Sd.Kfz.2 (Kettenkrad)

 In the film Saving Private Ryan, there is a scene where American troops in Normandy after D-Day are driving a German Sd.Kfz.2 half-track motorcycle; better known as the Kettenkrad. This vehicle was designed by the Wehrmacht to pull heavy loads, travel over rough ground and fit inside a JU-52 transport plane. The crew was one driver and up to two passengers.

 8,345 of the vehicles was built by NSU Werke AG From 1941 to 1944. It saw action in the Soviet Union, Italy, North Africa and Normandy, France. It was powered by an Opel 1.5 liter, four-cyclinder, water cooled, gasoline engine. Typical of German half-track vehicles during WWII, the Kettenkrad had overlapping, interleaved wheels. This arrangment was thought to provide a smoother ride over very rough terrain. Its top speed was 70 km/h (44mph) and it could climb 24°slopes.

 My model carries the marking of a reconnaissance unit of the  91 Luftlandedivision (air tansported division) that saw extensive action in France after the Normandy invasion.

U.S. Army Intelligence made a contemporary analysis and description of the Kettenkrad, which is available at: http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/kettenkrad.html.

#WWII #Wehrmacht #Kettenkrad #motorcycle #half-track #Blender #Cycles

Novelty Steam Engine

 The great lightness of this engine, (it is about one half lighter than Mr. Stephenson’s) its compactness, and its beautiful workmanship, excited universal admiration; a sentiment speedily changed into perfect wonder, by its truly marvellous performances.  It was resolved to try first its speed merely; that is at what rate it would go, carrying only its compliment of cote and water, with Messrs Braithwaite and Erickson to manage it.  Almost at once, it darted off at the amazing velocity of twenty-eight miles an hour...

Mechanics Magazine, Vol. 12 (1830).

 

The Novelty locomotive was built by John Braithwaite and John Erickson at Braithwaite’s workshop in London specifically to be entered in the Rainhill Trials for the new Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829. Unfortunately, they only had seven weeks notice of the trails in which to built their engine. While the Novelty was admired for its speed, engineering and workmanship, it suffered several breakdowns during the trials and never completed the competition.

#Novelty #steam #engine #Liverpool_and_Manchester_Railway #Blender #Cycles33

Catch Me Who Can

Seven years ago Susan and I visited the Welsh National Museum in Swansea to see the full-sized, operating replica of Richard Trevithick’s 1804 steam locomotive, the first steam engine to run on rails. I took a lot of photos of the engine and built a model in Blender. This summer I discovered that Trevithick had designed another locomotive in 1808 named Catch Me Who Can. This engine pulled a couple of carriages for passengers who paid one shilling to ride the train on a circular track in London. It was a popular attraction until there were two derailments due track failure. The collapse of the project contributed to Trevithick’s eventual bankruptcy.

 The locomotive was built at the Rastrick and Hazledine foundry in Bridgnorth, England. Today a restoration of the original loco can be seen at the Bridgnorth station of the Sever Valley Railway.

#Catch_Me-Who_Can #steam #locomotive #Trevithick #Severn_Valley_Railway #Blender #Cycles

The Agenoria Locomotive

 This strange looking contraption, named after the Roman goddess of activity and industry, was built in 1829 by the Foster, Rastrick & Co. in Stourbridge, England. It was purchased by a mining partnership near Kingswindsford, England to haul minerals three miles to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The locomotive served on this line until it was retired in about 1864. The original locomotive has been restored and is on display at the National Railway Museum, York. This Blender model is based on photos of the locomotive in the N.R.M.

In an interesting footnote this story: Three engines, nearly identical to the Agenoria, named Stourbridge Lion were purchased by an American engineer representing the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. These were delivered in New York in 1829 and tested on specially prepared rails in Pennsylvania. This was the first use of steam locomotives on rails in the United States. The trials were a success for the locomotive. However, due to an error in the specifications (the locomotives were twice as heavy as expected) and the trial runs destroyed the tracks. The engines were never actually used.

 

Planet Carriage

At the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, the replica of Stephenson's Planet locomotive takes tourists for a ride in carriages like this one.

Stephenson's Planet

 

In November 1830 the Planet locomotive set a speed record travelling 30 miles (50 Km) in one hour. It was the ninth engine sold to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway by Stephenson’s company just one year after his Rocket engine won the completion to supply the L&MR. The Planet incorporated several advances in design and engineering. It was the first to use horizontal cylinders mounted internally. In total Stephenson built six Planets for the railway and a further three were made by another company using Stephenson supplied drawings.

My model is based mainly on the replica made in 1992 by the Friends of Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, but without some of the modern instruments and devices used on the replica.

Stephenson's Rocket

 

In 1829, Robert Stephenson’s Rocket locomotive won a competition to power the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. It was engineered and built at Stephenson’s iron works in Newcastle upon Tyne with advice from Robert’s father George. The engine had a maximum speed of 45 kph (28 mph.) The opening ceremony for the L&MR was held at Liverpool on 15 September 1830. Unfortunately, the Liverpool Member of Parliament, William Huskisson, while trying to lobby the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, fell out of one of the carriages and was run over by the train and killed. This Blender model is based primarily on the version of the engine in the National Railway Museum, York.

#Rocket #Stephenson #locomotive #engine #train #steam #Blender #Cycles