 1941 a prototype rebuilt PO 2–10–0 freight locomotive as a six-cylinder compound, with four low-pressure cylinders to maximize expansive use of steam and with all cylinders steam-jacketed to minimize heat loss by condensation and radiation. War conditions delayed extended testing until 1948–52. Meanwhile Chapelon had, by rebuilding, produced in 1946 a high-powered, three-cylinder, compound 4–8–4 intended as a stage in development of a proposed range of powerful and thermally efficient steam locomotives for the postwar SNCF: a high-speed 4–6–4 in this range was to run at sustained speeds of 125 mph (200 km/h). However, plans for improved steam locomotives were then overtaken in France by electriflcation and dieselization, though the performance of the 4–8–4, which produced 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) at the drawbar for the first time in Europe, prompted modification of electric locomotives, already on order, to increase their power.
    Chapelon retired from the SNCF in 1953, but continued to act as a consultant. His principles were incorporated into steam locomotives built in France for export to South America, and even after the energy crisis of 1973 he was consulted on projects to build improved, high-powered steam locomotives for countries with reserves of cheap coal. The eventual fall in oil prices brought these to an end.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1938, La Locomotive à vapeur, Paris: J.B.Bailière (a comprehensive summary of contemporary knowledge of every function of the locomotive).
    Further Reading
    H.C.B.Rogers, 1972, Chapelon, Genius of French Steam, Shepperton: Ian Allan.
    1986, "André Chapelon, locomotive engineer: a survey of his work", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 58 (a symposium on Chapelon's work).
    Obituary, 1978, Railway Engineer (September/October) (makes reference to the technical significance of Chapelon's work).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Chapelon, André

  • 9 Gresley, Sir Herbert Nigel

    [br]
    b. 19 June 1876 Edinburgh, Scotland
    d. 5 April 1941 Hertford, England
    [br]
    English mechanical engineer, designer of the A4-class 4–6–2 locomotive holding the world speed record for steam traction.
    [br]
    Gresley was the son of the Rector of Netherseale, Derbyshire; he was educated at Marlborough and by the age of 13 was skilled at making sketches of locomotives. In 1893 he became a pupil of F.W. Webb at Crewe works, London \& North Western Railway, and in 1898 he moved to Horwich works, Lancashire \& Yorkshire Railway, to gain drawing-office experience under J.A.F.Aspinall, subsequently becoming Foreman of the locomotive running sheds at Blackpool. In 1900 he transferred to the carriage and wagon department, and in 1904 he had risen to become its Assistant Superintendent. In 1905 he moved to the Great Northern Railway, becoming Superintendent of its carriage and wagon department at Doncaster under H.A. Ivatt. In 1906 he designed and produced a bogie luggage van with steel underframe, teak body, elliptical roof, bowed ends and buckeye couplings: this became the prototype for East Coast main-line coaches built over the next thirty-five years. In 1911 Gresley succeeded Ivatt as Locomotive, Carriage \& Wagon Superintendent. His first locomotive was a mixed-traffic 2–6–0, his next a 2–8–0 for freight. From 1915 he worked on the design of a 4–6–2 locomotive for express passenger traffic: as with Ivatt's 4 4 2s, the trailing axle would allow the wide firebox needed for Yorkshire coal. He also devised a means by which two sets of valve gear could operate the valves on a three-cylinder locomotive and applied it for the first time on a 2–8–0 built in 1918. The system was complex, but a later simplified form was used on all subsequent Gresley three-cylinder locomotives, including his first 4–6–2 which appeared in 1922. In 1921, Gresley introduced the first British restaurant car with electric cooking facilities.
    With the grouping of 1923, the Great Northern Railway was absorbed into the London \& North Eastern Railway and Gresley was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer. More 4–6– 2s were built, the first British class of such wheel arrangement. Modifications to their valve gear, along lines developed by G.J. Churchward, reduced their coal consumption sufficiently to enable them to run non-stop between London and Edinburgh. So that enginemen might change over en route, some of the locomotives were equipped with corridor tenders from 1928. The design was steadily improved in detail, and by comparison an experimental 4–6–4 with a watertube boiler that Gresley produced in 1929 showed no overall benefit. A successful high-powered 2–8–2 was built in 1934, following the introduction of third-class sleeping cars, to haul 500-ton passenger trains between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
    In 1932 the need to meet increasing road competition had resulted in the end of a long-standing agreement between East Coast and West Coast railways, that train journeys between London and Edinburgh by either route should be scheduled to take 8 1/4 hours. Seeking to accelerate train services, Gresley studied high-speed, diesel-electric railcars in Germany and petrol-electric railcars in France. He considered them for the London \& North Eastern Railway, but a test run by a train hauled by one of his 4–6–2s in 1934, which reached 108 mph (174 km/h), suggested that a steam train could better the railcar proposals while its accommodation would be more comfortable. To celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V, a high-speed, streamlined train between London and Newcastle upon Tyne was proposed, the first such train in Britain. An improved 4–6–2, the A4 class, was designed with modifications to ensure free running and an ample reserve of power up hill. Its streamlined outline included a wedge-shaped front which reduced wind resistance and helped to lift the exhaust dear of the cab windows at speed. The first locomotive of the class, named Silver Link, ran at an average speed of 100 mph (161 km/h) for 43 miles (69 km), with a maximum speed of 112 1/2 mph (181 km/h), on a seven-coach test train on 27 September 1935: the locomotive went into service hauling the Silver Jubilee express single-handed (since others of the class had still to be completed) for the first three weeks, a round trip of 536 miles (863 km) daily, much of it at 90 mph (145 km/h), without any mechanical troubles at all. Coaches for the Silver Jubilee had teak-framed, steel-panelled bodies on all-steel, welded underframes; windows were double glazed; and there was a pressure ventilation/heating system. Comparable trains were introduced between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh in 1937 and to Leeds in 1938.
    Gresley did not hesitate to incorporate outstanding features from elsewhere into his locomotive designs and was well aware of the work of André Chapelon in France. Four A4s built in 1938 were equipped with Kylchap twin blast-pipes and double chimneys to improve performance still further. The first of these to be completed, no. 4468, Mallard, on 3 July 1938 ran a test train at over 120 mph (193 km/h) for 2 miles (3.2 km) and momentarily achieved 126 mph (203 km/h), the world speed record for steam traction. J.Duddington was the driver and T.Bray the fireman. The use of high-speed trains came to an end with the Second World War. The A4s were then demonstrated to be powerful as well as fast: one was noted hauling a 730-ton, 22-coach train at an average speed exceeding 75 mph (120 km/h) over 30 miles (48 km). The war also halted electrification of the Manchester-Sheffield line, on the 1,500 volt DC overhead system; however, anticipating eventual resumption, Gresley had a prototype main-line Bo-Bo electric locomotive built in 1941. Sadly, Gresley died from a heart attack while still in office.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1936. President, Institution of Locomotive Engineers 1927 and 1934. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1936.
    Further Reading
    F.A.S.Brown, 1961, Nigel Gresley, Locomotive Engineer, Ian Allan (full-length biography).
    John Bellwood and David Jenkinson, Gresley and Stanier. A Centenary Tribute (a good comparative account).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Gresley, Sir Herbert Nigel

