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Atram engine is asteam locomotive specially built, or modified, to run on a street, or roadside,tramway track.
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In thesteam locomotive era, tram engines had to comply with certain legal requirements, although these varied fromcountry to country:
To avoidsmoke, the fuel used wascoke, rather thancoal. To prevent visible emission of steam, two opposite systems were used:
TheGreat Eastern Railway built tenClass G150-4-0T trams from 1883 to 1897 and twelveClass C530-6-0T trams from 1903 to 1921.
Beyer, Peacock & Company built some steam tram engines, including three for theGlyn Valley Tramway inWales.
Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works,Loughborough started building tram engines in 1876. His engines were of thesaddle-tank type and exhaust steam was condensed in a tank under thefootplate by jets of cold water from the saddle-tank.
Kitson & Company started to build tram engines in 1878. It used a roof-mounted, air-cooled, condenser of thin copper tubes in which the exhaust steam was condensed, similar to theradiator on a modern road vehicle. The air-cooled system eventually became standard for steam tram engines.
William Wilkinson of Holme House Foundry,Wigan patented the exhaust steam reheating system about 1881. While it may seem unusual to re-heat steam after, rather than before, use because it would involve a waste of fuel, the purpose of superheating the exhaust was to ensure 'no water can be emitted from the chimney to the annoyance of passengers'. Furthermore, the expansion into a hot chamber in the boiler minimised the noise of the exhaust.[1] Despite the inefficiency inherent in this, the Wilkinson system was popular for a time, and engines of the Wilkinson type continued to be built up to about 1886. Similar reheaters were also used for roadsteam wagons, such as theSentinel.
Other British builders of steam tram engines included:
The German firmKrauss built steam tram engines, including one for theWolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway in England.
From the 1880s onward, every steam locomotive builder in Belgium supplied theNational Company of Light Railways (SNCV in French) with tram engines, with nearly 1,000 examples being built.Ateliers de Tubize,FUF Haine-Saint-Pierre and Société de Saint-Léonard also supplied several tram engines to foreign companies such asSpain, the Netherlands,France, orItaly.
The last steam trams were delivered in the early 1920s.
Corpet-Louvet,Décauville, Pinguely, andBlanc-Misseron built engines for French and foreign tramways, the latter was created by Ateliers de Tubize in order to avoid taxation of imported locomotives. These companies also built industrial engines and some shunters; large steam locomotives were mostly built by other companies.
Werkspoor and Backer & Rueb built engines for both Dutch and foreign tramways.
TheBaldwin Locomotive Works inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, USA, built steam tram engines, includingmost of those used in New South Wales, Australia.
A small number of steam tram engines were manufactured inSydney,Australia to Baldwin designs by Henry Vale, T. Wearne and theRandwick Tramway Workshops.
In cities, steam tram engines faded out around 1900, being replaced byelectric trams orbuses. Rural steam trams held longer until replaced by electric, diesel trams units or buses. In France, The Netherlands and Belgium, the laststeam-powered tram lines closed in the 1960s.
The characterToby the Tram Engine, fromThe Railway Series children's books by theRev. W. Awdry, and the spin-off TV seriesThomas & Friends, was based on theLNER Class J70 tram engines that were to be found on theWisbech and Upwell Tramway.
Flora from Series 12 of Thomas & Friends is also based on a steam tram.
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Four of theBritish Rail Class 04diesel locomotives were fitted with side-plates andcowcatchers for working on theWisbech and Upwell Tramway.
There are a few examples of electric tram locomotives designed to pull traditional railway carriages through streets.
Tram engines have been built to run on stored energy in various forms, including:
