A TURBINE LOCOMOTIVE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3131, 21 August 1922, Page 7

A TURBINE LOCOMOTIVE.

I A condensing turbine locomotive, constructed in Stockholm, was placed in .service on the Swedish State Railways ||a lew months ago. According to reimports, the locomotive has performed | satisfactorily and has shown remark|able economy in fuel. Complete details sof the construction are not yet available, but there is a. radical departure from conventional locomotive design, as we learn from the Railway Age (.New York)- Says the paper:— "The turbo-locomotive is intended to displace the Paciiic type locomotives now used in passenger service on the Swedish State Railways. It is not a mere adaptation of the turbine to reciprocating locomotives, but is a new design in all respects. Unlike ordinary steam locomotives, there is no driving machinery under the boiler. Instead it is supported by two. trucks, the forward with two and the rear with three axles. The driving machinery is located under the tender unit, which also contains the condenser and the, necessarf fans for aiding ' n condensation. The coal supply is carried in bunkers placed above and on each side of the cab, having a capacity of seven tons. The boiler is of the ordinary lire-tube type. ' "Another innovation is the arrangement for heating the air supplied to the fire. The space between the mud ring and the ash-pan is tightly closed and the air needed fur combustion passes through a special air pre-heater under the smoke-box, where the temperature is raised by escaping gases from the smoke-box. Draft is created by a fan propelled by a small turbine. A damper connected with the firebox shuts off the draft when the door is open, thus preventing unnecessary cold air entering the firebox flues. The exhaust steam is not discharged from the stack but is led to a condenser on the tender. "The driving machinery consists of u high-speed turbine geared to the sixwheel connected running gear which lii.y drivers 58 inches in diameter and is located under the tender. As the fecdwater is used over and over, very little scale will be formed in the boiler. "The locomotive is bcktg used in passenger service out of Stockholm on turn-around trip of about 41 miles each way. The time from Stockholm to the return is 2 hours 30 minutes. As no information is given as to the time at the turn-around point or the length of the stops en route, no estimate can be made as to speed while on the road. "On a local run on this route with a passenger train weighing 603 tons, the coal consumption' was 67 pounds per 1000 gross ton-miles. In through service the consumption was reduced to about 37.4 pounds per 1000 gross ton-miles. Considering that this performance was obtained during the winter season the figures are indeed remarkable. Compared with the reciprocating superheated Paciiic type locomotives used on the same run, the turbine locomotive shows a. reduction of 52 per cent, in the consumption of fuel."