Both my father and grandfather, both of whom had connections to steam locomotives in their life are undoubtedly cheering this story(wherever they are) from the BBC. So am I. Inconveniently, it runs on coal.
Steam train’s snow rescue ‘glory’
Passengers were rescued by a steam locomotive after modern rail services were brought to a halt by the snowy conditions in south-east England.
Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail.
Some commuters at London Victoria faced lengthy delays until Tornado – Britain’s first mainline steam engine in 50 years – offered them a lift.
They were taken home “in style”, said the Darlington-built engine’s owners.
Train services in Kent were hit hard by the freezing conditions at the start of the week.
The weather-related disruption included three days of cancellations for Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel.
Tornado, a £3m Peppercorn class A1 Pacific based at the National Railway Museum in York, was in the South East for one day, offering “Christmas meal” trips from London to Dover.
…
About 100 people were offered free seats, according to Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust – the charity which built Tornado.
…
Mr Allatt, who was on the service at the time, said he only saw a handful of other trains between London and Dover throughout Monday.
…
A spokesman for Southeastern Trains congratulated Mr Allatt on his “moment of glory”.
He said: “I’m sure those passengers were saved from a lengthy wait, all credit to him.”
Read the complete BBC article here
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Kudos to the British railfans who raised large sums over the years to build a new Tornado from scratch. It’s a beauty!
Nothing ever made by man has had quite the power of thrilling the bystander as a great steam locomotive rushing by at speed.
/Mr Lynn
I think I can, I think I can.
The Little Engine That Could
I thought I could.
PS What a great Christmas present!
/Mr Lynn
What are the products of combustion from a fuel and air (generally; ignore trace compounds)?
CO2 and _____________?
(Fill in the blank. The engine might also be fuel-oil fired, resulting in less soot and better control of the fuel/air mixture. An ‘old boy’ who worked as a stoker on a naval vessel once told me it is all in the A/F ratio as to how much ‘smoke’ is produced.)
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Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail.
I thought increased snow was “consistent with” AGW, since everything else is.
Thes rail segments really didn’t freeze or contract did they?
Well, I read The Andromeda Strain in the early ’70s, and Crichton has achieved much more than Crowley is likely to, so I guess I better read State of Fear.
Ah, the many memories, perfect for Christmas when the airwaves racket with the inspirations of our beloved lost cultural beliefs, our grandparents, church hymns once a commonality, now forbidden in schools. The old recipes come out today, our grandmother’s diary from 1934, the hot fall weather in Alberta, Canadians eternally evaluating the current state of the postal service.
I remember the smell of coal burning when I was three years old, in the winter. Smell memories last a lifetime. When my house was built they had to use mules to dredge the basement. Mike Mulligan’s Steam Shovel was read to all little boys, future engineers enamored with power. 1939. The Little Engine that Could, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
Our grandfathers’ gold pocket watches we still have remind us of their railroad stories,
The present and the past are all we have, the future is not ours, not even in our dreams. It belongs to those young we brought forth and will leave soon behind.
How can a simple old coal steam engine touch our hearts?
The previous season of Top Gear did a race between this train, Jaguar XK120 and Vincent Black Shadow.
Awesome machine. Memorable Top Gear segment.
“kadaka (17:40:57) :
You know, if what you need for a hard-working steam-driven locomotive is a reliable source of heat, but people are worried about the CO2 emissions, you could equip them with a small and simple nuke plant. ;)”
Back in the hey day of Nucs they did have designs for nuclear powered trains, do not know if they ever got a prototype built or not. May have ended up too heavy for the current tracks or too expensive or maybe just Nuc fever died.
Funny thing is steam has had little development for 50 years, except a guy called lollham or something, he produced a steam car in the 1970s (that might be a bit hazy) he also offered a slower version powered by an Alfa Romeo motor. In heavy traffic an external combustion power plant makes better sense. Great to see steam in action. yes England uses diesel, mostly diesel-electric, it is not easy using steam on lines that have overhead wires for the straight electric trains. In the big freeze of 1964 in London I watched steam snow ploughs clear the line for the electric Richmond broad street line through Acton, they dropped dry sand in front of the wheels to get extra traction (10 year old boys with a railway at the bottom of the garden are captivated by that stuff!)
Passenger rail uses more fuel per passenger mile than any other form of transportation. Much more than even flying.
Pardon my ignorance, but how does one donate directly to Anthony Watts, without purchasing weather gadgets?
Reply: Here. http://www.surfacestations.org/donate.htm ~ ctm
M. Chrichton’s “State of Fear” i excellent, as are all of his other books. Once you read Fear, grab the rest.
As for Wikipedia, well, I don’t think anyone here puts too much stock in what they might say about Chrichton.
