Trainspotters. Why?

[rogerzilla]

FWIW, a well-fired and driven steam locomotive of typical British express design (simple, non-condensing, piston valves, superheated) has a thermal efficiency of 5% on a good day.  Most of the energy in the coal goes up the chimney.

[Wombat]

On a visit to the IOW steam railway earlier this year, we heard that the coal washing plant at Merthyr had failed and wasn't worth their while repairing. So a notice said they expected to have to get coal from Russia or Columbia.

Its been fixed.  However, the coal is now far more expensive than it was, so we're (Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway) still working with Wildfire, one of the weird composite stuffs.  It looks like the Phurnacite stuff they used in the school stoves, and it rolls all over the footplate!

[rogerzilla]

Didcot were using ovoids (basically eggs made from compressed coal dust) last time I was there.  They burn very cleanly, presumably due to the guaranteed air gaps between round things, but received wisdom is that they need a lot of attention, or the fire can die on you just like that.

[pumpkin]

Did it when I was in my teens. Went all over the country and had a great time.  Had a crash in our van when we hit a milk float in Kidwelly, South Wales. That was exciting. Had some good friends who did it. Train travel was cheap and a couple of older guys in the 6th form organised some over nighters to various areas. My dad even got me into Plymouth Laira, a notoriously difficult shed to visit. These were working environments  tho, large engines, fuels, men working. BR used to run excursions to eg Windsor, Hampton Court or Fort William. These were not expensive so a fantastic day out watching trains or just visiting somewhere.

[TheLurker]

Hornby are really getting into the spirit of things with their Era 1 / Pioneer locos.  This from about a month ago.

https://d63oxfkn1m8sf.cloudfront.net/5517/0626/2678/1._Locomotion_Engineering_Sample_GIF.gif

From https://uk.hornby.com/community/blog-and-news/engine-shed/locomotion-no-1-motion

[Adam]

If they're reproducing the first locomotives, will they also make a figure representing William Huskisson MP?

https://www.historytoday.com/first-fatalities

[rogerzilla]

I've seen his memorial in Chichester Cathedral.  There's an enormous elegy about what a good egg he was (he wasn't), and a very obscure reference to how he was fatally injured.

[Mr Larrington]

He was alluded to in one of the questions in the 2023 KWC Quiz.  Have the idle buggers published the answers yet?