Quote:
Originally Posted by patriot2342001
Interesting.
I wonder if coal fired trains will come more into use. I remember when I was a kid back in the 70's there were trains running all the time
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Coal fired locomotives create still other issues, the mining of the coal and the polution from the coal smoke. I believe the cost of steam locomotives would be excessive. The last major railroad to use coal fired steam locomotives was the Old Norfolk and Western (now the Norfork and Southern thru several mergers over the years). Even they stopped using coal in 1955. The main reason they held on as long as they did was because their major customers were the coal fields of Appalachia. There may have been a few class 2 or 3 railroads using coal in the early sixties but by the 70's the only railroads still using coal were the toursit lines like the Strausburg in Pennsylvania or the Cass Scenic Railway in Cass West Virginia. In the mid 70's the Baltimore and Ohio (now the CSX) experimented with a computer controlled steam locomotive. It lasted about six months. I understand, but I am not certain, that the Chinese still use steam powered locomotives and they supposedly have it down to a science on getting the most out of a locomotive. However, the diesel electric locomotives of today are the most efficient and powerful in the world.
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