Coal the fuel of the past.

For the last thirty years I’ve worked and specialised in modernising steam locomotives. The main areas I’ve dealt with are combustion and draughting.

As a result of the changing world we live in I have got round to writing the attached paper.

I know that there will be people who will deny or criticise my paper for whatever reason. It is written for those who understand that we’ve to move on and evolve for steam to survive. The paper is based on research and practical development with some areas going beyond the accepted levels of understanding.

 

Before I read it, is it for a PhD?

 

No it’s about physical things not academic.

 

Pretty hard to argue with your points. Change or disappear I fear.

 

Interesting read, thanks for posting. I agree that we have not yet fully appreciated these challenges that face us.
On the other hand I'm not so keen on my locos smelling like chip pans. Yes, I am sure that other fuels will be developed.

As an aside,I used waste motor and vegetable oil in my home foundry, but I am not convinced that is viable for heritage railways as supply is potentially an issue.

 

If it's becoming difficult and/or expensive to obtain, then yes, look for alternative fuels. Maybe, as an added bonus it may be less detrimental to the boiler?

 

Definitely thought provoking. Sooner or later heritage railways and main line operations will have to take environmental considerations into account. (By that I don't mean greenwashing by adding £2.00 to every ticket to plant trees.) The only problem is that the market for HVO fuels is being monopolised by larger operators buying all they can.

Being able to say we're converting our locos to burn reprocessed vegetable oil will be good publicity and keep the environmental extemists from protesting about the industry.


Cheers, Neil

 

I note from a friend tht there was a presentation on oilfiring at the HRA coeferenece today - he saed it was very throught provoking.

 

It was.

 

My concern though is the experience. Coal smoke - or should we say combustion products - for some reason are a lot more acceptable than heavy oil. Living in an SR electric area I have had little exposure to diesel rail. A few years ago I travelled on a 'heritage'DMU and vowed never again.

Hopefully one could manage more efficient consumption than a 50 year old diesel engine and the experience wouldn't be quite so unpleasant but would one come back again? Recycled vegetable oil would presumably be different again and at least a bit better than fuel oil but...

 

Exactly my thoughts. A very through provoking and logical paper. How well does the system transfer across to small engines, not being worked hard and going through infrequent heating cycles?

In some ways a set up like at Mountsorrel might be the worst case possible for any system in terms of how we sporadically use our steam loco, for light shunting duties with long periods of standing around.

On the other hand, we might stand to gain the most out of it. Coal is a significant expense for us when it is isolated even though our usage is relatively small; we might only get through a ton a year. We present ourselves as a community heritage center and we do get good support locally. It might be feasible to press that relationship for donations of used oil as well as feeding directly from our café on site. It would be interesting to know what a conversion might cost and how that would relate to payback for a small set up potentially eliminating their solid fuel costs. The biggest risk to our small museum not having an operating steam engine in the future is that we can't make it financially viable.

 

I think l read that on the WSR they have been running a Class 14 on vegetable oil ?

 

Apologies if previously posted; https://www.bvrw.co.uk/blog/eco-coal-initiatives
We’ve teamed up with Advanced Steam Traction Trust (ASTT), Heritage Railway Association (HRA), Network Rail and the fuel manufacturer Coal Products Limited (CPL) to find alternative fuels for the sector. For a few years, we’ve been trialling variants of Ecoal50. This fuel reduces CO2 emissions by 42% compared to standard coal and is made of waste biomass from the olive oil production process, blended with coal dust.
The work done on the Bure Valley Railway has been trialled on larger standard gauge railways too, with trials and data sharing taking place on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in 2022. This tested formula, created by CPL, featured up to 20 per cent biomass and emitted up to 80 per cent less smoke than traditional coal.

 

Interesting. What is the largest loco this has been trialled on?

 

In France, 141R840 has been tested with Dertal 600, a byproduct of paper production. It will eventually also be used with 141R1199. No on-board air freshener required and no sand to clean the tubes apparently. Not to mention, carbon neutral!

https://transportrail-canalblog-com...ch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

 

Did I read that the K&WVR trialed this with 78022?

 

I would have thought veg oil or veg oil mix would have been a logical step for diesel.

I used to run an old Discovery on 70:30 used veg oil to diesel mix, only thing I needed to do was change the fuel filter a bit more regularly and if it was really cold up the amount of diesel in the tank.

I’ll be interested to hear whether we see application on steam in the UK.

Chris

 

I suppose it does depend on the type of vegetable oil used. Maybe a small dose of Castrol R would be some compensation for the absence of that special aroma of coal smoke !