5AT Project Newsletters

For those who have been in contact with me and have had their contact details added to my "Interest Group" circulation list, you would have received the odd newsletter from me from time to time. Since the newsletters often tell more than what is to be found on the website, I thought that newcomers might find it useful to be able to scan through the old newsletters for snippets of historical or useful information. Since it is so easy to do, I thought I'd copy and paste the old newsletters into "html" format and incorporate them in the 5AT website. This I have done below in descending date order.

Note: If you've not been sent a copy of the latest newsletter by email, it probably means that either my emails aren't getting through to you, or I've not put your name on my circulation list. Either way, can you please email me and let me know if you're not receiving them.

14th April 2008

Change of email address

To all supporters of the 5AT project:

It seems that the 5AT’s email server has been hijacked by a spammer who is using it as a proxy to send out junk emails. As a consequence, the default address is being bombarded by hundreds of reject notices bouncing back from dead mailboxes. I’ve been coping with the problem for some months using Spam Fighter software; however this last week the problem has escalated dramatically. Last night there were over 3000 emails sitting in the mailbox after I’d spent an hour or two manually deleted over 2000 of them. This morning it is back to 6500 and I don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with them.

I see no alternative other than to abandon the mailbox until/unless the hosting company can come up with a solution. In the meantime, can you please delete the 5at.co.uk mailing address from your address books and contact me in future through my gmail address cje.newman(at)gmail.com. If that fails, then try chris.newman(at)eastnet.com.cn.

If anyone can offer me advice on how to overcome the problem, I’ll be grateful. I hope it won’t necessitate changing the website address.

Best wishes

Chris Newman

31st Jan 2008

News Bulletin

I’m amazed to discover that it’s over 8 months since I last distributed a newsletter about the 5AT, so I won’t be surprised if many of you imagine that the project has finally ground to a halt (or come off the rails). In fact this is far from the case, and whilst progress remains slow (inevitably, so with our limited resources), we are moving forward. Evidence of this can be found in the latest update to the 5AT website (uploaded today) which reports on new drawings being produced by Richard Coleby and a Project Feasibility Study report being produced by John Hind, Alan Fozard, Mike Horne and myself. As I mention on the news page, John Hind has observed that “it is amazing how much has been achieved, and we can, in all modesty, claim that the 5AT has progressed the furthest both technically and commercially of all 'new design’ locomotive proposals.”

Of course, if there’s anyone out there who would be willing to help move the project forward faster, we’ll be very glad to hear from you. As noted on the News page, Richard Coleby and Jamie Keyte are currently working together on the design of the locomotive frames (Jamie doing FEA stress analyses on them), and they expect that the job will take them two to three months. If there are other drafting specialists and/or engineering designers out there who would like to help with the work or take on the design of other parts of the locomotive, we will welcome your contributions.

The other news item that I have reported is the “virtual” modelling project that Laura Macfadyen has begun on the 5AT. Laura is reading Computer Modelling & Animation BSc(Hons) at Bournemouth University, coincidentally the same institution that William Powell (who built the magnificent “hard” model of the 5AT last year) studied at. As you will see from the picture of her unfinished model, she is doing a magnificent job, and I am confident that we will be proud to display her model prominently on the 5AT’s website when it is finished.

Hopefully there will be other news that I can report on before another eight months passes. Hopefully too I will have time to report it, but in recent weeks (and months) I have been too busy to think about either the website or newsletters (which is why this one is so short!)

So with that, I will wish you all the best for this not-so-new year, and a very happy Chinese New Year (which I will no doubt be reminded of when fireworks start going off outside my home sometime in the middle of next week).

Best wishes


Chris Newman

9th May 2007

News Bulletin

Another all-too-brief newsletter, I'm afraid, but my time is limited and so, to some extent, is news about the project.

In fact, significant amounts of planning work are going on behind the scenes including:

However these tasks are all on-going and are not yet news-worthy, and in some cases it would be premature and potentially counterproductive to publish detailed information.

The purpose of this newsletter is therefore simply to draw attention to changes to the 5AT website, the most obvious of which is a rationalization of the indexes or menus. I felt that the old index was getting too large and disorganized, so I have "rationalized" by grouping several items into sub-indexes titled:

Several new pages have been added under these sub-indexes including:

Several old pages have also been updated, including minor modifications to the Introduction and Project pages (both now accessible through the new Project index). The 5AT Links page has also been updated with links to downloadable material that has been listed randomly in News and Newsletter and other pages of the website.

I'm well aware that navigation around the 5AT website could be improved significantly if the whole thing were redesigned without the use of "frames". One of these days I hope to find time to update the whole thing, but I'm afraid it will probably remain a low priority for some time. Nevertheless, if anyone has any suggestions for improvements to the site which don't involve massive amounts of work, I'd be very pleased to hear from them. And of course, it goes without saying that I'd appreciate notification from anyone who finds errors of fact, inconsistencies, typos, spelling or grammatical mistakes (of which I'm sure there must be many).

Best wishes for the summer, for those of you in the northern hemisphere. Commiserations to those facing winter

Chris Newman

11th Feb 2007

To all supporters of the 5AT project:

News Bulletin

Just a quick message to advise that I have made some updates to the 5AT website which I hope will be of interest.

You’ll find the changes to the website listed on the Updates page and the latest news in the News page. I’ll summarize the updates and news items briefly as follows:

If any of the above items are if interest, you can find out more by going to the website and taking a look.

Please let me know if you find any dead or bad links on the website, or any typos or other errors. And please send me your thoughts on how the website might be improved. I can think of a few improvements that I’d like to make to it myself, but since I haven’t found the time to implement them I can’t promise to be quick making changes that others would like to see. Nevertheless, do please send me your thoughts in case they inspire me into action. Notwithstanding, I plan to make a number of additional updates to the site in the near-ish future, and will probably send out another Newsletter when I do.