  • 10 Hackworth, Timothy

    [br]
    b. 22 December 1786 Wylam, Northumberland, England
    d. 7 July 1850 Shildon, Co. Durham, England
    [br]
    English engineer, pioneer in construction and operation of steam locomotives.
    [br]
    Hackworth trained under his father, who was Foreman Blacksmith at Wylam colliery, and succeeded him upon his death in 1807. Between 1812 and 1816 he helped to build and maintain the Wylam locomotives under William Hedley. He then moved to Walbottle colliery, but during 1824 he took temporary charge of Robert Stephenson \& Co.'s works while George Stephenson was surveying the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway and Robert Stephenson was away in South America. In May 1825 Hackworth was appointed to the Stockton \& Darlington Railway (S \& DR) "to have superintendence of the permanent (i.e. stationary) and locomotive engines". He established the workshops at Shildon, and when the railway opened in September he became in effect the first locomotive superintendent of a railway company. From experience of operating Robert Stephenson \& Co.'s locomotives he was able to make many detail improvements, notably spring safety valves. In 1827 he designed and built the locomotive Royal George, with six wheels coupled and inverted vertical cylinders driving the rear pair. From the pistons, drive was direct by way of piston rods and connecting rods to crankpins on the wheels, the first instance of the use of this layout on a locomotive. Royal George was the most powerful and satisfactory locomotive on the S \& DR to date and was the forerunner of Hackworth's type of heavy-goods locomotive, which was built until the mid-1840s.
    For the Rainhill Trials in 1829 Hackworth built and entered the locomotive Sans Pareil, which was subsequently used on the Bol ton \& Leigh Railway and is now in the Science Museum, London. A working replica was built for the 150th anniversary of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway in 1980. In 1833 a further agreement with the S \& DR enabled Hackworth, while remaining in charge of their locomotives, to set up a locomotive and engineering works on his own account. Its products eventually included locomotives for the London, Brighton \& South Coast and York, Newcastle \& Berwick Railways, as well as some of the earliest locomotives exported to Russia and Canada. Hackworth's son, John Wesley Hackworth, was also an engineer and invented the radial valve gear for steam engines that bears his name.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    R.Young, 1975, Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive, Shildon: Shildon "Stockton \& Darlington Railway" Silver Jubilee Committee; orig. pub. 1923, London (tends to emphasize Hackworth's achievements at the expense of other contemporary engineers).
    L.T.C.Rolt, 1960, George and Robert Stephenson, London: Longmans (describes much of Hackworth's work and is more objective).
    E.L.Ahrons, 1927, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825–1925, London: The Locomotive Publishing Co.
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Hackworth, Timothy

