Meanings
- not comparableengineeringPowered by a diesel engine via a hydraulic transmission.
The elimination of vacuum-braked wagons would be slowed down, and the Western Region's flirtation with diesel-hydraulic locomotives was questioned.
2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 522 more examples
In the United States, where the railways are 90 per cent. dieselised today, diesel-electric power is the unvarying rule for independent locomotive units, and the only motive power exceptions are the highly successful 600-h.p. diesel-hydraulic railcars of the Budd "RDC" type, of which between 300 and 400 are now at work.
1958 April 28, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 268In November 1959, a paper entitled "The Swindon-built Diesel-Hydraulic Locomotive" was presented to the Institute of Locomotive Engineers by Mr. G. E. Scholes and it contained some very interesting figures. One set was a comparison between the mileages achieved during a period of the first five months in 1959 by "King" and "Castle" 4-6-0s and "Britannia" 4-6-2s and those of D800 to D805, the first of the Swindon-built 2,000 h.p. diesel-hydraulic locomotives of the "Warship" class, then brand new and subject to the teething troubles of all such complicated units in the earliest stages of their use.
1961 March, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 153
plural diesel-hydraulics
- rail transportA diesel-hydraulic locomotive.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna locomotive driven by a hydraulic transmission system powered by a diesel engine
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
diesel-hydraulic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diesel-hydraulic
“diesel-hydraulic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diesel-hydraulic. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diesel-hydraulic,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diesel-hydraulic.
Source: diesel-hydraulic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.