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clinker's Recent Activity

  1. clinker liked Jamessquared's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    And the overall financial efficiency of that? You are falling into the same trap as everyone else, finding ever more elaborate workarounds to enable one technological option while ignoring the total cost of operation. Tom

    Jul 11, 2026 at 2:49 PM

  2. clinker liked Jamessquared's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    Well no, it rather suggests that you have reached the limits of gigantism in steam locos and need to think of diesels or electrics if you want to increase power! The only places which seemed to be able to make giant steam locos work was where...

    Jul 11, 2026 at 2:47 PM

  3. clinker liked Sheff's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    I would say that the unburnt fuel loss was more due the amount of fines that were generated by the screw feed system, which simply passed straight through the tubes and out of the exhaust without ever properly combusting. Take a look at the...

    Jul 11, 2026 at 2:46 PM

  4. clinker liked brennan's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    Probably one of the reasons that Chapelon's work was abandoned by the senior management and the French railways adopted electrification, presumably paid for by the US of A.

    Jul 10, 2026 at 10:30 PM

  5. clinker liked Jamessquared's post in the thread GWR four-cylinder arrangement?.

    How do you propose to fire a 6,000hp steam loco? That’s well beyond the capability of a single fireman, so you fall back presumably on a mechanical stoker - which rather throws away the enhanced cylinder efficiency by creating worse boiler...

    Jul 10, 2026 at 10:29 PM
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