British Rail 18000
Encyclopedia
British Rail 18000 was a prototype mainline gas turbine-electric locomotive
built for British Rail
ways in 1949 by Brown, Boveri & Cie
. It had, however, been ordered by the Great Western Railway
in 1946, but construction was delayed due to World War II
. It spent its working life on the Western Region of British Railways
, operating express passenger services from London Paddington station.
of sufficient power available. The King class
steam locomotive
could deliver about 2500 hp at the rail. The LMS diesel locomotives
had engines of only 1600 hp. After allowing for transmission losses, this would be down to about 1300 hp at the rail, so two diesels would be needed to match a King.
No. 18000 was of A1A-A1A wheel arrangement
and its gas turbine
was rated at 2500 hp. It had a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) and weighed 115 long tons (116.8 t). It was painted in BR black livery, with a silver stripe around the middle of the body and silver numbers.
was a Brown Boveri industrial machine. It was of a type which would now be called a turboshaft
engine but differed from modern turboshaft engines in having only one turbine to drive both the compressor and the output shaft. The emphasis was on fuel economy so it had a heat exchanger
(to recover waste heat from the exhaust) and was designed to run on cheap heavy fuel oil
(it was also able to burn light oil but this was intended only for startup purposes). This was the same fuel that was used in oil-fired steam locomotives. After leaving the heat exchanger, the pre-heated air entered a large, vertical, combustion chamber where the fuel was injected and burned.
which provided power for starting the gas turbine. The diesel engine was capable of moving the locomotive at a slow speed when the gas turbine was not running. The usual procedure was to run the locomotive from the shed to Paddington station using the diesel engine and to start the gas turbine only a few minutes before the train was due to leave. This saved fuel and minimised annoyance from noise and exhaust fumes.
when combustion deposits in the exhaust side of the heat exchanger ignited.
Notes:
for four years. It then returned to mainland Europe, where for more than ten years it was used, in substantially altered (and no longer gas-turbine-powered) form, for experiments concerning the interaction between steel wheels and steel rails, under the auspices of the International Union of Railways
. In 1975 it was moved to Vienna
and displayed outside the Mechanical Engineering Testing building.
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In the early 1990s it was secured for preservation. It returned to the UK and was kept at The Railway Age
, Crewe
. It was then moved to Barrow Hill Engine Shed
and was repainted in green livery.
Exhibited at Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
In mid-April 2010 it was delivered to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
in order to take part (as a static exhibit) in the celebrations for the 175th birthday of the Great Western Railway from 29 May to 6 June 2010.
Moved to Didcot Railway Centre
Since then, it has moved to Didcot. It arrived at the yard, west of Didcot Parkway railway station
, on 20th July 2011 and was moved into Didcot Railway Centre
on 29th July 2011. It is now owned by the Pete Waterman
Trust.
Gas turbine-electric locomotive
A gas turbine - electric locomotive, or GTEL, is a locomotive that uses a gas turbine to drive an electric generator or alternator. The electric current thus produced is used to power traction motors. This type of locomotive was first experimented with during the Second World War, but reached its...
built for British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways in 1949 by Brown, Boveri & Cie
Asea Brown Boveri
ABB is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, and best known for its robotics. ABB operates mainly in the power and automation technology areas. It ranked 143rd in Forbes Ranking ....
. It had, however, been ordered by the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
in 1946, but construction was delayed due to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It spent its working life on the Western Region of British Railways
Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
, operating express passenger services from London Paddington station.
Overview
The GWR chose a gas-turbine locomotive because, at the time, there was no single-unit diesel locomotiveDiesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
of sufficient power available. The King class
GWR 6000 Class
The Great Western Railway 6000 Class or King is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed for express passenger work. With the exception of one Pacific , they were the largest locomotives the GWR built. They were named after kings of the United Kingdom and of England, beginning with the reigning...
steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
could deliver about 2500 hp at the rail. The LMS diesel locomotives
British Rail Class D16/1
British Railways Class D16/1 or 10000 and 10001 were the first mainline diesel locomotives in Great Britain. They were built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at its Derby Works, using the EE16SVT 1600 hp diesel engine with electric transmission, in association with English Electric and...
had engines of only 1600 hp. After allowing for transmission losses, this would be down to about 1300 hp at the rail, so two diesels would be needed to match a King.
