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Concept
Steam diesel hybrid locomotive
Summary
A steam diesel hybrid locomotive is a railway locomotive with a piston engine which could run on either steam from a boiler or diesel fuel. Examples were built in the United Kingdom, Soviet Union and Italy but the relatively high cost of fuel oil, or failure to resolve problems caused by technical complexity, meant that the designs were not pursued.
In 1926 Kitson and Company, Leeds, built an experimental example for the London and North Eastern Railway, using as their model the Still engine already in use for stationary and marine applications. It was on trial until 1934, but then scrapped. It was designed because a steam engine offered a high starting torque—a tractive force of was available—while a diesel engine offered a high fuel efficiency and it was considered desirable to combine the two.
In outline the machine resembled a conventional 2-6-2T steam locomotive, but it had four pairs of horizontally opposed cylinders (131⁄2 inch bore × 151⁄2 inch stroke—343 × 394 mm) mounted longitudinally above the frame and driving a crankshaft placed between them, with the further drivetrain by gears. The cylinders were made double-ended, with the rod end of each cylinder for steam and the closed end fitted with a diesel injector. (Some drawings, published in contemporary magazines, show only two pairs of cylinders and it seems that this was one of the design features that was changed during development.) The boiler, with a diameter of only 51 inches (130 cm) and a small internal firebox, was mounted above. The "regenerator", capturing heat from the exhaust, was integral with the boiler and had 38 tubes totalling a heating area of 508 sq ft (47 m2). The driving position was in the usual place behind the boiler, and tanks— for fuel and for water—were mounted above one another on the frame at the rear.
The sequence of operation was to heat the boiler in the normal way, but using fuel oil instead of coal. The start from rest would be made with steam power, but at about five mph (8 km/h) the diesel injectors would be started and the steam turned off.
Official source
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