How much coal does it take to run a steam engine?
They typically used about 60 lbs. of coal per mile when running at top speed. Since they ran at about 60 mph, that means about 15 lbs. of coal every 15 seconds.
British 4-2-2 sterling engines could burn about 60 pounds of coal every minute and travel at about 60 miles per hour, so they burned about a pound per mile. These engines also burned about a pound of coal per second. Water use was often about a gallon per second, as well.
Since paddle steamers typically required from 5 to 16 short tons (4.5 to 14.5 t) of coal per day to keep their engines running, they were more expensive to run.
The engines powered by steam increased the ease of operating boats, ships, railways, factories, mills, mines and farms. And these steam engines were fueled by coal.
Each train has approximately 115 cars, and each car carries an average of 116 tons of coal. Some plants receive more than 26,000 tons of coal in a single day.
In 2021 alone, U.S. railroads moved 3.3 million carloads of coal, with each rail car carrying enough coal to power 19 homes for an entire year. Today, the vast majority of coal is used to generate electricity. It is also is used to produce co*ke and for other industrial purposes.
To begin with diesel locomotives were less powerful than steam engines which meant smaller train sizes (ie. e the amount of carriages they could tow) which you would have thought made them a less preferable option - so why make the switch?
Each steam locomotive had the capacity for 15,000 to 25,000 gallons of water, so they needed lots of it to keep the trains moving.
Steam locomotives rely on bituminous lump coal to burn, which is relatively smokeless and comparatively clean.
An additional 16-18 trains are expected, and each train may be over 1.5 miles long. At a speed of 50-60 mph, that would be an approximate 3-4 minute wait time at crossings.
Do steam engines cause pollution?
Steam locomotives, most of which used to be fueled with coal, produce massive amounts of smoke and dirt. They are also known to emit harmful elements along with releasing particulates, acid gases, and organic compounds.
From the early 1900s, steam locomotives were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives, with railways fully converting to electric and diesel power beginning in the late 1930s.
Steam engine as the name suggests it is the engine that works on steam. The force produced by steam is used in the working of the steam engine. Steam is produced by burning coal. Coal is used to generate steam because as it has a high calorific value and easy to use.
Nowadays, 120-car trains are normal with each car carrying roughly 120 tons. Thus the capacity of a modern unit coal train is around 15,000 tons per train.
Basic Coal Train Facts
The coal is picked up from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming and transported via train to the West Coast: California, Oregon, and Washington. The main purpose of transporting coal in trains is to load large amounts on ships to be sent to Asia, where it is burned for energy.
A fireman, stoker or watertender is a person whose occupation it is to tend the fire for the running of a boiler, heating a building, or powering a steam engine. Much of the job is hard physical labor, such as shoveling fuel, typically coal, into the boiler's firebox.
Thanks in part to these technologies, today U.S. freight railroads can, on average, move one ton of freight nearly 500 miles per gallon of fuel, making rail an environmentally friendly way to move freight over land.
Steam has made an impressive comeback under the guise of heritage, to become an enormous national asset. There are an awful lot of those day-trippers. Steam trains (and some rescued diesel locomotives) are now pulling 13 million passengers back in time each year.
Largely, commercial manufacturers haven't touched steam power, instead focusing on refining existing combustion engine technology and making new developments with electric and hybrid vehicles.
To commemorate the 73rd Independence Day celebrations, a Heritage Special Service hauled by EIR-21 was operated from Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam today. EIR-21 is the world's oldest steam locomotive. The express which is similar to Fairy Queen in appearance, is 164 years old.
How far could a steam locomotive go before needing water?
The tender could greatly extend a locomotive's range and by the late steam era (1930s-1940s) a locomotive used in main line service could run anywhere between 75 to 150 miles before needing to refuel, which typically coincided with a train crew's district/territory.
A Big Boy locomotive along with its tender weighed about 604 tons and measured more than 132 feet (40 metres) in length. It had a maximum power capacity of more than 6,000 horsepower and could haul a 3,600-ton train unassisted up the Wasatch Mountain grade.
If a steam locomotive runs-out of water, either the firebox plug will melt (which is embarrassing for the fireman / driver and expensive to fix), or steam pressure will rise extremely quickly until either more water is supplied, or the boiler explodes.
Fuel Efficiency - CSX.com. According to the AAR, moving freight by rail is 4 times more fuel efficient than moving freight on the highway. CSX trains can move a ton of freight approximately 492 miles on a single gallon of fuel.
A water trough (British terminology), or track pan (American terminology) is a device to enable a steam locomotive to replenish its water supply while in motion. It consists of a long trough filled with water, lying between the rails.
The very last delivery of Welsh coal
At the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR), around 50 tonnes of Welsh coal is piled in the yard beside the track in Toddington. It is the very last delivery from Wales they'll receive. To make it last, services are currently running on coal brought in from Colombia.
Steam wasn't systematically phased out in the U.S. until the 1960s. Today, there is still one steam locomotive operating on a Class I railroad in the U.S., the Union Pacific 844. For the most part, though, the U.S. and the rest of the world have converted to electric and diesel.
Steam engines can run on anything that burns: wood, coal, oil, even garbage. Steam engines operating in the Western mountains far from the Pennsylvania coal deposits often operated using logs. Wood and coal were used concurrently until technology was developed that allowed oil to be used.
Today's bullet trains can top 300 mph. When Englishman Richard Trevithick launched the first practical steam locomotive in 1804, it averaged less than 10 mph. Today, several high-speed rail lines are regularly travelling 30 times as fast.
As railway technology and infrastructure progressed, train speed increased accordingly. In the U.S., trains ran much slower, reaching speeds of just 25 mph in the west until the late 19th century. Video Player is loading. This is a modal window.
Why do locomotives run back to back?
They're on those rails so the rail is the only direction of travel they can go in." Jacobs says it's actually more efficient to leave locomotives facing whatever direction they are facing because it takes a lot of energy to pick a train up and turn it around so that it would face the other way.
Anthracite Coal for Locomotives - Scientific American.
The introduction of the steam pump by Thomas Savery in 1698 and the Newcomen steam engine in 1712 facilitated the removal of water and enabled shafts to be made deeper so more coal could be extracted.
The United States of America is the top country by reserves of anthracite and bituminous coal in the world.
Tractive effort
Huge models of steam locomotives are very powerful and can give off over 4,000 HP. They're also large in size and require a lot of fuel to run them. The more fuel an engine requires, the more power it gives off.
For example, in 1830 anthracite coal sold for about $11 per ton. Ten years later, the price had dropped to $7 per ton and by 1860 anthracite sold for about $5.50 a ton in New York City. Annual production in 1860 also passed twenty million tons for the first time in history.
Steam locomotives, most of which used to be fueled with coal, produce massive amounts of smoke and dirt. They are also known to emit harmful elements along with releasing particulates, acid gases, and organic compounds.
Having built up an insurmountable lead, the horse won the race. But the triumph proved short-lived. The railroad directors came away from the test run so excited about the locomotive's speed, power and ability to navigate tight curves that it was full steam ahead for the B&O.
