Coal, for use on steam hauled heritage railways - merged posts

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

A lot of maize that's grown in Britain is as cover for pheasants, I'm told (by someone who spent several years in agricultural work). Some of it is not even harvested.

Remarkable!

Amaizing!  

[chuffed]

This thread reminded me of a song, that some of us, of a certain surfeit of old men excluded by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) customer surveys, might recall....

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Yes, mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
If the words sound queer and funny to your ear
A little bit jumbled and jivey
Sing mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy

The last lines about animal feedstuffs for biomass set me thinking !

[TonyK]

Fields behind my house are used to grow maize, harvested every September. Some goes to produce slurry at the nearby dairy farm by being put through the moo-cows, but it seems that most goes direct to the local antisocial digester to produce subsidies.

Harvesting is by contractors and goes on around the clock next to me and elsewhere around the outskirts of the village.





It soon mounts up:



It isn't used for cover for pheasants, which is not to say that wildlife doesn't show more easily when it is gone:





A few days after harvesting, the fields are ploughed, fertilised with the output from the antisocial digester, then seeded with grass. Again, this is a 24 hour operation.

Occasionally, someone will forget to close a gate, leading to the neighbours taking advantage:



and even showing a bit of natural curiosity. Or looking to see if Shaun the Sheep has started.



Now - where were we?

[infoman]

before 7pm on Thursday

[broadgage]

One picture looks like the roof of a very large shed. Just the sort of structure that should be covered with solar panels, thereby adding to green energy supplies without use of any extra land.

Even the basic "deemed to comply" limit of about 11 kw at three phase 400 volts would help, but bigger is better if conditions allow.

[Bmblbzzz]

I was told recently by a Shropshire resident that a signaller on the Severn Valley Railway had informed that the official reason for running only diesel services this summer – the risk of line side fires – was not the whole truth. "They've run out of coal. It all came from Russia and now they can't get anymore."

[grahame]

I was told recently by a Shropshire resident that a signaller on the Severn Valley Railway had informed that the official reason for running only diesel services this summer – the risk of line side fires – was not the whole truth. "They've run out of coal. It all came from Russia and now they can't get anymore."

There's often more than once cause of an issue ... and for simplicity just one issue is headlined / made public

Why are heritage railway customers there?   Some for the ride or the day out, others for a spot of nostalgia or to see and experience things as they used to be, or were when they were young.  We've discussed in the past why steam locomotives from the grouping era (up to 1948) are so often painted in their nationalised colours in preservation, and concluded that it might be because that's how they're more familiar to customers seeking nostalgia.

Taking that argument further, and looking at fire risk, coal availability, and the environmental profile of steam locomotives, would there be sense in having steam run on special occasions in a hopefully-damper spring and autumn special weekend or two, and having summer trains loco hauled by class 24, 25, 28, 33, 35, 42, 50, 52 ... or run with class 101, 108, 116, 121, 122 or (please!) 201 multiple units.  And, yes, use pacers for the alternate trains within peak multi-train timetables.

[broadgage]

IME^▸ (in my experience), most visitors to heritage lines want and expect steam. This should therefore be provided whenever possible. The odd suspension of steam power is reasonable at times of extreme fire risk, or coal shortage, or of course during "diesel gala" type events.
But most visitors expect steam.

As regards the enviromental cost of coal burning, I have long felt that most heritage lines could be a bit greener in other respects. Solar power on buildings. Battery locomotive for shunting and ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) moves. Electric pre heating of steam locomotives.
Battery train for any regular commuter trains that are to be run.

[broadgage]

I expect that a new and improved version of indulgences is under development and will soon be available. At present the purchase of indulgences permits fossil fuel to be burnt as normal in return for a payment.

The new and improved version will permit of burning Russian coal and other fossil fuels in return for a payment. Making the payment will ensure that the Russian fuel is now called "not really russian" Perhaps by offsetting whereby a poor farmer in Malawi agrees to stop burning Russian coal.

In some cases BOTH types of indulgence will be needed.

The old style, whereby fossil fuel becomes not really carbon emitting, AND the new style whereby russian becomes not really russian.

New style indulgences are now available.
Russian gas is bad, because purchase of same is financially supporting the invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese gas is good, or at least less bad than russian gas.
Russian gas transported via china now becomes good and can be burnt with a clean conscience. The indulgences are paid to the chinese government by way of the substantial price difference between bad russian gas and good chinese gas.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-aggressively-reselling-russian-gas-europe

[infoman]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) breakfast news are reporting on Tuesday 22 August 2023.

[broadgage]

I have just received a delivery of Anthracite, this is still readily available but only from one mine in Wales.
There may be a VERY SHORT TERM shortage as the only UK^▸ (United Kingdom) colliery has suffered a "roof fall"
£640 a ton, though I needed half that much.
Patent coal derived smokeless fuels are readily available, but the late Fred Dibnah put me off those "gods good coal from which all the goodness has ben taken out"
I generally prefer to burn logs, but keep a reserve of coal for emergencies.
The last lot was stolen whilst I was in hospital.
The coal merchants advised that housecoal is no longer available, it was available until recently, but only in opened bags and not prepacked.

[infoman]

May I ask which mine suffered the recent "roof fall" was,

 as I can't find anything about a recent roof fall.

[Mark A]

Presumably Aberpergwm? It may well be some minor issue or other rather than a major incident.

https://www.energybuild.co.uk/

Mark

[infoman]

Thank you for the info.

[broadgage]

Yes AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know), the anthracite was from here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberpergwm#:~:text=Today%20Aberpergwm%20is%20the%20only,low%20sulphur%2C%20and%20high%20efficiency.
 The coal delivery driver stated that the roof fall was minor and that production was only expected to be halted for about 2 weeks. No reports of injuries.
Have only had one fire with this fuel, it seems to be good qaulity, though hard to ignite like all anthracite.
(I use a couple of pieces of barbeque charcoal soaked in bioethanol, and a handful of plain charcoal, success every time !