  • 11 Stephenson, George

    [br]
    b. 9 June 1781 Wylam, Northumberland, England
    d. 12 August 1848 Tapton House, Chesterfield, England
    [br]
    English engineer, "the father of railways".
    [br]
    George Stephenson was the son of the fireman of the pumping engine at Wylam colliery, and horses drew wagons of coal along the wooden rails of the Wylam wagonway past the house in which he was born and spent his earliest childhood. While still a child he worked as a cowherd, but soon moved to working at coal pits. At 17 years of age he showed sufficient mechanical talent to be placed in charge of a new pumping engine, and had already achieved a job more responsible than that of his father. Despite his position he was still illiterate, although he subsequently learned to read and write. He was largely self-educated.
    In 1801 he was appointed Brakesman of the winding engine at Black Callerton pit, with responsibility for lowering the miners safely to their work. Then, about two years later, he became Brakesman of a new winding engine erected by Robert Hawthorn at Willington Quay on the Tyne. Returning collier brigs discharged ballast into wagons and the engine drew the wagons up an inclined plane to the top of "Ballast Hill" for their contents to be tipped; this was one of the earliest applications of steam power to transport, other than experimentally.
    In 1804 Stephenson moved to West Moor pit, Killingworth, again as Brakesman. In 1811 he demonstrated his mechanical skill by successfully modifying a new and unsatisfactory atmospheric engine, a task that had defeated the efforts of others, to enable it to pump a drowned pit clear of water. The following year he was appointed Enginewright at Killingworth, in charge of the machinery in all the collieries of the "Grand Allies", the prominent coal-owning families of Wortley, Liddell and Bowes, with authorization also to work for others. He built many stationary engines and he closely examined locomotives of John Blenkinsop's type on the Kenton \& Coxlodge wagonway, as well as those of William Hedley at Wylam.
    It was in 1813 that Sir Thomas Liddell requested George Stephenson to build a steam locomotive for the Killingworth wagonway: Blucher made its first trial run on 25 July 1814 and was based on Blenkinsop's locomotives, although it lacked their rack-and-pinion drive. George Stephenson is credited with building the first locomotive both to run on edge rails and be driven by adhesion, an arrangement that has been the conventional one ever since. Yet Blucher was far from perfect and over the next few years, while other engineers ignored the steam locomotive, Stephenson built a succession of them, each an improvement on the last.
    During this period many lives were lost in coalmines from explosions of gas ignited by miners' lamps. By observation and experiment (sometimes at great personal risk) Stephenson invented a satisfactory safety lamp, working independently of the noted scientist Sir Humphry Davy who also invented such a lamp around the same time.
    In 1817 George Stephenson designed his first locomotive for an outside customer, the Kilmarnock \& Troon Railway, and in 1819 he laid out the Hetton Colliery Railway in County Durham, for which his brother Robert was Resident Engineer. This was the first railway to be worked entirely without animal traction: it used inclined planes with stationary engines, self-acting inclined planes powered by gravity, and locomotives.
    On 19 April 1821 Stephenson was introduced to Edward Pease, one of the main promoters of the Stockton \& Darlington Railway (S \& DR), which by coincidence received its Act of Parliament the same day. George Stephenson carried out a further survey, to improve the proposed line, and in this he was assisted by his 18-year-old son, Robert Stephenson, whom he had ensured received the theoretical education which he himself lacked. It is doubtful whether either could have succeeded without the other; together they were to make the steam railway practicable.
    At George Stephenson's instance, much of the S \& DR was laid with wrought-iron rails recently developed by John Birkinshaw at Bedlington Ironworks, Morpeth. These were longer than cast-iron rails and were not brittle: they made a track well suited for locomotives. In June 1823 George and Robert Stephenson, with other partners, founded a firm in Newcastle upon Tyne to build locomotives and rolling stock and to do general engineering work: after its Managing Partner, the firm was called Robert Stephenson \& Co.
    In 1824 the promoters of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway (L \& MR) invited George Stephenson to resurvey their proposed line in order to reduce opposition to it. William James, a wealthy land agent who had become a visionary protagonist of a national railway network and had seen Stephenson's locomotives at Killingworth, had promoted the L \& MR with some merchants of Liverpool and had carried out the first survey; however, he overreached himself in business and, shortly after the invitation to Stephenson, became bankrupt. In his own survey, however, George Stephenson lacked the assistance of his son Robert, who had left for South America, and he delegated much of the detailed work to incompetent assistants. During a devastating Parliamentary examination in the spring of 1825, much of his survey was shown to be seriously inaccurate and the L \& MR's application for an Act of Parliament was refused. The railway's promoters discharged Stephenson and had their line surveyed yet again, by C.B. Vignoles.
    The Stockton \& Darlington Railway was, however, triumphantly opened in the presence of vast crowds in September 1825, with Stephenson himself driving the locomotive Locomotion, which had been built at Robert Stephenson \& Co.'s Newcastle works. Once the railway was at work, horse-drawn and gravity-powered traffic shared the line with locomotives: in 1828 Stephenson invented the horse dandy, a wagon at the back of a train in which a horse could travel over the gravity-operated stretches, instead of trotting behind.
    Meanwhile, in May 1826, the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway had successfully obtained its Act of Parliament. Stephenson was appointed Engineer in June, and since he and Vignoles proved incompatible the latter left early in 1827. The railway was built by Stephenson and his staff, using direct labour. A considerable controversy arose c. 1828 over the motive power to be used: the traffic anticipated was too great for horses, but the performance of the reciprocal system of cable haulage developed by Benjamin Thompson appeared in many respects superior to that of contemporary locomotives. The company instituted a prize competition for a better locomotive and the Rainhill Trials were held in October 1829.
    Robert Stephenson had been working on improved locomotive designs since his return from America in 1827, but it was the L \& MR's Treasurer, Henry Booth, who suggested the multi-tubular boiler to George Stephenson. This was incorporated into a locomotive built by Robert Stephenson for the trials: Rocket was entered by the three men in partnership. The other principal entrants were Novelty, entered by John Braithwaite and John Ericsson, and Sans Pareil, entered by Timothy Hackworth, but only Rocket, driven by George Stephenson, met all the organizers' demands; indeed, it far surpassed them and demonstrated the practicability of the long-distance steam railway. With the opening of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway in 1830, the age of railways began.
    Stephenson was active in many aspects. He advised on the construction of the Belgian State Railway, of which the Brussels-Malines section, opened in 1835, was the first all-steam railway on the European continent. In England, proposals to link the L \& MR with the Midlands had culminated in an Act of Parliament for the Grand Junction Railway in 1833: this was to run from Warrington, which was already linked to the L \& MR, to Birmingham. George Stephenson had been in charge of the surveys, and for the railway's construction he and J.U. Rastrick were initially Principal Engineers, with Stephenson's former pupil Joseph Locke under them; by 1835 both Stephenson and Rastrick had withdrawn and Locke was Engineer-in-Chief. Stephenson remained much in demand elsewhere: he was particularly associated with the construction of the North Midland Railway (Derby to Leeds) and related lines. He was active in many other places and carried out, for instance, preliminary surveys for the Chester \& Holyhead and Newcastle \& Berwick Railways, which were important links in the lines of communication between London and, respectively, Dublin and Edinburgh.
    He eventually retired to Tapton House, Chesterfield, overlooking the North Midland. A man who was self-made (with great success) against colossal odds, he was ever reluctant, regrettably, to give others their due credit, although in retirement, immensely wealthy and full of honour, he was still able to mingle with people of all ranks.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, on its formation in 1847. Order of Leopold (Belgium) 1835. Stephenson refused both a knighthood and Fellowship of the Royal Society.
    Bibliography
    1815, jointly with Ralph Dodd, British patent no. 3,887 (locomotive drive by connecting rods directly to the wheels).
    1817, jointly with William Losh, British patent no. 4,067 (steam springs for locomotives, and improvements to track).
    Further Reading
    L.T.C.Rolt, 1960, George and Robert Stephenson, Longman (the best modern biography; includes a bibliography).
    S.Smiles, 1874, The Lives of George and Robert Stephenson, rev. edn, London (although sycophantic, this is probably the best nineteenthcentury biography).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Stephenson, George

