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The ČKD ČME3, a common example of a diesel shunting locomotiveThe InterCity 125 set a speed record – 148 mph (238 km/h) – for a diesel-powered train in 1987. Capable of 125 mph (201 km/h) in regular service, the train consists of two power cars with either seven or eight carriages between them.[1]These locomotives operated by Pacific National in Australia show three styles of diesel locomotive body: cab unit (front), hood unit, and flat-nose (rear).
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels. The most common are diesel-electric locomotives and diesel-hydraulic.
Early internal combustion locomotives and railcars used kerosene and gasoline as their fuel. Rudolf Diesel patented his first compression-ignition engine[2] in 1898, and steady improvements to the design of diesel engines reduced their physical size and improved their power-to-weight ratios to a point where one could be mounted in a locomotive. Internal combustion engines only operate efficiently within a limited power band, and while low-power gasoline engines could be coupled to mechanical transmissions, the more powerful diesel engines required the development of new forms of transmission.[3][4][5][6][7] This is because clutches would need to be very large at these power levels and would not fit in a standard 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)-wide locomotive frame, or would wear too quickly to be useful.
The first successful diesel engines used diesel–electric transmissions, and by 1925 a small number of diesel locomotives of 600 hp (450 kW) were in service in the United States. In 1930, Armstrong Whitworth of the United Kingdom delivered two 1,200 hp (890 kW) locomotives using Sulzer-designed engines to Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway of Argentina. In 1933, diesel–electric technology developed by Maybach was used to propel the DRG Class SVT 877, a high-speed intercity two-car set, and went into series production with other streamlined car sets in Germany starting in 1935. In the United States, diesel–electric propulsion was brought to high-speed mainline passenger service in late 1934, largely through the research and development efforts of General Motors dating back to the late 1920s and advances in lightweight car body design by the Budd Company.
The economic recovery from World War II hastened the widespread adoption of diesel locomotives in many countries. They offered greater flexibility and performance than steam locomotives, as well as substantially lower operating and maintenance costs.[8]
^"World's fastest diesel locomotive will run again at Ruddington". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
^U.S. 608,845, Rudolf Diesel, "Internal-combustion engine", issued 9 August 1898
^Arnold Heller: Der Automobilmotor im Eisenbahnbetriebe, Leipzig 1906, reprinted by Salzwasserverlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-86444-240-7
^Röll: Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens → Elektrische Eisenbahnen, there go to VII. Automobile Triebwagen → zu b Benzin-, Benzol- oder Gasolin-elektrischen Triebwagen
^Raymond S Zeitler, American School (Chicago, Ill.): Self-Contained Railway Motor Cars and Locomotives, section SELF-CONTAINED RAILWAY CARS 57–59
^Röll: Arader und Csanáder Eisenbahnen Vereinigte Aktien-Gesellschaft
^Museal railcars of BHÉV and their history
^"Diesel-Electric Locomotives". Diesel-Electric Locomotives. Union Pacific. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
A diesellocomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesellocomotives have been developed...
800 locomotives. The railways primarily operates a fleet of electric and diesellocomotives along with a few compressed natural gas (CNG) locomotives. Steam...
steam locomotive remained by far the most common type of locomotive until after World War II. Steam locomotives are less efficient than modern diesel and...
TU6 (ТУ6) is a Soviet narrow gauge diesellocomotive for the track gauge of 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in). The first TU6A was built in 1973 at the Kambarka Engineering...
The American Locomotive Company (ALCO), based in Schenectady, New York, United States produced a wide range of diesel-electric locomotives from its opening...
The Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), formerly DieselLocomotive Works (DLW), is a production unit of Indian Railways situated in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh...
initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various times diesel generators, automobiles, steel, tanks...
TU7 (ТУ7) - Soviet, later Russian diesellocomotive for gauge 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) – 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). The TU7 (ТУ7) was developed in 1971–1972...
or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas turbines, are classed as diesel-electric or gas turbine-electric...
Although prototype diesellocomotives ran in Britain before World War II, the railways of both the Republic and Northern Ireland changed over much more...
steam locomotives, but struggled to compete when demand switched to diesellocomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951...
Soviet narrow gauge diesellocomotive for the track gauge of 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) The decision to replace steam locomotives by diesel ones on the narrow...
compression Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines Diesellocomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine Diesel (band)...
Diesellocomotives used on the railways of Australia. 40 class 41 class 42 class 421 class 422 class 43 class 44 class 442 class 45 class 47 class 48 class...
The M62 is a Soviet-built diesellocomotive for heavy freight trains, exported to many Eastern Bloc countries as well as to Cuba, North Korea and Mongolia...
Diesel (EMD). EMC participated in the construction of a number of motorized railcars, integrated streamliner trainsets, and experimental locomotives in...
ever since. Steam locomotives in use after 1968: Class 98 Diesellocomotives: Classes 01–70 DC electric and electro-diesellocomotives: Classes 70–79 AC...
locomotives. Kerosene locomotives use kerosene as the fuel. They were the world's first oil locomotives, preceding diesel and other oil locomotives by some years...
TU8 (ТУ8) – Soviet, later Russian diesellocomotive for gauge 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in). Diesellocomotive TU8 (ТУ8) is used for transportation & shunting...
The British Rail Class 52 is a class of 74 Type 4 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built for the Western Region of British Railways between 1961 and 1964....
(LMS) pioneered the use of diesel shunting locomotives in Great Britain. The variety of experimental and production diesel shunters produced by the LMS...
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