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   updated February 28, 2009

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Steam 2008 update

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Steam 2008 Update

I'm afraid I was pretty lax in updating this page in 2008; hopefully I'll do better this year.  2008 was a year of a few ups and mostly downs for steam power world-wide. 

Probably the most positive news of the year was the successful completion of "Tornado" in the UK, a new, full-size, mainline 4-6-2 of the A1 class.  Tornado has made several successful trips across England and was recently officially named by Prince Charles.

Most U.S. steam news has not been very good.  The Mt. Washington Cog Railway placed a new diesel-hydraulic locomotive into service and evidently has several others under construction. It seems steam will soon be relegated to only occasional operation for special occasions.  As detailed elsewhere in these pages, Nigel Day had done significant modernization of one of their locomotives, and successfully converted it to oil firing. 

Again in the U.S., the Grand Canyon Railway was taken over by new management (Xanterra Corporation) who soon decided that steam locomotives were incompatible with their desire to maintain a corporate "green" image.  Locomotives 4960 and 29, both of which had been extensively modernized, have been parked.  These locomotives had been fitted with Lempor exhausts and new oil-firing systems designed by Nigel Day.  More recently, Chinese copies of Worthington "SA" type feedwater heaters had been fitted.   Further improvements were planned.  It's a shame that one of the biggest steam modernization success stories has been side-lined.

The world-wide spike in oil prices in 2008 had one positive effet.  Rumor had it that at least a couple of groups were again looking at new coal-fired locomotives.  I'd imagine interest has once again waned with current prices less than half of what they were in October 2008.

Steam seems to be still holding on in Zimbabwe.  A report on a steam tour trip here: http://www.farrail.net/, states operations were extremely marginal in 2008, with coal shortages, water shortages, sporadic electrical power, among other problems.  However, working steam still continues in Bulawayo and elsewhere.  Steam operations continue to wind down in China, but from all indications there are still a few places where real working steam can be found.

The world-wide financial crisis probably spells hard times for steam tourist operations, but it has had the favorable impact of reducing steel scrap prices which hopefully slow efforts to scrap out-of-service steam in China, South Africa, and elsewhere.

I'm hoping for some positive steam developments to report in 2009.  Stay tuned for more regular updates.

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Rob Dickinson's "International Working Steam Locomotives"
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/internat.htm

John Craft's "Steam Central"
http://www.steamcentral.com

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