A Steam Engine with No Fire? Fireless Locomotive Imperial No. 1 | Curator with a Camera

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How does a steam locomotive work without fire? Find out all about the trials and tribulations of 'fireless' locomotive technology and the story of Imperial No. 1, a preserved example built at Andrew Barclay Works in Kilmarnock in 1956, with our curator Anthony Coulls.
Fireless locos brought steam power to a variety of settings where an on-board fire was not desirable. For Imperial No. 1 it was Imperial Paper Mills in Gravesend, Kent, where a stray spark could have ruined the whole operation.
This episode was filmed at Locomotion in Shildon. To find out more about Locomotion, visit www.locomotion.org.uk/
If it's the National Railway Museum in York you're looking for, head to www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:26 The history of fireless locomotive technology
02:10 Why no fire?
03:35 Steam reservoir
04:15 How it works
05:55 Running gear
08:00 Exterior features including bell and headlamp
09:03 Exhaust
09:37 Inside the cab
12:00 What does the bell sound like?
12:20 More interior details
14:39 Why hasn't fireless tech taken off?
15:40 Like and subscribe!
#steam #railways #trains

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Опубликовано:

25 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 106

@sirmatsdubois2509 11 месяцев назад

There's actually a bit of irony here. We in Belgium are currently going to be restoring a fireless steam locomotive to run in an old coal mine. The coal mine of course has been decommissioned and is no longer mining; it will just be there for the entertainment of the visitors.

@andrewemery4272 11 месяцев назад

Belgium, a country with a greater density of railways than even the UK, I believe? Is that correct?.

@sirmatsdubois2509 11 месяцев назад

@@andrewemery4272 I believe so. We are a very small country but I literally live within walking distance of a station so it could be possible.

@AlRoderick 11 месяцев назад

The UK has not historically had to handle a lot of through surface traffic from its neighbors transiting through the country to get to somewhere else, whereas Belgium constantly has people passing through it to get to its neighbors. I can think up a couple of big examples from the first half of the 20th century.

@cedarcam 11 месяцев назад

That's great to hear I never saw a fireless locomotive working and sure it will be an exhibit a lot want to see working Which mine museum is it

@mplsmark222 11 месяцев назад

How long could these work until they had to be recharged? Understanding there would be many variables. Could they last through a 8 hour shift?

@The8224sm 11 месяцев назад

There was an oil refinery in South Wales that used a fireless engine that was run on compressed air because the site processed inflammable products. Thanks for another fascinating video.

@Deepthought-42 11 месяцев назад

I used to regularly see this little engine working in the mid 1950s when I lived nearby. My memory of it was how relatively quiet it was when trundled across the the road with a string of wagons laden with bails unloaded from the wharf.

@gunnardannehl372 11 месяцев назад

What a neat little engine! I love the clean look with lots of loving paint detail, you wouldn't expect this from an industrial engine. At least here in Germany most of the fireless engines looked more a lot like regular steam engine, apart from the bulky steam reservoir and missing chimney. I had the opportunity to see a rather huge 0-6-0 here, fascinating technology!

@plaws0 11 месяцев назад

From the Sir Topham Hat point of view, of course, it means that you can run it with one man - no need to have someone there to make steam. If an industrial plant already had a supply of steam and needed an internal railway, it seems a fireless locomotive would be a no-brainer. If the plant *didn't* have a supply of steam already, I can't see anyone do it. Another fine film - thanks!

@frankerobert5315 11 месяцев назад

in eastern germany fireless engines where build up the eightys, just because of the lack of fuel and a lot of them survived until today. i am allways impressed how quite these machines are.

@AussiePom Месяц назад

Nick Lera video filmed one in East Germany in 1990 (here on YT) When The Wall Came Down an 0-6-0 which ran for about 3 hrs between charging.

@RaysRailVideos 11 месяцев назад

Would be interesting if the museum could make it work again for demonstration trains. Maybe a gala of unconventional powered locos

@SteamCrane 11 месяцев назад

These were fairly common in the US, used where an industrial plant already made a lot of steam for the processes, so the relatively small amount of steam these used was almost free. Usually charged twice a day, in the morning and at lunchtime. They partially filled the boiler/reservoir with hot water, then steam. As the steam was used, the water turned into more steam. It really is a boiler, and was considered as such in the US, as it generates new steam from water as steam is used. Several local steam power plants had them, and they were popular in chemical and ammunition plants, where a normal steam engine would have been a fire hazard. In the US, the boiler was usually larger diameter than this. There were some bigger fireless engines in the US, 0-6-0 at least.

