The strange history of trains ditching electric motors for car-style torque converters

It might sound unlikely, but some trains and diesel locomotives use car-like torque converters instead of electric motors.

Railways and railroads across the globe have evolved for over 100 years, with the biggest changes happening in the 1950s as steam locomotives were slowly phased out.

This led to diesel-electric locomotives taking over, but some new engines built were diesel hydraulics.

These have been found in America and Europe, and amazingly, the use of car-like torque converters can provide a major boost in the torque and pulling power of one of these locomotives.

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Diesel hydraulics work very differently from a more common diesel-electric.

The electric motors are removed, and a large torque converter is attached to the engine instead.

What this does is allow for a wider range of ‘slip’ between the engine and the wheels.

Once the loco has reached a sufficient speed to match the engine speed, fluid is drained from the converter.

That means the engine is almost directly coupled to the wheels of the locomotive.

These torque converters are often found in twin-engined locomotives.

In the UK, British Rail introduced the ‘Western Hydraulics‘ on the Western Region of the rail network.

This was a series of three engines, the Class 35 Hymeks, Class 42 Warships, and the larger Class 52 Westerns.

Maintaining them was trickier, and they were more unreliable than regular diesel electrics, so they were slowly phased out.

Thankfully, a good number have been preserved and are operated on heritage railroads and special tours on mainline networks.

America has also utilized diesel hydraulics.

The length of American freight trains meant that extra torque was needed to shift the large loads, without splitting the trains up.

Germany provided the answer, as it had successfully used diesel hydraulics for some time.

In 1935, loco builder Krauss-Maffei built a 1,400HP diesel-hydraulic that utilized a torque converter.

Germany went on to develop it further with its V200 series of locomotives.

American railroads such as Union Pacific, Rio Grande, and Southern Pacific have all benefited from hydraulics.

It is remarkable how automobile technology can sometimes find its way into other forms of transport.

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