No. 18000 was of A1A-A1A wheel arrangement
UIC classification
The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements describes the wheel arrangement of locomotives, multiple units and trams. It is set out in the International Union of Railways "Leaflet 650 - Standard designation of axle arrangement on locomotives and multiple-unit sets". It is used in much...
and its gas turbine
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
was rated at 2500 hp. It had a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) and weighed 115 long tons (116.8 t). It was painted in BR black livery, with a silver stripe around the middle of the body and silver numbers.
Gas turbine
The gas turbineGas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
was a Brown Boveri industrial machine. It was of a type which would now be called a turboshaft
Turboshaft
A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine which is optimized to produce free turbine shaft power, rather than jet thrust...
engine but differed from modern turboshaft engines in having only one turbine to drive both the compressor and the output shaft. The emphasis was on fuel economy so it had a heat exchanger
Shell and tube heat exchanger
A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs. It is the most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes, and is suited for higher-pressure applications. As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a shell with a...
(to recover waste heat from the exhaust) and was designed to run on cheap heavy fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
(it was also able to burn light oil but this was intended only for startup purposes). This was the same fuel that was used in oil-fired steam locomotives. After leaving the heat exchanger, the pre-heated air entered a large, vertical, combustion chamber where the fuel was injected and burned.
Auxiliary diesel engine
There was also an auxiliary diesel engineDiesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
which provided power for starting the gas turbine. The diesel engine was capable of moving the locomotive at a slow speed when the gas turbine was not running. The usual procedure was to run the locomotive from the shed to Paddington station using the diesel engine and to start the gas turbine only a few minutes before the train was due to leave. This saved fuel and minimised annoyance from noise and exhaust fumes.
Problems
It proved a troublesome machine in service. Ash from the heavy fuel oil damaged the turbine blades, and the combustion chamber liner required frequent replacement due to damage. The electrical control systems were extremely complex for the time and gave much trouble; maintenance of the electrical equipment in a steam locomotive environment and knowledge base was difficult. Part way through its life one of the traction motors failed and instead of repairing or replacing it, it was simply removed, leaving the locomotive with only three traction motors and preventing it from achieving its full power output. It also suffered from the destruction of its heat exchanger in a fire at Temple MeadsBristol Temple Meads railway station
Bristol Temple Meads railway station is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is an important transport hub for public transport in Bristol, with bus services to various parts of the city and surrounding districts, and a ferry service to the city centre in addition to the...
when combustion deposits in the exhaust side of the heat exchanger ignited.
Fuel costs
It was also heavier than expected in fuel costs. The efficiency of a gas turbine reduces dramatically at low power outputs so to achieve respectable fuel economy a gas turbine locomotive needs to be operated as much as possible at full power, with periods of part-load running reduced to a minimum. However, it turned out that even on demanding express passenger schedules it was not possible to operate the locomotive on full power for very much of the run and extended periods of part-load operation were inevitable, which resulted in heavy fuel consumption. It was also sometimes fuelled on the much more expensive and scarce light oil normally used only for starting, due to the level of wear caused by the ash from heavy fuel oil.Performance
When reliable operation could be achieved, it did show itself capable of meeting expectations. Unfortunately, however, it was neither possible to achieve an acceptable level of reliability nor to operate it under conditions which would allow reasonable fuel economy.Comparison of 18000 and 18100
The following table gives a comparison between 18000 and 18100. There are some anomalies and these are described in the notes.| Value | 18000 | 18100 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | 115 | 129 | - |
| Turbine horsepower | 10,300 | 9,000 | (1) |
| Power absorbed by compressor | 7,800 | 6,000 | (1) |
| Output horsepower | 2,500 | 3,000 | (1) |
| Number of traction motors | 4 | 6 | - |
| Total traction motor horsepower | 2,500 | 2,450 | (2) |
| Starting tractive effort (lbf) | 31,500 | 60,000 | (3) |
Notes:
- In 18000, output horsepowerHorsepowerHorsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
is 24% of total horsepower and in 18100, output horsepower is 33% of total horsepower. This suggests that 18100 had the higher thermal efficiencyThermal efficiencyIn thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, a furnace, or a refrigerator for example.-Overview:...