  • 12 Brotan, Johann

    [br]
    b. 24 June 1843 Kattau, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic)
    d. 20 November 1923 Vienna, Austria
    [br]
    Czech engineer, pioneer of the watertube firebox for steam locomotive boilers.
    [br]
    Brotan, who was Chief Engineer of the main workshops of the Royal Austrian State Railways at Gmund, found that locomotive inner fireboxes of the usual type were both expensive, because the copper from which they were made had to be imported, and short-lived, because of corrosion resulting from the use of coal with high sulphur content. He designed a firebox of which the side and rear walls comprised rows of vertical watertubes, expanded at their lower ends into a tubular foundation ring and at the top into a longitudinal water/steam drum. This projected forward above the boiler barrel (which was of the usual firetube type, though of small diameter), to which it was connected. Copper plates were eliminated, as were firebox stays.
    The first boiler to incorporate a Brotan firebox was built at Gmund under the inventor's supervision and replaced the earlier boiler of a 0−6−0 in 1901. The increased radiantly heated surface was found to produce a boiler with very good steaming qualities, while the working pressure too could be increased, with consequent fuel economies. Further locomotives in Austria and, experimentally, elsewhere were equipped with Brotan boilers.
    Disadvantages of the boiler were the necessity of keeping the tubes clear of scale, and a degree of structural weakness. The Swiss engineer E. Deffner improved the latter aspect by eliminating the forward extension of the water/steam drum, replacing it with a large-diameter boiler barrel with the rear section of tapered wagon-top type so that the front of the water/steam drum could be joined directly to the rear tubeplate. The first locomotives to be fitted with this Brotan-Deffner boiler were two 4−6−0s for the Swiss Federal Railways in 1908 and showed very favourable results. However, steam locomotive development ceased in Switzerland a few years later in favour of electrification, but boilers of the Brotan-Deffner type and further developments of it were used in many other European countries, notably Hungary, where more than 1,000 were built. They were also used experimentally in the USA: for instance, Samuel Vauclain, as President of Baldwin Locomotive Works, sent his senior design engineer to study Hungarian experience and then had a high-powered 4−8−0 built with a watertube firebox. On stationary test this produced the very high figure of 4,515 ihp (3,370 kW), but further development work was frustrated by the trade depression commencing in 1929. In France, Gaston du Bousquet had obtained good results from experimental installations of Brotan-Deffner-type boilers, and incorporated one into one of his high-powered 4−6−4s of 1910. Experiments were terminated suddenly by his death, followed by the First World War, but thirty-five years later André Chapelon proposed using a watertube firebox to obtain the high pressure needed for a triple-expansion, high-powered, steam locomotive, development of which was overtaken by electrification.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    G.Szontagh, 1991, "Brotan and Brotan-Deffner type fireboxes and boilers applied to steam locomotives", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 62 (an authoritative account of Brotan boilers).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Brotan, Johann

