Exercise 1

Give the Ukrainian equivalents for the following English words and word – combinations:

track; to move for reloading; to earn, the total freight traffic; to carry the nation’s mail; wooden or concrete crossties; to attract more customers; to carry truck trailers loaded with freight; many truck trailers; piggyback service; specially designed ships or trucks; to pull trains of cars; the wheel-and-axle assemblies; to guide the wheels along the track; short movable rails; to run from one track to another; to control train traffic; to make up trains; repairing tracks.

Exercise 2

What’s the English for:

вагон-платформа, вістряк, вантажовідправник, майстерня, прикріплювати, сортувальна станція,стрижень, шпала, гребінь (колеса), колісна пара, внутрішня сторона, менша частка, між, отримувати, вантажівка, намагаються покращити, вагон-платформа, розроблений, пара коліс, контролювати рух потягів, ремонтувати.

Exercise 3

Answer the following questions:

1. How do U.S. railroads earn most of their income?

2. How many cars have the longest freight trains?

3. Do railroads carry more freight than ever before?

4. Do railroads or airplanes and trucks carry most U.S. mail?

5. How do railroads attract more customers?

6. What is piggyback service?

7. What does a railroad consist of?

8. What is track made up?

9. What are the wheel-and-axle assemblies designed to?

10. What is a flange? What does it do?

11. How can a train be made to run from one track to another?

12. What controls train traffic?

Exercise 4

Match the halves of the sentences:

1. Piggyback service a) to repair locomotives and cars.

2. Switches b) to handle passengers and freight.

3. Signal systems c) the use of flatcars to carry truck trailers loaded with freight.

4. Stations d) is made up of two steel rails fastened

lengthwise to a series of wooden or concrete

crossties.

5. Yards e) on each pair of wheels guide the wheels along the track.

6. Shops f) short movable rails that turn on pivots-are built into a track at points where it meets other tracks.

7. The flanges g) to control train traffic.

8. The track h) to make up trains.

Text 4 Rolling Stock. Locomotives

Write down and learn the words:

to pull - тягнути

to push - штовхати

as well as - так саме добре, як

to eliminate - усувати

switch engine - маневровий локомотив

instead of - замість

Read and translate the text:

Most trains are pulled by a locomotive at the head of the train. But some locomotives can push as well as pull. These locomotives are especially useful on commuter lines because they eliminate the need to turn a train around for a return trip at the end of a run.

Locomotives can be classified into two groups by the work the do. Road locomotives haul freight or passenger trains. Switching locomotives, or switch engines, move cars from track to track in rail yards.

Almost all locomotives can also be classified into three groups according to how they are powered. Diesel-electric locomotives use oil-burning diesel engines to turn electric generators. The electric power produced by the generators runs the driving mechanisms that turn the locomotive’s wheels. Electric locomotives work much as diesel-electrics do. But instead of producing their own electric power, they get it from an electrified third rail. Steam locomotives burn coal or fuel oil to produce steam. The force of the steam runs the locomotive.

A few trains are powered by two other kinds of locomotives. Gas-turbine electric locomotives use the force of hot gases to run turbines, which in turn operate electric generators. As in diesel-electric locomotives, the electric power produced by the generator runs the trains. Diesel-hydraulic locomotives use diesel engines to produce energy that is transmitted to the driving mechanisms by means of fluids under pressure.

Railroads in the United States operate more then 21.000 locomotives. Almost all are diesel-electric. Only a few United States railroads use electric locomotives, and none use steam locomotives in regular service. Railroads in most other industrial countries operate both diesel-electric and electric locomotives. Steam locomotives are still used in China, India, and few other countries.