British Rail GT3
Gas Turbine 3
|
|
| Specifications |
Configuration:
|
|
| • Whyte
|
4-6-0 |
| • UIC
|
2'C |
|
Driver dia. |
5 ft 9 in (1.753 m) |
| Length |
68 ft 0 1⁄2 in (20.74 m) |
| Loco weight |
79.80 long tons (81.08 t; 89.38 short tons) |
| Tender weight |
44 long tons (45 t; 49 short tons) |
| Prime mover |
EM27L |
| Engine type |
gas turbine |
| Transmission |
Mechanical: flexible drive from gearbox onto middle driving axle |
| Train heating |
Steam generator |
|
| Performance figures |
| Maximum speed |
90 mph (140 km/h) |
| Power output |
2,750 hp (2,050 kW) |
| Tractive effort |
38,000 lbf (169.03 kN) |
|
| Career |
| Operators |
British Rail |
| Numbers |
GT3 |
| Disposition |
Returned to VF 1962; turbine removed; scrapped Thos W Ward, Salford, March 1966 |
|
| Specifications |
Configuration:
|
|
| • Whyte
|
4-6-0 |
| • UIC
|
2'C |
|
Driver dia. |
5 ft 9 in (1.753 m) |
| Length |
68 ft 0 1⁄2 in (20.74 m) |
| Loco weight |
79.80 long tons (81.08 t; 89.38 short tons) |
| Tender weight |
44 long tons (45 t; 49 short tons) |
| Prime mover |
EM27L |
| Engine type |
gas turbine |
| Transmission |
Mechanical: flexible drive from gearbox onto middle driving axle |
| Train heating |
Steam generator |
| Performance figures |
| Maximum speed |
90 mph (140 km/h) |
| Power output |
2,750 hp (2,050 kW) |
| Tractive effort |
38,000 lbf (169.03 kN) |
| Career |
| Operators |
British Rail |
| Numbers |
GT3 |
| Disposition |
Returned to VF 1962; turbine removed; scrapped Thos W Ward, Salford, March 1966 |
GT3, meaning Gas Turbine number 3 (following 18000 and 18100 as gas turbines 1 and 2), was a prototype mainline gas turbine locomotive built in 1961 by English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows to demonstrate its wares to British Railways. It was designed by Vulcan engineer J. O. P. Hughes in a project that started in the early 1950s. Externally it resembled a steam tender locomotive, although, in the case of GT3, the tender carried kerosene fuel.
It was of 4-6-0 wheel arrangement resembling a BR standard class 5 steam locomotive chassis and was fitted with an EM27L gas turbine of 2,700 hp (2,000 kW), but the chassis itself was a strengthened structure to cope with the torque of the turbine. It had a maximum speed of 90 mph (140 km/h), weighed 123.5 long tons (125.5 t; 138.3 short tons), and was painted in a red oxide livery.
BR tested it at its Rugby test centre and then on the former Great Central Main Line around Leicester and the West Coast Main Line around the Shap incline.
At the same time, Vulcan was fully engaged in manufacturing diesel-electric locomotives of many types (including the 3,300-horsepower (2,500 kW) Deltic). These were rapidly becoming the future of rail traction. Diesel-electrics do not need turntables, an advantage that the GT3 with its steam loco style layout could not offer.
...
Wikipedia
