Oil firing has its downsides

Thanks for the interesting, detailed and informative article on the rebuilding of ‘Dame Vera Lynn’ in SR550.

This back-conversion to oil firing of No. 3672 at the NYMR is to be applauded.

It is an entirely worthwhile experiment. It has the great merits that oil-firing of a WD 2-10-0 is authentic, and that all the work being done is easily reversible.

That said, there are downsides to any wider adoption of oil-firing. The first is that most other heritage locomotives never have been oil-fired. Thus any such conversions are not authentic. It also means much more experimentation will have to be done, and greater costs will be incurred to do the work and design burner equipment that works efficiently. Finally, the converted locomotives might look OK and run well, but they will never seem quite right or create the right evocative smell.

However, I think the major objection we might have to face is this: steam locomotives are a very inefficient way to convert oil into useful tractive effort. If the aim is to use such fuel as efficiently as possible, the uncomfortable truth is that the way to do it is to put the oil in a diesel’s fuel tank.

This is important nowadays. More and more heritage railway visitors think that burning any fossil fuel – even ‘green’ ones like HVO – is a bad thing, and thus burning such fuels should be done as efficiently as possible. Incidentally, future demand for HVO type fuels is likely to explode, and make them very expensive.

Turning back to steam locomotives – they were developed to burn solid fuels in lump form, which is their niche or USP, as diesels can’t do that. Surely to keep heritage steam alive, the best way forward is to continue with research to develop alternative, carbon-neutral solid fuels.

Watson, Cobhurst, Kent

Ed: In an ideal world, a carbonneutral solid fuel would indeed be the perfect solution to the coal problem, and work is ongoing to develop such a product. Alas, there are concerns that such fuels wouldn’t necessarily be suitable for main line steam; therefore oil-firing may be the only way forward. As for authenticity, if it’s the difference between keeping our engines in steam or rendering them static, then compromise is vital. Nigel is right to say that steam locomotives are hideously inefficient, but as you can read elsewhere in this issue, improvements can be made without altering the footprint of a loco.

Despite the challenges facing steam, it is encouraging to know that there are plenty of options on the table for our future.

Positive mental attitude is key

I really enjoyed the magazine’s articles about the different railways, the new-builds, and the conversion to oil burning. And then I read the Star Letter. You couldn’t keep the doom and gloom away, could you? And then I read Stop and Examine. For crying out loud, a house divided will fall.

We are all in this together, be it accountants, managers, volunteers, shareholders, trust members, or enthusiasts. I also believe visitors coming for a train ride are also enthusiasts; if you are enthusiastic enough to drive for an hour to get to a steam railway, then you are an enthusiast. In fact, a lot of

money has been spent just getting there.

Heritage railways need everyone, even people who get technical about rivets and colours.

There is an irony I have thought of, however. The railways suffered from people turning to car transport. Heritage railways could suffer from people not affording cars to get there.

Don’t worry about coal – there’s oil, diesel, bio-diesel, chip oil, jet fuel. They could all power steam engines.

I think what every business needs is a positive attitude and enthusiasm.

Peter Ballard, Coventry

Ed: Peter’s right in that positivity is what’s needed to keep our movement going. However, it is interesting that the items to which he refers were both written by people working at the coalface, and who therefore have a greater appreciation and understanding of the challenges facing heritage steam. This magazine will always reflect the movement as it is, without rose-tinted spectacles, while also focusing on the positive developments – whether that be the restoration of something like the ‘T3’ or the completion of the Corris ‘Falcon’, to things like converting locomotives to oil firing, or alternative fuels.

Wareham services needed more publicity

I was sorry to read in the September edition (No. 549) that the Swanage connection at Wareham is under review.

Staying in Dorchester on holiday in July, a train journey to Swanage via the connection was a ‘must’. The ticket office staff at Dorchester South were efficient and knew the details, so, armed in advance

with our tickets, we travelled to Wareham.

Although as railway enthusiasts we knew all about the service, there was no information anywhere on Wareham station about the connection, either for those of us who were making the connection, or for those starting their journey to Swanage from Wareham. The electronic departure boards were blank; there were no station announcements; there was no information as to which platform the train departed from (unless you can identify a heritage DMU from modern electric stock). There did not appear to be any Swanage Railway marketing, or indeed any staff representation until the train from Corfe Castle arrived.

We overheard a casual enquirer at the station ticket office being made aware of the price differential for a return journey to Swanage by bus of £4 (i.e. two times the maximum bus fare), as against the return train fare of £25.

Although the connection to Network Rail at Worgret Junction is occasionally used by other through trains, the extent (and no doubt cost) of the new permanent way and signalling was obvious; I also noted the new servicing facilities at Corfe Castle for the DMU set.

After such investment, it seems sad that this may be largely wasted. We enjoyed our journey across the Purbeck heathland. Somehow, the marketing in the catchment area needs to be addressed to capture those who are not regular train users, it appeared to us in July that the passengers were mostly railway enthusiasts. Sandy Ross, Redbourn, Hertfordshire

Wrexham Rhosddu shed postscript

I enjoyed the article on 6E Wrexham Rhosddu in SR549.

The shed closed in 1960 but it was not the end of its railway use. Visiting the area in July 1963, I walked from Wrexham General station to the shed. The doors were closed and locked, but luckily one had warped, and it was possible to squeeze my then much younger and slimmer frame inside to be greeted by a number of withdrawn and stored ex-GWR locos, namely ‘56XX’ 0-6-2Ts Nos. 6698, 6617 and 6610; ‘43XX’ 2-6-0s

Nos. 5399, 6339 and 6301; ‘57XX’ pannier tank No. 5774, and a ‘16XX’ 0-6-0PT shorn of its numberplates which could not be identified. Presumably these were awaiting their last journey to the scrap line somewhere.

I hope this closes a small chapter on the history of the shed. Keith Smith, Macclesfield