Best wishes to everyone; happy Chinese New Year and I hope you all have a prosperous Year of the Pig!


Chris Newman

18th December 2006

To all supporters of the 5AT project:

Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

I’ve just returned from a brief and hurried trip to the UK where I attended the Modern Steam Conference in York last Monday 11th December, where I was happy to see the 5AT project so well represented. Not only was David Wardale, Alan Fozard, John Hind and Robin Barnes there, but many long-term supporters of the project including at least three who had travelled over from the USA and at least one from Continental Europe. Quite obviously the project has inspired a very dedicated following, and I hope that all who attended found it as worthwhile as I did.

I hope that the conference will be the first of many and that more 5AT supporters will be able to attend the next one. My only disappointment was that the conference was only a one-day event that allowed very limited time for socialising, and I would hope that future events might follow the Brienz example and be held over two or two-and-a-half days and perhaps include a train ride (behind steam) that would allow people more opportunity to meet and talk. That would make it more worthwhile for people who have to travel long distances to attend. It would be nice to imagine that the 5AT project will be mature enough one of these days to consider taking a role in hosting an event of this sort.

Anyway, I have just updated the 5AT website by including a brief news item about the conference, plus copies of the papers presented by Wardale’s and myself. I’ve included both the PowerPoint and Word versions of my own paper (Dave Wardale didn’t use slides). The update also includes a copy of the Project Summary that was written specifically for the Conference by Alan Fozard and displayed outside the conference hall alongside paintings of the 5AT (by Robin Barnes) and engineering drawings of 5AT components including the connecting rod by David Smith and Jamie Keyte (already displayed on the website) and 3D arrangement drawings of a Scullin wheel that was prepared just in time for the conference by Richard Coleby (many thanks Richard!) I’ve uploaded copies of Richard’s drawings including a “dynamic” one (prepared using Solidworks) that can be manipulated by the viewer.

Other updates include some photos taken at the conference (talking of which, if anyone has any better photos available I’d be very grateful for copies since the few I took were very disappointing). I’ve also added a link from the “home” page to a print-out of a simulated 5AT run from Crewe to Carlisle with 375 tonnes behind the tender compiled by Dr David Pawson. David is the leading exponent of Prof Hall’s steam loco simulation packages “Perwal” and “Perform” which he used to verify the validity of the 5AT’s performance as predicted by David Wardale in the FDCs. Alan Fozard and I visit David Pawson on our way back from York, and our visit inspired David to make this simulated 5AT run which illustrates rather better than HP and TE figures just what might be expected from this machine. I’m not an expert on WCML steam performance, but I suspect that topping Shap at something over 65mph with a 375 tonne train is better than average performance. I’m afraid that doubters will either have to wait until the 5AT is built or invest time studying the FDCs (and David’s simulations) to be convinced that so small machine really could produce such an outstanding performance.

I am proposing to make what I hope will be some interesting additions to the 5AT website in the near future. Firstly, David Pawson has offered to produce some text for me to include on the website describing Professor Hall’s most interesting career and the background to the two software packages that he completed shortly before his death in 2002. I’m hoping too that David will also give me some text that describes the extensive work that he himself has done in “calibrating” the software so that its outputs are consistent with data produced by Rugby and Swindon stationary testing plants. In the process of conducting this work, David has developed some challenging opinions about the validity of long-established “truths” concerning design features that affect the performance of locomotives. Whether or not people will agree with his opinions, the important thing is that they will be pushed towards thinking more deeply about the technical issues associated with modern steam development, and in the process develop their knowledge of the subject (as I am trying to do).

I’m hoping that it might even be possible to offer copies of Professor Hall’s software through the website together with instructions (from Dave Pawson) on how to use it and how to get the best out of it. However this will depend on permission being granted by Prof Hall’s family.

Robin Barnes has produced some new illustrations of the 5AT which I hope to add to the website in the near future. Robin is a man with a huge knowledge of steam locomotives and steam history and I would recommend browsing his website at http://www.robinbarnes.net/. His fascinating book “Broader than Broad - Hitler's Great Dream” is also worth reading.

Finally, I am planning to introduce a new section to the 5AT website, to be incongruously dedicated to the 8AT concept and its derivatives, as mentioned in my last newsletter and in Alan Fozard’s project summary (mentioned above). I won’t pre-empt what I’m going to put in it because I’ve not thought it through yet, but I hope it will be interesting when I get around to it.

That’s enough for one newsletter. Best wishes again to all of you and thanks for your continued interest in our most exciting project.

Chris Newman

PS – I have to send all my 5AT correspondence out through my Chinese server these days because I can no longer send emails through the 5AT server. I can still receive emails through it, so you can continue feel writing to me at info(at)5at.co.uk or chris(at)5at.co.uk.

27th Sept 2006

It’s four months since I circulated the last 5AT newsletter, so it is perhaps time that I sent out another if only to reassure those who are following the project that it is still moving forward at a slow but steady pace. Below is a quick summary of the news:

Apologies were received from:

David Ward (UK); David Wardale (UK); Dominic Wells (UK); Martyn Bane (UK); John Bolitho (UK); Peter Mintoft (UK); Malcolm Cluett (Australia); Brian McCammon (New Zealand); Shaun McMahon (Argentina); Andrew Spurlock (USA).

The main focus of the meeting was presentations by John Hind and Alan Fozard. John’s presentation provided an overview of the report that he is preparing titled: “Engineering and Delivering the 5AT” in which he estimates the amount of work that will be required to design and build the 5AT, the personnel that will be needed, the training that they will require, and an estimate of the cost of the design and building of a prototype locomotive. Alan’s presentation focussed on the challenges to be faced in presenting a commercial proposal that is sufficiently attractive to raise the finance that will be needed to carry through the project.

