Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
I know this isn't a train porn thread but this picture
needs sound...
gratuitous video
Misc steam railway, traction, station and rail-related news
- Thread starter editor
- Start date
needs sound...
gratuitous video
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
Something "pretty lit up" for a seasonal change !
Heritage railway decked out with 13,000 Christmas lights - BBC News
Heritage railway decked out with 13,000 Christmas lights - BBC News
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
I know this isn't a train porn thread but this picture
Class 33 at Dover Marine in '77
That‘s one of the Slim Jim Hastings line ones too.
Mumbles274
running from law and the press and the parents
Yep I was gonna post it was a 33/2
hash tag
Books, not bombs
I seem to remember the Great Central did that last year...here it is, back again
davesgcr
Reading books
An impressive railway - read J M Dunn on his tales of working as a loco superintendant on the line in the 1920's when they fought bitter winters , but some good tales about the staff working the line. I belong to a select group of retired railway staff who - up to this year - met for Xmas lunches and summer gatherings. Very convivial with thousands of years of service in each meeting.
I was advised a couple of years ago that one of the members was the last surviving signalman on the line , (from Nantybwch Junction) and I eagerly looked forward to meeting him , - alas the old boy passed on before this could be done. This was the box where according to Dunn - one of the signalmen was a very keen preacher , and he used to practice his sermons on the non-responsive signal levers in the box, in between trains. Wonderful. Only in Wales.
Some of them are brilliant, aren't they. It's like Hornby modelling without the cost and space commitment, so you can be much more ambitious. I must admit, it's something I've actually tried not to find out too much about, since that way lies a potentially very time-consuming hobby!
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
That line is something to study, then. I think I envy your reunions ...
Pity you didn't get to met that signalman. He must have been quite a character.
Reminds me of the stories about Dduallt Station Masters on the old Festiniog Railwat. They either went mad or became great bards ... or possibly both.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
stop and examine - train showing red light at front
davesgcr
Reading books
A lucky find was a book by John M Morgan "Fifty Years within Station Limits" by a career signalman on the line - (2014 published - he has since passed away) -and this work must have been used on his recreation of a lost railway landscape. It is uncannily excellent. On a grey afternoon with a 2000 announcement to come , you need something inspirational like this.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Has anyone mentioned the BFI player yet. Contains lots of great train stuff including this little gem, from 1960. Really highlights where BR went wrong 
player.bfi.org.uk
Watch Blue Pullman - BFI Player
A new luxury express is put through its paces. This film looks over the shoulders of the select band of craftsmen, engineers and operators, whose combined skills try to ensure that a train journey is a delightful experience.
player.bfi.org.uk
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
Has anyone mentioned the BFI player yet. Contains lots of great train stuff including this little gem, from 1960. Really highlights where BR went wrong
Watch Blue Pullman - BFI Player
A new luxury express is put through its paces. This film looks over the shoulders of the select band of craftsmen, engineers and operators, whose combined skills try to ensure that a train journey is a delightful experience.
stop it !
note that there's an HST set doing a "Blue Pullman" impersonation. [Jez Hosking's set running for Locomotive Services TOC] ran on 12 Dec 2020. The same set was due to run the 'Settle & Carlisle Pullman' on 12 Jan from St Pans and on Feb 6th the route was from Bristol Temple Meads & over the S&C. That would have given me two chances to get to Citadel and operate my camera (now a non-starter thanks to covid / lockdown ...
Judging by the few images I've already seen of the HST it looks very good in Nanking Blue and I was looking forward to my "copping" the set ...
hash tag
Books, not bombs
I was on the Watercress a few years back when the engine ran out of steam, but, running out of coal 
Steam railways 'will run out of coal', industry warns
Steam railways 'will run out of coal', industry warns
I was on the Watercress a few years back when the engine ran out of steam, but, running out of coal
Steam railways 'will run out of coal', industry warns
This has been bubbling under for a while, so it's good the BBC have finally picked up on it. As I understand it, the problem isn't that coal will become unavailable but that it will have to be imported and will cost a lot more.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
The other problem with some of the russian & polish coal is that it is filthy stuff to a) handle and b) burn and needs changes to firing practices to be even partially effective, especially in NG locos.
[lighting up the Locomotion replica (in 1990) on some russian stuff was really dodgy / difficult and usually produced enough dense black / yellow smoke we could have had a decent deal from the Navy to supply smoke screening for an aircraft carrier & garned complaints from across the river]
[the polish stuff we had on the 15" railway was also dire, producing a seriously yellow smoke when lighting up or loading the firebox]
[some time afterwards, one of the Welsh NG lines had a load of imported coal that was really difficult to use. I'll paraphrase the conversation of the railway and the coal merchant ...
R: this coal is useless ! CM: why ? R: it dosen't burn well enough to boil water. CM: Oh ... is that a problem ? R :spluttering !!!]
[lighting up the Locomotion replica (in 1990) on some russian stuff was really dodgy / difficult and usually produced enough dense black / yellow smoke we could have had a decent deal from the Navy to supply smoke screening for an aircraft carrier & garned complaints from across the river]
[the polish stuff we had on the 15" railway was also dire, producing a seriously yellow smoke when lighting up or loading the firebox]
[some time afterwards, one of the Welsh NG lines had a load of imported coal that was really difficult to use. I'll paraphrase the conversation of the railway and the coal merchant ...
R: this coal is useless ! CM: why ? R: it dosen't burn well enough to boil water. CM: Oh ... is that a problem ? R :spluttering !!!]
Struwwelpeter
Earthling
Well, they switched some locos to oil-burning in the 1940s when there was a coal shortage. I don't know how successful that was and I can appreciate that there might be problems getting enough heat generated in the right part of the boiler, with too much in the wrong part, but as these engines are not running anywhere near their peak output, surely it would be good enough?
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Union Pacific did some experiments to convert their Bunker C fuelled turbine locos to run on propane. Although that does have some safety implications...
editor
hiraethified
I imagine the environmental impact would be even higher using oil.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Possibly not, if they're currently using dirty, sulphurous coal...
The problem here is that converting locomotives to oil firing is quite a big and expensive job, and probably beyond the heritage railway sector. There's also the question of how far it's right to modify engines, given that part of their value is as historic artefacts.
editor
hiraethified
I was comparing with UK coal which doesn't have to be imported, or go through the refining process.
Converting engines is a non starter anyway.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
Much more recent experience with oil-burning in Wales, both using some very crudy waste oil and nice clean kerosene. "Waste" oil ie recycled oil brought plenty of challenges, but usually worked quite well.
Getting the heat through the tubes is exactly the same as if produced by burning coal.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
No, it isn't, not really.
The Festiniog & Rheildol both had periods using oil-firing very successfully, and then went back to coal.
