|
British Rail Class 121
The British Rail Class 121 is a single-car double-ended diesel multiple unit. 16 driving motor vehicles were built from 1960, numbered 55020–55035. These were supplemented by ten single-ended trailer vehicles, numbered 56280–56289 (later renumbered 54280–54289). They have a top speed of 70 mph, with slam-doors, and vacuum brakes. The driving motor vehicles were nicknamed "Bubble Cars" by some enthusiasts (a nickname endorsed and made official by final passenger service operator Chiltern Railways). The Class 121 is Britain's longest serving DMU, operating in passenger service for 57 years until 2017. British Railways service The Class 121 vehicles were introduced in 1960 for use on the Western Region of British Rail. They were used on various lightly used branch lines in Cornwall including the Looe branch, the branch lines off the main line in the Thames Valley including the Greenford Branch Line, the Bridport branch line (closed 1975), and the Severn Beach line in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railways was founded as M40 Trains by a group of ex- British Rail managers backed by John Laing and 3i; in June 1996, it was announced that M40 Trains had been awarded the Chiltern Railways franchise. On 21 July 1996, it took over operations from British Rail. The company promptly commenced the redoubling of the Chiltern Main Line under the ''Evergreen'' initiative and ordered the Class 168 ''Clubman'' diesel multiple units (DMUs) to supplement its ex-British Rail fleet. Following the awarding of a 20-year franchise to Chiltern Railways in August 2000, Evergreen phase 2 works begun to raise line speeds around Beaconsfield, built two new platforms at its London Marylebone terminus. In January 2010, a £250 million upgrade package was agreed fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lostwithiel And Fowey Railway
The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway opened in 1869 as a broad gauge railway linking the port of Fowey in Cornwall with the Cornish Main Line at Lostwithiel. Its main traffic was china clay. The company ran into financial difficulties and closed in 1880, but the line was purchased by the Cornwall Minerals Railway and reopened in 1895. A passenger service operated, but it was withdrawn in 1965, and the line reverted to the conveyance of china clay; it remains open for that traffic at the present day. Chronology * 1862 Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway Act * 1869 Line opened * 1874 Cornwall Minerals Railway opens from Par to Fowey * 1880 Service suspended * 1892 Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway Company dissolved * 1895 Reopened by Cornwall Minerals Railway * 1968 Par to Fowey line closed History Promoters of an independent company conducted negotiations with the Cornwall Railway in 1861, regarding the construction of a branch line from that railway at Lostwithiel to a location at Caffa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railfan
A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Railfans often combine their interest with other hobbies, especially photography and videography, radio scanning, railway modelling, studying railroad history and participating in railway station and rolling stock preservation efforts. There are many magazines and websites dedicated to railfanning and railway enthusiasts, including ''Trains'', ''Railfan & Railroad ''Railfan & Railroad'' is an American monthly magazine that has been in publication since the 1970s. It was the first magazine title established in-house by Carstens Publications. As a magazine dedicated to trains and rail transportation, it stands ...'', ''The Railway Magazine'', ''Locomotive Publishing Company, Locomotive Magazine'', and ''Railway Gazette International''. Other n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcar
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often covered by separate regulations to normal cars, having relaxed requirements for registration and licensing. Predecessors Voiturette is a term used by some small cars and tricycles manufactured from 1895 to 1910. Cyclecars are a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive car manufactured mainly between 1910 and the late 1920s. Europe 1940-1970: Microcars The first cars to be described as microcars (earlier equivalents were called voiturettes or cyclecars) were built in the United Kingdom and Germany following World War II, and remained popular until the 1960s. They were originally called minicars, but later became known as microcars. France also produced large numbers of similar tiny vehicles called voiturettes, but they were rar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diesel Multiple Unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also generally classed as DMUs. Diesel-powered units may be further classified by their transmission type: diesel–mechanical DMMU, diesel–hydraulic DHMU, or diesel–electric DEMU. Design The diesel engine may be located above the frame in an engine bay or under the floor. Driving controls can be at both ends, on one end, or in a separate car. Types by transmission DMUs are usually classified by the method of transmitting motive power to their wheels. Diesel–mechanical In a diesel–mechanical multiple unit (DMMU), the rotating energy of the engine is transmitted via a gearbox and driveshaft directly to the wheels of the train, like a car. The transmissions can be shifted manually by the driver, as in the great majority of first-gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screw Coupling
