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British Rail 18100 was a prototype main linegas turbine–electric locomotive built forBritish Railways in 1951 byMetropolitan-Vickers,Manchester. It had, however, been ordered by theGreat Western Railway in the 1940s, but construction was delayed due toWorld War II. It spent its working life on theWestern Region of British Railways, operating express passenger services fromPaddington station, London.
The main image is of 18100 at Bristol on 5 April 1952, having brought in the Merchant Venturer. There are images available of the locomotive in front of The Bristolian and in the works at Metro-Vickers in Manchester. Nearby are images of 18100 in retirement having been "stored" on a disused section of the GCR link between Ashendon (GWR) and Grendon junction (GCR). The site was near the A41 bridge and mile post 168. It seems that one of the coaches was used as weather station. Another image at the bottom of the page was also taken at Akeman street in 1969.
It was ofCo-Cowheel arrangement and itsgas 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.
The gas turbine was of a type which would now be called aturboshaft engine but it differed from modernfree-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 noheat exchanger.
The emphasis was on power, rather than economy, and the fuel consumption was high. It was designed to useaviation kerosene and was much more expensive to run thanNo. 18000, which used heavyfuel oil. The turbine drove, throughreduction gearing:
Each main generator powered twotraction motors. Unlike No. 18000, there was no auxiliarydiesel engine and the turbine was started by battery power, using the main generators as starter motors.
The following table gives a comparison between 18000 and 18100. There are some anomalies and these are described in the notes.
| Value | 18000 | 18100 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | 115 | 129 | - |
| Turbine horsepower | 10,300 | 9,000 | (1) |
| Power absorbed by compressor | 7,800 | 6,000 | (1) |
| Output horsepower | 2,500 | 3,000 | (1) |
| Number of traction motors | 4 | 6 | - |
| Total traction motor horsepower | 2,500 | 2,450 | (2) |
| Starting tractive effort (lbf) | 31,500 | 60,000 |
Notes:
In early 1958 it was withdrawn from operation and was stored atSwindon Works for a short period before it was returned to Metropolitan Vickers for conversion as a prototype25 kV ACelectric locomotive. As an electric locomotive, it was numbered E1000 (E2001 from 1959) and was given theTOPS classification ofClass 80.[1]
18100 is being made as a kit and ready-to-run in OO gauge by Silver Fox Models.[2]
