Railway Engineering
A Railway Loading Gauge Describes Space Around the Train
Track gauge tells you about the rails. Loading gauge asks whether a vehicle and its load fit the route around them.
RAILWAYS · HISTORY · DISCOVERY
Follow the line. Find the story.
Explore railway history through maps, museum objects and the places that connect them, from Montana to rail networks around the world.
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Notes from the railway archive
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Locomotive Technology
A Diesel-Electric Locomotive Uses Its Engine to Power a Different Kind of Drive
Follow the energy path through a diesel-electric locomotive, and learn why its diesel engine does not drive the wheels like a car engine.
Steam Locomotive Details
The Motion Outside a Steam Locomotive Helps Time Steam Inside Its Cylinders
Follow a steam locomotive’s valve motion to understand how moving rods help admit and release steam at the right part of the stroke.
Railway History
Rail Joints and Welded Track Leave Different Clues in a Railway Photograph
Rail joints can help you read a historical railway photograph, but they cannot establish a date or track condition on their own.
Steam Locomotive Details
A Garratt Locomotive Carries Its Boiler Between Two Powered Units
Learn to recognise the Garratt locomotive’s central boiler and two powered units, and keep design identification separate from claims about a railway’s history.
Railway Communication
Telegraph Lines Helped Railways Coordinate Trains Beyond the Station
Look beyond rails and locomotives to understand how depot telegraph work connected train crews with instructions, and how to examine surviving evidence carefully.