Steam Locomotives, will they ever make a comeback?

wsherrick wrote:Here is another one that was written just two years ago and it compares steam operation and diesel operation at todays costs. This has some good information in it as well.

http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/newsteam/modern50.htm

What got my interest was the concept used in the fire box design. Instead of burning for high CO2 in the combustion chamber they deliberately limited primary air for increased CO and then burned that gas to CO2 with the major part of the air as secondary air.

I wonder just how much of the efficiency of your Glenwood is owing to the secondary air supply doing a better job of burning CO at low burn rates. What would really help is exhaust gas analysis of the many configurations of fire box design.

I have always favored high CO2 but it just might be that the better way is increased efficiency in burning CO above the fire bed instead of in the fire bed.

tsb wrote:Even if it's a good idea. You can forget it. The green lobby will beat it
to death with a sea weed whip.

That was my exact thought as soon as I read the title of this thread. Even if it's better in every way, it will be shelved in favor of expensive, slow, & inefficient "green" technology.

Our grandparents are rolling in their graves.

I still don't get the definition of "green" green to me is using what you have without putting to many man hands on it to change it to a "man made product" what's more green than steam from coal or wood? The trains from the coal fields in Richmond VA were run off wood to transport coal to the city. It's all natural! Even the steel they built these old machines out of was heated by coal fired foundries! Talk about natural and "green" . The "Green" that the EPA or govt. speaks of is green money not natural resource.

I would love to work on a steam engine for day, just for the experience !

I hear that. It's been a longtime dream of mine to build one to run a generator, power a motorcycle, & a truck. Those dreams were dashed after going online & searching for engine assemblies .... $$$$$$$$.

Maybe someday I'll figure out a way to do it myself.

SMITTY wrote:I hear that. It's been a longtime dream of mine to build one to run a generator, power a motorcycle, & a truck. Those dreams were dashed after going online & searching for engine assemblies .... $$$$$$$$.

Maybe someday I'll figure out a way to do it myself.

You need to find some old junk parts , I know there are places out there with steam trains and tractors. You just gotta find them I guess. Usually owned by someone who doesn't go on the net. I'll keep an eye out for you. I have an old car that I bought to use the body parts off of so I'm using some of the other parts to build a steam powered auto.

I wonder how much hassle it will be to register it with the DMV when they ask how is it powered... Ummm steam.

Get some ideas from the old steam cars & try to improve on them, I know the Stanley's used piano wire warped around their boilers for strength, explosion protection & to cut down on weight. With new age materials & lubes & such it just may be doable. Best of luck.

Smokeyja wrote:I wonder how much hassle it will be to register it with the DMV when they ask how is it powered... Ummm steam.

Steam is just a medium to transfer the power, it would be wood, coal, gas or chicken poop power.

Get some ideas from the old steam cars & try to improve on them, I know the Stanley's used piano wire wraped around their boilers for strength, explosion protection & to cut down on weight. With new age materials & lubes & such it just may be doable. Best of luck.

Some cool history close to home

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond ... tive_Works

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/state.c ... e=Virginia

smitty ever run an engine on wood gas ? saw it on that show "the colony" . i lit a torch for a few minutes with wood gas . they used it in eastern europe during WW11 .

sam some of the massive dump trucks they use in mines run by electric motors powered by a diesel generator . really you don't know why diesel fuel is more than gas ? its another way for them to jack the price of goods through the roof . completely by design . for every penny a gallon of fuel or gas goes up it equal one billion dollars over seas / year . out of our economy .

mason coal burner wrote: really you don't know why diesel fuel is more than gas ? its another way for them to jack the price of goods through the roof .

Since diesel is refined less ,it should cost less At least their is more energy in a gallon of diesel than gas so that may make it seem better

AA130FIREMAN wrote:

mason coal burner wrote: really you don't know why diesel fuel is more than gas ? its another way for them to jack the price of goods through the roof .

Since diesel is refined less ,it should cost less At least their is more energy in a gallon of diesel than gas so that may make it seem better

All about supply and demand. It's the trucks and ships that run diesel and the industry knows they need it and they will pay. I don't know why used cooking grease hasn't been put more into use yet.
http://www.greasecar.com/

If I can get a hold of a cheap diesel , I will convert it to burn grease. It's nearly free fuel . The food industry pays for removal of grease, so you offer it for cheaper or free and now you have virtually free fuel.

Their is another issue as well with petrol/gasoline . They put ethonol in it which causes our fuel lines to wear out quicker and poorer performance/fuel economy. This is something mandated on the stations here. It was a BS idea to promote the sale of corn. And it's still not any cheaper than straight gasoline! I can't run the stuff in my older cars or motorcycles it really does a number on them. I had to redo both the carbs on my Susuki after they switched to ethanol .

Can you "stock pile" diesel like you can kerosene? That would be an advantage. My father and I thought about buying a few large tanks of kerosene and converting our old Farmall cubs to run it. They used to do that with older combustion engines. If the sh*t ever hits the fan we can still plow the fields and do what we have to. Kerosene will last forever in those tanks but Gasoline won't last more than 3 months before it starts to go bad.

Here's that green steam power in use. Want that outside your bedroom window?

Reminds me of the neighbor's outdoor wood boiler.