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A New Railcar for the Great Central.

4th April 1912, Page 16
4th April 1912
Page 16
Page 16, 4th April 1912 — A New Railcar for the Great Central.
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We reprodue.., belu%% three exe..1 lent photographs which convey a elea,r impression of a new self-contained rail-vehicle which has been introduced for service on the Great Central Railway. In our issue for the 29th February, we described the experiments which have recently been made on the Great Western Railway with another system of

petrol electric equipment. The Great Western coach differs from that under notice at the present time, being a four-wheeler. The Great Central vehicle is mounted on a pair of bogeys, the rear one of which accommodates the eelectric motors. Examination of the 'photographs, which are reproduced below, discloses the accommodation arrangement which has become, to a large extent, standardized in connection with power-driven rail-cars of all kinds. The passengers are located in one long compartment. -whilst the power-plant is installed in an engine-room at one end of the coach. We are indebted to our contemporary, " The Railway Times," for some of the particulars which follow of the mechanical features of this latest attempt to evolve a satisfactory self-contained motor-carriage for use on the standard gauge of British railways, a problem .which, it should he remembered, as for a number of years now been the subject of research and experiment on the part of the engineering staffs.

The prime mover in the enuipment on the G.C.R. coach is a O h.p. Westinghouse petrol engine. Our contemporary states that the mechanical installation of this machine is similar to that which has been supplied by th. Vestinghouse Co. in considerable numbers tor use on the Continent. The car itself has been constructed by the United Electric Car Co., of Preston, its leading dimensions being : 41 ft. 6 in. over head stocks ; 8 ft. 6 in. over pillars ; and a clear inside height of 7 ft. 6 in. The inside woodwork is of oak and American ash, whilst the outside decoration conforms with Ur? Guat Central Co.'s standard of teak painting, gold-lined.

The power plant, as we have already intimated, employs a Westinghouse petrol engine, and this is of the six-cylinder vertical type, direct coupled to a specially-wound electric genera or. Th?. engine, which is of particularly substantial construction, has three twin-cylinder castings, the valves being located on opposite sides of the cylinders. A Simms high-tension magneto is fitted. Care has been taken in connection with this portion of the installation to ensure that thn crankshaft and big endhearings shall be particularly accessible.

A small pArol-driven set operates the vacuum brake g-ar. and ihis also provides for the eleetrfcal lighting. Th unusual arrangement of the cnoling-system tubes on the roof of th9 coach is illustrated below. Special care has been taken with the petrol tank installation. This is exceptionally well protected, and is so enclosed and ventilated as to re

move all risks of fire. Storage is provided for sufficient fuel for a continuous journey, if necessary, of 150 miles on /nil power. In these days of uncertainty as to coal supplies, this is a feature which is of special importance to those who have the continuous maintenance of railway services in their charge. The driver of the car has only one control handle Lo attend to, and this is so arranged that what is known as a " dead-man " arrangement is available. If the driver should release his grip of the controlling handle, the power would be automatically cut off, and so the car would be brought to rest. Control can be effected from either end of the car, as is usual with these selfcontained units, and on this G.C.R. model all arrangements have been made whereby it is unnecessary for anybody to remain in the engineroom, dr! driver being able to tell exactly what his engine is doing from duplicate indicators 'under his charge at either end. The top speed of this new machine is 40 miles an hour on the level. On Thursday of last week the first official trial trip of this interesting new model was run between Marylebone and South Harrow. Mr. C. W. Neele, the electrical engineer of the company, who is responsible with Mr. Sam Fay, the general manager, for this experiment, was in charge of the trial trip. A maximum sneed of 46 m.p.h. was attained without any unpleasant vibration or other unsatisfactory condition.

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People: C. W. Neele, Sam Fay
Locations: Preston

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