Hi all,
I’ve recently been thinking about something. As we all know, most steam locomotives use coal as their fuel of choice for heating up the water into steam. However, with the world’s coal supply ending eventually (not anytime soon… hopefully), could charcoal be a suitable substitute? After all, I’m pretty sure it burns as well, if not better than coal, and it is MUCH cleaner than coal. Plus, I’m pretty sure a locomotive on one of the American heritage lines (dunno the specifics - even though I live in the US, I’m far more interested in British railways) was tested with charcoal and had as good performance, if not better, than with regular coal. I dunno, I’m just spitballing. However, I do believe that charcoal could be the way of keeping some steam locomotives on the mainline.
Feel free to add anything to the thread. I’m just wondering if it’s possible.
Thanks,
SRKing783
I’ve recently been thinking about something. As we all know, most steam locomotives use coal as their fuel of choice for heating up the water into steam. However, with the world’s coal supply ending eventually (not anytime soon… hopefully), could charcoal be a suitable substitute? After all, I’m pretty sure it burns as well, if not better than coal, and it is MUCH cleaner than coal. Plus, I’m pretty sure a locomotive on one of the American heritage lines (dunno the specifics - even though I live in the US, I’m far more interested in British railways) was tested with charcoal and had as good performance, if not better, than with regular coal. I dunno, I’m just spitballing. However, I do believe that charcoal could be the way of keeping some steam locomotives on the mainline.
Feel free to add anything to the thread. I’m just wondering if it’s possible.
Thanks,
SRKing783