Steam Train Gallery

Rain, Steam and Speed - 1844 Great Western Railway by Turner National Gallery Joseph

Rain, Steam and Speed - 1844
Great Western Railway
by Turner
National Gallery
Joseph Mallord William Turner (born in Covent Garden, London on April 23, 1775 (exact date disputed), died December 19, 1851) was an English Romantic landscape artist, whose style can be said to lay the foundations for Impressionism.
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Pump Governor - Westinghouse Air Brake

Today, the air brake is the standard, fail-safe train brake used by railways worldwide. Early train brakes were hand operated and largely ineffective. To get higher and safe speeds, American inventor George Westinghouse brought out an air brake in 1869. Unfortunately, if a hose burst or the train broke in two the brakes on the entire train became useless. Also the brakes worked unevenly throughout the train and could cause the carriages to collide. Westinghouse introduced the automatic air brake for steam trains in 1873. Putting a quick-action triple valve and an auxiliary reservoir under each vehicle ensured independent braking power and the automatic application of the brakes on the whole train. The pump governor shown in this late 19th c illustration acts as an automatic throttle valve to maintain the desired system air pressure

© Sheila Terry

Working shaft in the Kilsby Tunnel 8 July 1937 The tunnel is located near the village

Working shaft in the Kilsby Tunnel
8 July 1937
The tunnel is located near the village of Kilsby in Northamptonshire and opened in 1838 as a part of the London and Birmingham Railway. The tunnel took far longer, and cost far more money to build than had been anticipated. This was because the tunnel roof collapsed and the tunnel flooded unexpectedly due to quicksand which trial borings into the hill had not revealed. The excess water from the quicksand had to be pumped out, a process which took eight months

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