OIL FOR EVERYTHING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 21, 22 May 1912, Page 61

OIL FOR EVERYTHING.

A further indication of the possibilities of oil fuel on railways has been furnished by experiments on the Great Central Railway on entirely different lines to those adopted on the Great Western. For their short-distance suburban traffic the Great Central directors propose to make use of petrol electric motor coaches capable of carrying from 50 to 100 passengers, according to the exigencies of the various services, and they are now experimenting with a motor coach between the terminus of Marylebone and South Harrow, a distance of 84 miles, with a couple of stops en route. The coach contains four compartments, and cm seat 50 passengers. At one end is the engine compartment. A six-cylinder petrol engine, the primary source of power, drives a specially wound electrical generator, which supplies the electrical energy driving the axles. A small petrol-driven set operates the vacuum brake gear, and provides electric lighting. The car is controlled entirely from one handle. The advantage of this arrangement is that if the driver should be suddenly seized with illness the involuntary release of the controller handle would cut off power. One man can attend and drive the engine, thus the cost of stoking labour is saved. The driver has full control of his engine from both ends, and it is unnecessary for anyone to be in the engine compartment since he knows from his instrument what the engine is doing, and can shut it down from either driving end. The coach is capable of running 150 miles with one charge of petrol, the speed depending on the slopes and the load hauled; bnt on favourable track it can do 40 miles an hour. It can also be used as a slip coach, and can be quickly chartered as a special, since there is no delay as with getting up steam, and, as it gets into its stride (to use a racing term) much quicker than an ordinary steam-driven train, its adoption for suburban traffic where stations occur at short intervals will mean a considerable saving of time to travellers. The Caledonian • Company, which has suffered very severely through the strike, is not going to be caught napping again. They also have been experimenting with oil fuel in liquid form, several engines having been adapted for the purpose. In the engines so fitted the oil is stored in a cylindrical tank placed on the top of the tender in part of the space ordinarily occupied by coal. The special fittings will permit of the engine using either coal or oil, and if further experiments prove as successful as those already carried out, the company intend to adapt the whole of their 900 odd engines so that coal or oil may be used as expediency may dictate.