  • 13 Rastrick, John Urpeth

    [br]
    b. 26 January 1780 Morpeth, England
    d. 1 November 1856 Chertsey, England
    [br]
    English engineer whose career spanned the formative years of steam railways, from constructing some of the earliest locomotives to building great trunk lines.
    [br]
    John Urpeth Rastrick, son of an engineer, was initially articled to his father and then moved to Ketley Ironworks, Shropshire, c. 1801. In 1808 he entered into a partnership with John Hazledine at Bridgnorth, Shropshire: Hazledine and Rastrick built many steam engines to the designs of Richard Trevithick, including the demonstration locomotive Catch-Me-Who-Can. The firm also built iron bridges, notably the bridge over the River Wye at Chepstow in 1815–16.
    Between 1822 and 1826 the Stratford \& Moreton Railway was built under Rastrick's direction. Malleable iron rails were laid, in one of the first instances of their use. They were supplied by James Foster of Stourbridge, with whom Rastrick went into partnership after the death of Hazledine. In 1825 Rastrick was one of a team of engineers sent by the committee of the proposed Liverpool \& Manchester Railway (L \& MR) to carry out trials of locomotives built by George Stephenson on the Killingworth Waggonway. Early in 1829 the directors of the L \& MR, which was by then under construction, sent Rastrick and James Walker to inspect railways in North East England and report on the relative merits of steam locomotives and fixed engines with cable haulage. They reported, rather hesitantly, in favour of the latter, particularly the reciprocal system of Benjamin Thompson. In consequence the Rainhill Trials, at which Rastrick was one of the judges, were held that October. In 1829 Rastrick constructed the Shutt End colliery railway in Worcestershire, for which Foster and Rastrick built the locomotive Agenoria; this survives in the National Railway Museum. Three similar locomotives were built to the order of Horatio Allen for export to the USA.
    From then until he retired in 1847 Rastrick found ample employment surveying railways, appearing as a witness before Parliamentary committees, and supervising construction. Principally, he surveyed the southern part of the Grand Junction Railway, which was built for the most part by Joseph Locke, and the line from Manchester to Crewe which was eventually built as the Manchester \& Birmingham Railway. The London \& Brighton Railway (Croydon to Brighton) was his great achievement: built under Rastrick's supervision between 1836 and 1840, it included three long tunnels and the magnificent Ouse Viaduct. In 1845 he was Engineer to the Gravesend \& Rochester Railway, the track of which was laid through the Thames \& Medway Canal's Strood Tunnel, partly on the towpath and partly on a continuous staging over the water.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1837.
    Bibliography
    1829, with Walker, Report…on the Comparative Merits of Locomotive and Fixed Engines, Liverpool.
    Further Reading
    C.F.Dendy Marshall, 1953, A History of Railway Locomotives Down to the End of the Year 1831, The Locomotive Publishing Co.
    R.E.Carlson, 1969, The Liverpool \& Manchester Railway Project 1821–1831, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.
    C.Hadfield and J.Norris, 1962, Waterways to Stratford, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles (covers Stratford and Moreton Railway).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Rastrick, John Urpeth

