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Experimental 'Balanced' 4-4-0

** Fictional Locomotive

I hereby present a design for a locomotive such that eliminates the horizontal and vertical oscillation of the reciprocating engine. Many attempts have been made in the past to eliminate the ‘Hammer Blow’ effect on the rails by incorporating the use of balance weights on the wheels of the locomotive. I believe that a four cylinder layout on a locomotive incorporating diametric drive will resolve the issue. The action of each piston in the cylinder will be counteracted by the force of the opposing piston on the same side of the locomotive, and the net oscillation will be zero. A further plus to this is the gain of more accelerative torque from the locomotive, as more weight will be present on the drivers by placement of further motion on the wheels. It is worthy to note that any power gained by including the four cylinder layout over a two cylinder layout will be severely hampered by the diameter of the cylinder. Two 7” cylinders will be equal to one 14” cylinder. It is worth noting however, that higher pressure steam can be used in smaller cylinder sizes, the downside to this however is that the balance engine will require both cylinders to be evenly sized and pressurised to assure a net zero oscillation along the axis.

Or, in other words...

This engine was designed by myself to eliminate the rocking motion of conventional puffers. This actually went though a design process that was very similar to locomotives of the 1870s in the UK. I even drew plans out on paper and everything (I have a problem).

This loco comes in two flavours, prototype and production.

In this period, a loco manufacturer would often make a prototype of the locomotive painted in Works Grey to best show off the engine to potential buyers, and when an order came in, would produce the engine.

I have also done this... And also tried to mimic how the engine was advertised. If fictional engines aren't your bag, then that's fine.

But it NEARLY DID exist... look at the last two images above. These are two similar designs that really did exist to the same idea.

Here's a lengthy document I wrote about my fictional engine, if you want to read it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UUl7QBXiA6Yb1F-oBxNlMshWm9wSV5zLifLnWZsBEL8/edit?usp=sharing

And here's a bit of info about 'balanced' locomotives:
http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/balanced/balanced.htm