Showing posts with label Locomotives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Locomotives. Show all posts

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Coupling


We just learned about the Leading Wheel.

Another part of a steam locomotive is a Coupling, also called a coupler.

This is what connects the train cars to each other.
Some of the train couplings are loose with chains and bang into each other a lot.
Other types are very tightly linked together and don't move much.



(from: wikipedia - railway coupling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Trim

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Leading Wheel


We just learned about the Driving Wheel.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Leading Wheel.

These wheels are in the front of the train, and are used to help hold up the front part of the locomotive.

They are not the driving wheels that are moved around by the steam engine, they just roll along when the driving wheels push the train along, and help hold up the train.


(from: wikipedia - leading wheel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Spring

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Driving Wheel


We just learned about the Leaf Spring.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Driving Wheel.

When the steam power moves the pistons, it is connected to rods that turn the wheels.
Only some of the wheels are connected to these rods, and they are called the driving wheels.
The other wheels are just holding up the train and they turn just because the driving wheels are pulling the train along.

This is the same for most other things with wheels too, like the pedals on a bicycle usually only turn the back wheel of the bike.


(from: wikipedia - driving wheel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gasket

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Blastpipe


We just learned about the Brake Hose.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Blastpipe.

Remember we learned about the firebox where the coal burns, and the boiler where the water heats up and makes steam.

For the fire to keep burning, it needs fresh air.
The blastpipe is connected to the boiler and the firebox and the chimney.
When the boiler lets off steam, it helps pull air through the firebox, and then all of the smoke and steam goes shooting out the chimney.


(from: wikipedia - blastpipe)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Seat

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Brake Hose


We just learned about the locomotive Headlight.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Brake Hose.

Remember we learned before that when the engineer wants to stop the train he pulls a lever that uses the high pressure air brakes to push the brake shoe and stop the train.

When a train has a lot of passenger or supply cars behind the main engine, they can have brake shoes to help slow them down too.

The high pressure air brakes have tubes that go from car to car to bring the air pressure that closes the brake shoes to slow down the train.


(from: wikipedia - gladhand connector)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Disc

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Headlight


We just learned about the Chimney.

Another part of a locomotive is the Headlight or headlamp.

The headlight isn't really for the people driving the train, because they are going too fast to be able to stop if they saw something.
It's really meant to warn everyone to get off the tracks and to stay out of the way.
There are also workers at stations who need to know the train is coming, and they can see the light from very far away.


(from: wikipedia - steam locomotive components)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Handle

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Chimney


We just learned about the Superheater.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Chimney.

The smoke from the boiler goes up the chimney pipe so the smoke goes up high and the engineer can still see down the tracks.


(from: wikipedia - chimney (locomotive))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Port

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Superheater


We just learned about the steam locomotive Boiler.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Superheater.

When the water gets heated up by the fire and goes through the fire tube boiler, it gets really hot and leaves the boiler as steam.
To make it even hotter, that hot steam is sent back into some other pipes to get heated even more.
This is called a superheater.

Superheated steam is better because it is more of a dry steam.
The dry steam holds the heat better, and helps the inside of the engine not get wet and rusty.


(from: wikipedia - superheater)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bonnet

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Boiler


We just learned about the Firebox on a locomotive.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Boiler.

We learned before about the Fire Tube Boiler that has a bunch of tubes full of water that are heated up by the burning coal in the Firebox.

The boiler is the long cylinder shaped part of the locomotive that has all of that fire burning and hot water heating inside of it.


(from: wikipedia - boiler)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Body

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Firebox


We just learned about the Locomotive Piston.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Firebox.

Remember we learned about the Tender Coal Car where all the coal is stored, and the Fireman who is the person in the Cab that shovels the coal from the Coal Car.

The Fireman shovels the coal into the Firebox where it burns up really hot, which heats up the water to make steam.


(from: wikipedia - firebox (steam engine))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Locomotive Piston


We just learned about the Piston Rod.

Another part of the Locomotive is the Piston.

This is the thing that pushes and pulls the piston rod, using the power of the steam.

