-- Chris Stratton Wollongong, NSW, Australia stratton.chris.cp@bhp.com.auDavid A. wrote in message <35343b64.19133923@news.mira.net.au>... >On Tue, 14 Apr 1998 22:46:36 +1000, Eben Levy <ebenlevy@klever.net.au> >wrote: > >> >> >>John McCallum wrote: >> >>> In article <3534e55f.27203343@news.magna.com.au>, kingpin1@ozemail.com.au wrote: >>> >>> >On Mon, 13 Apr 1998 18:18:46 +0800, "John Fenn" >>> ><j-k-fenn@vianet.net.au> took time out from wrapping gaffer tape >>> >around gerbils and wrote: >>> >>> <Background info deleted.>. >>> >>> >> Here are my big questions. Can anyone tell me :- >>> >>> >> Can you run a steam engine on liquefied natural gas? >>> >>> Yes. The Bally Hooley steam tourist train service at Mossman in Queensland was >>> gas fired. I am not sure of the actual gas used, but I suspect it was LPG. >>> Unfortunately, the train has stopped running. >>> >>> >A steam engine can run on any fuel. All it needs it heat for the >>> >boiler. Of course, solid fuels like timber and coal are the easiest >>> >to use due to their simple storage requirements. Oil fired >>> >locomotives have been used overseas (not sure if they were ever used >>> >here???). >>> >>> The WAGR U class locos were oil fired. Also some members of the J and C class >>> locos of the VR. I suspect some other railways also used oil on some locos at >>> some stage. > >The extent of oil firing on the VR was somewhat greater than this, but >brought about by much the same reasons - shortage of good quality coal >due to strikes, and the shortage of coal of a suitable quality for >firing steam locomotives in Victoria generally. > >The S class pacifics were converted to oil firing in their last years >2 R class (719 and ?) were also converted and were 2 of the last 3 in >regular traffic. >Significant numbers of the A2 and N classes were converted, especially >the later batches of North British built Ns. >Oil firing of the C class gave them a new lease of life. As coal >fired engines they had a reputation of being a little 'short of >breath' on extended long grades. In fact the oil fired Cs actually >outlived the more modern X class which were not converted and >consequently unpopular with crews due to the amount of work involved >feeding the huge firebox. As an aside, the VR did conduct several >experiments with Stug pulverized brown coal firing with an X and R >class, but the experiments were abandoned, possibly due the apparent >superiority of diesel-electric traction. >30 of the 60 strong J class were delivered as oil burners. > >In fact the only broad gauge VR steam classes operating post war with >no oil burning conversions were the D3, K and X classes. The D4, E >and Y class shunting locos (of no consequence numerically) were also >never converted. > ><more snippage> > >David Arblaster, Melbourne, Australia - Remove 'NoSpam' to reply >"What does it mean when a man unearths an ancient urn but buries > his thermos flask in the process ?" Michael Leunig