Knowledge of railway locomotives and vehicles

Railway vehicles themselves have no power devices. Whether they are passenger cars or trucks, many vehicles have to be connected together in a row. Traction by the locomotive is required to operate. Therefore, locomotives are the basic driving force for rail transport.

There are many kinds of locomotives used on the railway. According to locomotive motive power, they can be classified into three types: steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, and electric locomotives.

1. Steam locomotives Steam locomotives are steam locomotives powered by steam. Its advantages are relatively simple structure, low manufacturing cost, long service life, easy to master driving and maintenance technologies, and low fuel requirements. However, the main drawback of steam locomotives is that the thermal efficiency is too low, and the total efficiency is usually only 5-9%, which limits the power and speed of the locomotive further. Secondly, the consumption of coal water is large. Many coal supply and water supply facilities need to be installed along the line; a large amount of soot produced during transportation pollutes the environment; and the working conditions of the locomotive crew are poor. Therefore, in modern railway transportation, steam locomotives are no longer adapted to the requirements of modern transportation as the railroad traffic increases and the speed of travel increases. Some developed capitalist countries such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan have stopped producing steam locomotives in the 1950s and 1960s, and stopped using them in the 1960s and 1970s. China also stopped production of steam locomotives in 1989, and adopted a natural transition approach, gradually eliminating steam locomotives in the traction power reform.

2. Diesel locomotives Diesel locomotives are locomotives with an internal combustion engine as their motive power. Compared with steam locomotives, it has a high thermal efficiency and can generally reach 20 to 30%. After the diesel locomotive has been fueled once, it lasts for a long time, and the locomotive has high utilization efficiency. It is particularly suitable for running in areas with water shortage or poor water quality, and is convenient for multi-motor traction. The crew members have better working conditions. However, its disadvantage is that the locomotive has a complex structure, and the manufacturing, maintenance and operation costs are relatively large, and the environment is greatly polluted.

3. The electric locomotive electric locomotive is a locomotive that draws electric energy from the contact network along the railway to generate traction power, so the electric locomotive is a locomotive that is not self-contained. Its thermal efficiency is more than double that of a steam locomotive. It is quick to start, high in speed and good at climbing; it can be made into high-powered locomotives with large transport capacity and low operating costs. When hydroelectric power is used, it is more economical; electric locomotives do not use water, do not pollute the air, and have good working conditions. The noise is also small and it is convenient for multi-motor traction. However, electrified railways need to build a complete power supply system, which is much larger than the use of steam locomotives or diesel locomotives in infrastructure investment.

From the perspective of the development of the world's railway traction power, electric locomotives are recognized as the most promising type of locomotive, and it has a good economic effect in operation.

Second, vehicles and their marks 1, vehicles (Freight Cars)

A railway vehicle is a tool for transporting passengers and goods. It does not have its own power device. It needs to be linked together by a locomotive to run on the road.

Railway vehicles can be classified into two categories: passenger cars and trucks. There are many types of railway wagons. As of the end of 1997, China had more than 430,000 vehicles of various types, which are now being introduced from various angles.

(1) Grouped by Type of Cars

According to the purpose or model, it can be divided into general trucks and special trucks:

General trucks can be divided into boxcars, gondola cars and flat cars.

1 Covered Cars. The wagon car body is composed of end walls, side walls, roofs, floors, doors and windows, etc. It is used to transport more expensive and fearful wet goods.

2 Open Cars. Gondola has only ends, side walls and floors. It mainly transports bulk or packaged goods that are not afraid of wet damage. If necessary, it can also be covered with tarpaulin to transport goods that are afraid of moisture. Therefore, Gondola is a kind of general-purpose truck with greater flexibility.

3 Flat Cars. Most flat car bodies have only a flat floor. Some flat cars are equipped with very low side walls and end walls, and can be tipped over, suitable for loading heavy, bulky or lengthy cargo. There are also undercarriage flat cars that are used to make the body undercarriage or a part of undercarriage that is not floor-mounted, and are used for the shipment of special long-heavy heavy cargoes, and are therefore also referred to as grown-up cargo vehicles.

