how do european steam engines work?

David111767

30in and Rack Railway Guy
i have been wondering this ever since i was little watching thomas the tank engine. how do engines like this work if the have no pistons???

57xx_GW11A.jpg
 
Going out on a limb here and saying maybe they have some sort of axel(much like a car) that turns the wheels round. I really don't know how they work, it's just a educated guess:p
 
I believe that the power and valve cylinders as well as the valve gear and crankshaft are between the axles.:) pretty much like a normal steam locomotive but "inside out" so to speak...
 
Some Engineers claimed they had better balance and stability by keeping the weight between the rails. But outside gear and cylinders were easier to service. The Flying Scotsman has three cylinders. Two outside and one inside.

Petestuff
 
Very simple, those "pistonless" engines had their valve gear and everything on the inside between the wheels, I have absolutely no idea why this was so popular as mantaining such a system is very time consuming. It was not very popular here as compared to where I live, as far as I know there were never any completely inside cylinder locomotives in service. There were a few locomotives built which had one or two inside cylinders in addition to the outside cylinders, some good examples are the BR 44, 01.10, 18.4/5/6 among others.

WileeCoyote:D
 
Maybe also because they thought the engine would be more presentable wth inside cylinders. I was always rather interested in seeing how they work. But I can imagine they were more difficult to maintain, and the British Railways, usually having the inspection pits, didn't mind going that extra mile. For that reason, the American Railways mostly preferred outside cylinders. Also, outside cylinders, I would think, would put more weight on the wheels, thus reducing derailments.
 
British engines often had the cylinders between the frames for a number of very good reasons, for example the exhaust passages could be simpler, the steam was less likely to condense as the cylinders stayed warmer, the stresses on the crank axle were less and the loading gauge limited the size of outside cylinders.

Paul
 
Also, outside cylinders, I would think, would put more weight on the wheels, thus reducing derailments.
And that is utterly, completely wrong. The whole weight of the engine is born by the wheels (however many) whether the cylinders are inside or outside. The weight diagram for the loco will show exactly what proportion of the total weight was carried by each axle (the 'axle loading'). For British locos the main coupled wheels carried between 16 and 22 tons each.

Paul
 
Don't forget, we Brits invented the steam railway locomotive, so if we did it that way, it must have been good. :p

true but there are not very many big or powerful ones, i never saw a big boy or a alleghenny (spelling) 2-6-6-6 over in the uk or anywhere in europe ;)
 
Though did they really need them? I think the people in the "old country" were smart enough to make their railways mostly level so they didn't need so much power. Also, Everthing in Europe is closer together than the US, so they didn't need to haul extremely long trains to be profitable.
 
true but there are not very many big or powerful ones, i never saw a big boy or a alleghenny (spelling) 2-6-6-6 over in the uk or anywhere in europe ;)

But we did build these in a lil`ole factory in Manchester, then shipped `em to Africa & elsewhere to haul heavy stuff about. (if the Bigboy had been better they would have bought that) :p
The largest steam engine built in Europe was the 4-8-2 + 2-8-4 Garratt (Beyer Peacock) for the Russian Railways (1176). This weighed 262.5 tons in working order and produced 90,000 lb. tractive effort at 95% boiler pressure.


Bp7157.jpg


http://www.beyerpeacock.co.uk/main/Beyer Peacock Garratt Locomotives.html
 
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Is it possible that it could also have been a matter of weight restrictions? It seems to me that garrats would have a better weight distribution so no need to upgrade the rails for a heavier locomotive. Plus the fuel and water would inrease the tractive effort and traction! Ingenious!
 
Don't forget. The LNER A4 Class "Mallard" (the world steam speed record holder) was a three cylinder job with one cylinder between the frames. It must work OK.
 
Not to butt in here, but something good did come out of US locomotives, the Shay. A slow critter, but damn powerful! :p

Cheerio,
John
 
And bear in mind that we have a tighter loading gauge here in GB so our locos have always had to be, well, more compact. That's what makes them so aesthetically pleasing. :p
 
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