but, in practice, 18000 had the higher thermal efficiency. The horsepower figures should, therefore, be regarded with some scepticism. - Where electric transmission is used, the horsepower of the traction motorTraction motorTraction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....
s is usually 81% (i.e. 90% x 90%) that of the prime moverPrime mover (locomotive)In engineering, a prime mover is an engine that converts fuel to useful work. In locomotives, the prime mover is thus the source of power for its propulsion. The term is generally used when discussing any locomotive powered by an internal combustion engine...
. The figure for 18100 is therefore about right but the figure for 18000 looks anomalous. - lbf = pound-forcePound-forceThe pound force is a unit of force in some systems of measurement including English engineering units and British gravitational units.- Definitions :...
Post-BR use
At the end of 1960 18000 was withdrawn from operation and was stored at Swindon WorksSwindon Works
Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire.-History:In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of a railway between London and Bristol. Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.From 1836, Brunel had been buying...
for four years. It then returned to mainland Europe, where for more than ten years it was used, in substantially altered (and no longer gas-turbine-powered) form, for experiments concerning the interaction between steel wheels and steel rails, under the auspices of the International Union of Railways
International Union of Railways
The UIC , or International Union of Railways, is an international rail transport industry body.- Brief history :The railways of Europe originated as separate concerns. There were many border changes after World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. Colonial railways were the responsibility of the...
. In 1975 it was moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and displayed outside the Mechanical Engineering Testing building.
Preservation
The Railway Age
The Crewe Heritage Centre, formerly the Crewe Railway Age is a railway museum, located in Crewe, England. The Railway Age was rebranded to its original name of Crewe Heritage Centre in early 2008...
, Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
. It was then moved to Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Engine Shed
Barrow Hill Roundhouse & Railway Centre, until 1948 known as Staveley Roundhouse & Train Centre, is a former Midland Railway roundhouse in Barrow Hill, near Staveley and Chesterfield, Derbyshire .-History:...
and was repainted in green livery.
Exhibited at Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
In mid-April 2010 it was delivered to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a volunteer-run heritage railway on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire Borders that has reopened the closed railway line between Laverton Halt and Cheltenham Racecourse railway stations in Gloucestershire/Worcestershire., it currently...
in order to take part (as a static exhibit) in the celebrations for the 175th birthday of the Great Western Railway from 29 May to 6 June 2010.
Moved to Didcot Railway Centre
Since then, it has moved to Didcot. It arrived at the yard, west of Didcot Parkway railway station
Didcot Parkway railway station
Didcot Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire in England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844, and renamed Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985 to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead....
, on 20th July 2011 and was moved into Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre, located in the town of Didcot in the English county of Oxfordshire, is based around the site of a comprehensive "engine shed" which became redundant after the nationalisation of the UK railways, due to the gradual changeover from steam to diesel motive power.-Description:The...
on 29th July 2011. It is now owned by the Pete Waterman
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...
Trust.
See also
- British Rail 18100British Rail 18100British Rail 18100 was a prototype main line gas turbine-electric locomotive built for British Railways in 1951 by Metropolitan-Vickers, Manchester. It had, however, been ordered by the Great Western Railway in the 1940s, but construction was delayed due to World War II...
- British Rail GT3British Rail GT3-External links:* http://www.therailwaycentre.com/Pages%20Loco/Recognition%20loco/Illus_GT3.html* http://www.enuii.com/vulcan_foundry/oddities/gt3.htm* http://www.enuii.com/vulcan_foundry/magazine/Vol5_no8_1961/page_37_s.jpg...
- British Rail APT-EBritish Rail APT-EThe APT-E, for Advanced Passenger Train Experimental, was the prototype Advanced Passenger Train tilting train unit. It was powered by gas turbines, the only multiple unit so powered that was used by British Rail. The APT-E consisted of two driving power cars and two trailer cars...