Diesel Rail Traction before 1950 - Discuss

[Nearholmer]

My guess would be forest green, with panel-joints picked out with black bands, edged with white lines, but only because every German, Swiss and Austrian piece of machinery from the first half of the twentieth century seems to have been so-painted!

 

K

Edited February 14, 2016 by Nearholmer

[EddieB]

Yes, I was thinking green would be most likely - certainly it was lined with white or cream and edged in black.  Other candidates would be red (rendered darker by the films of the time), blue or brown!

[EddieB]

One of the earliest British developments (mentioned and illustrated in the Brian Webb book), were the three 150hp Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives supplied to Ford's at Dagenham by BTH/Metropolitan Vickers.  They were unusual in being bogie shunting locomotives and drew from US pactice in body "box cab" style and buck-eye couplers.  Originally numbered 16-18 (later 1-3) they lasted in service until the mid-sixties.  Happily no. 1 (with the engine from no. 2) was donated to the Kent & East Sussex Railway (who renumbered as their no. 40), where it still resides.  

 

(A history of this locomotive can be found here: http://www.kesr.org.uk/stock-register/diesel-locomotives/bth-no-40-bo-bo).

 

Although it has been recommissioned a couple of times, I've never found it operational on my visits to the K&ESR.  The attached photo, from a dull day in May 1996, shows it parked in its usual location - a siding near to Rolvenden.

 

[Nearholmer]

Aha!

 

I have it on very good authority that is is being prepped to work passenger trains on the two bank holidays in May this year. I'm even thinking of taking the family down to Sussex for one of those weekends, so that I can "coincidentally" discover that it is in traffic, and have a ride behind it.

 

It isn't normally let loose in passenger traffic, because it is so slooooooooooow.

 

Kevin

[SM-25-6]

Gentlemen,

I am writing from Graz, Austria and I am interested in the history of diesel engines and diesel locomotives that were produced in various Austrian companies. In this thread, the "Graz 0-4-0 Diesel-Hydraulic Locomotive" was already discussed. On-line, I could also find an article on the LNER Website at https://www.lner.info/locos/Experimental/Graz040.php. During my own research work, I came across some more details of this locomotive. First of all, here is a drawing of the locomotive that also shows the installed diesel engine:

http://www.haflinger-4wd.com/offtopic/Motorlokomotive_Web.jpg

On the upper left side, I think that the text says "60 PS Grazer Motorlokomotive mit hydraulischem Lentzgetriebe" (60 HP engine-powered locomotive with hydraulic Lentz-transmission, made in Graz). On the bottom left side, there is the company name stated: "Grazer Waggon- und Maschinenfabriks AG vorm. Johann Weitzer".

Johann Weitzer, born 1832, was an entrepreneur who founded a carriage manufacturing company in Graz in 1854. In 1895, the company became a stock company and was renamed to "Grazer Waggon- und Maschinenfabriks AG vorm. Johann Weitzer" (Graz carriage and machinery manufacturing company, formerly Johann Weitzer). The company started building diesel engines in 1900. Years later, the company was merged with other companies to form Simmering-Graz-Pauker in 1941.

In 1923, the abovementioned diesel-hydraulic locomotive was delivered to England. It had an operating weight of 19 tons and was designed for standard gauge. The engine type was a "SM 25/6", an in-line 6-cylinder diesel engine (bore 200 mm, stroke 250 mm, nominal speed 300 rpm, Power 60 HP, BMEP approx. 3.8 bar). The information I have is from a doctoral thesis from 1967 that deals with the historic development of diesel engines for locomotives in Austria. There is a reference to "The Railway Gazette" of 8th of August, 1924, in which the locomotive is described in detail. I do not have this publication, is there possibly anyone who can provide a scan of this historic article?

In this thread, there are also references to other publications of that time. Can somebody possibly provide me with scans of these magazine articles?


It would be great to hear from you!

Thanks and kind regards,
Constantin

[Nearholmer]

I don’t have the relevant Railway Gazette article, but the same article was issued in Glasers Annal with German text (01.10.1924 s170-173). The loco was also tested on the Gleisdorf-Fehring Line of OBB, before being sent to England, and a good technical paper was published in Glasers (15.09.1924 s148-154).

 

The relevant articles were reproduced in a collection published by Steiger in 1987, but I’m wondering if you might be able to access the originals in a library in Austria.

 

Graz were quite important contributors to diesel loco history, in that they built both standard gauge and 760mm gauge diesel electrics for OBB in the late 1920s, both of which are described in “Internal Combustion Locomotives and Motor Coaches” (1931) by Franco and Labryn, which is the key book for the period up to then, and is available on-line. That book also describes the Lenz hydraulic transmission.

 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by Nearholmer