History of Railway Locomotive Development

The earliest locomotives to appear in the world were steam locomotives, followed by electric locomotives, diesel locomotives, and gas turbine locomotives.
The development of steam locomotives: In 1803, Trevithick in England manufactured a steam locomotive that could run on rails; In 1814, Stephenson of England manufactured a 5-ton steam locomotive called the "Boots", which is generally considered a successful locomotive. But the "Rocket" steam locomotive, which was built by the Stephenson father and son designers and won an award in a competition in 1829, was actually used on railways and laid the foundation for modern steam locomotives. It traveled at a speed of 58 kilometers per hour, creating the highest speed for ground vehicles at that time.
In 1831, American civil engineer Jervis first tested a guide bogie at the front of the locomotive, allowing it to safely travel on bends; In 1836, Campbell designed a locomotive with a two axle guided bogie and two axle linkage in the United States, but this design was not successful until contemporary mechanical engineer Harrison made improvements by installing axle balancing mechanisms, which made it a complete locomotive. Soon, this locomotive became the standard locomotive in the United States and was named "American", which was widely used in the 1890s. The Type 999 locomotive achieved a high speed of 181 kilometers per hour in 1893.
In order to improve the utilization rate of saturated steam, increase the traction of locomotives, and better pass through bends, Switzerland produced a joint expansion locomotive in 1888, designed by engineer Mahler and called the Mahler type locomotive. In 1904, the United States introduced and used the Mahler locomotive in mountainous areas, which was later changed to a single expansion type and produced the large steam locomotive 2-4-4-2.
In the 20th century, steam locomotives using superheated steam were rapidly promoted, and at this time, locomotives had developed towards large evaporation capacity, large size, and large boilers. In 1881, China produced its own steam locomotive, the "China Rocket", which operated on the Tangshan Xugezhuang Railway.
Although steam locomotives have been developed for over 100 years, their thermal efficiency is only about 6%. In addition, due to the large amount of maintenance and repair, serious pollution, and short daily operating mileage, they have gradually been replaced by electric locomotives and diesel locomotives with high thermal efficiency and utilization rate. The United States stopped using steam locomotives in 1960, the United Kingdom in 1968, France in 1972, Japan in 1975, Germany and the former Soviet Union in 1977, and China in 1992.
In 1835, Strattin and Becker from the Netherlands developed a battery powered two axle small railway electric locomotive; In 1842, Davidson of Scotland manufactured a standard gauge electric locomotive powered by 40 sets of batteries; In 1879, Siemens of Germany designed and manufactured a small electric locomotive, which was powered by a 150 volt DC generator outside the locomotive and input to the locomotive through two tracks and a third track in between. The electric locomotive successfully traveled for the first time.
In 1890, electric locomotives were first used to haul vehicles on a 5.6-kilometer-long underground railway in London, England. The mainline electric locomotive used in the Baltimore Railway Tunnel section of the United States in 1895 had a power of 1070 kilowatts. At the beginning of the 20th century, several European countries built electrified railways powered by three-phase alternating current.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the superiority of electric traction was widely recognized, and by the end of the 1920s, almost every European country had electrified railways. Due to the complexity of the three-phase AC power supply system and locomotive converter device, electric locomotives gradually tend to use frequency unidirectional AC power. After the 1950s, with the emergence of high-power mercury arc rectifiers and ignition tube rectifiers, especially silicon diode rectifiers, the development of electric locomotives using AC power frequency was promoted.
Since the 1970s, mainline electric locomotives have developed towards high power, high speed, and durability. The speed of passenger electric locomotives has increased from 160 kilometers per hour to 200 kilometers per hour. In 1958, China produced a "Shaoshan-1" type electric locomotive with a spark tube rectifier. In 1968, it successfully switched to a silicon rectifier and became the "Shaoshan-1" type electric locomotive.
The development of internal combustion locomotives predates the emergence of diesel locomotives. In 1906, the United States produced gasoline powered electric locomotives. In 1913, Sweden manufactured diesel electric cars with electric transmission, which had a structure similar to diesel locomotives. In 1924, the Soviet Union used a 735 kW submarine diesel engine to create an electrically powered diesel locomotive. In 1923, the United States produced a 220 kilowatt diesel locomotive with electric transmission.
In the early 1930s, diesel locomotives entered the trial and practical stage, with power mostly within one kilowatt, mainly consisting of shunting locomotives. In the late 1930s, mainline passenger diesel locomotives with single locomotives and multiple coupled locomotives appeared.
The operation of diesel locomotives shows that their economic benefits are much higher than steam locomotives of the same power. After 1945, diesel locomotives entered a stage of great development. Diesel engines are often equipped with exhaust gas turbocharging systems, which generally increase power. Diesel locomotives were tested in Northeast China in the 1930s, and the production of the Dragon diesel locomotive began in 1958,
The early development of gas turbine locomotives began with the use of compound gas turbines. In 1933, Sweden produced a 480 kW free piston gas turbine locomotive; In 1951, France successively produced 735 kW and 1770 kW free piston gas turbine locomotives; In 1954, the former Soviet Union manufactured a 2210 kW free piston gas turbine; In 1941, Switzerland first manufactured an open gas turbine locomotive; In the late 1940s and 1950s, Britain, the United States, and other countries manufactured open gas turbine locomotives of different powers.
The earliest locomotive invented was the steam locomotive, which used a steam engine instead of animal power to pull vehicles on the track. The various locomotives that will appear in the future were also developed after the emergence of new power engines. After steam locomotives, the following locomotives appeared successively: electric locomotives, diesel locomotives, and gas turbine locomotives.
In 1804, an Englishman named Trivisik created a steam locomotive. The "Rocket" locomotive manufactured in 1829 laid the foundation for the basic form of modern steam locomotives, and later made continuous improvements in construction and efficiency. To meet the transportation needs, steam locomotives for various purposes were manufactured, and they continuously developed towards high power, high traction, and high speed, reaching their peak in the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1879, a small electric locomotive using a third rail for direct current was first developed. In the 1890s, some countries began using electric locomotives in underground railways, suburban railways in large cities, and long tunnel sections of main lines. By the late 1920s, many countries had electrified railways, mostly using overhead contact lines to supply direct current. After the introduction of high-power ignition tube rectifiers in the 1950s and high-power semiconductor rectifiers in the 1960s, industrial frequency AC electric locomotives were able to develop rapidly. This type of locomotive has increased power and significantly improved performance. Although it requires a large investment in basic construction, it has high economic benefits and can be used on busy electrified railway mainlines for transportation.
The diesel locomotive was put into trial use in 1923 and officially put into use in 1925. Initially, due to the low power of diesel engines, they were mostly used for shunting operations; Later, with diesel engines of around 1000 kilowatts for locomotives, mainline locomotives were produced, consisting of two or more sections coupled together. The application results indicate that it is superior to steam locomotives. It was rapidly promoted in the 1950s and the power gradually increased.
Gas turbine locomotives were manufactured in 1941 and first used on railways in 1943. Some countries stopped using them after experimental or small-scale formal use. Although not widely adopted, it has development prospects.
Steam locomotives have a simple structure, low cost, durability, and were originally dominant on railways. But due to low economic benefits and environmental pollution caused by smoke exhaust, it has gradually been replaced by diesel locomotives and electric locomotives. The United States ceased operations in 1960, the United Kingdom in 1968, France in 1972, Japan in 1975, and both the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union ceased operations in 1977. Although many countries are still using it, the proportion of transportation capacity it carries is gradually decreasing.