Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

STEAM LOCOMOTIVES OF TO-DAY. BY J. F. GAIRNS. IN practically every important respect the present-day locomotive steam-engine comprises the same elements as it did fifty or sixty years ago. It operates in ex- actly the same way, and although some loco- motives include special features and refine- ments, the majority differ from those of days gone by only in being larger and more power- ful. Yet detail development has been not- able. It includes various improvements where- by economy in fuel and water consumption, reliability and immunity from breakdown and accident, and general efficiency are obtained. Nevertheless it can be claimed that an excel- lent reason for placing the locomotive engine among the principal engineering wonders of the world is that, without fundamental alteration, it is still the most important transportation machine existent. It remains the fastest means of travelling afforded to the ordinary person ; its efficiency is one of the great foundations of modern industry ; and yet its work is now taken so much for granted that we hardly give a thought to the matter, or at any rate take but small interest in the locomotive as a machine. (1,408) A modern locomotive costs anything from £1,500 to £4,000 ; about £2,000 may be considered an average price. Repairs and other items of upkeep will amount to several hundred pounds in the course of five years. In ten or fifteen years a new boiler may become necessary, and the locomotive may require to be practically rebuilt ; and at the end of twenty-five years to be relegated to the scrap-heap. The huge number of locomotives in exist- ence—probably several hundreds of thousands —necessarily exemplify a great variety of types. With the most important and inter- esting of these types we shall deal in the following pages, appending to each locomotive illustrated such details as appear to be most worthy of notice. A study of the information thus given will afford the reader some insight into the reasons for altering the design of locomotives to suit various purposes, and, we hope, will quicken his interest in a class of mechanism which, despite the development of electrical power, will, there is no reason to doubt, continue to serve us well for many years to come. 13 VOL. II.