The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

MODmanMax · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 4:17 pm Post subject:

I have a sonic screw driver which can do up the bolts on the thorium reactor.

It has a picture of David Tennant on the box.
_________________
Classic Hobbies
Steam Engines, Model Boats, Collectables

dampfmaschinenjoe 1967 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 5:47 pm Post subject:

Most people forget to mention that electric driven locos are only kind of GREEN, when powered by electricity taken from Waterpower. That´s mostly right in Switzerland and they had an electric railwaysystem very early there . But in any other country in midlle Europe the railway buys the most cheap enegry to fuel their E- locos: Nuclear power. You don´t see it but it is still there and not as half as green as it seems : Where to go with all that nuclear waste ???????
That needs an expensive reconditioning.-|

In the end a steam loco with improved efficiency has a better environmental friendly energy balance than an electric loco using nuke power..

cheers Joe
_________________
"If manners maketh men as someone said , he´s the hero of the day " G. Sumner

MrMamod · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 6:50 pm Post subject:

redryder · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 7:24 pm Post subject:

First of all, I don't believe the thermal efficiency of a steam engine built today will be that much greater than the one built in 1937 which is likely why they are using it for their project. They are adapting it to go faster but it is a fact that these beasts were fairly advanced as compared to the early locomotives.

I still don't quite get my arms around the term "carbon neutral" as you are still polluting. In many cases you are putting carbon back into the air that was removed many years ago. Wood pellet stoves of today burn a lot cleaner than standard firewood stoves but they all still put carbon back into the atmosphere. Biomass fuel combustion will do the same. I'd still like to see a loco doing 135 mph on steam power. In fact I would love to see that.

I would also like to see a car break the steam powered automobile record again. I truly believe it could be done for a lot less money and headaches than the recent record holder experienced. It didn't go that much faster than the 1927 record setter and that one may have been going considerably faster the day it disintegrated. I would think a modern version using the Stanley design as a starting point ought to be capable of reshattering all official records.
_________________
Steam on,
redryder

My youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/reddrryder/videos

Enjoy!

trentbradbury · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 7:51 pm Post subject:

Tax dollars to refurbish an old locomotive....I certainly have seen the US government spend money in more objectionable way's I give the project a thumbs up ....Except we have ripped up the railbeds and turned them into bike paths
Trent
_________________
The most fun you can have with a glass of water...

Trent Bradbury

Stoker · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 7:56 pm Post subject:

Great discussion you started here Phil ... even if it has wandered a bit from the original point. Thanks for getting the ball rolling!

My two cents worth are also all over the chart, but here goes anyway.

Carbon-Neutral means that the carbon released from the burning of the fuel, is not greater than the carbon removed from the atmosphere/soil by the fuel as it grew, within the time constraints of the current paradigm. So a fuel made from a plant that was grown last year, would qualify as carbon-neutral, while a fuel made from a tree that has grown over the last hundreds or thousands of years would only be a small fraction of carbon-neutral, and a fossil fuel (coal, oil, etc.) would be expelling carbon from ancient atmospheres, and be 0% carbon-neutral.

As for Alcohol fueled vehicles, or even ethanol "enhanced" petroleum products, I am generally not much in favor. My understanding is that it takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol by conventional means, than that gallon produces when burned to make energy. Think about the farm equipment tilling the soil, planting the crop, harvesting it, then shipping it to a distillery. Think about the mechanized processes at the distillery to make the mash and then the energy used to bring it to a boil for distillation. Then there is the energy to distribute it to the consumer, all the while taking food production cropland out of food production and putting it into energy production. If using a waste product from food production to make the ethanol, that is one thing, but here we typically grow corn as a crop specifically for fuel production, and I don't think any carbon-neutrality can be found in it!

Electric cars with battery power, recharged by on-board hydrocarbon engines, or home plug-in, will remain an environmental oxymoron until hydrogen fuel cells are perfected and made widely available at reasonable prices. Probably won't happen as long as there is saleable oil in the ground and the most money keeps buying it to sustain the current internal combustion paradigm. Hydrogen also works very well in internal combustion engines, as well as when being converted to electricity, but that won't happen soon either for the same reasons.

Hint ... many of the photo-electric patents are held by Arco, bought up cheap during early development. Do you think they are going to go into serious competition with their own oil divisions, until their profitable oil reserves are near depletion?

Railroad steam engines of the classical type are almost certainly not going to form a significant part of the future, though steam turbine electrics may well have a future. With a proper condenser system there should be no reason to make water stops, and it is even possible to boost horsepower by creating a partial vacuum on the backside of the system. However, the carrying of fuel on board, and the necessary stops for replenishment, are the Achilles Heel of the self contained steam loco. Probably better to burn the new-grown bio-coal in a centralized powerplant, near the site of the crops, rather than transport the tonnage all around the country.

The chances of taking a used steam engine three-quarters of a century old, and making a new speed record seem quite remote to me, without putting in more money than a new dedicated design and construction would cost. I think Mallard's record is safe for the time being. When it does get broken, it will be such a different animal doing it, that it will be akin to a catamaran beating a mono-hull in a sailing competition. Then again a helium balloon will likely outpace the catamaran "sailing over the waters" in the same conditions, but that's totally a case of "apples and oranges", as will any future high speed steam engines be, as compared to steam locomotives of classical design!

On a final note, I don't think small nuclear reactors travelling around the country through towns and cities, in vehicles certain to occasionally crash at speed, is anything like a good idea. For that matter, the final accounting on the costs of nuclear power in general, is yet to be calculated as there is not as yet an effective program in place for dealing with the wastes created. Certainly it is an incredibly useful and powerful source for specific applications, but ... ?!?!

All that said and done, I'm certainly in favor of finding cost effective alternative fuels, especially if it uses up something that was originally lost as waste, because that too ends up in the environment, whether well used or wasted!

Sorry for the boring length of my meanderings.

_________________
Are we having fun yet?
Yeow!

Bugsy · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 8:07 pm Post subject:

MrMamod · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 8:22 pm Post subject:

Some photo's of me sat in the Record breaking steam car along with Don Wales by the side peering in.

_________________
Old Farts forgot more than they know

The Denying Dutchman · Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 8:30 pm Post subject:

redryder · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 11:12 am Post subject:

redryder · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 11:14 am Post subject:

MrMamod..... You look real good sitting in that car!!!

Gil
_________________
Steam on,
redryder

My youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/reddrryder/videos

Enjoy!

Roly Williams · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 1:14 pm Post subject:

fruitfly · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 1:46 pm Post subject:

Roly Williams · Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 2:45 pm Post subject:

	The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum Forum Index -> General discussion	All times are GMT Page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next
Page 3 of 5