What's your favourite engine?

[Rusty Nails]

For obvious reasons:

"Edward the Blue Engine:
An old and wise tender engine, considered one of the oldest on the railway."

 

[tyred]

I've always had a fascination with the Field Marshal tractor and love the sound of the big single cylinder 2 stroke diesel and it's weird starting procedure, including using a bit of rolled up blotting paper as a glow plug. Diesel engines were more fun then.




That's actually seriously impressive lugging power. A 4 fur plough in heavy clay is a big ask of a 30 HP tractor. It would need some front end weights added for balance. Differential locks were somewhere in the future.

 

[mistyoptic]

For obvious reasons:

"Edward the Blue Engine:
An old and wise tender engine, considered one of the oldest on the railway."

View attachment 773629

Point of Order, Chairman!

That’s not Edward.

THIS is Edward

 

[Drago]

In the dibble the civvy control room manager was an unpleasant lady who was eventually to get the sadk for bullying.

We called her the Fat Controller.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I've always had a fascination with the Field Marshal tractor and love the sound of the big single cylinder 2 stroke diesel and it's weird starting procedure, including using a bit of rolled up blotting paper as a glow plug. Diesel engines were more fun then.




That's actually seriously impressive lugging power. A 4 fur plough in heavy clay is a big ask of a 30 HP tractor. It would need some front end weights added for balance. Differential locks were somewhere in the future.

A friend of mine is from a farming family
When he was a teenager, he restored 2 (series 1) Field-Marshalls
Yes, it’s an interesting way of starting them
Plus, the firing cartridge (essentially a shotgun cartridge, minus the lead-shot)

Oh!!, & a hammer

It’s a big piston (4-litre/single-cylinder!), & a 2-stroke

 

[BrumJim]

The Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C, the biggest of the ultra-large marine diesels. 14 cylinders and over 1,800 litres displacement per cylinder.

Anything with steps down into the crank case is monumental, but looking at the other details that can be used on an engine of this size that just isn't practical for any other diesel engine installation just blows my mind, such as crosshead bearings, split lubrication, directed cooling, etc.

 

[figbat]

The Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C, the biggest of the ultra-large marine diesels. 14 cylinders and over 1,800 litres displacement per cylinder.

Anything with steps down into the crank case is monumental, but looking at the other details that can be used on an engine of this size that just isn't practical for any other diesel engine installation just blows my mind, such as crosshead bearings, split lubrication, directed cooling, etc.

This is the biggest of the type I referred to. I used to develop oils for these engines and always jumped at the chance of an engine room visit. It’s like honey I shrunk the crew; various parts of the engine look just like ones you are familiar with from ‘normal’ engines, but at a massive scale. Like the exhaust valves, crankshaft, con-rods etc.

And running just a bit above 100 rpm.

 

[Drago]

Don't they call these giant marine engines "cathedrals" or some such?

 

[Profpointy]

. The pilot could ingest a lot of castor oil, which could give him the runs.

I dare say a bunch of Fokkers shooting at you didn't help in that department either

 

[Jameshow]

Amazed that the thread got to this page before the mention of Concord

I grew up near Liverpool and my Dad used to live on Melling Road - the one they close for the Grand National to cross it every year

so Grand National day was always special to us

for many years we ignored the horses and all that and went to Liverpool Airport to watch Concord land and take off
she used to come up from Heathrow on a subsonic champagne flight filled with people who then went to Aintree

then used to re-fuel and take other people out over the Atlantic super-sonic on a joy ride and back


then after the race she took the race people back

so in one afternoon 2 landings and 2 take-offs on a small runway with viewing under the approach and right by the start of the runway
as you can imagine she didn;t have a lot of room to take off so started at the very end of the runway - which was damn close to an unofficial viewing place!

Amazing sight and the sound was awe inspiring!!


one year we actually went on the super sonic trip - which was a trip to remember beyond all others
(except my Honeymoon i case my wife reads this!!)



so - Rolls Royce Olympus as used on Concord


closely followed by the ones on the Vulcan
as I read somewhere - how they managed to stick 4 of those on a plane and STILL make it sub sonic is anyone's guess!

Because it's a flying brick paper aeroplane whilst Concorde is the traditional fold paper aeroplane

 

[figbat]

Don't they call these giant marine engines "cathedrals" or some such?

They do.

 

[Yellow Fang]

The Leyland L60, which was developed for the Chieftain tank. It was an unreliable engine, but I was intrigued it was designed to run on a variety of fuels. It was a two stroke engine. I thought they were only used in things such as motorbikes and lawn mowers.

 

[figbat]

The Leyland L60, which was developed for the Chieftain tank. It was an unreliable engine, but I was intrigued it was designed to run on a variety of fuels. It was a two stroke engine. I thought they were only used in things such as motorbikes and lawn mowers.

There are 2-stroke diesels in trucks, trains and ships. Detroit Diesel made a famous range, as EMD (Electromotive Diesel, a division of GM).

I also developed oils for the EMD engines, which needed to be zinc-free (unlike most normal engine oils) because the gudgeon pin bearings were plated with silver.

 

[Profpointy]

The Leyland L60, which was developed for the Chieftain tank. It was an unreliable engine, but I was intrigued it was designed to run on a variety of fuels. It was a two stroke engine. I thought they were only used in things such as motorbikes and lawn mowers.

Many, perhaps all really big diesels are two strokes; ship engines and the Napier Deltic mentioned upthread and I think a fair few down to truck engine size.

 

[Dadam]

Engines I've driven:
Ferrari 355, the flat plan crank V8 - what a glorious howl
Peugeot 205 1.6 GTI, lovely rorty raspy noise, especially with that aftermarket air filter
BMW straight 6 diesel in the 330D (think mine is the N57). Creamy to drive and doesn't even sound like an oil burner.

Engines I've experienced at a close remove:
F1 cars from the V10 era, hammering up the hill from Eau Rouge.
RR Merlin of course
Avro Vulcan jet