  • 14 Fairlie, Robert Francis

    [br]
    b. March 1831 Scotland
    d. 31 July 1885 Clapham, London, England
    [br]
    British engineer, designer of the double-bogie locomotive, advocate of narrow-gauge railways.
    [br]
    Fairlie worked on railways in Ireland and India, and established himself as a consulting engineer in London by the early 1860s. In 1864 he patented his design of locomotive: it was to be carried on two bogies and had a double boiler, the barrels extending in each direction from a central firebox. From smokeboxes at the outer ends, return tubes led to a single central chimney. At that time in British practice, locomotives of ever-increasing size were being carried on longer and longer rigid wheelbases, but often only one or two of their three or four pairs of wheels were powered. Bogies were little used and then only for carrying-wheels rather than driving-wheels: since their pivots were given no sideplay, they were of little value. Fairlie's design offered a powerful locomotive with a wheelbase which though long would be flexible; it would ride well and have all wheels driven and available for adhesion.
    The first five double Fairlie locomotives were built by James Cross \& Co. of St Helens during 1865–7. None was particularly successful: the single central chimney of the original design had been replaced by two chimneys, one at each end of the locomotive, but the single central firebox was retained, so that exhaust up one chimney tended to draw cold air down the other. In 1870 the next double Fairlie, Little Wonder, was built for the Festiniog Railway, on which C.E. Spooner was pioneering steam trains of very narrow gauge. The order had gone to George England, but the locomotive was completed by his successor in business, the Fairlie Engine \& Steam Carriage Company, in which Fairlie and George England's son were the principal partners. Little Wonder was given two inner fireboxes separated by a water space and proved outstandingly successful. The spectacle of this locomotive hauling immensely long trains up grade, through the Festiniog Railway's sinuous curves, was demonstrated before engineers from many parts of the world and had lasting effect. Fairlie himself became a great protagonist of narrow-gauge railways and influenced their construction in many countries.
    Towards the end of the 1860s, Fairlie was designing steam carriages or, as they would now be called, railcars, but only one was built before the death of George England Jr precipitated closure of the works in 1870. Fairlie's business became a design agency and his patent locomotives were built in large numbers under licence by many noted locomotive builders, for narrow, standard and broad gauges. Few operated in Britain, but many did in other lands; they were particularly successful in Mexico and Russia.
    Many Fairlie locomotives were fitted with the radial valve gear invented by Egide Walschaert; Fairlie's role in the universal adoption of this valve gear was instrumental, for he introduced it to Britain in 1877 and fitted it to locomotives for New Zealand, whence it eventually spread worldwide. Earlier, in 1869, the Great Southern \& Western Railway of Ireland had built in its works the first "single Fairlie", a 0–4–4 tank engine carried on two bogies but with only one of them powered. This type, too, became popular during the last part of the nineteenth century. In the USA it was built in quantity by William Mason of Mason Machine Works, Taunton, Massachusetts, in preference to the double-ended type.
    Double Fairlies may still be seen in operation on the Festiniog Railway; some of Fairlie's ideas were far ahead of their time, and modern diesel and electric locomotives are of the powered-bogie, double-ended type.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    1864, British patent no. 1,210 (Fairlie's master patent).
    1864, Locomotive Engines, What They Are and What They Ought to Be, London; reprinted 1969, Portmadoc: Festiniog Railway Co. (promoting his ideas for locomotives).
    1865, British patent no. 3,185 (single Fairlie).
    1867. British patent no. 3,221 (combined locomotive/carriage).
    1868. "Railways and their Management", Journal of the Society of Arts: 328. 1871. "On the Gauge for Railways of the Future", abstract in Report of the Fortieth
    Meeting of the British Association in 1870: 215. 1872. British patent no. 2,387 (taper boiler).
    1872, Railways or No Railways. "Narrow Gauge, Economy with Efficiency; or Broad Gauge, Costliness with Extravagance", London: Effingham Wilson; repr. 1990s Canton, Ohio: Railhead Publications (promoting the cause for narrow-gauge railways).
    Further Reading
    Fairlie and his patent locomotives are well described in: P.C.Dewhurst, 1962, "The Fairlie locomotive", Part 1, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 34; 1966, Part 2, Transactions 39.
    R.A.S.Abbott, 1970, The Fairlie Locomotive, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Fairlie, Robert Francis

  • 15 Webb, Francis William

    [br]
    b. 21 May 1836 Tixall, Staffordshire, England
    d. 4 June 1906 Bournemouth, England
    [br]
    English locomotive engineer who pioneered compound locomotives in Britain and the use of steel for boilers.
    [br]
    Webb was a pupil at Crewe Works, London \& North Western Railway (LNWR), under F. Trevithick (son of Richard Trevithick), and was subsequently placed in charge of the works under Trevithick's successor, J.Ramsbottom. After a brief spell away from the LNWR, Webb returned in 1871 and was made Chief Mechanical Engineer, a post he held until his retirement in 1904.
    Webb's initial designs included the highly successful "Precedent" or "Jumbo" class 2– 4–0, from which the example Hardwicke (now preserved by the National Railway Museum, York) achieved an average speed of 67.2 mph (108.1 km/h) between Crewe and Carlisle in 1895. His 0–6–0 "coal engines" were straightforward and cheap and were built in large numbers. In 1879 Webb, having noted the introduction of compound locomotives in France by J.T.A. Mallet, rebuilt an existing 2–2–2 locomotive as a two-cylinder compound. Then in 1882, seeking fuel economy and the suppression of coupling rods, he produced a compound locomotive to his own design, the 2–2, 2–0 Experiment, in which two outside high-pressure cylinders drove the rear driving-wheels, and a single inside large-diameter low-pressure cylinder drove the front driving-wheels. This was followed by a large number of compound locomotives: three successive classes of 2–2, 2–0s; some 2–2, 2–2s; some 4–4–0s; and some 0–8–0s for goods traffic. Although these were capable of good performance, their overall value was controversial: Webb, who was notoriously autocratic, may never have been fully informed of their defects, and after his retirement most were quickly scrapped. Webb made many other innovations during his career, one of the most important being the construction of boilers from steel rather than wrought iron.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    C.Hamilton Ellis, 1958, Twenty Locomotive Men, Shepperton: Ian Allan, Ch. 14 (describes Webb's career).
    E.L.Ahrons, 1927, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 2825–1925, London: The Locomotive Publishing Co., Chs 18 and 20 (includes a critique of Webb's compound locomotives).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Webb, Francis William