I have just posted an abbreviated version of these news items onto the website News page, so many of you may have already seen them. I’ve also added a paragraph and some photos to the “Engineers” page of the website to provide some information about Ian Screeton who has been responsible for the modifications and improvements to the KLR’s locomotive fleet. I have added a similar paragraph that introduces Ian Gaylor who has done some interesting loco modernization work on the Bure Valley Railway. I hope shortly to be able to include a copy of his two-part article on the subject that was published recently by Steam Railway magazine.

Talking of the website, the “hit counter” continues to reset itself to zero every few months and I seldom discover it till weeks later. As a result the current number displayed at the bottom of the left hand index is my estimate based on past average daily hit-rates.

A Challenge to all mechanical engineers interested in the future development of steam!

We have an interesting “job offer” for anyone (with an engineering bent) who likes a challenge and would be willing to volunteer his/her time to give us a hand. I’ll explain as follows:

The FDC page of the 5AT website gives access to the “General Calculations” that David Wardale undertook which define the primary assumptions for (and estimate the final performance of) the 5AT locomotive. The 5AT Business Plan that we are currently working on will reference the possibilities for the construction and sale of additional 5AT locomotives after the prototype is completed.

As you will be aware, the 5AT is being designed especially for hauling cruise and excursion trains on intensively trafficked high speed main lines - particularly those in the UK. Consequently the potential market for the 5AT is not expected to be large, and is probably very limited outside of W. Europe. On the other hand, we believe there may well be a considerably larger potential market in other countries and continents for a locomotive offering additional haulage power at lower speeds than the 5AT. So we are investigating the possibilities for an “8AT” 2-8-0 variant with a designed top operating speed of around 120 kph (75 mph).

On the surface, it should be a relatively easy task to run through Wardale’s calculations line by line and redefine them to suit an “8AT” 2-8-0, using as many common parts with the 5AT as possible (e.g. boiler, cylinders, valves, tender etc). However when I attempted to do it, I quickly discovered the limits of my understanding and could go no further than about a third of the way through FDC 1.3 (defending myself with the excuse that I’m not a mechanical engineer!)

Of course, we could ask David Wardale to do the sums for us, but if the FDCs are to have any future value, they must be capable of being understood by other engineers who must be able to replicate them for designs other than the 5AT. Hence the task of producing a new set of FDCs (even if only the General Calculations) for an 8AT locomotive gives us the chance to test whether Wardale’s methodology and calculations are replicable, and to raise appropriate questions with him if they are found not to be.

So the question is – would anyone of you (or group of you) be willing to attempt the task of producing a set of General Calculations for an 8AT following the methodology defined by Wardale in the 5AT’s General Calculations?

If any of you would be interested in having a go at this fascinating task, can you please contact me?

Finally, I regret that I’m unable to send this email out through the 5AT server for reasons that I don’t understand. Hence I am having to use my own (Chinese) server to send this. Please be assured however that I can be contacted through the 5AT email address at info(at)5at.co.uk.

Best wishes

Chris Newman

19th May 2006

My newsletters have been becoming fewer and further between in recent months. However you should be pleased to know that this is not a reflection on the progress of the project but associated only with my own emailing difficulties which continue to cause me no end of frustrations.

The important thing is that the project is alive and well and progressing – albeit slowly. Speed of progress is limited by the time that key people like Alan Fozard and John Hind have available to spend on the project, and in recent months their time has been limited by difficulties – in John’s case, ill-health in the family, and in Alan’s case a broken leg that has limited his movements. However I’m happy to report that John’s son’s health is on the mend, and Alan’s leg is now out of plaster and slowly allowing him to return to normal mobility.

Whilst I haven’t been circulating newsletters, I have been tending to the website, which has recorded some of the more important events of late. However, for those who haven’t had time to read through it or who have difficulty negotiating your way through the maze of pages, I will offer a brief summary as follows:

It goes without saying that we sincerely thank both David and Jamie for their efforts in undertaking this work.

Apart from these highlights, work is continuing on the Engineering and Commercial Feasibility Studies being headed up by John Hind and Alan Fozard respectively. David Smith is still actively involved in the project but his time availability has been severely reduced by the recent arrival of baby daughter Francesca. We extend our congratulation to David and Robin and hope that Francesca will be brought up to share her father’s passion for steam engines.

Interest in the project continues to grow amongst young and old. It is always encouraging to receive messages of interest from young readers of the 5AT website, and it is quite surprising how many we get – and from surprisingly knowledgeable youngsters at that.

Talking about visitors to the 5AT website, there have been a couple of occasions that the “hit” counter had been reset to zero. I have no idea how this could have happened, but both times I have reset it to what I estimate that it should have been, based on the current average of about 47 hits per day. 47 visitors per day may not be a huge number, but it is encouraging to note that the average daily number of visitors has consistently risen since the website was opened in 2002. It started at just 19 hits per day and has slowly (but steadily) risen to the present average with only one brief period of negligible decline. The largest hit rate that it’s had so far is 365, back in October 2003 immediately after the Guardian newspaper published Max Glaskin’s article about the project (following Alan Fozard’s presentation at the first International Tourist and Steam Train Conference at Brienz). It shows what a difference a bit of publicity can make!

Best wishes


Chris Newman

21st August 2005

It has been a long time since I last circulated news about the 5AT project. Be assured that this is not because the project is grinding to a halt. Much work is going on behind the scenes, and ongoing progress is being made. The work currently in progress is focussed on four main areas:

Encouragingly there is growing interest in the 5AT project as more and more people get to hear about it. Particularly welcome is the assistance that we are receiving from professional engineers in countries outside the UK. Indeed we now have engineers in four continents contributing their time! Equally encouraging is the growing interest within the UK rail industry. In response John Hind and Alan Fozard have recently prepared a PowerPoint presentation describing the current status of the 5AT Project which they are showing to potentially interested organisations and individuals.
5AT Website Updates: Since I last distributed a 5AT newsletter in January 2005, there have been a few interesting updates to the 5AT website. These are all recorded on the “Updates” page, but I will summarise the more important changes here:

Please note my change of address and home phone number below. I’ve not moved far – another house in the same compound outside Beijing.

