20th Sept 2008 - covering:
Malcolm Cluett's and John Rhodes'
coincidental presentations on Steam Traction.
By pure coincidence, Malcolm Cluett
and John Rhodes made separate presentations on the cost of steam traction
in separate continents but on the same day - 9th Sept 2008.
John's presentation titled "Economics
of Coal as a Locomotive Fuel on US Class 1 Railroads" to a luncheon
meeting of the National Capital Land Transportation Committee of the Institute
of Electrical/Electronic Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers in Washington DC (see poster
for John's paper).
Malcolm reports that he had about
sixty people in his audience and that no-one seemed hostile to the idea of
steam traction making a comeback. He didn't have time for many questions after
the talk, but most focussed on greenhouse gas emissions as compared to diesel
traction (an issue that is covered in the text of the paper).
John reports that his presentation
was attended by about 30 engineers who seemed interested in the topic and
who were not at all hostile (as he'd expected they might have been). Only
a few older members of the audience expressed some skepticism about the possibility
of a renaissance. No doubt the topic was quite unfamiliar to most of those
of 50 years and younger!
Congratulations to both Malcolm
and John for presenting the case for steam in two corners of the globe. It
may be hoped that the opportunity will arise for these and similar presentations
to be made at other venues and in other continents in the future.
15th July 2008 - Covering:
Rail Industry Conference, Perth,
Western Australia; and Laura Macfadyen's animated
model of the 5AT
Rail
Industry Conference, Perth, Western Australia:
Over the week of 7th to 10th September 2008,
a Conference on Railway Engineering
(CORE 2008) will be held in Perth Western Australia, under the auspices
of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. A paper titled "Feasibility
of Steam Traction for Coal Transportation in Developing Countries" by
Chris Newman has been accepted by the conference organizers and will be presented
by Malcolm Cluett who will fly across from Sydney to make the presentation
on Chris's behalf.
The paper follows on from the paper
that Chris Newman presented at the "Modern Steam" conference in
York in December 2006 but includes more accurate performance and cost estimates
for alternative traction options, yet it still shows a substantial cost advantage
for steam traction where fuel and labour costs are low..
A copy of the paper will be presented
on this website once the conference is over.
Laura Macfadyen's
animated model of the 5AT: Previous news
bulletins since January 2008 have included reference to a three dimensional
computer model of the 5AT that Laura Macfadyen has chose nto create as her
final year project for a Computer Modelling & Animation honours degree
at Bournemouth University. Laura has recently completed the animation of her
model, and has just written to say that she has been awarded a First Class
Honours Degree for her efforts. Sincere congratulations to Laura for her achievement,
and we wish her well in her future career.
Laura's animated model can be viewed
by going to Laura's section of
the 5AT Models pageand
the clicking on the appropriate links.
9th May 2008 - Change
of email address
I've taken advice on the spam problem
that I've been experiencing with the 5AT mailbox (see 14th April 2008 news
item below) and have been directed to a website that offers a "spambot"-proof
method of encoding email addresses on websites. I'm therefore setting up a
new 5AT email address at webmaster@5at.co.uk.
Obviously it won't receive emails sent to anything@5at.co.uk
but it's the best I can do for the moment.
The 5AT mailing address has been
taken over by a proxy spammer and is no longer managable. I am thus unable
to receive messages sent to the 5at.co.uk mail server, and ask that in future
people contact me through cje.newman(at)gmail.com.
In order to avoid the same thing happening to that address, I will not provide
HTMLlinks to it from the website. Would anyone who has sent any messages to
the 5at.co.uk email address in recent times please resend their messages to
the above address?
5th April 2008 - covering:
Steam in Action Group; Art in the Age of Steam exhibition;
Steam
in Action Group: This group has nothing to do with the 5AT Project
or with modern steam. However Richard Coleby, who is doing such wonderful
work for us producing 3D drawings of major components of the 5AT, has requested
that I give them a mention in acknowledgement of the ongoing assistance that
he has been receiving from the Reefsteamers
group who have been very helpful in sending him several detailed drawings
of the Class 25 locomotive that he has been able to use as reference material
in the work that he is now doing on the 5AT frames.
Richard says that the group has
request that we invite as many people as possible to sign up as members of
the newly formed 'Steam in Action' group which is dedicated to preserving
as much of the SA steam heritage as they can before it all goes to the breakers
yard. Steam in Action's website can be found at http://www.steam-in-action.com/index.htm,
where you can register your interest.