@penfold40 11 месяцев назад

There's a fireless engine at The Devil's Porridge at Eastriggs Dumfries and Galloway

@stephengeraghty3368 9 месяцев назад

We at Doon valley Railway Ayrshire Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 have one working now. Creepy when it starts up next day after no more steam put in. 3:59

@mrjnuts1 11 месяцев назад

What a lovely little engine.

@roberthocking9138 11 месяцев назад

Another grea t video, I have never heard or seen a fire less engine in my 70 years, so this was fascinating. Great job

@davidshaw3303 10 месяцев назад

I was lucky enough to visit Leicester coal power station years ago (mid 60s) and had a ride on their fireless which was often seen from the nearby road busy shunting wagons. I recall they re-charged it about every 4 hours although it could last all day with light use. From memory they needed fireless as it entered some buildings. Something missed in this video is the short wheelbase which is vital for the extremely tight curves often found in industrial sites. In Toronto museum is an even stranger air pressure fireless loco from a wood mill!

@Caledonian905 Месяц назад

We need more of these locomotives running in the UK

@williamscott2874 11 месяцев назад

Carr’s of Carlisle had one until the 1960’s when they lost their rail sidings, it came from hm factory gretna who used a numberl of them to transport shells & cordite. carlisle power station also had 2

@hanfo420 11 месяцев назад

Imagine a world where cars would be powered by external steam. Just head over to your car park nearby, charge up your car from the steam source and head on to the next car park near your workplace.

@timdarnbrough3007 11 месяцев назад

Simple solution to a problem. These engines are fascinating, not seen one in steam anywhere though.

@marmion150 11 месяцев назад

Thanks for featuring this locomotive, I saw it at work in April 1976, not long before it was withdrawn.

@anthonycoulls7301 11 месяцев назад

My Dad saw it at work in the 60s too

@jamfjord 11 месяцев назад

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for profiling this engine! I'd seen this one and also Heysham No 2 (at Ribble Steam Railway) a while ago and been fascinated by fireless engines ever since. I knew they were amazingly simple in how they worked, but this video has added loads of small details I was missing. Truly fascinating, cheers for sharing 🙏🙏

@jamfjord 11 месяцев назад

Incidentally, maybe I missed it, but I don't remember you mentioning how long a fireless engine could run on a single charge

@FlyingScott 11 месяцев назад

An actually touching speech at the end there- steam is past, present and future! P.S. there appears to be a typo in the subtitles for this one: At 10:15, 11:00 and 13:38 Mr. Coulls speaks of a Andrew Berkeley!

@NatRailwayMuseum 11 месяцев назад

Thanks, will correct that shortly :)

@simonmasters3295 11 месяцев назад

@@NatRailwayMuseumCan you do that to the closed captions? Aren't they auto-generated? I can't see how to edit mine.

@jamesdecross1035 11 месяцев назад

That's wonderful.

@richardswiderski4985 11 месяцев назад

Greag video I do like tbose fireless locos and now I know how they work.Love these videos 😁

@101APPWORLD 11 месяцев назад

That was an interesting video Anthony

@user-tn2xf7zq3k 11 месяцев назад

Brilliant video

@SaturnCanuck 11 месяцев назад

That was very cool. I had no idea

@youseetime 11 месяцев назад

I would be interested to know how long a fireless engine would last between recharges of boiling water?

@RobGMyMX5 Месяц назад

I was wondering the same. A pity they didn't cover that.

@alanhindmarch4483 11 месяцев назад

Paton & Baldwin’s wool mill in Darlington had one.

@dianekivi5349 10 месяцев назад

When are the curators with a camera going to examine a mechanical signal box?

@SomeOrdinaryJanitor 11 месяцев назад

wow. that is absolutely genius. essentially cheesing Physics to make the water boil itself, making more steam. incredible. and they say glitches don't exist in real life...

@kkobayashi1 11 месяцев назад

By my quick calculation - if it holds 1 ton of water (just a guess) boiling at 200 psi, and run it down to 85 psi, that's a temperature drop of about 38C, which releases about 145 megajoules of energy, or 40 kWh. So, that's a bit less energy than the smallest battery option for the Tesla Model-3.

@satyris410 9 месяцев назад

Absolutely fascinating, I was trying to guess the contrivance that powered it, never would have guessed it is a battery

@dodgydruid 11 месяцев назад

I remember in the early seventies the little peepers trundling up and down moving wagons waiting to be picked up and brought out on the Blue Circle line to Northfleet. When waiting for the bus home, you could see the mill through the railings next to the bus station. Us kids also wandered down to Bowater's to mess around with the Bowaters operation begging anything for a ride on the ropeway, the fireless engines survived BR steam by some years except the Vale of Rheidol steam engines. I did see the tunnels when on summer holiday I went in with my uncle who was a class 33 driver based at Hoo who occasionally would be rostered to pick up some Blue Circle wagons or drop off empties as a lot of concrete bridge building in that part of Kent.

