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The 1880s saw an increasing range of locomotive types being manufactured. Between 1883 and 1886, a total of 71 tram engines with vertical boilers and cylinders left Gorton Foundry. These embodied Wilkinson's patented arrangement of geared drive (6336) and some were fitted with superheaters, condensers, silencers and automatic brakes. One of these engines, which used to work on the Manchester, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham Tramways, has been presented to the Museum and is being restored. Steam trains never became very popular and were soon ousted by electric ones. In 1888, six 4-4-0 compound engines were completed for the Buenos Ayres & Rosario Railway (7011) which were the first compounds built by Beyer, Peacock and the first used in that country. These engines were fitted with special starting valves developed by Lange, Von Borries of the Prussian State Railways, and Wordsell of the North Eastern Railway, so that both cylinders could be used for starting with an automatic change over to compound expansion when running. In 1886, Messrs. Lange and Livesey patented an arrangement of rack drive. This had an independent frame for the cog wheels so that the cogs could take up any uneveness in their track independently of the ordinary wheels. A pair of cylinders was fitted on each side, each piston driving a cogwheel, but there was only one set of valve gear to work the pair of pistons. This enabled double the power to be applied to the cogwheels without unduly large cylinders or a complicated system of levers and connecting rods. Among other places where this type of engine was used were the Puerto Cabello & Valencia Railway (6909), and the Transandine Railway (7257). On some rack engines for the Usui Tonge incline of the Japanese State Railways (7868) built in 1895, long chimneys were fitted to take the steam and smoke clear of the cab. A design, submitted for the Snowdon Mountain Railway, was not accepted. |