Art
in the Age of Steam: Also nothing to do with the 5AT Project
or modern steam, but there are a few artists among the group and a few non-artists
who are intersted in art (and the Arts). Hence I am taking the opportunity
to pass on a message just received from the National Museums Liverpool about
an art exhibition called Art in the Age of Steam that they will be presenting
from 18th April to 10th August 2008. See http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/steam/
for details.
5AT
Modelling Projects: In the last news bulletin, I reported that Laura
Macfadyen had begun a virtual model of the 5AT. She has now almost completed
it, and in fact has had to suspend further work on it while she completes
her studies. She will be "painting" it shortly, but a preview of
the locomotive in grey undercoat is shown below. I think everyone will agree
that Laura has done a wonderful job and produced a very fine model indeed.
A new section has been added to
the 5AT Models page to include Laura's
work. Also included on the same page is a report on another virtual model
that has been commissioned by Chad Noh
of the USA.
Presentations
relating to the 5AT Project:
On 20th February last, Malcolm
Cluett (see photo on the 5AT Photo
page) who is one of our project's longest-standing and most involved
supporters, made a presentation titled "The Economics of Steam Traction
in Transportation of Coal by Rail" at the Singleton Coal and Mining
Expo at Singleton, NSW, Australia. Whilst the presentation did not attract
a large audience, Malcolm reported that those that attended seemed interested
and stayed for the whole hour. Our sincere thanks to Malcolm for making
this presentation on our behalf.
Malcolm's presentation was
the first that has been made about the 5AT project (albeit in its 8AT guise)
outside the steam enthusiat fraternity. A second such presentation is planned
to be made in September at the "CORE
2008" Conference on Railway Engineering being hosted by the Railway
Technical Society of Australasia, a subsidiary of the Australian Institute
of Engineers. This will be a major rail industry event, and the synopsis
of a paper titled "Feasibility of Steam Traction for Coal Transportation
in Developing Countries" by Chris Newman has been accepted by the conference
organizers. The conference is to be held at the Perth Convention Exhibition
Centre, Perth Western Australia from September 7-10 2008. If the final draft
of the paper is accepted by the organizers, and if Chris is unable to travel
over from China to present the paper himself, Malcolm Cluett has kindly
offered to stand in for him.
Meanwhile, on 20th March, Mike
Horne will be making a presentation to the Hazel Grove & District Model
Railway Society titled "Second Generation Steam - the Story So Far"
on 14th March. The meeting is not open to non-members since it is expected
to be very well attended. Mike may however be willing to make the presentation
to other groups if invited to do so, and provided he doesn't have to travel
all over the country (see note below).
Later in the year, on October
22nd, Richard Coleby (our brilliant draftsman who produced the magnificent
3D drawing of the 5AT cylinder block (see Jan
31st news item below) will be making a presentation about the 5AT project
to the Norwich Engineering Society.
Past presentations about the 5AT/8AT project include:
Note:
The 5AT Project's leading members are more than happy to make presentations
to any group if invited to do so. However until the project goes commercial,
it has no funding to pay for any travel or accommodation expenses incurred by
its members. Financial assistance may therefore be requested towards meeting
such costs where long distance travel is involved. In this respect, it may be
noted that those of us who have so far expressed willingness to give presentations
are located in: Staffordshire, Lancashire, Huntingdonshire, Sydney, Australia
and Beijing, China.
Thanks
to the South African Reef Steamers Group: As noted on the Updates
page last week, we wish to record our sincere thanks to the (South African)
Reef
Steamers' group in acknowledgement of the assistance they have given to
us (and to Richard Coleby in particular) by sending copies of detailed drawings
of axlebox and horn layout of the SAR Class 25 NC locomotive. Richard will
use these drawings to develop the framing details for the 5AT. A link to their
website has been added to the References and Links
page of this website.
Many followers of this website will
recall news of the magnificent model of the 5AT that was made by Bournemouth
Arts Institute student William
Powell in 2007. Now another Bournemouth student has offered to
make another model of the 5AT. This time however, the model will be
a virtual one, and the modeller is a student at the Bournemouth University
by the name of Laura Macfadyen who is reading Computer Modelling &
Animation BSc(Hons).
Laura describes herself as "a novice
when it comes to locomotives but during my research on the web I became
very interested in your website." She intends to produce a "three-dimensional
steam train with a fully functioning, interactive rig for my 'Major
Project' this year". She goes on to explain (for those who understand)
that "I will be using 3ds Studio Max 9 to create the model. My
project is to create an interactive rig to show the motion dynamics
of the wheels etc. For this reason I will be modelling only the exterior
of the train. Time permitting I will try and render a short animation
of the train in motion complete with steam and sound. For this I will
use combustion's after effects and render it from this package."
