Steam (NW Mailing List)

[NW Mailing List]

I feel the need at this point to inject a little dose of reality into 
the fantasizing.  It would be nearly impossible for "classic" 
reciprocating steam to make a comeback on a class one railroad.  It may 
be faster, more powerful, and more efficient, but there are two major 
drawbacks.  Hammer blow from the reciprocating and revolving masses 
require heavier track for the same weight on the drivers.  Most of all, 
the manpower needed to keep a steam locomotive running grossly exceeds 
that needed for a diesel electric.  It was the cost of labor, more than 
any other factor, that doomed the steam locomotive 50 years ago, and 
that prevents it returning today.

There are those that claim steam turbines or some other steam electric 
locomotive could be practical.  They may solve the problems of hammer 
blow and labor, but turbines aren't well suited to variable loads, nor 
do they like to be jarred at every coupling.  It is also quite difficult 
to make an external combustion engine more efficient than a comparable 
internal combustion engine.

The Virginian Ry. had the answer over half a century ago - electrics.  A 
large steam driven power plant can feed an electric locomotive much more 
efficiently than any self contained locomotive.  The peak tractive 
effort is limited only by weight and factor of adhesion, and max power 
is limited by the size of the traction motors.  Dynamic braking becomes 
regenerative braking, feeding back into the grid.  And for those that 
complain of the high capital costs of an electric system, what will it 
cost to introduce a totally new type of locomotive, or to reintroduce 
reciprocating steam?

Kenneth Rickman

NW Mailing List wrote:

> I will quite freely concede the diesel's drag freight advantages.

> 

> Steam will not be competitive in drag freight, barring some major shifts in fuel prices and interest rates.

> 

> Stil, it was quite an amazing accomplishment of the Y-6b that it could come within a whisker of a four unit diesel's performance on 1% grades and at a substantially lower capital cost.

> 

> See King's Sept 2004 on high wheel 40 mph articulateds consigned to work much more economically done by the Y-6b, however unfashionable compounds were at the time. 

> 

> Bill Wendt