| Home | TRAIN WORLD STEAM LOCOMOTIVE The Steam Locomotive was used until the 1940's. By the late 1980’s, Diesel’s replaced steam locomotives. Now about 50 still run in the United States. Some are now used for tourist trains. Old Ironsides was built by the American industrialist Matthias William Baldwin for the Philidelphia, Germantown and Norristown railroad Company. This train was a four-wheeled locomotive weighing about 5 metric tons. It was given the first road tests in 1832 and put to service almost immediately. The first passenger train began in the 1920’s. But soon it sprang into business in the Eastern United States. However, the steam locomotives needed lots of water. STEAM VALVE GEAR Valve gears control the entry and exit of steam into and out of the cyledners. The most widely used system of controlling the valves was invented in 1844 by the Belgian engineer Eyidle Walschaert. It was called Walschaert's valvegear. The movement for the valves and pistons inside the cylenders transmits driving avtion to the wheels through interconnecting rods. HOW IT WORKS Fuel such as coal or wood is burned to make fire. Hear from the fire passs long tubes in the boiler that is surrounded by water. The heart converts the water into steam, which collects at the top of the boiler and is passed along pipes into cylenders. This movement is transmitted to the wheels by connecting rods. Exhaust, steam and hot gasses from the fire are forced through the blast pipe and out of the smokestack. The whistle on the train was to release the pressure so that the train wouldn’t overheat. If you have any questions or comments, please E-Mail the Webmaster |