Gas-turbine locomotive
type of railway locomotive
A gas-turbine locomotive is a type of railway locomotive powered by a gas-turbine engine, using either hydraulic, mechanical or electrical transmission. The term has also been applied to a small number of hybrid designs in which diesel engine exhaust gases drive a gas turbine which is coupled to the driving wheels.
The first locomotive to employ a gas turbine engine was completed in Switzerland in 1941 by Brown, Boveri & Cie who had already built the world’s first industrial gas turbine in 1939. By 1947, twelve gas-turbine engined locomotives were being designed in Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
During the mid 20th century, gas turbine engines were seen as a viable alternative to diesel engines, whose reciprocating design limited power-to-weight ratios. Gas turbine engines generate power using high-speed rotating machinery instead of reciprocating pistons, resulting in a lighter and more compact power plant. Ultimately high fuel consumption prevented widespread adoption with diesel and electric locomotives proving more practical and economical.
Hybrid designs using diesel engines
Historically the term "gas turbine locomotive" has been applied to a small number of hybrid designs in which a diesel-engine's exhaust gases are used to drive a gas turbine which is mechanically coupled to the driving wheels.
Sweden
The Swedish firm Götaverken had started investigating gas generator concepts, where a reciprocating engine’s exhaust would drive a gas turbine, as early as 1923. The fundamental principles and pioneering patents were developed by Erik Johansson, who led gas-generator development at the company until 1959.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1290873. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1939, 1947 and 1923.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gas-turbine locomotive” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.