Gas turbine locomotive

Type of railway locomotive

A gas turbine locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a gas turbine. Several types of gas turbine locomotive have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels (drivers). A gas turbine train typically consists of two power cars (one at each end of the train), and one or more intermediate passenger cars. A gas turbine offers some advantages over a piston engine. There are few moving parts, decreasing the need for lubrication and potentially reducing maintenance costs, and the power to weight ratio is much higher. A turbine of a given power output is also physically smaller than an equally powerful piston engine, so that a locomotive can be extremely powerful without needing to be inordinately large. However, a gas turbine's power output and efficiency both drop dramatically with rotational speed, unlike a piston engine, which has a comparatively flat power curve. This makes GTEL systems useful primarily for long distance high speed runs. Additional problems with gas turbine electric locomotives include the fact that they are very noisy and produce such extremely hot exhaust gasses that, if the locomotive were parked under an overpass paved with asphalt, it could melt the asphalt.

A gas turbine locomotive was patented in 1861 by Marc Antoine Francois Mennons (British patent no. 1633). The drawings in Mennons' patent show a locomotive of 0 4 2 wheel arrangement with a cylindrical casing resembling a boiler. At the front of the casing is the compressor, which Mennons calls a ventilator. This supplies air to a firebox and the hot gases from the firebox drive a turbine at the back of the casing. The exhaust from the turbine then travels forwards through ducts to preheat the incoming air. The turbine drives the compressor through gearing and an external shaft. There is additional gearing to a jackshaft which drives the wheels through side rods. The fuel is solid (presumably coal, coke or wood) and there is a fuel bunker at the rear. There is no evidence that the locomotive was actually built but the design includes the essential features of gas turbine locomotives built in the 20th century, including compressor, combustion chamber, turbine and air pre heater. Work leading to the emergence of the gas turbine locomotive began in France and Sweden in the 1920s but the first locomotive did not appear until the 1940s. High fuel consumption was a major factor in the decline of conventional gas turbine locomotives and the use of a piston engine as a gas generator would probably give better fuel economy than a turbine type compressor, especially when running at less than full load. One option is a two shaft machine, with separate turbines to drive the compressor and the output shaft. Another is to use a separate gas generator, which may be of either rotary or piston type.

Gas turbine mechanical locomotives use a mechanical transmission to deliver the power output of gas turbines to the wheels. Owing to the difference in their speeds, this is technically challenging and so a mechanical transmission did not appear until ten years after the first electric transmissions.

The first gas turbine mechanical locomotive in the world, Class 040 GA 1 of 1,000 hp was built by Renault in 1952 and had a Pescara free piston engine as a gas generator. It was followed by two further locomotives, Class 060 GA 1 of 2,400 hp in 1959–61. The Pescara gas generator in 040 GA 1 consisted of a horizontal, single cylinder, two stroke diesel engine with opposed pistons. It had no crankshaft and the pistons were returned after each power stroke by compression and expansion of air in a separate cylinder. The exhaust from the diesel engine powered the gas turbine which drove the wheels through a two speed gearbox and propeller shafts. The free piston engine was patented in 1934 by Raul Pateras Pescara. Several similar locomotives were built in the USSR by Kharkov Locomotive Works. A third locomotive, the GT3, was constructed in 1961. Although built by English Electric, who had pioneered electric transmission with LMS 10000 locomotives, this used a turbine mechanical transmission. The British Rail APT E, the prototype of the Advanced Passenger Train, was turbine powered. Like the French TGV, later models used an alternative electric powertrain. This choice was made because British Leyland, the turbine supplier, ceased production of the model used in the APT E, having lost interest in gas turbine technology following the 1970s oil crisis.

ALCO GE built a prototype oil fired gas turbine electric locomotive in 1948, with a B B B B wheel arrangement. After demonstration runs it was acquired by Union Pacific, who were seeking a more powerful alternative to diesel for transcontinental trains. UP ran a fleet of 55 turbine powered freight locomotives starting in the early 1950s, all produced by Alco GE. The first and second generation versions shared the same wheel arrangement as the prototype; the third generation version were C C types. All were widely used on long haul routes, and were cost effective despite their poor fuel economy, due to their use of "leftover" fuels from the petroleum industry. At their height the railroad estimated that they powered about 10% of Union Pacific's freight trains, a much wider use than any other example of this class. As other uses were found for these heavier petroleum byproducts, notably for plastics, the cost of the Bunker C fuel increased until the units became too expensive to operate and they were retired from service by 1969. In April 1950, Baldwin and Westinghouse completed an experimental turbine locomotive, #4000, known as the Blue Goose, also using the B B B B wheel arrangement. The locomotive used two turbine engines, was equipped for passenger train heating with a steam generator that utilized the waste exhaust heat of the right hand turbine, and was geared for While it was demonstrated successfully in both freight and passenger service on the PRR, MKT, and CNW, no production orders followed, and it was scrapped in 1953. In the 1960s United Aircraft built the Turbo passenger train, which was tested by the Pennsylvania Railroad and later used by Amtrak and Via Rail. The Via remained in service into the 1980s and had an excellent maintenance record during this period, but was eventually replaced by the LRC in 1982. Amtrak purchased two different types of turbine powered trainsets, which were both called Turboliners. The sets of the first type were similar in appearance to SNCF's T 2000 Turbotrain, though compliance with FRA safety regulations made them heavier and slower than the French trains. None of the first type Turboliners remain in service. Amtrak also added a number of similarly named Rohr Turboliners (or RTL) to its roster. There were plans to rebuild these as RTL IIIs, but this program was cancelled. The units owned by New York State were sold for scrap and the three remaining RTL trainsets are stored at North Brunswick, New Jersey and New Haven, Connecticut. In 1966, the Long Island Rail Road tested an experimental gas turbine railcar (numbered GT 1), powered by two Garrett turbine engines. This car was based on a Budd Pioneer III design, with transmissions similar to Budd's 1950s era RDCs. The car was later modified (as GT 2) to add the ability to run on electric third rail as well. In 1977, the LIRR tested eight more gas turbine electric/electric dual mode railcars, in an experiment sponsored by the USDOT. Four of these cars had GE designed powertrains, while the other four had powertrains designed by Garrett (four more cars had been ordered with GM/Allison powertrains, but were canceled). These cars were similar to LIRR's M1 EMU cars in appearance, with the addition of step wells for loading from low level platforms. The cars suffered from poor fuel economy and mechanical problems, and were withdrawn from service after a short period of time. The four GE powered cars were converted to M1 EMUs and the Garrett cars were scrapped. In 1997 the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) solicited proposals to develop high speed locomotives for routes outside the Northeast Corridor where electrification was not economical. Bombardier Ltd, at the Plattsburg, N. Y. plant where the Acela was produced, developed a prototype (JetTrain) which combined a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 gas turbine and a diesel engine with a single gearbox powering four traction motors identical to those in Acela. The diesel provided head end power and low speed traction, with the turbine not being started until after leaving stations. The prototype was completed in June 2000, and safety testing was done at the FRA's Pueblo, CO test track beginning in the summer of 2001. A maximum speed of was reached. The prototype was then taken on a tour of potential sites for high speed service, but no service has yet begun.