Chris Newman
#66 Dragon Villas, 8 Shun An Road,
Shun Yi County, Beijing 101300, China
Phone +86-10-6940-1003: Fax +86-10-6940-2815
Mobile Phone: +86-1350-122-9247; email: info(at)5at.co.uk

7th Jan 2005

ARGENTINA RESCUE FUND
and 5AT Website Updates

This is the first occasion on which I have circulated anything that is not strictly related to the 5AT project, and it's not something that I intend to make a habit of. I hope no-one will object to my doing so on this occasion however, because I think the cause that I am promoting about is both relevant to the 5AT project and worthwhile in its own right - namely the "Argentina Rescue Fund" that has just been set up by Martyn Bane.

Martyn Bane is a young steam enthusiast who has devoted most of his spare time and cash over the last few years to the cause of modern steam, and he has gone to great lengths to share his growing knowledge and database with the rest of us through his website at www.martynbane.co.uk (highly recommended browsing for those who have not yet explored it). Martyn is also one of the founder-members of the 5AT Leading Group and he continues to take a close interest in the 5AT project, whilst at the same time expanding his steam interests both at home in the UK and overseas. Most recently his attention has been turned to Argentina, making two trips to that country in 2004, during which he has met and got to know Livio Dante Porta's son, Alejandro.

On his second trip to Argentina in October 2004, Martyn was able to visit and inspect Porta's first, and arguably his most important locomotive, the streamlined 4 cylinder compound 4-8-0 "Argentina" which Porta rebuilt in 1948/9 at the age of 27, and which showed the highest power-weight ratio of all steam locos ever built (ranking equal first with Chapelon's 240Ps). The locomotive was on display in a museum until a few years ago but as a consequence of Argentina's recent economic crisis, the building in which it was subsequently stored has become a home for the destitute and a target of scavengers who have stripped not only the building but most of its contents, including most of removable parts from Argentina.

With the support of Porta's family, Martyn is bravely spearheading a project to (initially) salvage the locomotive and place it in secure storage. He is seeking urgent funding towards the cost of moving the locomotive several hundred kilometers back to Buenos Aires, and rehousing it there, which he estimates will require not more than £10,000.

Whilst the locomotive is a historic artifact, Martyn's (and the Porta family's) plan is not to stuff the locomotive or to restore it to its original condition, but to do something much more exciting (and more relevant to the 5AT project), and that is to undertake further upgrading of it along the lines that Porta had planned to do before he died in 2003. Hence Martyn proposes that any funds remaining after relocating the locomotive will be put towards its subsequent resurrection.

I don't believe I need to say any more on the subject because Martyn promotes his own cause well enough in his own words. These can be read on the attached email from him, and on his website at http://www.martynbane.co.uk/argentina.html. I am personally very enthusiastic about this project and have already contributed towards it, and I would urge everyone else who would like to offer their support to do likewise.

On a separate subject, I might mention that I have just posted an update onto the 5AT website in the form of a brief discussion about firing the 5AT with bio-fuel. It appears under the guise of FAQ-14 (see the FAQ page). This may prove to be a topic of widespread interest, so I'm open to correspondence on it, and may again break with precedent by posting views and comments to the website.

Best wishes to everyone for the New Year.

 

Chris Newman

Note - see also http://www.modernsteam.fotopic.net/ for additional photos of "Argentina"

12th Dec 2004

It's only two and a half months since my last news update (dated 23 Sept 04), and there's been no huge developments since that date. Nevertheless the project moves slowly forward and we have now at last passed one important milestone with Dave Wardale's completion of the Fundamental Design Calculations (FDCs) in November. The work has taken two and a half years of concentrated mental effort by David, in which time he has produced 356 pages of calculations and advisory notes for the detail design of the locomotive, and over 6500 "lines" of calculation plus over 100 sketches, drawings and diagrams. The full list of FDCs (17 in number) is given on the new updated Calculations page on the 5AT website.

Several other pages of the website have also been updated at the same time (as of today's date). These are summarized on the Updates page as follows:

This last item is perhaps the one that I should focus on in this newsletter, since the ultimate success of the project is going to depend not just on the engineering outputs, but on the commercial planning that needs to become a major focus of our attention over the next 12 months. And it is in this area that our current Leading Group is most weakly represented. We urgently need the help of people with appropriate skills to help with the task of updating the commercial sections of the Business Plan, to ensure that what is finally presented to potential investors is both commercially attractive and practically realistic. So if you have skills in commercial and/or financial planning and/or in railway management or operation and would like to contribute to this most exciting project, then please don't hesitate to contact us. Either write to me at info(at)5at.co.uk or better still write directly to Alan at Alan-Fozard(at)5at.co.uk.

That's enough from me just now. Please take a look at the latest updates on the 5AT website and keep sending in your views and comments. Most importantly, let us know if you can help us with the task of updating the Business Plan for the project.

May I take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.

Chris Newman

23 Sept 2004

It is a long time since I sent out a newsletter about the 5AT project, I feel it is high time to get in touch with you once more even though there is not much to report. This doesn’t mean that no work is being done on the project - quite the opposite is the case, and David Wardale is now nearing the completion of the arduous task of preparing the Fundamental Design Calculations (FDCs). Their current status is reported on the 5AT website in the "Calculations" page.

The good news is that no untoward problems have been thrown up as these calculations have progressed and they confirm that the 5AT should meet the performance capabilities originally predicted. However during the process of working through the calculations, David has become increasingly concerned as to whether there is sufficient expertise now available to undertake the detailed design work for the 5AT. Accordingly he has recently written a "position paper" in which he lists in detail some of the difficulties that he envisages will have to be overcome and injects a note of healthy reality into the project by posing a number of challenging questions.