@NJPurling 10 месяцев назад

This type of locomotive is perfectly practical today given a ready source of steam. The reservoir is a pressure-vessel of course, but probably nothing as complex as a regular boiler to construct. The potential snag would be the need to brake the rake of wagons or tanks. One thing the man did not mention was how that headlight was powered. Mini steam generators did exist for this role on conventional locomotives. At night it would be a drain on the steam supply.

@frederickfair8957 11 месяцев назад

Could you do a video of the EMU on the right hand side in the intro please?

@peterflitcroft9756 11 месяцев назад

There is an old fireless loco parked up just up the road from us by the Ship Canal

@anthonycoulls7301 11 месяцев назад

Yes, the unique Peckett 2155

@Biker_Gremling 11 месяцев назад

I don't see fireless steamers coming back, but rather some battery powered shunting locomotives.

@davidty2006 11 месяцев назад

Fireless steam engines do have the advantage of material cost being cheap. No need for lithium that here in britain would haft to be imported.

@nikhilraman3555 6 месяцев назад

im curious about the green EMU right behind the imperial no.1 . a video on that please! ( from Canada)

@phatrickmoore 10 месяцев назад

That's one of the curator's perks, isn't it? ... I mean I guess so like its whatever you say haha

@theinspector1023 11 месяцев назад

Good to have a video about fireless locomotives, but surely the regulator is after the reducing valve and not before?

@davidty2006 11 месяцев назад

Fireless steam engines really do be interesting. I haft to wonder if a mainline version is possible.

@simonmasters3295 11 месяцев назад

...of course not. You surely realise...

@joshslater2426 11 месяцев назад

I like this little series, so I’ve been forming a list of very random locos from the National Collection I’d love to see curated with a camera: - LNWR No. 790 “Hardwicke” - GER S56 No. 87 - GNR large Atlantic no. 251 - LTSR No. 80 “Thundersley” - GCR “Butler Henderson” - GER T26 No. 490 - Midland Railway 115 class (when it’s back on display) - LBSC A1 No. 80 “Boxhill” - LSWR M7 (when it’s back on display)

@joshslater2426 11 месяцев назад

Edit: I forgot to mention the L&YR Class 5, NER M1, Aerolite and City of Truro.

@EVISEH 11 месяцев назад

The presenter suggests fireless locos are environmentally friendly, which they are in operation, however the means used to generate the steam externally, unless gas is being used as the heating source, are not

@adamclark7362 4 месяца назад

If some of the dimensions sn were provided that would be really good informaton to have

@HowardLeVert 11 месяцев назад

My fascination with fireless locomotives was sparked (sorry) by reading about them in my brother's "Understanding Science" magazines when I was a child.

@ShukakuTheCrazy1 10 месяцев назад

Id like an HO scale model of one

@anticat900 Месяц назад

Very interesting, but I don't think you said how far it go on its own say?

@TheGitWizzard 11 месяцев назад

In the hierarchy of operator training, would this be for more experienced engineers, or possibly for training new operators? In other words, could an engineer move effortlessly between this and a traditional steam loco, or was it a separate training track?

@Kevin-go2dw 11 месяцев назад

I could be mistaken, but your recharging valve 3:50 appears to be installed incorrectly going by the arrow cast into the body. It is likely that the valve is also a check valve so the arrow is critical. Is there perhaps a drain valve fitted to the lowest part?

@kkobayashi1 11 месяцев назад

The arrow indicates the direction of pressure the valve is designed to withstand when closed, so I believe it's correct.

@tonyrobinson3309 11 месяцев назад

Great item......as a rough guide how often would the engine need recharging

@anthonycoulls7301 11 месяцев назад

Depending on the use, 4-5 hours, possibly more

@safetyamsv3515 11 месяцев назад

Erm.... I can't recall you showing a reversing lever?

@thetrainman2013 11 месяцев назад

Are there any plans to restore this into working order?

@aldozond Месяц назад

What sort of running time between charges would you get out of a loco like this?

@filfan2001 11 месяцев назад

Please can you do the class 76

@petersandberg1061 11 месяцев назад

Coming to visit in a few weeks. I believe the main Exhibition is in York, but is there anything else in the area to look at? We are in Campervan, going from Dover up the east coast to Scotland.

@MrSheddy1 11 месяцев назад

If you’re in the north east and into railways, stop off at the Tanfield Railway in County Durham

@18robsmith 11 месяцев назад

The museum has two locations, the main one is in York, with the other "Locomotion" is in Shildon, County Durham.

