I am aware of two locomotive test plants in the past, in the U.S.: Purdue and Pennsylvania RR. Were there any others?

Didn't the N&W have one as well?
What about the locomotive builders, surely one of them must have had one...

For some reson I'm thinking that the University of Illinois had one as well as the New York Central.

If I remember correctly the NYCRR did not have a locomotive test plant. They had a stall in West Albany shops setup for testing boiler output, fuel consumption, etc.

Most locomotive testing was done on the Mohawk Division where there was some nice flat straight track. They would use a dyno car, a load train (20+ coaches) and a brake locomotive to load down the road loco. This is where they figured out the most efficient valve settings for each speed. Then they machined a custom cam for the loco pilot indicator for that class of locomotive.

There are some photos of the Niagara's being tested there. Since electronics where limited back then they put folks on the front end of the loco (behind a safety cage) and they would telephone back to the Dyno car front end pressure readings, etc.

Cheers, Kevin.

U of I and The IC were joint owners of the IC’s Dynamometer car.
http://www.stlouisnrhs.org/MOT_Treasure ... 201102.htm

The University of Illinois did have one as well, possibly the one earlier owned by the Chicago & Northwestern. When I was at Illinois the building still stood near the power plant to the east of the IC tracks. Professor Goss, who installed the first of these at Purdue, moved to the University of Illinois and obtained this one.

A quick Google search found this description of the University of Illinois test plant: The Locomotive Testing Laboratory and Reservoir was built in 1912 with an addition in 1914. Together the building and its addition cost $34,270 and were built to house the University's new railroad car and its associated testing facilities. Designed by W. Zimmerman, the brick building measured 117 by 42 feet, and housed a "locomotive testing plant" with "supporting wheels on which rest the drivers of the locomotive to be tested, a dynamometer to which the locomotive drawbar is attached, and which measures the tractive force exerted by the locomotive, water brakes for absorbing the power developed by the locomotive, and other auxiliary apparatus". Connected "by a spur" to the Illinois Traction System railroad tracks, the laboratory could easily exchange cars with the main rail line. The exhaust fumes generated by the running engines were evacuated through an "asbestos board duct" to a blower that forced the air through a "reinforced concrete cinder separator [that] removes the cinders and discharges the gases into the air thru a brick stack eighty feet in height".
Known as the Aeronautical Laboratory by 1948, today the building is largely used by the physics department for storage. The Brake-shoe Testing Laboratory was immediately to the west of the Testing Laboratory and facilitated more specialized testing. By the 1960's it was known as the Railway Wheel Laboratory.

And this list of other US test plants in an article entitled: “A New Locomotive Testing Plant,” in Engineering News, May 8, 1913, pages 960 – 963.

The Purdue plant was erected in 1891, followed by a temporary one in South Kaukauna, WI, in 1894 on the C&NW. The temporary one was followed by a permanent C&NW one in Chicago. In 1899 Columbia University erected one in their mechanical engineering laboratory after getting a donated locomotive from Baldwin. The PRR plant was first erected at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 and then moved to Altoona.

So I was wrong about the origin of the U of I plant and the building is still being used. The Columbia one is new to me and I suspect many others.

Here you go. This is just east of the University Power Plant but not the Abbott plant you're thinking of. The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (once called Engineering Research Laboratory) was, I was told, once the power plant. IT would have been within ten feet outside the north wall of that building. I've not independently verified that it was the once the power plant but it makes sense.

As for this building, with the trolley wire connection I'd always assumed it had been an IT carbarn until I found out it was where the locomotive test plant had been. (Hope someone saved all that data!) As a student there, I do remember seening RR wheels stacked outside a small building to the west. I think they must have been using a steam turbine fed off the university steam system to spin the wheels for their tests as white clouds would billow up when they were doing something.

Steve
UIUC Class of mumble-mumble
(Let's just say it was in the heyday of PLATO, which was headquartered in ERL)

http://plato.filmteknik.com/

The N&W Ry Locomotive Test Plant.

http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=17498

Currently preserved under cover at the Virginia Museum of Transportation

So, the Purdue plant was the FIRST locomotive test plant in North America?

I guess I'll show my steam locomotive ignorance here, but when I see the term "test plant" I think of PRR's Altoona test plant where steam locos were wheeled into a dedicated laboratory building and were made to operate on a wheeled/roller test bed in a static environment. This was typically done sans tender.

I see quite a number of responses above referring to a dynamometer car as a test plant. I suppose this is an accurate term for these cars, but I wonder if Softwerkslex was asking about a PRR-type test plant versus the more prolific dynamometer cars.

PRR's test plant was more than just the steam loco testing facility and incorporated testing of everything from light bulbs to the quality of lube oils used. It was a big operation for the Standard Railroad of the World.

Thanks!

Yup, just referring to stationary bicycles for locomotives. A dyno car is not part of the classification.

Links to related threads:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34656

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34663

I wonder if any of the testing equipment (rollers, water brakes, etc.) is still in the building?

Kevin, do you know where the photos of the Niagras being tested would be? I don't know if anyone else on this site knew a guy Harold Crouch. Harold had the hearing of a boiler maker and used to come to the Waushakum live steamers each year up until he passed away recently. I recall him telling me of how he lost his hearing sitting up by the pilot taking indicator card readings! It must have been one hell of a ride at 70+mph! If only my memory was better or I had a recorder to preserve that conversation.