Ahh..."Prairie" as in prairie schooner. "Compalining" Isn't that a fact...they will complain. Actually the gumbies and greenies are complaining. Who knows how far they will end up taking this.
Personally, if they get a steamer running again I am all for it. What's everyone so worried about? The great thing about steam boilers is the flexibility of fuel choices, so if they can fire this with "bio-coal" versus fossil coal and have fewer of the nasty side effects then what is the problem?
I can't see any problems. I'm all for it. I'd suppose some of us just hate the idea of seeing this classic being hacked up. I'm wondering how it would have gone, doing it from the ground up.
What hacking? You can burn just about anything in a classic old locomotive boiler with modest adaptations, like replacing the grates with a different style. I took the "modernization" to be things like required lighting upgrades (FRA stuff) and probably modern radio equipment. If this means this thing is going to get re-tubed and get a nice, respectful overhaul I am all for it.
As described in the quoted article about how it won't carry much resemblence to what we see now. Naturally the cab area will need to be brought to present day standards and facilities. Will they really keep external appliances such as the duplex pumps for compressing air?
I checked CSRail's website and it is very vague about what they are actually doing. From a preservation standpoint, I hope they do whatever they are doing respectfully. I would love to see steam come back. I am working on bringing it back at Antique Powerland in Brooks about once or twice per month.
I agree. It's just an experiment, and if it works, more power to them. Diesel started out as an experiment, so did conventional steam. Without getting political here, let's just say there are certain people who are afraid of new things and WANT to see it fail...
