Re: Cockatoo Run to Continue?

[matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au (Matthew Geier)]

In article <36408f61.8947522@news.ozemail.com.au>,
Derek Woodlands <kingpin1@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>'Twas a dark and stormy night on Mon, 02 Nov 1998 17:49:03 +1100 as Eben Levy
><tkid@ozemail.com.au> took time out from the neverending quest to rid the world
>of grues and wrote:
>  
>> To steam a loco 20 times a year is actually worse on it then using it almost
>> everyday, think about the metal fatigue cause each time you light it up.
>
>Perhaps they need to install some type of electric heating elements in it to
>keep the boiler and firebox hot at all times?
>
>Fire Engines (in Sydney, anyway) have such devices fitted to the motors to
>reduce wear and tear on them (at least the older fire engines did, dunno about
>these new ones).  They used to stuff a lot of engines by flooring a cold motor.

 This is quite common on 3000Kw standby diesel generator sets as well, they
circulate warm oil and water through the engine at all times so that when
started they can go to full load in a matter of minutes instead of 10s of
minutes. Telstra do this in their telephone exchanges.

 Keeping a steam locomotive stationary but hot for a week or more might
actually do more harm than good anyway, besides costing a lot in power.

 Ive got a book some where about the Flying Scottsman where there is a piece
about it being involved in 2 weeks of near continious running. They expected
the engine to use large quantities of lubricating oil and need lots of minor
adjustments during this time. However they found after a few days of running,
it settled down and started to be a lot easier to get a long with than they
had ever experienced. (Since preservation that is...)

 Ive never been present at a light-up, but I have been at Thirmere in the shed
when an engine was being put out. The creaks and bangs that came from inside
as things cooled down were some what scary. It cant do the machine any good to
have all that movement.