Apparently, in 1986, an experimental gas turbine QJ locomotive N0. 8001 was built
at Datong Locomotive Works in an effort to improve steam locomotive efficiency.

Who knew? I always wondered why the Chinese did not pick up where the PRR left off.

Not much info I could find - other then a Bachmann Spectrum model and this page.
I got wind of the engine as an E-bay listing.

Wonder how this thing worked? The turbine was in the tender and gas powered.

http://www.trustdeal4you.com/Chinatrain ... J0001.html





/Mitch

Sometimes you get lucky--almost the first hit on "QJ 8001:"

http://www.railography.co.uk/info/cn_st ... les/qj.htm

"A number of experiments were carried out in the 1980s. QJ 6191 carried the experimental oblong ejector, a modified blastpipe and increased superheater area resulting in a modest improvement in thermal efficiency. QJ2 0001 was a very unconventional locomotive designed in conjunction with the China Academy of Railway Science. The tender carried a coal gasification plant which fed gas to a burner in the firebox of an almost normal QJ. As far as is known, it only made three unsatisfactory test runs and was eventually converted to a conventional loco and sold to industry as QJ 7291 in 1992."

A look at the apparently preserved tender certainly suggests something along these lines--take a look at the huge pipe coming out where the stoker tube would normally be:

http://www.trustdeal4you.com/QJ0001L.jpg

Once again, I am amazed at what people find, and share, on the internet; how do we thank them all?

People shouldn't tempt me this way; I get curious to the point of distraction:

http://www.railography.co.uk/test/qj8001.htm

http://www.softwaretesting.no/chinarail ... story.html

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/S ... ssage/7785

http://www.railwaysofchina.com/preserved.htm

Wardale mentions this locomotive (QJ0001) in his book, "the Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam". The Chinese were aware of Argentinian engineer L.D. Porta's work with the Gas Producer Combustion System (GPCS) and that it could dramatically improve the combustion efficiency of coal-fired steam locomotives. Rather than consult Porta, the Chinese apparently tried to build their own based on their scant knowledge.

They tried to follow stationary coal gasification practice which uses huge stationary gasifiers under carefully controlled conditions to make "producer gas" from coal. Hence the monstrosity in the tender of the locomotive in the photo. A large duct had to be run from the Gas Producer on the tender to the locomotive to convey the hot producer gas to the firebox. Coincidentally, producer gas is mostly poisonous, flammable carbon monoxide. Apparently the ductwork was never able to be made gas-tight and there was a significant danger the crew could be asphyxiated or incinerated. After several near-disastrous attempts to make it work, they wisely gave up. There may be a turbine in the tender but it has nothing to do with propelling the locomotive. Later, Wardale had more success with his modifications to QJ 8001 which used Porta's GPCS.

With Porta's GPCS, the gasification process all takes place within the locomotive's firebox. Restricted opening grates are fitted to the firebox in combination with ducts in the firebox walls which admit highly turbulent air streams above the fire. The ratio of air admitted below the fire is changed from nearly 100% in a conventional firebox to about 30% in a GPCS equipped locomotive; the remaining combustion air is admitted above the fire. A small amount of exhaust steam is admitted under the grates where it mixes with the air rising through the coal bed which enhances gas production and cools the firebed to prevent the formation of clinkers. Most of the heat is produced from the combustion of producer gas above the firebed rather than the direct combustion of the coal itself. A highly efficient exhaust system (such as Porta's Lempor) is necessary to provide efficient pumping to make the system work properly. The GPCS significantly reduces unburned coal loss (particularly at high firing rates).

Read more here: http://www.trainweb.org/tusp/firebox.html

BTW- the model appears to be of QJ0001, not 8001. 8001 looked fairly conventional apart from the "oblong ejector" (an unlicensed Chinese copy of the patented Giesl ejector) and some ductwork around the firebox sides. Wardale was so disappointed by the failure of his efforts in China I don't believe he took any photos of 8001 and preferred that no one else take photographs of it either!

Wardale was hired by the Datong Works in the late 1980's (?) to devise improvements for the QJ. He prepared complete construction drawings for a "QJ2" locomotive which was unfortunately never built. It would have had all roller bearings (axles and rods), improved superheat, GPCS firebox, triple Lempor exhaust, improved valves, and a host of other improvements. After spending over a year on this effort, Datong dropped the project without building anything. Apparently the only physical results of this year-long project were QJ8001 and several pallets of brand-new very expensive imported SKF roller bearings purchased for the QJ2 prototype.

I should note that Wardale found that the GPCS on 8001 didn't seem to work very well with Chinese coal. Their coal was of fairly low BTU value and tended to be practically pulverized by the time it made it to a locomotive tender. Based on the accounts of the experiments with 8001 in Wardale's book, Porta wrote an entire detailed technical paper on relatively minor changes that could be made to the GPCS to optimize its performance with even Chinese coal.