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jambutty · 18-09-2008, 13:32

This tale beats the alien conspiracy stories all ends up.

But it doesn’t seem practical to preserve old steam engines. Steam technology has moved on since the ‘Steam Age’ and instead of steam driving the pistons to drive the wheels it would be more efficient to use steam to drive a turbine that turns an electricity generator, to drive an electric motor to drive the wheels. The expended steam could be condensed back into water to be used again instead of being expelled into the atmosphere. The hot smoke could be used to heat the carriages and then compressed to be safely disposed of at journey’s end.

It would be more efficient than current electric trains. For every 10 kilowatts generated at a power station only some 6 kilowatts are available to be used by an electric train.

There was a programme on telly a few days ago showing how a group of people had built a brand new steam engine from scratch using old plans. It took them years but it looked a fine beast to me.

MargaretR – did you forget about electrified railways?

18-09-2008, 13:32	#8
jambutty Apprentice Geriatric Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Darwen, Lancashire Posts: 3,706 Liked: 0 times Rep Power: 89	Re: What are they hiding there? This tale beats the alien conspiracy stories all ends up. But it doesn’t seem practical to preserve old steam engines. Steam technology has moved on since the ‘Steam Age’ and instead of steam driving the pistons to drive the wheels it would be more efficient to use steam to drive a turbine that turns an electricity generator, to drive an electric motor to drive the wheels. The expended steam could be condensed back into water to be used again instead of being expelled into the atmosphere. The hot smoke could be used to heat the carriages and then compressed to be safely disposed of at journey’s end. It would be more efficient than current electric trains. For every 10 kilowatts generated at a power station only some 6 kilowatts are available to be used by an electric train. There was a programme on telly a few days ago showing how a group of people had built a brand new steam engine from scratch using old plans. It took them years but it looked a fine beast to me. MargaretR – did you forget about electrified railways? __________________ Thanks for reading. If you have a few minutes to spare please visit my web site at http://popye.bravehost.com