The smoke of the fire with them (shown as white dots inside the tube). The tubes run from the firebox to the chimney, carrying the heat and Through it (for simplicity, we show only one here, colored orange). The boiler is a big tank of water with dozens of thin metal tubes The same way, producing steam under high pressure. The fire heats up the boiler-the "giantĪ kettle you'd use to make a cup of tea, but it works Inside the locomotive cab, you load coalĬontaining a roaring coal fire. It's easiest to see how everything works in our little animation In reality, there are hundreds or perhaps even thousands of parts in even That's a very simplified description, of course. (which is also known as "reciprocating") is used to drive. Piston to move first one way then the other. Steam from the boiler is piped into the cylinder, causing the A cylinder and piston, rather like a bicycle pump but muchīigger.A boiler full of water that the fire heats up to make steam.Like the steam from a kettle, the steam is captured and used to power aĬrudely speaking, there are four different parts in a steam engine: But instead of blowing off uselessly into the air, The heat from the fire boils the water in the kettle and turns it into steam. It'sĪ bit like a giant kettle sitting on top of a coal fire. What is a steam engine?Ī steam engine is a machine that burns coal to release the heatĮnergy it contains-so it's an example of what we call a heat engine. Read how it was restored from a rusting heap and returned to service byĨ0104 Restoration. Working on the Swanage Railway, England in August 2008. (For an alternative, side-view, look here.) This is ex-British Railways Standard 4MT tank locomotive number 80104 (built at Brighton in 1955) Photo: The main parts of a steam locomotive. The bonds break apart and the energy is released in the form of heat.Ĭoal contains about half as much energy per kilogram as cleaner fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene-and that's one reason why steam engines have to burn so much of it. The carbon inside them is locked to atoms of hydrogen and Plants get buried under rocks, squeezed by pressure, and Coal forms over millions of years when the remains of dead Relatively inexpensive and widely available.Ĭarbon. Special about coal? There's lots of it inside Earth, so it was Langley, an early rival of the Wright brothers. To the ill-fated steam planes invented by American scientist World's favorite fuel and it powered everything from trains and ships Until the early 20th century, coal was the Most of the energy we use for transportation today comes from You can think of-to ride on a skateboard, toįly on an airplane, to walk to the shops, or to drive a car down the It takes energy to do absolutely anything Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Highsmith's America Project in the Carol M. Narrow tracksĪre often used in mountainous areas and in other difficult terrain, because they are generally cheaper to build.Ĭredit: Photographs in Carol M. This is a narrow-gauge train, which means the track is not as wide as in a conventional railroad. Photo: A steam-powered railroad locomotive operating at Tweetsie Railroad in North Carolina. They are marvels of machinery and excellentĮxamples of engineering, but under all that smoke and steam, how Steam engines rank withĪmong the greatest inventions of all time. Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Remembered because they swept the world through the Industrial Steam locomotives were powered by steam engines, and deserve to be Locomotives like this still run as tourist attractions on many heritage The world's railroads, steam technology lives on in people's hearts and To run at over 100 mph! That's exactly what a steam locomotive can do.Īlthough these giant mechanical dinosaurs are now extinct from most of
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