The steam engines are at their best in the second era. More pressure in the boiler, more axles, and subtle details like blast pipes or oil burners bring the iron horses’ performance to a whole new level.
We read your engine wishes, worked our way through the railway archives and checked Wikipedia.
Here are our locomotive highlights!
Bat – the LNER Class A3 Flying Scotsman
The Flying Scotsman of the London and North Eastern Railway is a Pacific express steam engine of the A3 class with a 2’C1′ wheel arrangement. It was the first British engine that officially exceeded the 100 mile (161km/h) limit.
It had a super-heater and a burning chamber. This design moved the engine’s mass centre to the front and relieved the carrying axle at the rear.
The engine, constructed by Sir Nigel Greasley, had three steam cylinders. Its name, like that of most other engines of this class, comes from that of a race horse.
Records of the Flying Scotsman
On 30th November 1934, it was the first British engine to travel faster than 100 miles per hour. In 1989, decommissioned and repeatedly revised, it completed a non-stop journey of 679 kilometres during a visit to Australia – it remains the longest non-stop journey of a steam engine ever. It also has once visited the USA.
Panther – DR Series 05 – the fastest German steam engine of all time!
In 1932 there was great demand for an express passenger train. Since people had no experience with such speeds, many different proposals were submitted. Besides classic steam engines with a triple coupled axle, steam turbine propulsion was also suggested. The implemented version was based on the Series 03, which was first built in 1930. For the 03, due to its good running characteristics, the licensed top speed was increased from 120 km/h to 140 km/h. In normal circumstances the Series 05 was able to travel at 150 km/h, but would also be able to accelerate up to 175 km/h to make up for any delays.
In order to improve its running characteristics, the Series 05 was given a carrying axle bogie each before and behind the thrice-coupled driving axles (Hudson design). The outer firebox was used without a burning chamber, the pipe length was set at 7,000 mm instead. The engine was used as a balanced three cylinder drive.
The engine’s trim was developed in a wind tunnel and painted in ruby red. This gave the engine a somewhat extravagant look. The trim ensured an additional 385 HP at the towing hook. The engine behind the trim could be accessed for servicing via shutters.
The record journey of the 05 002
On 11th May 1936, the engine went on a show trip with four waggons between Hamburg and Berlin. Due to a delay, the train had to accelerate to over 180 km/h after it passed the city of Wittenberge. After it passed the station of Zernitz, it was accelerated to the point where the speedometer needle hit 200 km/h. The exact speed had to be calculated by means of timekeeping. Since the train travelled 5 kilometres in less than 90 seconds, a speed of 200.4 km/h was calculated.
That made it the fastest engine of its time. The record lasted for two years, before it was outpaced by the LNER A4 Mallard.
Black bear SNCF 232 TC – a European success story
The SNCF 232 TC is an engine that enjoyed a successful career. It made it from a special design for a route on the island of Rügen to an engine that was used in France and the Middle East. The Prussian state railways required a powerful engine that could also be used as a push-pull train. That way it could also be used at the end of lines, where no turntable was available.
In order to achieve this the engine was given a symmetric wheel arrangement. At the front and rear it had one hinged bogie each. Without a tender it was able to push and pull trains in both directions without the need for it to be turned. During trials it was noted that the T 18 was more than a match for the Prussian P 8. Its great tractive force and versatility made it the ideal engine for metropolitan areas with many stops. Thanks to its great potential, the engine spread throughout Germany and beyond.
Through Alsace-Lorraine it also entered France, where it was first used by the Chemin de Fer Alsace-Lorraine and from 1938 onwards, under the name 232 TC by SNCF Region 1. Within Germany it was also used in Württemberg and Bavaria.
Other regions of application include Austria, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia. 8 units were sold to Turkey, where they were used on the Baghdad Line between Konya and Baghdad until 1970.
At the end of its operational life, the series was used in service for 62 years and more than 544 units were built in total. Most engines remained in service for about four decades and a good number even managed 50 years. Some engines, known as Series 78 (DB) and also used by the DR, remained in service for up to 60 years, since towards the end of the steam era, no new engines that could match its performance specifications were developed.
Lynx – the SŽD Series П36 – a pinnacle of Soviet engine construction
The engines of the P36 series were only developed during the 1950s and rallied the expertise of Soviet railway engineers. They thus constructed the largest European steam engine. It is 29.8 metres long and weighs 250 tons in operating condition. Yet the axle load was only 18 tons, meaning the engine could be used on most mainline routes.
In order to still achieve the required power of 3,000 HP, the engineers made use of the latest technology of their time:
- welded boiler
- stoker for automatic coal firing
- cast frame
- ball bearing mounted engine and tender wheels
- suction draught system
- Boxpok wheel sets
The tender was measured generously for the long journeys in Russia. It alone is almost 13 metres in length and it can hold 24 tons of coal and 50 tons of water.
Soon the engine was used on most mainline routes in Russia and made faster and longer trains possible. The average speed between Moscow and Leningrad, for example, was increased from 58 to 69 km/h, reducing the travel time between those cities by 1:45h.
The engine soon faced competition from the new diesel engines, but on climatically extremely demanding routes like the Transsiberian Railway or the Trans-Baikal Railway the engines proved its value until the middle of the 1970s.
Its elegant look remains an icon of the Soviet Railways to this day. It adorned many stamps in Hungary, Yemen, Mongolia and some African countries, but never in its homeland.
The new models for Boar, Elephant and the completely remolded freight bonus engine will be presented next week!
On top we will present the new production series for the
Obendrauf gibt es noch den chinesischen Luchs.
Now, to the engines!
Wishing you loads of fun with the game, HarrT!