И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

TEXT A. DIESEL TRACTION


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(1) Diesel traction is associated with the name of Ru­dolf Diesel who in 1892 patented an engine to run on cheap oil fuel.¹ The engine proved very economical and up-to-now bears the name of its inventor.

(2) The diesel engine belongs to the class of internal-combustion engines in which the fuel is burnt inside the engine itself. It is this feature that makes the engine very efficient.
(3) You know the diesel engine to be similar in many respects to the kind of engine we use in our automobiles except that it burns oil instead of gasoline and is very much larger and far more efficient. (4) Although the first diesel engines were too heavy to be installed in railway vehicles, R. Diesel believed these* efficient prime movers to find application on the railways: He himself took part in the construction of a diesel loco-^? motive and sparked the interest of railway specialists in diesel traction.
(5) The idea of creating a new kind of motive power for locomotives interested Russian scientists and engineers long ago. Great contribution to the solution of this ргоЬт lem was made by the Higher Technical School in Moscow later named after N. E. Bauman. Thus Prof. Grenevetsky_: designed an original diesel engine to meet the requirements of railway service while A. N. Shelest proposed a project of an original diesel locomotive and patented it in Russia and England. Nevertheless, in pre-revolutionary Russia these as well as many other projects were not realized.
(6) The transport difficulties in the early twenties made railway engineers turn their attention to diesel traction. As a result, large-scale research and experimental work was done despite the great economic difficulties the young Soviet Republic faced at that period.
(7) We may consider November 6, 1924 to be the birth­day of the world's first main-line diesel-electric locomo­tive. This 1,000 hp unit was built to Prof. Gakkel's de­sign. Field tests showed the task of creating a practical main-line locomotive had been largely solved.
(8) A mass-scale production of diesels started from the fifties. Now our country's works turn out a lot of diesel locomotives which are used not only in this country but exported to several countries abroad.


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(9) Diesel traction is normally employed today on non-electrified trunk lines and on lines where traffic is not dense enough to justify electrification. In addition, it is the diesel traction which is particularly suitable for switching services for the diesel locomotive is not connected to the overhead wires and can easily and rapidly perform its switching duties.

(10) The question now being discussed is whether the diesel locomotive will be able to compete with its electric counterpart in the future. To make the task easier, let's discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the two kinds of motive power.
(11) The diesel and electric locomotives have some common features; As -weH" as "the electrics' the .diiesels-flare? _;al-ways ready for service because the diesel engine can be started within a minute or two in any weather and can be in operation for perhaps a week without needing to go; to a depot. As well as the electrics, the diesels are ca­pable of developing a high tractive effort at: low speeds and, therefore, can start and accelerate heavy trains. These features allow the diesel locos to be used for heavy main­line service. Another common feature is that with diesel traction the locomotive haulage can be eliminated and replaced by self-propelled trains composed of railcars² and trailers similar to the electric multiple-unit trains.
(12) On the other hand, the diesel locomotive is more expensive to build and maintain than the electric of equal power since the diesel locomotive carries a power plant on itself. In addition, the diesel engine is an air pollutant prime mover, so the diesel traction should not be recommended for use on suburban lines round large cities. Noise and vibration are also considered the drawbacks of the diesel locomotive. Another 'disadvantage of the diesel locomotive is that the diesel engine runs on organic fuel the supplies of which are not inexhaustible.
(13) From the above-said it becomes evident the rail­way future lies in electrification. The railway system to be built will consist of electrified trunk lines and diesel-operated branch and secondary lines. As to the self-pro­pelled diesel trains they may be successfully employed on the suburban lines where the traffic is not sufficiently dense and the operation of locomotive-drawn trains or electric multiple-unit trains cannot be repaid.