By the way, if you want to read some of his speeches and essays, go here:
http://www.michaelcrichton.net
A little steam locomotive music with appropriate pictures:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgfHz792Kqs&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Really? Even the electrics that use regenerative braking to return energy to the caternary (the overhead wire and back into the system)?
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Its fiction coming to life! See the Spearfish lake tales story Snowplow Extra:
http://www.spearfishlaketales.com/sx/sx.htm
This is one of our local tourist lines in Sumpter,Oregon.
The Sumpter Valley Railroad.
I was there a few years back with a retired Aerospace Engineer.
Did some work for the USN and NASA.
He was impressed with the intricate nature of steam..
tallbloke (16:47:23) :
Ayup! Leeds eh? I wus there betwixt1982 and 1985 studying Minerals Enginerring, though there were bugger all engineering in´t course.
For the Crichton fans there is always this speech “Aliens cause global warming”:
http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-alienscauseglobalwarming.html
Brilliant speech with an impassioned plea to seperate scientific endeavours from political policy. I could not agree more… politics has no place whatsoever influencing the scientific process.
Atlas Shrugged.
My grandfather was an engineer for the D. and R. G. in Durango, CO. My uncle, Alva Lyons, “saved” the narrow gauge run to Silverton. For many years he was the conductor on that train, but when he was young he ran steam engines around the rail yard. He told us that one time they had a new engineer on the Silverton run who couldn’t make it up the grade. So,he told the new guy to run around and do the conductor job, and he jumped in the cab and ran the train the rest of the way up the grade. Always loved steam trains!
Nuclear Locomotives?
Sure, in the alternate history envisioned by Harry Harrison in his 1972 novel… The UK still has American colonies after that traitor Washington was shot. Connecting the two with a sub-surface rail tunnel requires a nuclear powered locomotive. “A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!” was also published as “Tunnel through the Deeps”. Harry is not the mass market writer Crichton was, but it is a fun read for fans of alternate history and rail.
Warning: Wikipedia and Amazon reviews contain spoilers!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all!
Scott
“Adam from Kansas (16:11:44) :
And the ironic thing is that train must be spewing out much more CO2 than the trains that got stuck assuming they’re burning coal or wood to make the steam.
But anything that pumps out plant food then………”
I agree completely!
Plus the sight of a belching, smoking, powerful engine is just sweet!
I vote for MORE CO2 =
more and bigger plants =
less people starving and less impact from drought and other weather issues.
Ah, the family memories. My great-grandfather was an engine driver on the LMS line (London-Midland-Scotland). The engine drivers were the elite. He would turn up for work in top hat and tails and the stokers would have been working for several hours to ensure the boiler was steamed up so that the engine would be ready for him to drive.
The sound of a steam train is magical. In the early 1960’s I was standing in my front yard, with was about 3/4 of a mile from a rail spur that ran through Arvada Colorado.
At that time, I had never seen or heard a steam train in real live, and out of no where I heard oooOOOHHHHeeeeooo, then it repeated then I could in the far distance hear the chuffing of the locomotive. I knew instinctively that there was only one possible source for those sounds. I jumped on my bicycle and headed off down the hill as fast as I could peddle. I reached the rail line at the bottom of the hill and looked up track in the direction of the sound and could make out the train turning off on a spur that would cross the road I was on about 1/4 mile ahead. I humped up the hill as hard as I could go and managed to top the hill just in time to see the locomotive reach the crossing, and like about 50 other kids I headed off on parallel to the train, as it slowed and pulled into the old rail road station in Olde Town Arvada. It was a special train for rail buffs that came through unannounced (at least to me).
It is a memory I still cherish to recall the sound and the smell and the quiet heart beat of the engine at idle as it went “Chuff , …… Chuff” like the heart beat of some huge friendly monster.
I went home and described to my father the event and my excitement at having actually seen a steam locomotive underway.
It elicited several personal experience stories from him, about him riding the rails during the depression. And something I was totally unaware of, Even into the 1950’s they had some large steam engines that stood by to help push trains over the steep grades in the Rockies, as the diesel locomotives of the day could not pull the grades with long trains which they could easily move in the flat lands.
My Dad refereed to the engines as “Mallet” (pronounced Mally) as described in this article. Apparently he had hitched on steam trains using these massive engines.
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/bigboy/
Prior to the completion of the Moffat Tunnel west bound trains out of Denver went over the Rollins pass grade.
http://railsproject.com/R/Aspfiles/DetailPage.asp?Xfer_Code=80001652
Just because it is old does not necessarily mean it is defective or inferior. The Diesel electric locomotive piggy backed on the diesel electric systems developed for submarines.
Larry
This story is a good example for a theorem that diversity supports the sustainablitity of societies.
The diversity of opinions is important as well. People will eventually thank the “skeptics” for keeping different opinions even though they look like a steam locomotive right now.