Remember we've learned about how hot steam pushes out, and then cooling the steam makes a vaccuum that pulls or sucks in.
- The pushing and pulling of the steam and vaccuum is pushes and pulls this piston
- The piston pushes and pulls the piston rod
- The piston rod pushes and pulls the connecting rod
- The connecting rod spins the train wheel around


(from: wikipedia - piston)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cam

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Piston Rod


We just learned about the Connecting Rod.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Piston Rod.

This is the big straight metal rod that is connected to the piston that goes up and down with the steam and vaccuum.

The piston rod is connected to other metal rods that help turn wheels and make the engine go, but the piston just goes straight back and forth and does not turn around at all.


(from: wikipedia - piston rod)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Linear Actuator

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Connecting Rod


We just learned about the Coupling Rod that hooks all the wheels together.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Connecting Rod.

Remember that we learned about how steam pressure works with a steam cylinder to push and pull a piece of metal in a tube called a piston.

The piston is hooked up to the connecting rod, which takes that forward and back pushing an pulling and makes it into a circular push and pull to spin the locomotive's wheel around.


(from: wikipedia - connecting rod)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rack and Pinion

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Coupling Rod


We just learned about the Brake Shoe.

Another part of a steam locomotive is a Coupling Rod or Side Rod.

When the steam engine uses its power to turn the wheel of a steam locomotive, it is usually only turning one wheel.
That wheel is connected to the other wheels by a big metal rod called the coupling rod.

So when the driving wheel is turned, it makes all the wheels turn and spin at the same speed so it makes the train more stable and gives it more power.


(from: wikipedia - coupling rod)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Air Gap

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Brake Shoe


We just learned about the Trailing Wheel.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Brake Shoe.

When the train has to stop, there is a rounded piece of metal called the brake shoe that is pushed against the wheels to try and slow them down.

The scraping of the brake shoes on the metal wheel also helps clean the wheels, and after a while the brake shoes get worn down and need to be replaced with new ones.



(from: wikipedia - brake shoe)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electromagnet

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Trailing Wheel


We just learned about the Smokebox at the front of the engine.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Trailing Wheel.

Back behind all of the other big wheels that move the train is a smaller wheel.
This wheel has an axle bar going under the train that helps make the engine more stable especially where the fireman and engineer are standing.

Because it is not connected to any of the other gears that move the train along, this wheel is very strong and doesn't wiggle around so much.


(from: wikipedia - trailing wheel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Windings

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Smokebox


We just learned about the Air Brakes.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Smokebox.

This is the place on the front of the locomotive where the hot air and smoke goes to.

The coal burns up and the hot air goes through the boiler.
After that the hot air needs to be released, so it goes into the smokebox and then out the chimney.
Because the smoke is so dirty, it leaves a bunch of ashes in the smokebox, so the front of the train can be opened up and cleaned out when it gets too dirty.



(from: wikipedia - smokebox)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Stator

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Air Brakes


We just learned about the Sand Dome.

Another part of steam locomotives is the Air Brakes.

When the engineer wants to stop the train, he pulls a lever to use the brakes.
The lever opens up something called an air reservoir which is a place where high pressured air is stored.
It is kind of like a really tight balloon filled with air, and opening it up causes the air to come blowing out.

The air goes through some tubes to get to a piece of metal called the brake shoe, and the air pressure pushes the metal brake shoe up against the wheel to stop the train.



(from: wikipedia - railway air brake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rotor

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Sand Dome


We just learned about the Safety Valve.

Another part of a locomotive is a Sand Dome or Sand Box.

When a locomotive is speeding down the tracks and the metal tracks get wet, sometimes the wheels might slip.
To keep from slipping, the locomotives can spray sand onto the rails as the train is going.

On top of the train is a dome that opens up so the sand box can be filled up with sand when the train stops at the station, just like it does with water.
The sand goes down into a pipe, and when the engineer pulls the right lever it opens up the sand pipe and using some of the steam it can blow grains of sand onto the tracks so the train doesn't slip and slide.


(from: wikipedia - sandbox (locomotive))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electric Motor

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Safety Valve


We just learned about the Johnson Bar that controls the train speed.

Another part of a steam locomotive was the Safety Valve.

This was a valve that could be opened to let off steam if the pressure in the steam engine was getting too high.


(from: wikipedia - safety valve)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bearing