Here's a larger version, with 'color coded steam' and sound. (270K GIF)
	An even larger version with animated cycling of the cutoff and reverse linkage action. (562K GIF)

...Why?!  It's just an experiment to try to satisfy a fascination held with this mechanism (Walschaert valve gear 54K GIF) since childhood (late '40s).  Whatever... By the way, Walschaert gear is correct; Walschaerts gear is not (unless it is used in the possessive case, with an apostrophe, eg: "Walschaerts' design"). The inventor's name was (Egide) Walschaerts (pronunciation: ay-gee-da val-sherts), but the design was patented under the name Walschaert for political reasons. Ref: Publications Style Manual, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society (PRRT&HS). Some of these illustrations my help answer the question: "How does a steam locomotive work?". For thermo techies, here's a Steam Engine Pressure-Volume Diagram. (44K GIF)   Why are the main driver counterbalances not symmetrical? (30K GIF)   Cut-away illustration of a steam locomotive's internal workings. (73K GIF) See some of the controls in a locomotive cab. We enhanced this boiler backhead image (88K JPEG) with labels for our friends at the Danbury Railway Museum (CT). Images created on a Macintosh with Canvas 6.01 and animated with GifBuilder 1.0 . These GIFs can be found on many pages around the web. This site is the originator of these images. Links (Locomotive, Steam, Walschaert)... SteamLocomotive.com Comprehensive data and history of North American steam locomotives   Locomotive Boilers and Engines (12MB PDF file) 1920 Purdue University treatise on locomotive boiler and engine design, construction, and operation. (A Walschaert Gear section starts on page 87.)   Steam Engine Valve Gear On The Computer (V2.73) Downloadable freeware simulations of every kind of valve gear you've ever heard of by Charles Dockstader (CA). We're Mac heads here, but we downloaded his .exe files and were able to run them with WineBottler on our Mac to try them out and were impressed with this work; very cool and enlightening.   ValveGear Constructor Valve gear optimization program that runs online Lok 1068 Animated diagram related to above program (scoll to bottom)   Swiss Alps SteamTechnologies Extensive commentary on New (2023) Steam Locomotive possibilities   Locomotive Basics - valve gear Text and JavaScript diagrams of the Walschaert gear. Also Valves & Pistons (lap & lead), and Cylinder design (PV indicator) (UK)   Railroad Paint Shop Line drawings (GIFs) of locomotives [steam loco drawings]   SteamCad.Railfan.net Collection of AutoCad Line Drawings of U.S. Locomotives. Link to a 1.3M "Drive Assembly" (Walschaert gear) AVI animation file.   Locomotive Engine Running and Management 1890 Book on locomotive operation - things like Chapter 5: ...Pulling Out - Hooking Back the Links - Working the Steam Expansively - Advantage of Cutting off Short...   Baker Locomotive Valve Gear Richard Leonard's page of historic Pilliod Co. spare parts catalog -- one should be able to figure it out from the "page 4" and "page 14" images.   How do we get make-up water into an operating high pressure boiler? Here are some sites that explain "How does a steam injector work?"... UK Heritage Railways - Injector Magic Bluebell Railway - How the Injector Works Locomotive Engine Running and Management - Injectors   Walschaert Valve Gear - Wikipedia Encyclopedia Wikipedia Encyclopedia is using several of our images on this page.

Home (& Links)	4-6-2: #2714 Images	Forward Animation	Reversing Animation	Walschaert Components
Steam Engine PV Diagram	Counterbalance Asymmetry	Locomotive Insides	Boiler Backhead

Last tinkered with October 27, 2024 by Bob:

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