Opinion & Answer Part VIII: Different types of Steam Locomotives
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| Thomas and Friends CGI: Edward (Left) and Thomas (Right) |
Have you ever wondered how many types of Steam Locomotives that were produced during their tenure on the railway? Well here is the answer after doing research.
The Answer is 7 different types/form of Steam Locomotives!
The first Category is most commonly known as a tender Engine. But their actual names can be broken into three groups that belong to this one main group as listed below.
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| Furness Railway K2 Tender Engine |
Tender Engines actual name groups are Single, Standard or Prime Mover which basically mean they are various sizes with a tender that holds coal and water for the engine. This is the main form of Steam Locomotive.
Next Category is also another most common engine that was seen during their services to the railways. The next group is known as a Tank Engine. (We'll be taking a deeper dive on this Category later on in the O&A posts.)
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| Pannier Tank Engine that worked on the Great Western Railroad |
Like the Category says, this group is title tank engines because they are smaller than Single/ Standard/ Prime Mover steam locomotives and they have no tenders to hold their coal and water. Tank Engines hold their Coal in their bunker and water in their tanks instead of being held in a tender.
The third Category is one of the least common engines that was seen during their services to the railways. The next group is known as Mallet or (in French it pronounces Mallay).
Mallet or Mallay is a steam locomotive that consists of a separate set of wheels that are connected by a vertical pivot/hinge in the center of the locomotive. This category was superseded by the next group called "Garratt or Beyer-Garratt.
The fourth Category is another one of the least common engines that was seen during their services to the railways. The next group is known as Garratt or Beyer-Garratt. (We'll be taking a deeper dive on this Category later on in the O&A posts.)
The Garret or Beyer-Garratt steam locomotives are the next level version of the Mallet steam locomotives because they basically are the same design. The only difference is that the pivot/hinge on the Garret locomotives are at each end of the boiler chassis that has no wheels whereas on the Mallet the pivot/hinge was in the middle. The detached frames are the tenders that holds water in the front tender and coal in the rear tender.
The fifth Category is another of the least common engines that was seen during their services to the railways. The next group is known as Fireless steam locomotives. (We'll be taking a deeper dive on this Category later on in the O&A posts.)
The fireless steam locomotive is basically a fireless steam locomotive. Meaning these types of steam locomotives, had no fire box which means the steam was heated/pressured to make them run.
The sixth Category is another of the least common engines that was rare to see during their services to the railways. This group is known as Gas Turbine steam locomotives. (We'll be taking a deeper dive on this Category later on in the O&A posts.)
This group known as "Gas Turbine" uses compressed air and fuel whether that is air and gas or air and oil in a compressor to make the steam locomotive moves on the rails.
The last Category is another of the least common engines that was also rare to see during their services to the railways. The last group is known as Geared steam locomotives. (We'll be taking a deeper dive on this Category later on in the O&A posts.)
Like the name of the group says, these steam locomotives had gears to move instead of pistons with side rods connected to wheels.
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Author Note:
In my opinion out of these seven categories of steam locomotives, I found that I like three out of the seven. The following categories are the three I did like during this researched.
- Tender Engines => Reason is that they need larger amount of coal to help them go faster and longer without stopping to refuel often like a tank engine with their small bunker.
- Tank Engines => Because they are great at doing the shunting around the yards and being station pilot for the passenger trains. They are smaller than the tender engines which helps them as they take less time to steam up.
- Garret or Beyer-Garratt steam locomotives => Because of their interesting shape and design when they were being built in construction. Mostly great for freight works than passenger duties in my opinion.
