FIG. 10_a_.—_G.N.R. Express Passenger Locomotive._ ]
Another type of the high-speed passenger engines used for express trains on several of the great English railways is well represented by one of the Great Northern Company’s locomotives, as depicted in Fig. 10_a_. In this there are a single pair of driving wheels of very large diameter, namely, 8 ft. 2 in., so that each complete movement of the pistons will carry the engine forwards a length of nearly 26 ft. There are outside cylinders, and therefore the driving axle is straight, and the leading wheels are in two pairs, mounted on a _bogie_ which is capable of a certain amount of independent horizontal rotation.
The Stephenson’s link motion, described on page 17, has lately been often supplanted by another arrangement known as Joy’s valve gear, which leaves the crank axle unencumbered with eccentrics, and, as taking up less space, is generally now preferred for locomotives and also for marine engines. Its principle is very simple, and will be readily understood from the diagram in Fig. 10_b_, where _c_ is the spindle of the slide-valves as in Fig. 5, but capable, we shall now suppose, of a horizontal movement only. Jointed to it at D is a rod D E attached to a block at E, which can move only within a slot in the strong bar E F in a circular segment, the centre of which is at D. The bar we suppose for the moment to be immovable, and disposed symmetrically to C D. Now let an alternate up and down motion along the circular segment be given to block E, and the effect will be to leave the centre, D, unchanged in position, and, therefore, in that case the valve will not be moved at all. Now this reciprocating movement is given to the block E by a system of levers (not here shown), jointed to the connecting-rod (K, Fig. 9) in such a manner that the rod D E is compelled to follow the movement of the connecting-rod, but the end E must always travel in the circular segment. We have hitherto supposed this segmental piece to be fixed, but the engineer has the power of so turning it as to tilt either the upper or lower part towards D. If, for instance, the guiding segment is fixed as at II, the block in rising will push in the valve-spindle, and in descending draw it out, as the length of the rod D E is invariable. But if the guides be turned over so as to bring F nearer D than E, the same movement of the block will give the reverse motions to the valve-spindle.