Two gas turbine electric locomotive types underwent testing in the Soviet Union. The test program began in 1959 and lasted into the early 1970s. The G1 01 freight GTEL, produced by Kolomna Locomotive Works, was intended to consist of two locomotives of a C C wheel arrangement, but only one section was built. The GP1 passenger locomotive was a similar design with body of TEP60 diesel locomotive, also with a C C wheel arrangement, introduced to the test program in 1964. Two units were built by Kolomna Works, GP1 0001 and GP1 0002, which were also used in regular service with passenger trains. Both types had a maximum power output of
In 2006, Russian Railways introduced the GEM 10 switcher GTEL. The turbine runs on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and has a maximum power output of The GEM 10 has a C C wheel arrangement. The TGEM10 0001, which uses the same turbine and fuel as the GEM 10, is a two unit (cow calf) switcher GTEL with a B B+B B wheel arrangement. The slave unit of this locomotive is used as a fuel tender with compressed natural gas (CNG) and does not have a prime mover, so its traction motors are powered by the main section. The turbine of this locomotive also has a maximum power output of
The GT1 001 freight GTEL, remade from an VL15 electric locomotive in 2006 and introduced in 2007, runs on LNG and has a maximum power output of One section carries the LNG tank and the other houses the turbine with electric power generation, and both section have the traction motors and cabs. The locomotive has a B B B+B B B wheel arrangement, and up to three GT1 locomotives can be coupled together. On 23 January 2009, the GT1 001 conducted a test run with a 159 car train weighing ; further heavy haul tests were carried out in December 2010. In a test run conducted in September 2011, the locomotive pulled 170 freight cars weighing In 2012, the helper diesel engine that used for shunting operations was replaced with an accumulator, and the locomotive was renamed to GT1h (where 'h' stands for hybrid). The GT1h 001 remained a prototype and never went into production. The successor to the GT1h 001 is the GT1h 002. Despite the same type designation, this locomotive has a fundamentally different design with a (B B) (B B)+(B B) (B B) wheel arrangement, derived from the TEM7 diesel shunting locomotive, and the new body with open LNG tank, derived from the body of the 2ES6 electric locomotive. This serial type has a maximum power output of .

Canadian National Railways (CN) was one of the operators of the Turbo, which were passed on to Via Rail. They operated on the major Toronto–Montreal route between 1968 and 1982, when they were replaced by the LRC. In 2002, Bombardier Transportation announced the launch of the JetTrain, a high speed trainset consisting of tilting carriages and a locomotive powered by a Pratt & Whitney turboshaft engine. Proposals were made to use the trains for Quebec City–Windsor, Orlando–Miami, and in Alberta, Texas, Nevada and the UK. One prototype was built and tested, but no JetTrains have yet been sold for service. However, nothing ever came of any of these proposals, and the JetTrain essentially disappeared, being superseded by the Bombardier Zefiro line of conventionally powered high speed and very high speed trains. The JetTrain no longer appears on any of Bombardier's current web sites or promotional materials, although it can still be found on older web sites bearing the Canadair logos.

The first TGV prototype, TGV 001, was powered by a gas turbine, but steep oil prices prompted the change to overhead electric lines for power delivery. However, two large classes of gas turbine powered intercity railcars were constructed in the early 1970s (ETG and RTG) and were used extensively up to about 2000. SNCF (French National Railways) used a number of gas turbine trainsets, called the Turbotrain, in non electrified territory. These typically consisted of a power car at each end with three cars between them. Turbotrain was in use up until 2005. After retirement, four sets were sold for further use in Iran.

In the 1940s and 1950s research was conducted, in both the US and UK, aimed at building gas turbine locomotives that could run on pulverized coal. The main problem was to avoid erosion of the turbine blades by particles of ash. Only one working example is known to have been produced and it was written off as a failure following testing. The sources for the following information are Robertson and Sampson. Details of the research were passed to Britain's London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Following a rise in fuel prices that was making their oil fired GTELS uneconomic, UP experimentally revived the coal fired gas turbine idea in the early 1960s, producing one prototype coal GTEL in October 1962. The problems with blade fouling and erosion were severe. The project was declared a failure after 20 months, during which time the locomotive ran less than 10,000 miles.