If you had to put either steam, diesel or electric trains into ‘room 101’, which would it be and why? ?
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If you had to put either steam, diesel or electric trains into ‘room 101’, which would it be and why? ?
???
Michael Harding:
Being in my eightieth year my memory sometimes lets me down but I'm pretty sure that when I was a member of the Instution of Locomotive Engineers the consensus was that a national network of steam hauled stock had become a financial and operating liability. I doubt that much has changed but nostalgia is always with us … I gather vinyl records are proving more popular than CDs.
Michael I am sure you are right. But again the whole emphasis of the industry post war was to limp along. No real money was put into steam From a central point of view and individual companies were at the forefront of R&D.
I will give an example. Sentinel https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sentinel-Cammell_Steam_Railcar_No_5208_g.jpg#/media/File:Sentinel-Cammell_Steam_Railcar_No_5208_g.jpg made railcars. If I remember correctly, using a low water volume boiler, fully automatic, oil fired at 300psi.
From the website “The unit is articulated, the three coaches sharing four bogies instead of six that would be required if normal practice were followed. The boiler is a Woolnough ‘three drum’ marine type and is oil-fired. It supplies steam to a pair of six-cylinder engines which drive the wheels of two bogies via Cardan shafts. The steam boiler is in one end of the coach (3rd class because of the heat), the middle coach was 2nd class, and the end coach was 1st class. Each coach had a toilet appropriate to the class!
Top speed of the unit is over 60 mph and it seats 186 passengers. It was used on Cairo suburban services, based at El Wasta depot, some 50 miles south of Cairo. It also worked around Tanta, 50 miles north of Cairo. It was withdrawn from service in 1962, when it was put into storage at El Wasta.”
Technical Details
| Boiler | 335 psi three drum water tube boiler. |
| Engine | Two 6 cylinder single acting compact steam engine, driving the last and first articulated bogies of the power car. |
| Regulator | Housed in the boiler room. Controlled by hydraulics from driving compartment at either end of the unit. |
| Control | Notching up of engines by hydraulics from driving compartments. Series of lights to indicate regulator position and notched up position. |
| Boiler Feed | Automatic with a float valve controlling a feed water pump. Standby injector. |
| Fuel | Heavy Bunker C Oil which is heated, strained, reheated and blown under pressure into the boiler firebox. |
| Brakes | Standard Westinghouse air system |
No company, as far as I am aware, found reliable materials to produce, say 1000 to 1500psi boilers and therefore the thermal efficiency was never really improved. And more importantly the UK or Europe did not purchase any, thus giving Rolls Royce who took over Sentinel in 1956, no reason to continue.
Russ
Michael Harding:
Being in my eightieth year my memory sometimes lets me down but I'm pretty sure that when I was a member of the Instution of Locomotive Engineers the consensus was that a national network of steam hauled stock had become a financial and operating liability. I doubt that much has changed but nostalgia is always with us … I gather vinyl records are proving more popular than CDs.
Michael I am sure you are right. But again the whole emphasis of the industry post war was to limp along. No real money was put into steam From a central point of view and individual companies were at the forefront of R&D.
I will give an example. Sentinel https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sentinel-Cammell_Steam_Railcar_No_5208_g.jpg#/media/File:Sentinel-Cammell_Steam_Railcar_No_5208_g.jpg made railcars. If I remember correctly, using a low water volume boiler, fully automatic, oil fired at 300psi.
From the website “The unit is articulated, the three coaches sharing four bogies instead of six that would be required if normal practice were followed. The boiler is a Woolnough ‘three drum’ marine type and is oil-fired. It supplies steam to a pair of six-cylinder engines which drive the wheels of two bogies via Cardan shafts. The steam boiler is in one end of the coach (3rd class because of the heat), the middle coach was 2nd class, and the end coach was 1st class. Each coach had a toilet appropriate to the class!
Top speed of the unit is over 60 mph and it seats 186 passengers. It was used on Cairo suburban services, based at El Wasta depot, some 50 miles south of Cairo. It also worked around Tanta, 50 miles north of Cairo. It was withdrawn from service in 1962, when it was put into storage at El Wasta.”
Technical Details
| Boiler | 335 psi three drum water tube boiler. |
| Engine | Two 6 cylinder single acting compact steam engine, driving the last and first articulated bogies of the power car. |
| Regulator | Housed in the boiler room. Controlled by hydraulics from driving compartment at either end of the unit. |
| Control | Notching up of engines by hydraulics from driving compartments. Series of lights to indicate regulator position and notched up position. |
| Boiler Feed | Automatic with a float valve controlling a feed water pump. Standby injector. |
| Fuel | Heavy Bunker C Oil which is heated, strained, reheated and blown under pressure into the boiler firebox. |
| Brakes | Standard Westinghouse air system |
No company, as far as I am aware, found reliable materials to produce, say 1000 to 1500psi boilers and therefore the thermal efficiency was never really improved. And more importantly the UK or Europe did not purchase any, thus giving Rolls Royce who took over Sentinel in 1956, no reason to continue.
Russ
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