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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 4 (August 1, 1929)

locomotive Development at Home

page 52

locomotive Development at Home

For freight train working and long-distance passenger haulage, the steam-driven locomotive will for long remain supreme. At Home vast progress has been recorded during the past few years in steam locomotive development, and there are, to-day, few finer haulage machines at work on the Home railways than the “Flying Scotsman” engines of the L. and N.E. Railway, the “Royal Scot” giant of the L.M. and S. line, the Great Western “King George V.,” and the Southern Railway “Lord Nelson” and “King Arthur” machines. Of late there has been a much greater employment of the three and four-cylinder simple locomotive in Britain. Higher working pressures have been introduced, and steam distribution valves of the poppet or Lentz design brought into service. In some instances the steam distribution valves are operated by the Caprotti valve gear, around which such great interest centres. Super-heating has made rapid strides, and everyone is very closely watching the experiment of the L.M. and S. Railway with the Schmidt-Henschel high-pressure system, previously referred to in these pages. Much more probably yet remains to be heard concerning the trials conducted by the L. and N.E. Railway with the Kitson-Still locomotive. This is a combined steam and internal combustion 2-6-2 tank locomotive. It has eight 131/2in. by 151/2in. double-acting cylinders working on the Deisel principle, these being arranged under the boiler in two opposing groups of four each. Through a geared jack shaft the cylinders drive 5ft. six-coupled wheels. Steam pressure is 180lbs. per sq. in., and tractive force 24,500lbs. Steam is employed in the cylinders for starting and for low-running speeds, the locomotive otherwise being operated as an internal combustion machine.