Recent Developments in Locomotives used by a Heavy Industry

Abstract

The Steel Company of Wales at Port Talbot has a railway system all of its own. With 39 diesel shunters and 128 miles of rail track it handles 315,000 tons of material each week. Seventeen years have elapsed since the Company took delivery of its first diesel shunter. There followed four other basically different locomotive designs, each having its own good features and each its own problems. Thus an unusual opportunity existed for comparing the design of various shunting locomotives and for determining which features suited the working conditions best. A very large number of modifications and design changes have been made to enable the locomotives to work more reliably and at lower maintenance costs. Some of the more recent developments which are described involve the use of new inventions and man-made materials not available when the locomotives were built. It is suggested that by adopting new ideas and materials, locomotive manufacturers can follow the lead given recently by motor car designers and produce locomotives requiring only infrequent servicing or attention.