Laura explains that the reason she wanted
to create a steam train in 3D was because "I admire both their
impressive features and their visual magnificence when in operation."
And who could disagree with her sense of aesthetics?
It is a complete coincidence that Laura
is studying at the same city as William, because she had not heard
of his involvement with the project. She sent us her first draft of
the model a few days ago which amazed us with its accuracy. Obviously
it is far from complete with several important bits (like buffers
and frames) being absent awaiting further details from us. There are
one or two minor errors that we have drawn Laura's attention to, but
we are quite amazed at the speed and quality of her work so far, and
are looking forward to seeing the next version of her model when she
is ready to send it to us. Below is one of the initial images that
she sent us.
New
3D Drawing of 5AT Cylinders, Smokebox Saddle and Exhaust Passages
Richard Coleby could be described as
another virtual 5AT modeller, but in his case his models are in the
form of 3D engineering drawings some of which have been reported on
this news page before, such as the Scullin wheels reported in the
11th Feb 2007 news article.
Richard's latest creation is a drawing
of the 5AT cylinder block, smokebox saddle and exhaust passages, which
is quite a major achievement considering the complexity of the castings
and the rather limited information (in the Fundamental Design Calculations)
that he had to work from. An image Richard's latest drawing is shown
below, however the complete 3D drawing can be found in the Drawings
section of this website. To say the least, it is an admirable
(and beautiful) piece of work that brings the 5AT that much closer
to reality.
The illustrations below Richard's drawing
are of scale models that John Hind has had made (directly from Richard's
drawing) of the LH cylinder and LH exhaust passage using a "rapid
prototyping" technology called stereolithography (SLA).
Richard is now working with Jamie Keyte
on the preliminary design of the 5AT frames, Jamie doing FEA analyses
while Richard produces the drawings. They hope to compete the work
in two to three months time.
Feasibility
Study for the 5AT Project
It is likely that many readers of this
website have some doubts about the 5AT ever becoming a reality. I
guess even those of us who are directly involved in the project suffer
doubts about it from time to time, but for the most part we remain
both confident and optimistic. If we did not of course, we would not
persist with it! In fact, we're not just passively optimistic, and
we continue to work very hard to take the project forward towards
its eventual reality, as can be seen from Richard Coleby's work (above).
All of us, including Richard, work on the project in our spare time
and most of us have all too to little time to spare. Nevertheless,
as John Hind has observed, “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.” So, even though progress may sometimes be slow, we are
moving forward and our energies are now directed at putting together
a Feasibility Study for the project, including detailed costings and
market assessments. Once complete, this Feasibility Study will form
the basis of a Business Plan that will be used to "sell"
the project to investors.
It's always been envisaged that if the
5AT is ever built, it will have to be paid for by investors who will
expect a return on their investment, because the cost of designing
and building a new locomotive from scratch will far exceed the sort
of money that even the A1 Project has struggled to raise from their
supporters. Thus we have to prepare a Business Plan that will show
sound reasoning, accurate costings and (of course) a good profit potential
in order to have a chance of convincing potential investors to put
their money into the project. It is not, and will not, be easy but
we are working on it. Unfortunately, we will not be publishing either
the Feasibility Study or the Business Plan since these will contain
information that investors may consider to be commercially sensitive.
15th Nov
2007 - BBC "Steam Driven"
Broadcast about Modern Steam traction is now available for download on-line
Alan Fozard reports that the BBC radio program
"Steam Driven" that was broadcast on 19th July 2006 is now available
to listen to (but not to download) from the BBC's website. The site address
is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/pip/78kt9/.
14th
Oct 2007 - Meeting of
the 5AT Planning Group
The 5AT Planning Group held it's fifth meeting
at the home of Alan Fozard in Salt, Staffordshire, on 14th Oct 2007. The
meeting was attended by Alan Fozard, John Hind, Richard Coleby, Jamie Keyte,
Mike Horne and Chris Newman (see group
photo on Photos page).
The most important topic covered during the
meeting was a Project Implementation Plan that had been prepared by John
Hind, covering cost estimates, engineering manpower, time and resource requirements
that will be needed to complete the design, component manufacture, assembly,
and rail-testing of a prototype locomotive - including the costs of adhering
to current UK railway regulatory requirements.
Much of the remainder of the meeting was spent
discussing freight haulage opportunities for an 8AT 2-8-0 version of the
5AT in relation to which studies are still ongoing.
