More than forty different kinds of locomotive work for the railroads.
Some of them haul freight, and some are passenger train engines. Some
are steam locomotives, some are not.
Steam locomotives all need water to make the steam that makes the wheels
turn. But they don’t all get it in the same way. One kind never has to
stop and wait for its tender to be filled. Instead it has a scoop that
dips down as the engine passes over a long track-pan of water set
between the rails. With no time lost, the scoop sucks up water into the
tank. The men say, “She’s jerked a drink.” In winter, the track-pans are
heated to keep the water from freezing.
Two kinds of locomotive don’t even need water. Electric engines use
electric current instead of steam to turn the wheels. They get the
current from wires along the tracks. Diesel-electrics are more
complicated. They have oil-burning engines that make electric current
right in the locomotive, and this current runs motors that turn the
wheels.
There are several engines inside a Diesel-electric locomotive. If one of
them gets out of order during the trip, the others keep on delivering
power while the one is repaired. The engineer and the fireman sit in the
cab at the very front of a Diesel-electric. They can watch the track
through front windows.
[Illustration]
The cab is at the front of the engine shown on this page, too, but it is
a steam locomotive. It burns oil instead of coal, so the cab doesn’t
have to be right next to the tender. The men call it the Big Wamp. It
hauls tremendously long freight trains across the Rocky Mountains. One
siding where the men stop to eat is so long that there has to be a
restaurant at each end!
[Illustration: SANTA FE 6000 DIESEL