A Luttermöller axle is an unusual

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

component. Steam locomotives with several axles or wheelsets connected to one another by

coupling rods A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mo ...

are not able to negotiate tight curves well. In order to assist such locomotives, the manager of the Orenstein & Koppel factory in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Dr. Luttermöller, built the axle system named after him.

Overview

With this system, the outermost of several sets of successive

driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled t ...

sets are not connected by coupling rods to

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

journals on the outside of the wheels, but by cogwheels located in the centre of the axles. The axles are housed in the locomotive frame such that they are able to move at right angles to the axis of the rails to a certain degree, likewise the cogwheels are able to slide relative to one another. In this way curves can be negotiated with less friction being generated.

Use

Germany

For the Hamburg Harbour railway with its tight curves, the ten-coupled

s of Class 87 were built with Luttermöller axles, front and rear. The 16 locomotives of this class were however retired as early as 1954, because they tended to overheat at higher speeds and could therefore only be used for shunting duties. A five-axled, , steam engine with the Luttermöller system was procured by the private South Harz Railway (''Südharz-Eisenbahn''; Braunlage - Walkenried - Tanne) in 1928 from Orenstein & Koppel with operating number 61. It proved itself so well on the winding route, that in 1930 two Mallet locomotives, built in 1925, were converted to the Luttermöller system by

Henschel Henschel & Son () was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons. Georg C ...

(operating numbers 56 and 57). Henschel had to obtain a licence from Orenstein & Koppel to use Luttermöller axles.

Indonesia

Luttermöller axles found further use on

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

lines, e.g. in Java (Indonesia).

Argentina

Several 2' gauge Luttermöller locomotives built by Orenstein & Koppel were exported for use in Argentina at the Ingenio San Martin del Tabacal sugar cane refinery in the

Salta Province Salta () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa Province, Formosa, Chaco Province, Chaco, Santiago del Estero Province, Santiago del Es ...

near the town of Hipólito Yrigoyen, Salta. Four of these engines were bought by Preston Services and moved to

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in the UK where two are currently stored with the third and fourth sold to new owners.''ORENSTEIN & KOPPEL 2 FT GAUGE 0-10-0 ‘LUTTERMOLLER’ LOCO 13101''
at prestonservices.co.uk. Retrieved 26 Sep 2022.] A fifth locomotive from a different Argentinian sugar mill was also sold by Preston Services and now resides at the Böhmetal Kleinbahn in Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luttermoller axle Steam locomotive technologies Train axles

Overview

Use

Germany

Indonesia

Argentina

See also

References