A taste of his concerns can be gleaned from an excerpt from that paper that I have incorporated into a new "Help Required" page that I have just added to the 5AT website. In this excerpt, David emphasises the magnitude of the task of designing and building something that is technically more advanced than any steam locomotive that has been built before. His concerns relate (in part) to the difficulties that will be faced in designing such a machine in a world that has moved so far away from steam that there are now very few engineers with the knowledge or experience to undertake the task, which is what prompts us to seek responses from anyone with past knowledge and experience in the field which we might be able to draw from.

Providing a full response to David's questions is no small task and involves making accurate estimates of the number of components in the 5AT, making realistic estimates of time required to design them, defining an appropriate organizational structure for the design group and quantifying the number of experienced design engineers and support staff that will be required for the project. This work is ongoing. At the same time we have to assess the availability of experienced people to do the design work.

Once we have formulated and agreed our response to the position paper, the next major task will be to include revised estimates for the project into an updated issue of the Business Plan. This will include much more detail on the proposed 5AT engineering organization than hitherto and also modifications arising from the detailed work on the FDCs. An update of the Business Plan will be essential before we start seeking major finance for the project.

I had hoped that by now we would have established a formal project support group - the "Friends of the 5AT" - that has been mentioned in earlier newsletters. Unfortunately this has not happened yet because we don't want to start taking people's membership contributions until we are confident that the project can continue to move forward. Please bear with us. And do please respond to our call for assistance (see www.5at.co.uk/5AThelp/).

Best wishes

 

Chris Newman


4th Feb 2004

WEBSITE UPDATES and
DETAIL DESIGN PLANNING FOR THE 5AT

Whilst nothing much may seem to have been happening with the 5AT Project of late, progress continues to be made not least of which is the ongoing work of David Wardale on the Fundamental Design Calculations (FDCs) for the locomotive. With the boiler calculations nearing completion, this phase of the work is now past the half-way mark and its completion is expected by the end of 2004. The next task after that will be the preparation of the Safety Case for the locomotive and its submission to the railway safety authorities, approval of which will signal the start of the project proper and the seeking of funding for the detail design to begin.

Much planning work is currently in progress, one of the most important of which is the preparation of a discussion document titled "Engineering the 5AT" by David Smith (PhD Mech Eng), who has also been providing part-time assistance to Wardale in his work on the FDCs. The detail design phase of the project is expected to be the most difficult and demanding of all the work that has to be done, because of the scarcity of people with experience of steam locomotive design and because of the exacting standards of work that will be required. I have therefore dedicated a new page of the website (see "Engineering Design") which discusses the subject in some detail and which invites anyone with an interest in being involved in the work to contact us and send us their CV. Meanwhile, copies of David Smith's discussion paper will be circulated to engineers who we believe may be able and willing to contribute to the design work, or at least to its planning. If you are an engineer and/or have skills that could be of use to use during the detailed design work and wish to be included in the circulation of this document, please let us know and at the same time send us a copy of your CV (preferably in the format provided on the 5AT website). All CVs that are sent to us will be treated in the strictest confidence.

The new "Engineering Design" page of the website incorporates three parts: Part 1 is a new section in which the detail design phase of the project is discussed. Part 2 describes the Fundamental Design Calculations (being the old page previously titled "Design Principals"); while Part 3 is titled "Philosophy behind the Design Specification" and is taken from the old page previously titled "Design Philosophy".

Three other pages have also been updated:- the "Updates" page (obviously!), the "News" page (now called the "News and Newsletters" page) and the "Who's Who" page. The Updates page describes the changes in detail, so I won't repeat them all here; however I might draw attention to the "Who's Who" page which now lists the people who are currently involved in the planning for the project. This may be of special interest since we have tended to work anonymously up till now. It may be reassuring to see that we're not a bunch of idealistic enthusiasts; many (most?) of those involved are professional engineers of one sort or another.

We hope to be able to announce the formation of the "Friends of the 5AT" (Fo5AT) project support group in the near future. Indeed I hope that Fo5AT will be subject of my next newsletter. However there is still quite a bit of work to be done before we make the launch and I cannot be sure how long it might take to accomplish. Anyway, when it happens it will be an important milestone, and a worthy celebration for this the bicentennial of "Penydarren" - the earliest ancestor of the 5AT.

Lastly, I've taken the unusual step (for me) of circulating this newsletter to a number of people who have not specifically asked to be included on my circulation list. In particular, I have included all the people that attended the Brienz Congress last October whose email addresses I have, in the hope that their interest in attending the Steam Congress translates into an interest in the 5AT project. If anyone receives this message who would prefer not to receive news updates about the 5AT project in the future, please write back and let me know and I will delete their names from my listings. Please be assured that my circulation list is not given out to anyone that is not immediately involved in the project or the establishment of Fo5AT.

Best wishes

Chris Newman

31st Dec 2003

HAPPY NEW YEAR
TO ALL 5AT "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

I was reminded the other day that I've not sent out a bulletin since my October 17th post-Brienz effort, so I thought it appropriate to combine a short newsletter with some well-wishes for the New Year.

To be honest, there's not a lot of news to report just now which is the principal reason I'd not thought of sending out a bulletin earlier, but that does not mean that nothing is happening. The project still moves forward but most of the work is going on behind the scenes: Dave Wardale has resumed work on the Fundamental Design Calculations (FDCs) following his holiday in China and Pakistan; Alan Fozard continues to work away making contacts with rail and safety people and organizations, and familiarizing them with the project and its aims; Martyn Bane and I have been developing our thoughts on the formation of the "Friends of the 5AT" (Fo5AT) and its membership arrangements.

That doesn't leave a great deal else to report on, which is reflected by the relative paucity of updates to the 5AT website over the last two months. These have largely reported on news articles in the railway press, and the addition of some new (and updated) pages describing the work of Roger Waller and his DLM team, prompted by the return to the rails of his 52-8055. Roger and Andrew Thompson have sent me some beautiful photographs of this fabulous-looking locomotive which I have been happy to add to the 5AT website, hoping that one of these days someone will take some equally stunning photos of the 5AT when it eventually gets onto the rails.

