The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

[Bugsy]

This could be interesting.
http://www.gizmag.com/csr-project...UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

Phil

[MODmanMax]

Lets get one thing straight. The only way to be 'Carbon Neutral' is to be dead.

CSR "the sugar refining company" like the Midnight Oil song says, killed millions with asbestos. A legacy we are still living with.

Now they want to be all clean and green and seeking a bit of friendly publicity. What a crock.

I am all for clean technologies but this does not make any sense.
The sugar industry already produces large amounts of electricity from burning the bagass left over from the sugar process which gets used on site and fed back into the grid. I am sorry but an electric train makes more sense.

Steam trains are romantic and lots of fun but lets be realistic they are not clean, green or even economical when compared to the alternatives. If they were we be still using them today.
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[zzubnik]

[Stitch1615]

Seems like a lot of work when a small nuclear reactor would do the job.
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Stitch

Hot Tip: Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.

http://toysteamparts.com/patches.html
                               

[MODmanMax]

[Stitch1615]

Unfortunately it seems that steam trains are a dead horse.
They are a proven concept but until they find a really clean power source It's unlikely we'll see a comeback.
Where is that Flux Capacitor when you really need it? "All Aboard for 1925"
(We are only going back. Forward could be worse then you've ever imagined.)
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Stitch

Hot Tip: Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.

http://toysteamparts.com/patches.html
                               

[The Denying Dutchman]

[kevininasia]

I think this is great. There are huge quantities of biomass that just go to waste. If it can be converted to a solid fuel that locomotives like these could use, then I'm all for it. Personally I would love to see steam trains back on the rails in larger numbers.

I'd have to agree that burning the fuel in a centralised, high-efficiency power plant and then using the electricity to power low-maintenance electric locomotives would seem to be a better approach, but if they want to do it this way, fine by me.

Max, you have a rather extreme definition of "carbon-neutral".
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Regards,
Kevin


We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
Jawaharlal Nehru

[Stitch1615]

What I love is "bio-mass".  
It used to just be "garbage" but now it's "bio-mass".
Seems like when you pretty up the name it's not such a problem.
We had "garbage dumps" for years now it's a "landfill" and it has a more appealing usefulness.
It's still a DUMP and it's still Garbage and there is too much of it.
No generation in history has been more disposable then we are.
Finally, we are getting around to some responsibility and finding better uses for our garbage.
Were we not up to our asses in it we'd probably not done anything about it.

Think about the plastic bottles alone that we throw away.
They say it's enough to circle the globe 3 times. 3 TIMES!
What is that,, 80,000 miles? One third the distance to the moon!
Of course we don't cut production, we had to figure out ways to recycle them
because they don't degrade and they don't burn clean.
Then there is styrofoam.
Ohhhhhh. Somebody STOP ME!!!  

Ok enough rant. Just think Glass.
It's reusable and when you've had enough you can use it to slit your fookin' wrist.
Try that with styrofoam.
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Stitch

Hot Tip: Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.

http://toysteamparts.com/patches.html
                               

[46u]

I am going to wait and see. 30 years ago we did not even think we would have a least one PC in most houses. The way technological is this day and age I no longer say never. I am for any hope of more steam locomotives.  
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[giovanni]

Best solution is magnelev propulsion with solar thermal steam plants, wind alternators, geothermal and photo voltaics along the rail routes. The railroad companies could become the new electric power suppliers, making a fortune and suppying high-speed transportation. What the US Pentagon has spent since 2000, it could have been built  and employed millions of Americans.
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Kind Regards,
Giovanni

[johnreid]

I do not think that they are in any way related to Colonial Sugar, just have the same initials
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[Dean W]

[scorpion2nz]

ahh to be Green or not to be Green

you talk about changing names of crap to make it sound more appealing .

You try being a Dairy Farmer over here  and arguing with the Greenies.

1 case being PKE    Pal Kernal Expeller  

now this dry dusty crap is a byproduct of the Palm Oil Industry

Clear the forest,grow Palms ,Crush the kernals  for the oil  that gets used for everything to keep the world going .
The byproduct used to be dumps in heaps and burnt  as no use for it
some bright spark OK we can use it for animal feed  

now we imports 100s of thousands of tons for dairy cows and  now we as farmers get accused of  destroying rain forest to line our pockets .

now back to this bulldust about running a train on biocoal ??type crap
Well real coal is a biomass anyway as it comes from compressed trees  etc
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Cheers
Dennis

[Bugsy]

I'm kind of wondering why I started this thread.
The point of this excercise is for a group of engineers to try and improve the efficiency of a 75 year old locomotive.
Isn't that applaudable?