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Letter Re: Steam Locomotives in a Post-TEOTWAWKI World?
Dear Jim and Family,
Its true that boiler maintenance and safety are a serious concern. As my wife
is a rail fan (train chaser), she knows a bit, and knows people who know a
lot more. One of these was kind enough to send me this info in his reply.
"Bear in mind that the great costs mentioned are all meant to get the
boilers up to federal-mandated standards, i.e. extremely safe conditions. If
you just want to get it to function, you don't have to do near as much work.
The problem of course is that while under steam you have several thousand gallons
of superheated water just looking for a breach in the boiler that will allow
that water to expand something on the order of 1800 times in volume instantaneously.
Boom.
While the concept of a steam engine is simple, its implementation grows more
complex with its scale. How do you inject water into a vessel already at 250
psi? How do you preheat that cold water so that the thermal shock of the water
entering the boiler doesn't fatigue and eventually crack it? How do you deal
with the impurities in the water inevitably left behind as the
water evaporates and departs as steam? There are systems designed to take care
of all of that, but that's just more hardware to break and
repair/replace.
The only restrictions on track depend on the particulars of the engine -- the
curves shouldn't be too tight for its wheelbase and the bridges should be strong
enough to support it."
My thoughts center on use of stainless steel (including the new cheap nitrogen
impregnated stainless steel) listed as Nickel-free
stainless 404GP and 445M2 alloys.
Cheap stainless changes the entire equation on affordable and reliable steam
since you end the spalling problem in the firebox. There's still quite a few
old steam engineers running around, as well as enthusiasts restoring and running
old engines they buy for a $1 and "please remove this from my property" from
the former owner, often a lumber yard with a railroad spur somewhere in the
back. Steam fitters and boilermakers unions have men capable of welding up
pressure vessels. They need the plans, but rail fan associations typically
have those, as well as in archives of existing railroads. Despite the company
reputation,
the people working there aren't all ba****ds. Many genuinely love trains, and
most will keep them running, though the legal issues of running excursions
on active lines is a major regulatory headache. Think of railroad companies
being massively burdened with regulations and you'll sympathize with their
headaches.
The original discussion was regarding restoration of old engines and using
them to haul people around. That's a good idea, for style if nothing else,
but not the best idea for function. If you build steam engines from the ground
up, there's a degree of sense in using hybrid techniques, as hybrid trains
came decades before hybrid cars. A hybrid steam engine running an electric
motor and batteries would resolve a lot of those pressure, maintenance, and
safety issues affecting traditional piston train engines. If any mechanical
engineers are reading, give some thought to designing a modern steam engine
with the advantages of cheap stainless steel, modern pressure vessels, steam
turbines, and automatic relief valves, and an eye towards multiple fuels, from
low quality oil, coal, and even firewood if need be. Thanks to Peak Oil, trains
are our best bet to offer some shipping between cities and
towns, and local transport of goods and people. I think there's a great deal
of merit in this,
and a real future with them, despite their initial hurdles. Best, - InyoKern
