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Collects steam at the top of the boiler (well above the water level) so that it can be fed to the engine via the main steam pipe, or dry pipe, and the regulator/throttle valve. [2] [5] [6]: 211–212 [3]: 26 Air pump / Air compressor Westinghouse pump (US+) Powered by steam, it compresses air for operating the train air brake system.
The steam then either travels directly along and down a steam pipe to the engine unit or may first pass into the wet header of a superheater, the role of the latter being to improve thermal efficiency and eliminate water droplets suspended in the "saturated steam", the state in which it leaves the boiler. On leaving the superheater, the steam ...
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed by a connecting rod and crank into rotational force for work.
When a steam-generator–equipped locomotive was not available for a run, a so-called "heating car" fitted with one or two steam generators was inserted between the last locomotive in the consist and the rest of the train. Steam generators would also be fitted to individual cars to enable them to be heated independently of any locomotive supply.
The Big Boy has the longest engine body of any reciprocating steam locomotive, longer than two 40-foot buses. [12] They were also the heaviest reciprocating steam locomotives ever built; the combined weight of the 772,250 lb (350,290 kg) engine and 436,500 lb (198,000 kg) tender outweighed a Boeing 747. [12]
A steam turbine locomotive was a steam locomotive which transmitted steam power to the wheels via a steam turbine. Numerous attempts at this type of locomotive were made, mostly without success. In the 1930s this type of locomotive was seen as a way to both revitalize steam power and challenge the diesel locomotives then being introduced.
With piston valves, the steam passages can be made shorter. This, particularly following the work of André Chapelon, reduces resistance to the flow of steam and improves efficiency; The usual locomotive valve gears such as Stephenson, Walschaerts, and Baker valve gear, can be used with either slide valves or piston valves.
The steam locomotive, as commonly employed, has its pistons directly attached to cranks on the driving wheels; thus, there is no gearing, one revolution of the driving wheels is equivalent to one revolution of the crank and thus two power strokes per piston (steam locomotives are almost universally double-acting, unlike the more familiar internal combustion engine).