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.
The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W) was a railway locomotive and carriage builder, founded in Birmingham, England and, for most of its existence, located at nearby Smethwick, with the factory divided by the boundary between the two places. The company was established in 1854.
Brush Traction was a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England whose operations have now been merged into the Wabtec company's Doncaster UK operations.
The AAR wheel arrangement system is a method of classifying locomotive wheel arrangements that was developed by the Association of American Railroads. Essentially a simplification of the European UIC classification, it is widely used in North America to describe diesel and electric locomotives. It is not used for steam locomotives, which use the Whyte notation instead.
HS4000 Kestrel was a prototype high-powered mainline diesel locomotive that was built in 1967 by Brush Traction, Loughborough, as a technology demonstrator for potential future British Rail and export orders. The locomotive number is a combination of the initials of Hawker Siddeley and the power rating of its Sulzer diesel engine (4,000 hp), making it the most powerful locomotive built by the company.
The Córas Iompair Éireann 101 Class locomotives, numbered B101-B112, were built in 1956 by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company. They were fitted with Sulzer 6LDA28 engines of 960 hp (720 kW), with four Metropolitan-Vickers MV137 traction motors. They were of A1A-A1A wheel arrangement, weighed 75 tonnes and had a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph).
The Northern Ireland Railways DH class was a class of three diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives obtained in 1969. All three have now been withdrawn, and two have since been rebuilt for work in Sri Lanka.
The British Rail Class D2/11 was a British class of locomotive designed in 1958 by Brush Traction and Beyer, Peacock & Company, which co-operated to produce five prototype diesel-electric shunting locomotives of 0-4-0 wheel arrangement. They were intended to demonstrate a new generation of diesel shunters for industrial and mainline use. Two were loaned to British Railways for trials and one, number D2999, was subsequently purchased by BR. However, no large scale orders resulted from these demonstrators.
The Yorkshire Engine Company Janus is a line of 0-6-0 wheel arrangement, diesel–electric locomotives that weighed 48 long tons and had a maximum speed of 23 mph (37 km/h). The two Rolls-Royce C6SFL diesel engines gave a total power output of 400 hp (300 kW). Each engine had its cooling system at the outer end, and its generator at the inner end. There were two traction motors, each being powered by one generator, thus simplifying the electrical system.
British Rail 18000 was a prototype mainline gas turbine–electric locomotive built for British Railways in 1949 by Brown, Boveri & Cie. An earlier gas-turbine locomotive, 18100, had been ordered from Metropolitan-Vickers by the Great Western Railway but construction was delayed due to World War II; a second, 18000, was thus ordered from Switzerland in 1946. It spent its working life on the Western Region of British Railways, operating express passenger services from Paddington station, London.
Class 80 was the TOPS classification allocated by British Rail to the prototype 25 kV AC electric locomotive. This locomotive was built by Metropolitan-Vickers, initially as a prototype gas turbine–electric locomotive, numbered 18100. British Rail allocated the number E1000 to the locomotive following its conversion from gas turbine propulsion.
The ALCO PA was a family of A1A-A1A diesel locomotives built to haul passenger trains. The locomotives were built in Schenectady, New York, in the United States, by a partnership of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and General Electric (GE) between June, 1946 and December, 1953. Designed by General Electric's Ray Patten, they were of a cab unit design; both cab-equipped lead A unit PA and cabless booster B unit PB models were built. While externally the PB models were slightly shorter than the PA model, they shared many of the same characteristics, both aesthetically and mechanically. However, they were not as reliable as EMD E-units.
W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England which was founded in 1875 and operated until it was taken over in 1962 by English Electric.
The Erie-built was the first streamlined, cab-equipped dual service diesel locomotive built by Fairbanks-Morse, introduced as direct competition to such models as the ALCO PA and FA and EMD FT. F-M lacked the space and staff to design and manufacture large road locomotives in their own plant at Beloit, Wisconsin, and was concerned that waiting to develop the necessary infrastructure would cause them to miss out on the market opportunity for large road locomotives. Engineering and assembly work was subcontracted out to General Electric, which produced the locomotives at its Erie, Pennsylvania, facility, thereby giving rise to the name "Erie-built."
The ALCO FA is a family of B-B diesel locomotives designed to haul freight trains. The locomotives were built by a partnership of ALCO and General Electric in Schenectady, New York, between January 1946 and May 1959. Designed by General Electric's Ray Patten, they were of a cab unit design; both cab-equipped lead FA and cabless booster FB models were built. A dual passenger-freight version, the FPA/FPB, was also offered. It was equipped with a steam generator for heating passenger cars.
The EMD GL8 is an export diesel-electric locomotive introduced by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) in 1960. They have been designed as light locomotives with a low axle loading. Measuring 36 feet 2 inches over the end sills, they are equipped an EMD 8-567CR engine producing 875 hp (652 kW) for traction, driving four traction motors in either A1A-A1A or B-B flexicoil trucks. The EMD GA8 is a derivative designed for very light lines with extremely sharp curves using frame mounted traction motors and freight car trucks.
Bamunusinghearachchige Don Rampala, popularly known as B. D. Rampala, was a chief mechanical engineer and later general manager of Sri Lanka Railways. He was the first native Sri Lankan to hold the post of chief mechanical engineer. In 1956, the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in London recognised Rampala as the finest diesel engineer in Asia at the time.
Locomotives and train sets of Sri Lanka Railways consist mostly of diesel locomotives and multiple units. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except on heritage trains such as the Viceroy Special.
The NZR DSA class locomotive was a type of 0-6-0DM diesel-mechanical locomotives built by three different manufacturers: W. G. Bagnall, Hunslet, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Vulcan Foundry for the Drewry Car Co. They were built between 1953 and 1967.
Class M7 is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built for Sri Lanka Railways by Brush Traction, UK, and imported in 1981. This locomotive has the shortest length, least power and least weight compared to other diesel locomotives of Sri Lanka.