  • 16 Garratt, Herbert William

    [br]
    b. 8 June 1864 London, England
    d. 25 September 1913 Richmond, Surrey, England
    [br]
    English engineer, inventor of the Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotive.
    [br]
    After apprenticeship at the North London Railway's locomotive works, Garratt had a varied career which included responsibility for the locomotive departments of several British-owned railways overseas. This gave him an insight into the problems of such lines: locomotives, which were often inadequate, had to be operated over lines with weak bridges, sharp curves and steep gradients. To overcome these problems, he designed an articulated locomotive in which the boiler, mounted on a girder frame, was sus pended between two power bogies. This enabled a wide firebox and large-diameter boiler barrel to be combined with large driving-wheels and good visibility. Coal and water containers were mounted directly upon the bogies to keep them steady. The locomotive was inherently stable on curves because the central line of the boiler between its pivots lay within the curve of the centre line of the track. Garratt applied for a patent for his locomotive in 1907 and manufacture was taken up by Beyer, Peacock \& Co. under licence: the type became known as the Beyer-Garratt. The earliest Beyer-Garratt locomotives were small, but subsequent examples were larger. Sadly, only twenty-six locomotives of the type had been built or were under construction when Garratt died in 1913. Subsequent classes came to include some of the largest and most powerful steam locomotives: they were widely used and particularly successful in Central and Southern Africa, where examples continue to give good service in the 1990s.
    [br]
    Bibliography
    H.W.Garratt took out nine British patents, of which the most important is: 1907, British patent no. 17,165, "Improvements in and Relating to Locomotive Engines".
    Further Reading
    R.L.Hills, 1979–80, "The origins of the Garratt locomotive", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 51:175 (a good description of Garratt's career and the construction of the earliest Beyer-Garratt locomotives).
    A.E.Durrant, 1981, Garratt Locomotives of the World, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles. L.Wiener, 1930, Articulated Locomotives, London: Constable \& Co.
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Garratt, Herbert William

  • 17 Johnson, Samuel Waite

    [br]
    b. 14 October 1831 Bramley, Leeds, England
    d. 14 January 1912 Nottingham, England
    [br]
    English locomotive engineer, designer of Midland Railway's successful compound locomotives.
    [br]
    After an apprenticeship with E.B.Wilson, Leeds, Johnson worked successively for the Great Northern, Manchester Sheffield \& Lincolnshire, Edinburgh \& Glasgow and Great Eastern Railways before being appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Midland Railway in 1873. There he remained for the rest of his working life, becoming notable for well-designed, well-finished locomotives. Of these, the most famous were his 4–2–2 express locomotives, introduced in 1887. The use of a single pair of driving-wheels was made possible at this late date by application of steam sanding gear (invented in 1886 by F. Holt) to enable them to haul heavy trains without slipping. In 1901, almost at the end of his career, he produced the first Midland compound 4–4–0, with a single internal high-pressure cylinder and two external low-pressure ones. The system had been devised by W.M.Smith, working on the North Eastern Railway under Wilson Worsdell. These locomotives were successful enough to be developed and built in quantity by Johnson's successors and were adopted as a standard locomotive by the London Midland \& Scottish Railway after the grouping of 1923.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1898.
    Further Reading
    C.Hamilton Ellis, 1958, Twenty Locomotive Men, Ian Allan, Ch. 11 (describes Johnson's career).
    E.L.Ahrons, 1927, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825–1925, The Locomotive Publishing Co. (describes Johnson's locomotives).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Johnson, Samuel Waite

