The unusual trains that ran on Steam AND Diesel - Kitson Still Engine

In this video, we take a look at the Kitson Still engine as well as a few other locomotive that not only had a boiler, but a diesel engine as well

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[lalnablehector]

Honestly really surprised to hear how well the Kitson engine worked, compared to a lot of other experimental engines its drawbacks were very minor. Its a real shame it never got preserved because id love to know what it sounded like!

[Alex-cwrz]

The locomotives is the most European looking, British Locomotives I've seen

[michail]

Let me add some information on soviet hybrids. The first one ("ТП1" in cyrilic or "TP1" in latin) wasn't running on diesel but on fuel gas generated in tender right from coal. That solved the problem with two different types of fuel but produced a new one with gas generator maintenance. The second engine was named "Number 8000". It had an interesting cylinder construction: there were two pistons dividing the volume into three parts. The central was used for fuel combustion and the others for steam expansion. As far as I know the locomotive was used for passenger and light freight trains from 1942 to 1948. The third one ("Number 8001") was designed as a more powerful version of "Number 8000". The war suspended the project and later it was canceled as pure diesel locomotives became available.

[sambrown]

In a similar but different project, some Climax geared steam locomotives were actually converted to burn diesel fuel, using the same cylinders that originally used steam. Apparently, they worked quite well, and I believe that some of these conversions are still in service.

[MrDavil]

If a model of this is brought out the sound file would be quite a challenge!

[aliminator]

I'd LOVE to see a Bachmann model of this!

[Gearz-]

A rare example of an experimental engine being successful. Plus I love both the design and concept of a locomotive like this. Makes me wish they experimented more on this type of engine so they could improve the power and maybe increase the efficiency even more

[cliffwoodbury]

there are so many combination/hybrid engine types that can be made and it would be cool to see them.

[KlingelTimi.]

Very sad! I like the design and the Idea of this first Locomotive. I think just about 5-10 years later (in the 40ies and 50ies) this Engine could be a great sucessful helper.

[Kalvinjj]

That was FAR more complex than I expected, I just thought they had gone with the same route of those electric-steam engines.

[edtheshed]

The first ever bi-modal locomotive if you think about it.

[simonmcowan]

That's amazing, never heard of this, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[megladon]

Sounds like if they had focused the design more around assisting larger trains uphill it might have a had a decent market for a while. Before it was even mentioned in the video I knew it was going to have a ton of tractive effort. Two engines over one wheel set means a huge friction coefficient.

[timbounds]

Seems slightly sad that it didn't get any development, given that the initial prototype seems to have worked remarkably well - many prototypes are disasters areas that need complete rethinks, but this was obviously a concept with potential. There again, as conventional diesel loco tech (and diesel electric locos) were developed, I guess that any advantage over a simpler standard diesel loco would decline over time.

[alsmith]

I've been fascinated by this loco for years... thanks for the video!

[TheHylianBatman]

Very, very interesting!
I had no idea that anybody had done anything like that.

[imitt]

The 5/8 narrow gauge railroad I've spoken about uses primarily diesel locomotives for their regular rolling stock, but the V&T #11 4-4-0 replica they've got uses diesel oil as its heat source for the steam boiler. Which makes a lot more sense than a hybrid diesel/steam locomotive, honestly.

[andrerousseau]

Suggestion for a future episode: the Anderson-Holcroft Mechanical Vapour-ReCompression, semi-condensing steam locomotice. Little-known and VERY interesting!

[skovner]

It must have been a somewhat different Diesel engine than we are used to; the diagram of the stationary engine at the beginning shows a spark plug, and typically, Diesels are compression ignition; they don't use spark plugs.
Quite interesting video.

[detroitredneckdetroitredne]

Hello from Detroit Michigan brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise