7745 & THE HISTORY OF STEAM

BRIEF HISTORY & OVERVIEW OF ENGINE 7745

Steam engine 7745 began its life in England in 1952 at the Meaford Power Station serving as generating unit #2.

When replaced by a diesel engine, 7745 made its way to the Boyne City Railroad with other passenger cars.

In time, required safety upgrades to the passenger railroad in Boyne City caused the company to shut down operations.

Engine 7745 made its way via many years of neglect and a stay at the Tenessee Railway Museum and a scrapyard in Louisville to the La Grange Railroad Museum & Learning Center.

7745 was repainted to its current paint scheme in 2018.

ADDITIONAL STEAM ENGINE AND 7745 INFORMATION

Steam railway locomotives produce their pulling power through a steam engine. The steam is produced in a boiler by burning combustible material – usually coal, wood, or oil. The steam moves reciprocating pistons, which are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels. The fuel and water supplies are carried in the locomotive or tenders pulled behind.

The first steam locomotives were developed in Great Britain during the early 19th Century and used for railway transport until the middle of the 20th Century. The first steam locomotive, made by Richard Trevithick, operated on February 21, 1804, three years after he constructed the locomotive in 1801.

"FLYING DUTCHESS"

The 0-6-0T "Duchess" on display here at the La Grange Railroad Museum was built in North-East England in 1951 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Ltd. as number 7745. Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn Robert Stephenson and Company was founded in 1823 and were the first company established to build railway engines specifically.

Locomotive 7745 was purchased by the British Electricity Authority in 1957 and became Meaford #2 at the Power Station B located just North of Birmingham, in Staffordshire, England.

This engine was used for shunting coal wagons and with the mainline and the boiler-house coal bunkers. This operation remained steady until regular steam locomotive working at the power station ceased in 1972.

In the mid-1970s, Meaford #2 was shipped to the Boyne City Railroad in Grand Falls, MI, with three coaches and worked pulling passenger excursions along its 7 miles of tracks. The railroad operated from 1905 to 1978 under several names and ended as the Boyne City Railroad. The railroad was formally abandoned in 1982.

DUTCHESS AT BOYNE CITY RAILROAD

After sitting in weeds for 15 years, the "Duchess" arrived at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2000 and sat idle at that location for an additional 15 years.

The "Dutchess" was donated to the La Grange Railroad Museum by John Caperton and the L&N Historical Society arriving in La Grange in August of 2011. The "Duchess" was painted into its original colors in mid-2018.

What do the numbers (0-6-0) on a locomotive mean?

It is the Whyte system by which STEAM locomotives were identified... having to do with their wheel configuration.

The first Number is for the Number of LEADING wheels

The second Number is for the Number of DRIVING wheels (powered by the steam pistons

And the third Number designates the Number of TRAILING wheels.

STEAM ENGINE HISTORY

The earliest recorded history of a rudimentary steam engine (pictured below) was in the 1stCentury. A rudimentary impact steam turbine was described in 1551 by Taqi-al-Din, a philosopher, astronomer, and engineer in 16th century Ottoman Egypt, who described a method for rotating a spit by means of a jet of steam playing on rotary vanes.

FIRE ENGINE

The first steam engine to be applied industrially was the "fire-engine" or "Miner's Friend", designed by Thomas Savery in 1698.

The first steam engines, introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, were of the "atmospheric" design. At the end of the power stroke, the weight of the object being moved by the engine, pulled the piston to the top of the cylinder, as steam was introduced. Then the cylinder was cooled by a spray of water, which caused the steam to condense, forming a partial vacuum in the cylinder.

The Watt steam engine, alternatively known as the Boulton and Watt steam engine, was an early steam engine and was one of the driving forces of the industrial revolution, fuel demand, and thus also climate change. James Watt developed the design sporadically from 1763 to 1775 with support from Matthew Boulton. 

Watt's design saved so much more fuel compared with earlier designs that they were licensed based on the amount of fuel they would save. Watt never ceased developing the steam engine, introducing double-acting designs (with two cylinders) and various systems for taking off rotary power. Watt's design became synonymous with steam engines, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design.

JOHN WATT STEAM ENGINE

Corliss engine

The Corliss steam engine (patented 1849) was called the greatest improvement since James Watt.[44] The Corliss engine had greatly improved speed control and better efficiency, making it suitable to all sorts of industrial applications, including spinning.

CORLISS STEAM ENGINE

The development of the steam engine far predated its use in railroad applications. The very first railroad-type operation occurred in England during 1630 when wooden rails, upon which wooden crossties (or "sleepers") were attached for lateral support, were laid down for the express purpose of handling coal. Coal proved to be vital in the evolution of steam locomotion.