The next website update will report the completion of the 5AT's boiler strength calculations. Dave Wardale has in fact completed these already, but is awaiting clarification of some interpretations of the 1953 German boiler code in relation to DB steam loco boiler design before releasing his calculations. Thereafter, the boiler and superheater combustion gas and steam flow, and heat transfer calculations, FDC. 11.3., will be started. Wardale describes this as a major piece of work and that it will take me some time to finish, hopefully in February. I have other website additions waiting to be added (for instance a report on my discussions with Wardale during his recent visits to Beijing) but have been holding off pending formation of Fo5AT when I plan to reorganize the website to provide a "Members Only" section that will offer news and other information of that nature as a benefit to members only.

It is pleasing to report that the lack of website updates does not seem to have resulted in a loss of interest. My last newsletter reported a phenomenal increase in the website "hit-rate" following Alan Fozard's presentation at the Brienz Congress and the Guardian article that followed. Prior to that, the hit-rate had averaged 30 per day and had once peaked at 54. No-one expected the post-Brienz rates of over 200 per day to be maintained, and indeed they lasted only a week (having peaked at 365); however daily rates of between 50 and 70 seem to have remained steady since the middle of October.

Martyn Bane has also made an interesting list of visual design changes that have been made to the 5AT as a result of Wardale's work so far on the FDCs as compared to the details shown on Robin Barnes's magnificent paintings. The list has not been verified by Wardale, so neither Martyn nor I can vouch that it is complete (or even correct) but I reproduce it below because I think it is of interest:

  1. SNCF style feedwater heater tanks mounted behind and either side of chimney;
  2. Connecting rod shape changed (parallel towards the big end and tapered towards the small end);
  3. Top of combination lever to be suspended from a hanger (to facilitate operation of the twin valves feeding each cylinder);
  4. Crosshead arm added (from which union link is connected to the bottom of the combination lever);
  5. Alligator type slide-bars supported by a bracket attached to the mainframe between the leading coupled axle and the bogie;
  6. BFB wheels instead of Scullins (from discussions only, not from FDCs);
  7. Cross-Compound air pump to be fitted (from discussions only, not from FDCs);
  8. OLEO drophead buckeye with retractable buffers and centre buffer as per Class 90/91 electrics (from discussions only, not from FDCs);

Let us hope that the next 12 months will see some real advances with the 5AT project. We can at least expect to see the completion of the FDCs during that time and the formation of Fo5AT to which I hope and trust that you will all be fast to join as Inaugural Associate Members. More hopefully, we would like to see funding in place during the next 12 months to allow Dave Wardale to make a start on the preparation of the Safety Case as soon as he finishes his work on the FDCs. The cost of this is not expected to be high, but it is an essential step that needs to be taken before funding for the design and construction of the locomotive can be sought in earnest.

Best wishes to you all for 2004.

Chris Newman


17th Oct 2003

CIRCULAR TO 5AT "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

If the recent website "hit-rate" is anything to go by, I imagine that most of you must have already seen the updates that I've made to the 5AT website over the last couple of days. There's been a huge increase in the number of viewers to the site, from a yearly average of just over 28 per day and a recorded maximum of about 60 per day, there have been over 200 viewings per day earlier in the week, and over 300 yesterday. What has brought about this sudden interest? I think it can only have been the article about the 5AT published in last Saturday's Guardian reporting on Alan Fozard's presentation at the "First World Steam and Tourist Train Congress" in Brienz last week, and his brief appearance on Tuesday morning's Radio 4 "Today" program. Anyway, the 5AT has become "news", which is wonderful because it is indeed a newsworthy project. And unusually it provides the press with some good news to broadcast to the world!

A lot of people complain the 5AT isn't the ideal locomotive for the needs of today, and they have many good and valid reasons to support their views. Many see the need for a smaller, more versatile locomotive that can run at equal speed in both directions and/or pull heavier loads at slower speeds. Indeed the 5AT won't meet everyone's needs especially in North America and Australia where trains of larger and heavier carriages need to be hauled over steeply inclined gradients. My view however is that the 5AT is the right machine for this moment. What modern steam needs is a draw-card; something that will grab people's attention; an eye-catcher; a show-case; a machine that can run on a "First World" railway, compete with the latest diesels and electrics on their own turf, demonstrate to rail industry leaders just how fast, efficient, economical and environmentally clean modern steam can be, and perhaps even break a record or two to drive the point home. The 5AT is, I believe, the right locomotive to demonstrate the facts, to bring them to people's attention and to open the door for newer and more advanced ideas that can (and hopefully will) follow behind it. Such is my view, at any rate.

Going back to the publicity issue, the root cause of the sudden interest in the 5AT project was of course Alan Fozard's presentation titled "Making the Commercial Case for the 5AT" at the Brienz Congress last week. Those of us who were lucky enough to attend the conference enjoyed two days of interesting presentations and discussions; an evening's run on the Brienz-Rothorn-Bahn behind (or in front of) one of Roger Waller's modern-steam rack locomotives; a walk through BRB's locomotive maintenance shops; and an inspection of one of the local (steam driven) lake paddle steamers in dry dock. The Conference itself was I believe a very worthwhile exercise which will hopefully lead to bigger and better things in the future. Perhaps most importantly there was general agreement on the desirability of forming a "World" or International body that can represent and protect the interests of steam and tourist railways throughout the world, and at the same time create better recognition of (and a better image for) traditional heritage steam railways, and encourage the further development of modern steam traction. Congratulations to the organizers of the Congress, and to Andrew Thompson and Christian Keifer who did the bulk of the work.