Buffers and chain couplers (also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", "screwlink", and "English" couplers) are the de facto UIC standard railway stock coupling used in the EU and UK, and on some surviving former colonial railways, such as in South America and India, on older rolling stock. Buffers and chain couplers are an assembly of several devices: buffers, hooks and links, or turnbuckle screws. On the modern version of the couplers, rail vehicles are mated by manually connecting the end link of one chain which incorporates a turnbuckle screw into the towing hook of the other wagon, drawing together and slightly compressing the buffer pairs, one left and one right on each headstock. That limits slack, and lessens shunting shocks in moving trains. By contrast, vehicles fitted with the semi-automatic Janney Type E coupler can experience significant jarring during mating and shunting. Very early rolling stock had "dummy buffers", which were simple rigid extensions of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automatic Warning System
The Automatic Warning System (AWS) was introduced in the 1950s in the United Kingdom to provide a train driver with an audible warning and visual reminder that they were approaching a distant signal at caution. Its operation was later extended to give warnings for; * A colour light signal displaying a double yellow (steady or flashing), single yellow or red aspect * A reduction in permissible speed * A temporary or emergency speed restriction * An automatic barrier crossing locally monitored (ABCL), an automatic open crossing locally monitored (AOCL), or an open crossing (OC). AWS was based on a 1930 system developed by Alfred Ernest Hudd and marketed as the "Strowger-Hudd" system. An earlier contact system, installed on the Great Western Railway since 1906 and known as automatic train control (ATC), was gradually supplanted by AWS within the Western Region of British Railways. Principles of operation Information is conveyed by magnetic fields to the moving train throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vacuum Brake
The vacuum brake is a braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Vacuum brakes also enjoyed a brief period of adoption in the United States, primarily on narrow-gauge railroads. Their limitations caused them to be progressively superseded by compressed air systems starting in the United Kingdom from the 1970s onward. The vacuum brake system is now obsolete; it is not in large-scale usage anywhere in the world, other than in South Africa, largely supplanted by air brakes. Introduction In the earliest days of railways, trains were slowed or stopped by the application of manually applied brakes on the locomotive and in brake vehicles through the train, and later by steam power brakes on locomotives. This was clearly unsatisfactory, given the slow and unreliable response times (each brake being separately applied by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diesel Engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-called compression-ignition engine (CI engine). This contrasts with engines using spark plug-ignition of the air-fuel mixture, such as a petrol engine (gasoline engine) or a gas engine (using a gaseous fuel like natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas). Diesel engines work by compressing only air, or air plus residual combustion gases from the exhaust (known as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)). Air is inducted into the chamber during the intake stroke, and compressed during the compression stroke. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a high degree that atomised diesel fuel injected into the combustion chamber ignites. With the fuel being injected into the air just before combustion, the dispersion of the fuel is une ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naturally Aspirated Engine
Naturally may refer to: ;Albums * ''Naturally!'', an album by Nat Adderley * ''Naturally'' (Houston Person album) * ''Naturally'' (J. J. Cale album) * ''Naturally'' (John Pizzarelli album) * ''Naturally'' (Sharon Jones album) * ''Naturally'' (Three Dog Night album) ;Songs * "Naturally" (Deborah Gibson song) * "Naturally" (Kalapana song) * "Naturally" (Selena Gomez & the Scene song) * "Naturally", a song by Ayumi Hamasaki from '' I Am...'' * "Naturally", a song by Heatwave from ''Current'' * "Naturally", a song by Huey Lewis and the News from ''Fore!'' * "Naturally", a song by Raffi from ''Bananaphone'' * "Naturally", a song by Fat Mattress from ''Fat Mattress II'' * "Naturally", a song by Katy Hudson (better known by her current stage name Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), cam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated Equipment Company
Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was a British vehicle manufacturer that built buses, motorcoaches and trucks from 1912 until 1979. The name Associated Equipment Company was hardly ever used; instead it traded under the AEC and ACLO brands. During World War One, AEC was the most prolific British lorry manufacturer; after building London's buses before the great war. History Inception The London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) was founded in 1855 to amalgamate and regulate the horse-drawn omnibus services then operating in London. The company began producing motor omnibuses for its own use in 1909 with the X-type designed by its chief motor engineer, Frank Searle, at works in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow. The X-type was followed by Searle's B-type design, considered to be one of the first mass-produced commercial vehicles. In 1912, LGOC was taken over by the Underground Group of companies, which at that time owned most of the London Underground, and extensive tram oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Screw Coupling")
_vacuum_brake_1.jpg "Click for more on -> Vacuum Brake")