Special-purpose trucks are vehicles designed to ship certain specified types of cargo. They include:

1 Cold Storage Cars. The car body is similar to the boxcar, but its wall panels are made of two layers of wall panels. The wall panels are filled with insulating material to reduce the influence of outside air temperature.

At present, there are many mechanically-preserved cars used in China or in groups, and the car is equipped with refrigeration equipment that can automatically control the temperature inside the car. Insulation cars are mainly used to transport perishable goods such as fresh vegetables, fish and meat.

2 Tank Cars. The body is cylindrical and the tank is equipped with loading and unloading ports. To ensure the safety of liquid cargo transportation, air bags, safety valves and other equipment are also provided.

Tankers are mainly used to transport liquid cargo such as liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, hydrochloric acid, and alcohol, and bulk cement.

3 livestock vehicles. It is mainly a special vehicle for transporting live poultry and livestock. There are storage devices for water and feed in the car, as well as facilities for the escort.

Special vehicles include coal cars, ore cars, ore cars, etc.

(2) According to the load weight, the number of trucks in China can be divided into 20 tons, 25-40 tons, 50 tons, 60 tons, 65 tons, 75 tons, and 90 tons. In order to meet the objective needs of China's large cargo shipments, it is conducive to more rapid shipments and lower freight costs. China currently manufactures 60-ton vehicles.

(3) The number of axles can be divided into four-axle vehicles, six-axis vehicles and multi-axle vehicles. China's railways mainly use four-axle vehicles.

(4) According to the production materials, the main stress parts such as the steel carts, undercarriages, and beams and columns are made of steel, and other parts are made of wood, so the weight is light and the cost is low.

All-steel vehicles are rugged and have low maintenance costs and are suitable for high-speed operation. Low-alloy weathering steel can better meet heavy load and high speed requirements.

In addition, there are trucks made of aluminum alloys, fiberglass, and other materials.

2. Mark of Car

In order to indicate the type of vehicle and its characteristics, ease of use and management of operation, a prescribed marking shall be provided on the outside of each railway vehicle body.

The common common tags are:

(1) Road emblem. All vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Railways of China have road badges for the People's Railway.

(2) Car number. It is the most basic mark to identify the vehicle. Car number includes model number and number. There are two basic models and auxiliary models.

The basic model represents the type of vehicle and is expressed in Hanyu Pinyin letters.

The auxiliary model indicates the type of vehicle, which is a combination of Arabic numerals and Pinyin. For example, P64A shows a boxcar with a 64A structure.

The number is programmed after the basic model and auxiliary model of the vehicle. Vehicle numbers are numbered sequentially by type of vehicle and load, for example, P62, 3319324.

(3) Assignment mark. For fixed-assigned vehicles, the abbreviation of their respective railway bureaus and depots should be marked. For example, the “Beijing-Beijing section” refers to the Beijing-based depot of the Beijing Railway Bureau.

(4) Load. The maximum allowable weight of the vehicle, in tons.

(5) weight. The weight of the vehicle itself, in tons.

(6) Volume. It is the capacity of goods (excluding flat cars) that can be loaded, which is measured in cubic meters (M3).

(7) The total length and length of the vehicle. The full length of the vehicle refers to the distance from the inside of the knuckle on both sides of the vehicle, in meters. In actual practice, it is customary to convert the length of the vehicle into the number of vehicles, that is, the quotient obtained by dividing the full length by 11 meters represents the conversion length of the vehicle.

Change length = vehicle length (meters) / 11 (meters)

(8) Special mark. According to the structure and equipment of the truck, various special markings are also applied on the vehicle. Such as:

MC - indicates that trucks can be used for international transport;

Person - means a box car with a window and bed support that can be used to transport people;

Ancient - A truck that has a pony ring or other bolster device that can carry horses.