  • 18 Stanier, Sir William Arthur

    [br]
    b. 27 May 1876 Swindon, England
    d. 27 September 1965 London, England
    [br]
    English Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London Midland \& Scottish Railway, the locomotive stock of which he modernized most effectively.
    [br]
    Stanier's career started when he was Office Boy at the Great Western Railway's Swindon works. He was taken on as a pupil in 1892 and steady promotion elevated him to Works Manager in 1920, under Chief Mechanical Engineer George Churchward. In 1923 he became Principal Assistant to Churchward's successor, C.B.Collett. In 1932, at the age of 56 and after some forty years' service with the Great Western Railway (GWR), W.A.Stanier was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London Midland \& Scottish Railway (LMS). This, the largest British railway, had been formed by the amalgamation in 1923 of several long-established railways, including the London \& North Western and the Midland, that had strong and disparate traditions in locomotive design. A coherent and comprehensive policy had still to emerge; Stanier did, however, inherit a policy of reducing the number of types of locomotives, in the interest of economy, by the withdrawal and replacement of small classes, which had originated with constituent companies.
    Initially as replacements, Stanier brought in to the LMS a series of highly successful standard locomotives; this practice may be considered a development of that of G.J.Churchward on the GWR. Notably, these new locomotives included: the class 5, mixed-traffic 4–6–0; the 8F heavy-freight 2–8–0; and the "Duchess" 4–6–2 for express passenger trains. Stanier also built, in 1935, a steam-turbine-driven 4–6–2, which became the only steam-turbine locomotive in Britain to have an extended career in regular service, although the economies it provided were insufficient for more of the type to be built. From 1932–3 onwards, and initially as part of a programme to economize on shunting costs by producing a single-manned locomotive, the LMS started to develop diesel shunting locomotives. Stanier delegated much of the responsibility for these to C.E.Fairburn. From 1939 diesel-electric shunting locomotives were being built in quantity for the LMS: this was the first instance of adoption of diesel power on a large scale by a British main-line railway. In a remarkably short time, Stanier transformed LMS locomotive stock, formerly the most backward of the principal British railways, to the point at which it was second to none. He was seconded to the Government as Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Production in 1942, and retired two years later.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    Knighted 1943. FRS 1944. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1941.
    Bibliography
    1955, "George Jackson Churchward", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 30 (Stanier provides a unique view of the life and work of his former chief).
    Further Reading
    O.S.Nock, 1964, Sir William Stanier, An Engineering Biography, Shepperton: Ian Allan (a full-length biography).
    John Bellwood and David Jenkinson, 1976, Oresley and Stanier. A Centenary Tribute, London: HMSO (a comparative account).
    C.Hamilton Ellis, 1970, London Midland \& Scottish, Shepperton: Ian Allan.
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Stanier, Sir William Arthur

  • 19 Bury, Edward

    [br]
    b. 22 October 1794 Salford, Lancashire, England
    d. 25 November 1858 Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
    [br]
    English steam locomotive designer and builder.
    [br]
    Bury was the earliest engineer to build locomotives distinctively different from those developed by Robert Stephenson yet successful in mainline passenger service. A Liverpool sawmill owner, he set up as a locomotive manufacturer while the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway was under construction and, after experiments, completed the four-wheeled locomotive Liverpool in 1831. It included features that were to be typical of his designs: a firebox in the form of a vertical cylinder with a dome-shaped top and the front flattened to receive the tubes, and inside frames built up from wrought-iron bars. In 1838 Bury was appointed to supply and maintain the locomotives for the London \& Birmingham Railway (L \& BR), then under construction by Robert Stephenson, on the grounds that the latter should not also provide its locomotives. For several years the L \& BR used Bury locomotives exclusively, and they were also used on several other early main lines. Following export to the USA, their bar frames became an enduring feature of locomotive design in that country. Bury claimed, with justification, that his locomotives were economical in maintenance and fuel: the shape of the firebox promoted rapid circulation of water. His locomotives were well built, but some of their features precluded enlargement of the design to produce more powerful locomotives and within a few years they were outclassed.
    [br]
    Principal Honours and Distinctions
    FRS 1844.
    Bibliography
    1840, "On the locomotive engines of the London and Birmingham Railway", Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers 3 (4) (provides details of his locomotives and the thinking behind them).
    Further Reading
    C.F.Dendy Marshall, 1953, A History of'Railway Locomotives Down to the End of the Year 1831, London: The Locomotive Publishing Co. (describes Bury's early work).
    P.J.G.Ransom, 1990, The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved, London: Heinemann, pp. 167–8 and 174–6.
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Bury, Edward

  • 20 Kirtley, Matthew

    [br]
    b. 6 February 1813 Tanfield, Co. Durham, England
    d. 24 May 1873 Derby, England
    [br]
    English locomotive engineer, responsible for the introduction of the brick arch in fireboxes.
    [br]
    At the age of 13, Kirtley was a pupil of George Stephenson on the Stockton \& Darlington Railway. He subsequently became a fireman and then a driver of locomotives: he drove the first locomotive to enter London on the London \& Birmingham Railway. When the Midland Railway was formed in 1844 he was appointed Locomotive Superintendent. Ever since the Act of Parliament for the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway had required that its locomotives consume their own smoke (probably as a reaction to the clouds of black smoke emitted by steamboats at Liverpool), the usual fuel for locomotives had been coke. Early multi-tubular boilers, with their small fireboxes and short tubes, were in any case unsuitable for coal because they did not allow the burning gases sufficient time to combust properly. Many engineers attempted to solve the problem with weird and complex boiler designs. Kirtley and Charles Markham, who was working under him, succeeded by inserting a deflector plate above the firedoor and an arch of firebricks in the front of the firebox: this helped to maintain the high temperatures needed and lengthened the route by which the gases travelled. The brick arch and deflector plate became the usual components of locomotive fireboxes, and expensive coke was replaced as fuel by coal.
    [br]
    Further Reading
    J.Marshall, 1978, A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.
    E.L.Ahrons, 1927, The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825–1925, London: The Locomotive Publishing Co. (describes the brick arch and Kirtley's locomotives).
    PJGR

    Biographical history of technology > Kirtley, Matthew

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