SLM's greatest success was the construction
of 8 new modernized rack steam locomotives 1990's
in Switzerland for mountain tourist railways in
Switzerland and Austria. While the engines
replaced locos previously built in 1891 and 1933
by SLM, they were of completely new design
incorporating Porta's principles, and using
modern construction techniques and technology.
Featuring welded boilers, roller bearings, modern
drafting arrangements, light oil firing,
extensive thermal insulation, and arranged for
one-man operation, they have been very successful.
The boilers are so well insulated that they will
maintain a head of steam overnight, allowing the
engine to leave its shed under its own power in
the morning and attain full working temperature
and pressure in only 10 to 15 minutes after
lighting the fire. An interesting innovation on
these engines is the provision of an electric
boiler pre-heater. This is used to pre-heat the
boilers after their monthly boiler wash to save
fuel. The thermal efficiency of these locomotives
is over 10%. The new SLM locomotives compared to
the 1933 design SLM steamers as follows :
- Service weight reduced 25 percent
- Power increased 36 percent
- Power-to-weight ratio increased
82 percent
- Fuel consumption per trip reduced
41 percent
- Fuel consumption per passenger
trip reduced 61 percent
- Maximum speed increased 56
percent
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Erection Drawing of SLM 0-4-2RT
Locomotive
Specifications
|
| Grate Area |
0.9 m2 |
| Tubes, number |
62 |
| Tubes, dimensions |
38 x 2.9 mm |
| Flues, number |
15 |
| Flues, dimensions |
114.3 x 3.6 mm |
| Total evaporative surface |
30 m2 |
| Firebox |
5.14 m2 |
| Tubes |
13.80 m2 |
| Flues |
10.92 m2 |
| Superheater surface |
13.23 m2 |
| Boiler Pressure |
16/18 bar |
| Oil firing System |
Sonvico/SLM-type |
| Fuel |
Extra light heating oil
(#2 heating oil) |
| Cylinders |
2 |
| Diameter |
280 mm |
| Stroke |
400 mm |
| Valve Gear |
Heusinger (=Walschaerts) |
| Gear ratio |
2.3:1 |
| Rigid wheelbase |
2070 mm |
| Total wheelbase |
2650 mm |
| Rack system |
Abt (Riggenbach) |
| Driving cogwheels |
2 x 2 (2 x 1) |
| Cogs per driving wheel |
15 (18) |
| Length over couplers |
6260 mm |
| Maximum width |
2200 mm |
| Service speeds on gradients |
|
| 1 in 4 |
12 km/h |
| 1 in 4.55 |
13 km/h |
| 1 in 5 |
14 km/h |
| Gauge |
800 |
1000 mm |
| Carrying wheel diameter (worn/new) |
637/649 |
693/705 mm |
| Pony wheel diameter (worn/new) |
426/440 |
479/493 mm |
| Maximum height |
3200 |
3230 mm |
| Weight, empty |
13000 |
13300 kg |
| Water in boiler |
1200 |
1200 kg |
| Water in side tanks |
1300 |
1300 kg |
| Oil (545 l, 0.86 kg/l) |
470 |
470 kg |
| Weight in full working order |
15970 |
16270 kg |
These locomotives
have now been working successfully for over 10
years.
For more information on the
Brienz Rothorn Bahn, visit their website at http://www.brienz-rothorn-bahn.ch/
NG ("Next Generation")
52 8055
as modified for the Orient Express
Roger Waller in the cab and
world-renowned steam designer L. D. Porta
inspecting the motion work
Above photo courtesy Andreas Schwander
After the success of the new rack steam
locomotives, Waller continued to research
possibilities for building new or modernizing
existing steam locomotives. A good candidate for
an extensive rebuild was found on the
Eisenbahnfreunde Zollernbahn EFZ. In late 1998,
SLM completed the extensive modernization of 52
series German Kriegslokomotive 2-10-0 no. 8055
for use on the Orient Express in Europe. The
locomotive was extensively tested prior to being
modified so that the benefit of the modifications
could be documented. Over 70 percent of the parts
of the locomotive were replaced or modified. As a
result of these modifications, the top speed of
the engine was raised from 70 km/hr to 100 km/hr
and the horsepower was increased from 1600 to
3000. The engine now burns light oil and features
sealed roller bearings, a central lubrication
system, light weight motion-work, and extensive
thermal insulation. A side benefit of light oil
firing in an external combustion engine (i.e.-
steam) is very low exhaust emissions. This engine
emits about 80 percent less toxic exhaust gases
per kW than a state-of-the-art diesel. The
modifications were performed to provide a steam
locomotive which could keep tight schedules and
"time windows" to be allowed to run on
the main lines without causing interference with
normal trains. Testing of the modified locomotive
began in March 1999 and the locomotive pulled its
first passenger trains in April 1999.
