Steam engine back to the future

[JCitron]

The first steam engine built to run on the UK mainline in almost 50 years will be ready for tests in April, says one of the main organisers.


Read more about it on BBC news.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7238506.stm

Cool!

John

 

[big_b]

Pity some other country's didn't do the same thing.There are so many people willing to pay to ride steam. Diesel & electric are just day to day transport now not really noticed .But put a steam engine there & you'll have to fight way through the crowd to get a look.

Dave

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Woo! This is great!
~TTT100~

 

[atsfrr3000]

Impressive, especially considering it's all being built by a group of volunteer railfans running on donations and a few generous industrial gifts. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

 

[trainmetal]

I think they may have got some of their facts wrong:-

1314 steam trains still running
2000 tons of coal used annually

2000 tons of coal? That would only run those 1314 boilers for an average of 2-3 hours each a year

 

[shikadi]

Tornado's finally ready!:Y:

 

[DeRiCo]

For the full story go here:

http://www.a1steam.com/update.html

Dennis

 

[Konni]

Hi,

There are numerous museum steam locomotives around which are in operational condition. I don't know about the US, but in Germany and Switzerland, they are not only confined to a few miles of museum railway lines, but can be fairly regularly seen on mainlines pulling special historic trains. In Germany some of these locomotives are owned by Deutsche Bahn AG, others by preservation societies. For details you might want to check their hompages. Most railway companies realize, that steam trains are not only good promotion for their daily operation, but also a small but lucrative business.

Cheers,

Konni

 

[robbiehanson]

In the US, mainline steam is mostly confined to a few excursions on mainline trackage each year. "Tourist"/preserved railways typically have under 10 miles of trackage, and run (if any) smaller steam locomotives such as 0-4-0s and 0-6-0s. It's very rare to see anything bigger in operation, much less regular operation like you Brits have

 

[Spawn_of_Chaos97]

In the US, mainline steam is mostly confined to a few excursions on mainline trackage each year. "Tourist"/preserved railways typically have under 10 miles of trackage, and run (if any) smaller steam locomotives such as 0-4-0s and 0-6-0s. It's very rare to see anything bigger in operation, much less regular operation like you Brits have

Although there are the three most used ones. Good old SP 4449, UP 844, and of course UP 3985!

 

[nikos1]

The preservation movement has always been the strongest in the UK but this is just amazing! I wish we had a preservation movement like this in the US so we could rebuild some classics like the NYC J-3 and Niagra which all got scrapped. Of course then it would have no where to run as its nearly impossible to get permission to run on the class 1 railroads these days

 

[amigacooke]

This could be catching.

http://www.lms-patriot.org.uk/index.html

 

[RDRBerry]

Reviving steam manufacturing...

http://www.railmotor93.org/railmotor.html

There are quite a few projects under way in this steam crazed island....

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/locos/atlantic/index.html

http://www.5at.co.uk/

The USA is not immune...
http://www.ncngrrmuseum.org/pb/wp_64151ef1.html

And I think the Brienz Rothorn Bahn have had some new locos built...

An overview of projects..
http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/newsteam/modern.htm

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Don't forget this!
http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/lyd.htm
~TTT100~

 

[class143]

Also the 82045 group are makeing a 3MT http://www.82045.org.uk/

 

[Pencil42]

Here's another one under construction in the US: http://web.mac.com/vtlyon/iWeb/The Lyon/Photos.html