@davidscott6468 11 месяцев назад

Locomotion Shildon is only about 10 mins off the A1(m) jnc 58

@cedarcam 11 месяцев назад

There is Darlington North Road museum where you can see some very early locomotives. If going up the East Coast far enough Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway has a good museum not that I have been there yet but videos on here show it

@albulastrasse3118 11 месяцев назад

One comment about the hand brake. Most Barclay engines I've driven have had the traditional screw brake at the back, but in this case, there's no need for the usual small coal bunker, so perhaps this was a standard they used for fireless pugs. You always had to watch that the sliding door was fully open when you turned the hand brake, or you scuffed your hand! One other point - I was always told that the reason we had no fireless engines here was because the patient was held in Germany, and during the war there was no way to uphold this - any truth in this? Last thing - did you miss out the reverser?

@bluerizlagirl 9 месяцев назад

You still need to have a boiler producing the steam in the first place, so really you are just moving the fire away from it. Up to 150 000 000 km away, if you could use a solar-powered boiler ..... otherwise, a purpose-built boiler room away from anything else inflammable (if you have some sort of factory big enough to need its own railway and making paper, food, chemicals or anything that would not be safe around a steam locomotive, you almost certainly are going to need steam for something else anyway), or maybe even the local power station. But there would not be a lot of point using electricity to boil the water for the steam, when you could just have a DC electric locomotive with a bank of rechargeable lead-acid batteries and store the potential energy as electricity as opposed to high-pressure steam. Rechargeable batteries and electric motors are more efficient than an _internal_ combustion engine, let alone an _external_ combustion engine. Although energy efficiency probably was never given the same importance historically, as long as fuel was cheap enough .....

@gerry343 9 дней назад

How long would the engine run on one charge of steam?

@garethavery7267 10 месяцев назад

How long would 1 charge last ???

@garryferrington811 11 месяцев назад

Several of these survive in the US, 'though I doubt any are "live."

@thecrocandsweepshow611 7 месяцев назад

1 how far can one of these travel?? 2 Where are they still in use??

@frostedbutts4340 2 месяца назад

Since they're for shunting, it's less about distance and more about working time. Seems they need recharging a few times a day. A few left in service in Germany apparently.

@Arkay315 11 месяцев назад

Little green bean tank engine.

@oldfarthacks 11 месяцев назад

The only real problem is range, depending on loading one must wonder how long and often it took to charge this up. Still better than a lead acid battery pack and an electric motor.

@davidty2006 11 месяцев назад

might be possible to slap a tender to the thing for extended range... wonder how a mainline version would do.

@jetteraismabash4186 11 месяцев назад

How many miles could it go on a single “charge” guessing only few?

@davidty2006 11 месяцев назад

Well it's a shunter soo around the yard.

@steveaustin62 11 месяцев назад

I wonder how they made a cuppa?

@cedarcam 11 месяцев назад

If a boiler could be powered by solar panels a fireless locomotive would be free to run.

@steamtechnicolor461 9 месяцев назад

เหมาะมากถ้ามีโรงต้มน้ำใช้พลังงานความร้อนจากใต้พิภพกระจายอยู่ทุกเส้นทาง

@Dallen9 11 месяцев назад

It's simply cause it's a Cab forward locomotive. There are Fire-less and Air compression locomotives with the same controls layout built with the Cylinders in the traditional location and piped up to look like a funny traditional steam locomotive. This wasn't a weight balance but a preferred operations thing. the paper mill wanted their Drivers to see what's in front of them when moving a load out over pushing a load in is what I'd wager, totally more gives you a look into the work flow of the Paper mill. Edit: the give away that it 100% a Cab forward locomotive is the location of the brake handle.

@kkobayashi1 11 месяцев назад

I don't think running direction has anything to do with cylinder placement. Tank engines can run in either direction just fine, and many cab-forward steam locomotives had cylinders behind the driving wheels, including the famous Southern Pacific cab-forwards.

@Dallen9 11 месяцев назад

@@kkobayashi1 it has everything to do with Cylinder placement. Cause it's where you want the major power stoke of the piston to go. The "balancing" he talks about would be why they would of used Stephenson vs other valve gear types if that was indeed a factor they needed to consider.

@kkobayashi1 11 месяцев назад

@@Dallen9 That makes no sense. For one thing, steam pistons work in both directions (push and pull).

@Dallen9 11 месяцев назад

@@kkobayashi1 The steam piston will always produce more power in one way then the other unless you've done some material balancing like the French and Germans did on some of their locomotives. Why it's been referred to as a Major and Minor power stroke. Valve timing also plays a part in it but again it's because of the discrepancy of there being a Major and a minor Power stroke why it plays a factor in it. These are the factors that make up Hammer blow.

@davidty2006 11 месяцев назад

The cab is a regular tank engine cab, same as the peckets.