Gas turbine on and off to run it only at high efficiency. The emergence of the continuously variable transmission may also alleviate the responsiveness problem. Turbines have historically been more expensive to produce than piston engines, though this is partly because piston engines have been mass-produced in huge quantities for decades, while small gas turbine engines are rarities; however, turbines are mass-produced in the closely related form of the turbocharger. The turbocharger is basically a compact and simple free shaft radial gas turbine which is driven by the piston engine's exhaust gas. The centripetal turbine wheel drives a centrifugal compressor wheel through
Gas turbine locomotive look suspiciously high for the specified speeds. It seems more likely that the figures quoted are for starting tractive effort and maximum speed in high gear and low gear respectively. There is a model of the proposed locomotive at Glasgow Museum of Transport and some records are held at the National Railway Museum. The Parsons - North British Coal Burning Gas Turbine Locomotives Talk at the London Science Museum 12 April 1995 by J.R.Bolter Copyright the Newcomen Society Gas turbine locomotive A gas turbine locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a gas turbine.