LNWR Glossary

Glossary Results for prefix "con"

Condensing Apparatus	When a locomotive was to spend a great deal of its time in tunnels (e.g. London Underground), the spent steam from the cylinders was not released to the atmosphere through the Blast Pipe and chimney, but was fed back into the boiler via two distinctively shaped pipes.
Conditional train	A train run when required, but required often enough for it to be included in working timetables – and so not a special train. Down, the American Specials were conditional trains. Up, they were special trains, as the time they needed to leave Liverpool Riverside was dependent on when the ocean liner arrived.
Conjugated Valve Gear	A valve gear in which the movement of the inside valve of a three-cylinder steam locomotive is derived via a system of levers from the two outside valve-gears.
Connecting Rod	The rod transmitting thrust from the pistons to the crank pin of the driving axle.
Connecting Rod Pin	A general term for any pin which bears on, or passes through, a connecting rod. Examples include the ‘little end’ and the centre take-off for operating Joy valve gear.
Consolidation Locomotive Class	A locomotive with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement; ‘Consolidation’ was the name given to one of the first of these, built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad (U.S.A.) in 1866.
Consolidation Wheel Arrangement	A generic name for the the 2-8-0 wheel arrangement. See Whyte wheel arrangement.
Continuous Breaks	Brakes that are connected to adjacent vehicles in a train to form one continuous braking system controlled from the locomotive, thus providing an adequate braking force no matter the length of the train. Continuous brakes are arranged so that if vehicles become accidentally detached from the locomotive the brakes are automatically applied. Brake application devices are also available to the guard and in passenger vehicles for emergency use, but only the driver can release the brakes. See also Air Brake, Vacuum Brake and Chain Brake.
Cooke Buffer	Locomotive buffer adopted by C.J. Bowen Cooke for engines built under his regime, in fact a proprietary product made by Wm. Turton and Co. of Sheffield. Identifiable by the comparatively long, half-taper profile of the outer casting, and relatively thin round base. Cooke buffers first appeared on the rear of locomotive tenders, but soon became standard on all LNWR locomotives built between 1910 and 1923.
Corridor Coach	A railway coach with an inter-connecting passageway between compartments and, normally, a connection at the ends of the coach to other corridor or gangwayed vehicles.
The Corridor	‘The Corridor’ was the nickname for the afternoon express from Euston to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen (at 2pm in the years up to 1914), the first train to be composed entirely of corridor stock. The up train left Glasgow and Edinburgh at 2pm and Aberdeen at 10am. For many years their WCJS 65-foot carriages were exclusive to these trains.
Cossart valve-gear	Valve gear with four piston valves per cylinder operated by rotary cams.
Cottered Fitting	A cotter pin is a wedge-shaped solid pin designed to lock a shaft to, for example, a crank or a pulley, by means of a flat on the shaft and a transverse hole in the crank or pulley boss. When cycle chainsets started being produced which used square tapers or splines instead of the cotters employed for most of the last century, they were and are referred to universally as cotterless chainsets.
Coupled Wheels	Wheels that are joined together with a coupling Rod.
Coupling	Part of the draw gear, device for connecting one vehicle to the next. Couplings on goods wagons were simply three links of stout chain (vehicles so connected were termed “loose coupled”.) See also Instanter couplings. Couplings on passenger rated stock were slightly more sophisticated, with the central link being replaced by a screw thread which enabled the coupling to be adjusted so as to keep the adjacent buffers in contact and under compression so as to avoid surging and oscillation.
Coupling Rods	Transfers power from the main driven wheel to the other powered wheels.
Cove-roof coach	Coaches mostly constructed in the 1903-1906 period whose roofs were in the shape of a low semi-ellipse with large radius near the centre and a small radius towards the sides. Previous LNWR carriages had roofs shaped in a simple arc and later carriages had a higher elliptical roof. See examples in this part of the Carriages exhibtion (and following pages) which show examples of Arc and Cove roofs.
Covered Truck	A covered van for carrying luggage or goods.