The locomotive suffered from some "teething"
problems, but these difficulties were gradually
solved. Unfortunately, after delivery to the EFZ,
German railway inspectors disapproved certain
features of the modified engine (features which
were allowed in Swtizerland) and it never
operated as intended in Germany. During this
time, SLM sold off its locomotive business and
the steam department formed a new company called
DLM (see below). After 2 years of sitting idle,
8055 was sold to DLM in late 2003 and returned to
Switzerland. Since then, minor repairs were
performed on the engine followed by test runs. In
December 2003, the locomotive was placed on
display together with the Orient Express in Zürich
Hauptbahnhof. Test runs were successful and the
locomotive pulled the train on mainlines at 80 km/h
between express trains and fast electric commuter
trains. Since then, the locomotive
operated on the Swiss Orient Express trains (Nostalgie
Istanbul Orient Express) which was re-introduced
under the new management in 2004. 8055 has operated on
many excursions since 2004 and is available for hire from DLM.
More information on NG 8055 is
available at the links below:
"Before and after"photos of the
8055 may be found on the European Railway Server:
http://www.railfaneurope.net/frameset.html
DLM's website: http://www.dlm-ag.ch
Another likely customer for modern steam
locomotives is the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in
India. For several years in the late 1990's and
early 2000's, Indian Railways indicated interest
in purchasing new steam locomotives for both
Nilgiri and the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway, and
SLM pursued both these orders. Calculations
showed new steam locomotives to be the most
economically viable solution to the Nilgiri's
motive power requirements, but an order proved
illusive. Since then, news from India indicates
that some of the Nilgiri locomotives were heavily
rebuilt and possibly converted to oil firing. The
latest news is that new locomotives are being
constructed at India's Golden Rock workshops for
the DHR. Unfortunately, these engines seem to be
to the 1890's design of the existing DHR engines,
hardly "modern steam".
About 10 to 15 steam projects total were under
consideration at SLM during the 1990's.
Calculations for steam in Russia, for example,
showed that a natural gas fired steam
locomotive would save an estimated 60 percent in
fuel costs compared to diesels and 80 percent
compared to electric locomotives. Air pollution
would also be considerably reduced. Examination
of the conditions in different countries show
diverse reasons for considering new steam
locomotives: low cost of fuel, local availability
of fuel, low pollution, and simplicity of
construction resulting in long service life and
making long-term local maintenance practical. Also
of interest, SLM built new marine steam engines
for Lake Geneva steamers, actually converting
them back to steam from diesel propulsion.
DLM's Formation
In 2000, Sulzer Winpro (formerly
SLM) in Winterthur sold its steam business to Hug Engineering,
a company which makes ceramic catalysers for
diesel engines. Hug also owns a machine building
company which works partly for its catalyser
business, but also as a supplier for the rolling
stock industry.
The steam business formed a new
company called Dampflokomotiv und Maschinenfabrik
AG DLM (Steam Locomotive and Machine Works Ltd..)
DLM is headed by Roger Waller and its aim is to
develop and to market modern steam locomotives
and steam engines for naval purposes.
DLM secured its first order, the
modernization of the rack steam locomotive "Breithorn",
owned by Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn
(BVZ), which operates a highly profitable line to
the mountain resort Zermatt with its famous
mountain "Matterhorn", of which a
little copy can be found in Disneyland in
California. DLM also further wants to market its
rack steam technology and will develop a new
narrow gauge adhesion steam locomotive. It also
intends to take part in tenders for other new
steam locomotives, especially for Nilgiri
Mountain Railways in India.
The following illustrations of
proposed locomotives were developed by SLM during
the 1990's. See DLM's
webpage for up-to-date information on new
steam locomotive proposals.
Proposed 2-10-2T for Meter
Gauge
Besides the new rack designs, SLM prepared
updated designs for other steamers. One design
was a 2-10-2T suitable for 750 mm to meter gauge,
with 1000 mm diameter drivers. This locomotive
could easily be built as a tender or tank engine.
One possible customer for these locomotives were
the narrow gauge railways of former East Germany. DLM has
refined this design to a 2-8-2T of equivalent power.
Proposed Modern 0-8-2RT Rack-and-Adhesion
Loco
More recent steam proposals by DLM include a
narrow gauge 0-4-0T for general service (including a variant
styled for the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway in India) and
4-8-4T's for service in the Netherlands shown below. See DLM's page at
the link below for more information.
4-8-4T for the Netherlands
The establishment of DLM was very good news for the continuation of
steam locomotive production. It is particularly
interesting that an established, successful Swiss
company (Hug Engineering) was sufficiently
confident in the market for new steam that they
would invest substantial money to acquire the
engineering expertise and infrastructure to
support it. We look forward to hearing more
interesting news from DLM.
many thanks to Andreas
Schwander for this information
Complete information on DLM
appears on their corporate website at:
http://www.dlm-ag.ch
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![[New Swiss Steam]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Mh_brb14.jpeg)
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