United Kingdom
Originally, trains hauled by a steam locomotive would be provided with a supply of steam from the locomotive for heating the carriages. When diesel locomotives and electric locomotives replaced steam, the steam heating was then supplied by a steam-heat boiler. This was oil-fired (in diesel locomotives) or heated by an electric element (in electric locomotives). Oil-fired steam-heat boilers were unreliable. They caused more locomotive failures on any class to which they were fitted than any other system or component of the locomotive, and this was a major incentive to adopt a more reliable method of carriage heating.
At this time, lighting was powered by batteries which were charged by a dynamo underneath each carriage when the train was in motion, and buffet cars would use bottled gas for cooking and water heating.
On modern Diesel multiple unit trains, such as the Virgin Trains Voyager, the engine mounted below each vehicle provides power for that vehicle.
Read more about this topic: Head End Power
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