Alan's presentation was, of course, quite excellent and gave a good overview of the theme of the Business Plan for the locomotive. His presentation was well received by Congress delegates, discussion centering mainly on the length of time that is currently planned for the implementation of the design and construction of the locomotive. This is an important issue and one that will be receiving close attention in the near future when we look more closely at how the detailed design work can best be undertaken.

As for the website, for those of you who haven't been counted amongst its hundreds of recent visitors, you will find there have been several updates to it. Most interesting perhaps are the following:

I expect that the next 5AT Newsletter that I send out will be to notify you of the planned formation of the "Friends of the 5AT" (Fo5AT) which we see as the next stage of the 5AT's development. Fo5AT is intended to formalize the loose organization that is so far leading this project, which will make it easier to take the project to its next stage -promoting the Business Plan to potential investors. Besides that, we anticipate that Fo5AT will have a long-term role in coordinating (perhaps even project managing) the work of the investors, designers and the rail industry in bringing the locomotive to the rails, and in helping to ensure that it is operated successfully and profitably when it is completed.

A draft constitution for Fo5AT has been prepared and will be circulated to all Interest Group members when we notify you of our intention to formalize the organization. Three levels of membership will be offered initially:

I trust that we can look forward to your joining Fo5AT in one capacity or another when the time comes.

Best wishes

Chris Newman

19th Sept 2003

CIRCULAR TO "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

A few news updates about the 5AT project and its website:

Firstly, it's pleasing to announce that the website received its first 10,000 hits in the 350 days since I set up a counter on it, representing an average rate of 28.6 hits per day. Equally pleasing is the fact that the hit rate has increased consistently from less than 20 per day 12 months ago, and now stands at 28.8 hits per day. No doubt the rate will increase further if/when we get the project started and start generating some publicity about it.

I've made a few more changes to the website recently including reference an article about the project that has just been published in Locomotives International Issue No 67 (Sept 2003) titled "The 5AT Project - Where is it at? Where is it going?". "Locomotives International" is published by Paul Catchpole at The Haven, Trevilley Lane, St. Teath, Cornwall, PL30 3JS Great Britain. He can also be contacted by email at: locomotives.international@talk21.com (see web site: www.locomotivesinternational.co.uk).

In addition, there is a copy of an article titled "Steam Ready to Ride Again on the Rails" published in The Engineer early this year which described some of the recent work of Roger Waller of DLM in Switzerland. Another obituary to Ing. L.D. Porta is also included, as published in Continental Railway Journal.

I've just added references to a few other recent articles in Steam Railway and other magazines not directly related to the 5AT, but on the subject of "modern steam", plus another obituary to L.D. Porta published in Railfan and Railroad magazine.

An informal but nevertheless inaugural meeting of the 5AT "leading group" was held at the house of project leader Dr. Alan Fozard on 25th August and attended by several people who expect to be involved in the implementation of the project. Discussions focussed on the organization and operation of the Engineering Group that will undertake the detail design, manufacturing supervision, commissioning and testing of the prototype locomotive; the proposed support group to be called "Friends of the 5AT"; the finalization of the Business Plan for the project; the Brienz Congress presentation; contacts with rail industry and related organizations.

I also had a lengthy meeting with Dave Wardale last Sunday when he passed through Beijing on his way to a trekking holiday in the Himalayas. Our discussion focussed on several project-related issues and included a lengthy session in which Dave provided verbal answers to several technical questions that have been put to me by readers of the website. I hope to add some of these answers to the FAQ page of the website once I have Dave's confirmation that I've recorded his answers correctly.

Lastly (and for the last time) a final call for the "First World Steam and Tourist Train Congress" is now just two weeks away. This inaugural event is being held in Brienz, Switzerland, from Sunday 5th October to Wednesday 8th October, where on the Monday Dr. Alan Fozard (author of the 5AT Business Plan) will be presenting a paper titled "Making the Commercial Case for the 5AT". Once again I encourage, urge and cajole all of you who are interested and able, to come and attend. At least four of the 5AT Project's "leading group" will be attending including Alan Fozard, David Smith (soon also to have a Dr in front of his name); Martyn Bane and myself. We're looking for all the support (and supporters) we can get there!

Details of the Congress can be found at http://www.alpenregion.ch/Dampfcongress_e.htm#program. Or email Andrew Thompson at steamcongress@yahoo.com if you want more information about it. The program looks thoroughly interesting, and several worthwhile excursions are planned.

As indicated before 100 copies of the latest issue of "Locomotives International" containing the latest article on the 5AT Project will be available for us to hand out to congress attendees. Many thanks again to Paul Catchpole for his generous donation.


Best wishes

Chris Newman

25th Aug 2003

CIRCULAR TO "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

I was having trouble with my SMTP (mail-sending) server at the time I sent out my last circular message on 4th August, and I'm not sure that it got distributed properly. Hence I thought I would repeat the news items that were in it (please forgive me if you've seen them before) and perhaps add a few more notes on the latest news.

First a "news update":

Now back to the news items sent out before (which obviously are now a little out of date). These were to the effect that:

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the "First World Steam and Tourist Train Congress" is now barely more than a month away. This important event is being held in Brienz, Switzerland, from Sunday 5th October to Wednesday 8th October, where on the Monday Dr. Alan Fozard (author of the 5AT Business Plan) will be presenting a paper titled "Making the Commercial Case for the 5AT". Once again I would encourage, urge and cajole all of you who are interested and able, to come and attend this important event. I have now booked my air ticket to travel over from China in order to be able to attend what I think will be a most interesting and informative gathering.

Details of the Congress can be found at http://www.alpenregion.ch/Dampfcongress_e.htm#program. Or email Andrew Thompson at steamcongress@yahoo.com if you want more information about it. The program looks thoroughly interesting, and several worthwhile excursions are planned. I hope to meet a lot of 5AT supporters there! Incidentally, Paul Catchpole is donating 100 copies of the forthcoming issue of "Locomotives International" containing the article on the 5AT for us to hand out to congress attendees. So if you come to Brienz, you may get one free! Many thanks to Paul for the generous offer.

