RAIL ENGINES

Hello! Good morning friends. A nice and cold morning today!

Okay! Today shall we discuss about rail engines!? Yes. The rail engine that pulls us to different locations. Do you know anything about rail engines? Some peoples may know something. But most of the peoples [like me] don't know much about the rail engines. On the last Monday (20 - 04 - 2015), an article was published on the "DAILY THANTHI" newspaper about the rail engines. After reading that, I found it useful. So, I like to share the same with you people also.

I think all of you have seen some characters written in the front side of the rail engines [like WDG 2, YDM 2, etc...]. This is a symbolic representation about the type of that engine.

Types of railway tracks are commonly seen are Broad Gauge (BG), Metre Gauge (MG), Narrow Gauge (NG) and Narrower Gauge.

The first letter on the rail engine represents the type of railway track it runs. How!?

• "W" represents Broad Gauge
• "Y" represents Metre Gauge
• "Z" represents Narrow Gauge
• "N" represents Narrower Gauge

Types of power sources commonly used for operating a rail engine are Diesel, Electricity and Battery.

The second letter on the engine represents the type of power source it uses. How!?

• "D" represents diesel engine
• "A" represents electric engine
• "C" represents the capability of running in DC electricity
• "CA" represents the capability of running in both AC and DC electricity
• "B" represents battery powered engine

Rail engines are majorly used for three purposes. They are carrying goods, carrying passengers and for shunting.

The third letter on the rail engine represents the purpose of that engine. How!?

• "G" represents goods train engine
• "P" represents passenger train engine
• "M" represents engines used for trains carrying both goods and passengers
• "S" represents shunting engine
• "U" represents DMU / MEMU

I think you all have heard about Horse Power [HP] of engines and motors. Okay! The fourth letter/number represents the HP of that engine. How!?

• "1" represemts 1000 HP
• "1A" represents 1100 HP ("A" symbolizes 100)

The above is applicable for any number.
So, shall we see some examples!?

WDG4 symbolizes a rail engine powered by diesel running through broad gauge with a horse power of 4000 HP.

YDM2A symbolizes a rail engine powered by diesel running through metre gauge with a horse power of 2100 HP.

Isn't it so easy!? Okay try it yourselves.


Thank You!