It was of
Co-Cowheel arrangement and its
gas turbine was rated at 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW). It had a maximum speed of 90 mph (140 km/h) and weighed 129.5 long tons (131.6 t; 145.0 short tons). It was painted in BR black livery, with a silver stripe around the middle of the body and silver numbers.
Technical details
The gas turbine was of a type which would now be called a
turboshaft engine but it differed from modern
free-turbine turboshaft engines in having only one turbine to drive both the compressor and the output shaft. It was based on aircraft practice and had six horizontal combustion chambers (spaced radially around the turbine shaft) and no
heat exchanger.
The emphasis was on power, rather than economy, and the fuel consumption was high. It was designed to use
aviation kerosene and was much more expensive to run than
No. 18000, which used heavy
fuel oil. The turbine drove, through
reduction gearing:
Each main generator powered two
traction motors. Unlike No. 18000, there was no auxiliary
diesel engine and the turbine was started by battery power, using the main generators as starter motors.
Comparison of 18000 and 18100
The following table gives a comparison between 18000 and 18100. There are some anomalies and these are described in the notes.
In 18000, output
horsepower is 24% of total horsepower and in 18100, output horsepower is 33% of total horsepower. This suggests that 18100 had the higher
thermal efficiency but, in practice, 18000 had the higher thermal efficiency. The horsepower figures should, therefore, be regarded with some scepticism.
Where electric transmission is used, the horsepower of the
traction motors is usually 81% (i.e. 90% x 90%) that of the
prime mover. The figure for 18100 is therefore about right but the figure for 18000 looks anomalous.
Conversion
In early 1958 it was withdrawn from operation and was stored at
Swindon Works for a short period before it was returned to Metropolitan Vickers for conversion as a prototype
25 kV ACelectric locomotive. As an electric locomotive, it was numbered E1000 (E2001 from 1959) and was given the
TOPS classification of
class 80.[1]
Marsden, Colin J.; Fenn, Graham B. (2001). British Rail Main Line Electric Locomotives (2nd ed.). Oxford Publishing Co.
ISBN9780860935599.
OCLC48532553.
Sampson, H. (editor), The Dumpy Book of Railways of the World, published by Sampson Low, London, date circa 1960
Robertson, K. (1989). The Great Western Railway Gas Turbines, published by Alan Sutton,
ISBN0-86299-541-8
Strickland, David C. (1983). D&EG Locomotive Directory, every single one there has ever been. Camberley, Surrey: The Diesel & Electric Group.
ISBN0-906375-10-X.
Further reading
Marsden, Colin J.; Fenn, Graham B. (1988). British Rail Main Line Diesel Locomotives. Sparkford: Haynes. pp. 52–55.
ISBN9780860933182.
OCLC17916362.
"No.18100, the first British built gas turbine locomotive". RAIL. No. 102. EMAP National Publications. 10–23 August 1989. pp. 34–39.
ISSN0953-4563.
OCLC49953699.