Fireless locomotive

A fireless steam locomotive is similar to a conventional steam locomotive, but has a reservoir, known as a steam accumulator, instead of a boiler. This reservoir is charged with superheated water under pressure from a stationary boiler. The engine works like a conventional steam engine using the high pressure steam above the water in the accumulator. As the steam is used and pressure drops, the superheated water boils, replacing the used steam. The locomotive can work like this until the pressure has dropped to a minimum useful level or the water runs out, after which it must be recharged.

European fireless steam locomotives usually have the cylinders at the back, while American ones often have the cylinders at the front, as in a conventional locomotive. Major builders of fireless steam locomotives in the UK included Andrew Barclay and W. G. Bagnall.

Outside Switzerland the first locomotive to run on compressed air was built in 1890, and by 1895, the basic principles of efficient compressed air engines had been developed. A particularly important engineering breakthrough was the development of the reducing and stop valve which maintains a uniform pressure of air to the engine, even as the pressure in the storage tank reduces with use.[7] Compressed air locomotives have been used for many years, mainly in mines,[8] but have also been used on tramways. (See Mekarski system)

Several hybrid locomotives have been built that have either used a fire for part of the time, e.g., Fowler's Ghost of London's Metropolitan in 1861, or have used a fire to superheat stored steam, such as the Receiver Locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works. None has been a success.

Several locomotive builders produced fireless engines throughout the 20th century. Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works was still building them in the 1980s. Some fireless locomotives are in daily use even in 2021. One example is the large coal-fired power station in Mannheim where coal is delivered by rail in long trains of self-discharging hopper wagons. Three fireless engines are used to shunt the hoppers on the premises of the power station.

East Germany, preferring to use its abundant supply of lignite to imported fuel, used fireless engines extensively. A series of 200 fireless locomotives was built at RAW Meiningen as late as the 1980s.

In 2017, Semboro sugar mill in Jember, East Java[12] used two fireless locomotives due to the presence of flammable bagasse. The locos were built by Orenstein & Koppel in Germany in 1928 and 1929[13] and were used for shunting inside the mill.[14]

Pagottan sugar mill in Madiun, also in East Java used three Luttermöller axle locomotives, numbered 6, 7 and 8. These were conventional steam locomotives that were converted to fireless operation in 2011.[15]

The 15 km Gotthard Tunnel construction (1872–82), introduced compressed-air locomotives.[16]

Switzerland had used older fireless engines in industry, such as breweries, which were taken out of use in the 20th century. In the 21st century the steam company Dampflokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik[17] refurbished two locomotives of the German Meiningen type and modernised them for use on industrial sidings.

The German Wikipedia has a list of steam accumulator locomotives preserved in that country. It includes over 100 preserved fireless engines, 8 of them operational.[18]

The Mexico City railroad museum has a fireless steam locomotive Davenport no. 013 "Sin Fuego". It was a donated by Pemex and operated from 1940s – 1990s at the 18 de marzo refinery.[19]

The Electricity Supply Commission of South Africa (ESKOM) has preserved two fireless steam locomotives. They are Bagnall 0-6-0F no. 2571 of 1937 and Hawthorne Leslie 0-4-0F no. 3858 of 1935.

One notable example is "Lord Ashfield" (Andrew Barclay works no. 1989 of 1930) at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It ran in limited service in the 1990s sharing a steam supply with the stationary exhibits.[20]

The Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group has rebuilt its Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 fireless locomotive (Works Number 1952 of 1928). The engine returned to service in 2015, and operates as part of a demonstration freight train.[21]

The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer has a fireless steam locomotive, the North Carolina Power and Light #3 0-4-0.

Three National Cash Register 0-4-0 fireless switchers have been preserved: one at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio,[22] one at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia, and one at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri.

Pennsylvania Power and Light "D", an 0-8-0 switcher, is preserved in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Union Electric Company 4, a 0-4-0 is preserved in the Illinois Railway Museum of Union Illinois.[23]

Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, an 0-6-0 built by the H.K. Porter Company, is preserved in the Mad River and NKP Railroad Museum in Bellevue, Ohio[24]

North American Rayon Company, 1936 H.K. Porter Company, 0-6-0F Fireless Locomotive, Elizabethton, Tennessee. The locomotive was called "The Pot". This rare fireless locomotive was built in 1936 for the North American Rayon Company (N.A.R.C.) of Elizabethton. Its steam was supplied from a large reservoir located inside of the N.A.R.C. plant. Fireless locomotives were used in industrial situations where there was an increased risk of fire. N.A.R.C. made Rayon, which is a highly flammable material. The locomotive retired from service in 1992 and it is possibly the last fireless locomotive to be retired from service in the United States.[25] N.A.R.C. shutdown in 2000 and donated "The Pot" to the Carter County Chamber of Commerce and is on public display in Elizabethton, Tennessee. [26]

Connecticut Coke Company 3, a 1930 H.K. Porter Company 0-4-0F, is owned by the Valley Railroad and is currently on display at the Westbrook (CT) Outlet Mall.[27]