Best wishes

Chris Newman

4th Aug 2003

CIRCULAR TO "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

Just a brief message to those who have not checked out the 5AT website www.5at.co.uk recently, to let you know that I've made several updates which may be of interest. These are summarized on the Updates page, and they include:

Incidentally, there's now been over 8500 visitors to the 5AT website since I started recording the numbers, and at the present rate the number will exceed 10,000 in the first 12 month period (ending 26th September). Encouragingly, the average "hit rate" has gradually increased over the year, and now stands at 28 per day.

Lastly, I'd like to remind you that the "First World Steam and Tourist Train Congress" will soon be on us. This important event will be held in Brienz, Switzerland, from Sunday 5th October to Wednesday 8th October. Most importantly from our perspective, Dr. Alan Fozard (author of the 5AT Business Plan) will be presenting a paper titled "Making the Commercial Case for the 5AT" at the Congress, so I would encourage, urge and cajole all of you who are interested and able, to come and attend this important event. I plan to travel over from China to attend what I think will be a most interesting and informative gathering.

Details of the Congress can be found at http://www.alpenregion.ch/Dampfcongress_e.htm#program. See also the "News Page" at www.5at.co.uk. Email Andrew Thompson at steamcongress@yahoo.com if you would like to attend the congress or want more information about it. The program looks thoroughly interesting, and several worthwhile excursions are planned. It should be an excellent event, and I hope there will be a lot of 5AT supporters present.

Best wishes

Chris Newman


15th June 2003

CIRCULAR NOTICE TO 5AT PROJECT "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

For those who have not heard the sad news, Ing. Livio Dante Porta died last week at his home in Buenos Aires at the age of 81. Whilst he lived to a good age, he had not finished his life's work, and was still actively involved in steam development to the end.

I have added a short announcement of his death on the 5AT website stating that everyone involved in the advancement of steam locomotive technology, and especially we who are involved with the 5AT project, owe Porta a very great debt of gratitude for his dedication, and for his extraordinary achievements in demonstrating what can be achieved through the adoption of scientifically based theories, and a systematic, holistic approach to steam locomotive design. We hope and expect that the 5AT will be a fitting memorial to this great man.

Best wishes

 

Chris Newman

22nd March 2003

CIRCULAR TO "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

Just a brief message to those who have not checked out the 5AT website www.5at.co.uk recently, to let you know that I've made several updates which may be of interest. These are summarized on the Updates page, and they include:

Incidentally, I've recently been having trouble accessing email through the 5AT mail server, so if anyone has sent me mail that hasn't been answered, can they please resend it?

Best wishes


Chris Newman

28th Jan 2003

CIRCULAR TO "INTEREST GROUP" MEMBERS

It's some time since I sent out a "circular" about progress on the 5AT project. In fact things are progressing well even though there are few tangible results to show just yet. David Wardale is progressing with the fundamental design calculations for the locomotive, and is currently concentrating on the design of the 'motion'. In the meantime Alan Fozard has been busy revising the Business Plan and developing strategic plans and budgets for the implementation of the project.

I hope to be able to report more tangible progress in the near future, but in the meantime I thought it a good time to draw your attention to recent updates to the 5AT website www.5at.co.uk. Details of these are listed on the "Updates" page, a link to which can be found near the top of the index on the left-hand side of the screen.

Recent updates include:

With respect to the FAQs, David has indicated that he is reluctant to spend time responding to technical questions about the 5AT at the present time because of the disruption it causes to his concentration while he is focusing his efforts on the Fundamental Design Calculations. I have therefore prepared a limited number of commonly asked questions and I have drawn indirect responses to them by judicious copying selected text from various articles and letters written by David. All the original articles and letters that I have copied from are available for view on the website.

As I say, I hope to get back to you soon with some news of more tangible progress with the project.

Best wishes for the Chinese New Year!



Chris Newman

9th Nov 2002

News Update - 5AT Website

It's taken a while, but I've finally got together a new web page for the 5AT website in which I have documented what I have been able to find in the way of recent articles about the 5AT and other "Modern Steam" projects and associated correspondence. A link to the new page has been added to the index on the left hand side of the main page which I have substituted for the previous link to David's two recent articles in Steam Railway magazine. (I've put a link to these articles into the new page instead).

I've listed the published articles that I have discovered in three sections:

Section 1: UK Railway Press
Section 2: Overseas Railway Press
Section 3: Non-Railway Press Articles

Publications within the latter group I think are of special interest and importance, since the financial viability of the 5AT will ultimately depend on the interest of people and organizations outside the enthusiast community.

I am quite sure that there must be a lot more articles that have been written on the subject which I have not discovered, especially in non-UK publications. Of these, I currently only know of David Wardale's article in Germany's Lok-Report which I'm waiting to get a receive a copy of to include on the new web-page. So if anyone can suggest other articles or sources that might be included in the page, I will be very pleased to hear from them.

The next page that I plan to incorporate is one covering FAQs and NSFAQs (not-so-frequently-asked-questions). Lots of questions have been raised by many people (including myself) about the 5AT and David Wardale has provided many answers to them, so I think it would be useful and educational (at least to folk like myself) to consolidate them all onto a single page. I have already started work on this, and hope to have time to get it advanced enough for uploading in the next month or so after I've had a chance to run it past David when he returns from overseas.

Do please send me any comments, critisisms or suggestions about this new web-page - and on any of the other pages for that matter.

Meanwhile, many thanks to Paul Catchpole of Locomotives International, Tony Streeter of Steam Railway, Chris Milner of Railway Magazine and (in anticipation) to Martin Stertz of Lok-Report, for letting me reproduce articles from their magazines on this new webpage (not forgetting Robin Barnes for allowing me to reproduce his magnificent paintings of the locomotive).

Best wishes


Chris Newman

Page created 2 Jan 2004