18 Oct 2007 - Meeting of the Bevil's
Club
Alan Fozard and Chris Newman were privileged
to receive an invitation to attend a meeting of the Bevil's Club at the
Institution of Civil Engineers building in London. The Bevil's Club (named
after its founder member) is an informal group of railway enthusiasts, both
professional and amateur, which has been meeting for lunch every Thursday
since the 1920s (Thursdays between Christmas and New Year excepted). Attendance
is by invitation only, and lifetime membership is automatic to anyone who
receives an invitation to return (which has only been denied once in the
Club's history). Whilst the Club remains informal and unconstituted, George
Carpenter is regarded as its current leading member.
Anyone receiving an invitation to attend is
strongly recommended to accept. Several attendees bring with them an encyclopaedic
knowledge of railway engineering and/or railway history that provide a wonderful
education for the less knowledgeable (like myself). Discussion at this (very
typical) meeting covered a wide range of fascinating topics that extended
well beyond following (as recorded):
Boilers from the Ceske Velenice
workshop in the Czech Republic;
George Carpenter's personal
acquantances with Chapelon, Porta, Riddles, Geisel, Cox, Cantlie, H.F.
Brown (and Pablo Picasso!);
The personal relationship
between Chapelon and De Caso and the personal difficulties they shared
after WW2;
How Chapelon’s successor
saw to it that his last 141P was scrapped, and how his 241P (now in Switzerland)
was saved;
How one of Cantlie’s 4-8-4s
ended up at the bottom of the Po River in Canton ;
How the Cantlie family got
its Chinese connections
How a Gresley A4s slipped
in the Trent Valley even at 60mph (with George Carpenter at the controls);
How a (steam) traction friction
coefficient of 0.18 was adopted by Malaysian Railway, why the 8AT should
be limited to 0.2.
Discussion about the boiler
capacity that might be needed for the 8AT;
Why British Railway dieselized
as hastily as it did (because of exaggerated fears of coal strikes).
Why dieselization in USA
was more successful than in the UK - because UK was not allowed to spend
dollars importing GM engines that were much better than UK ones;
How excellent marine engines
failed in railway service because of repeated changes in power demand
(and engine temperature etc).
How the Geisel ejector drawings
were stolen by Chinese diplomats in Swaziland and (badly) copied in India
and China;
How Chapelon’s 2-8-4 drawings
were copied for China and why Datong never built them
Performance of Chapelon’s
1-4-1Ps and how his superb 2-4-0Ps gained a totally undeserved reputation
for being fragile (which was used to justify their premature scrapping).
How one French 2-8-0 was
fitted with 5’-8” wheels instead of 6’-8” to reduce axle load, yet it
performed just as well at speed as its larger-wheeled cousin;
How only 100 1-4-1Rs were
fitted with large steam passages and they compared to Chapelon's 1-4-1Ps.
The ACE 3000 project and
why it failed;
The background to Fowler’s
1926 compound Pacific and the reason why it was never built;
Breathing problems with the
Midland Compounds associated with inadequate receiver volume;
Stanier’s chairmanship of
the Power Jet company after his retirement from the LMS;
The advantage of “dropwise”
condensation for locomotive applications (rather than film condensation);
The advantages and problems
associated with pulverized coal as a locomotive fuel;
The suitability of Bissel
bogies for high-speed operation.
The meeting concluded with a "slide
show" of amazing pictures taken by Nick Lera on a tour of historic railways
in Syria and Lebanon.
28th June
2007:
A press release was issued on 16th July with the
news of the official "hand-over" of William Powell's model to the
5AT Group. The Press Release was worded as below, and was accompanied by the
two photos showing Alan Fozard meeting with William.
Scale
model of proposed 5AT advanced technology steam locomotive presented to 5AT
Group.
The proposed “5AT” is an exciting and entirely
new advanced technology steam locomotive which is being designed and promoted
by the 5AT Group for hauling steam charter and rail cruise trains on the
modern main line network. The locomotive will incorporate the latest proven
steam locomotive technology and is expected to achieve a 100% increase in
thermal efficiency compared to latter-day 20th Century steam locomotive
designs. It will also act as a demonstrator for the capabilities and potential
of modern steam locomotive developments.
William Powell, a student on the Honours Degree
course in Modelmaking for Design and Media at The Arts Institute in Bournemouth,
has produced a 1/30th scale model of the proposed locomotive as his final
year project using drawings provided by the 5AT Group. This prestigious
course is a leader in the field of modelmaking and aims to develop student’s
technical and aesthetic abilities through direct experience gained in using
a wide variety of processes and materials. The course is run by a strong
team of ex-industry professionals further supplemented by visiting industrial
specialists. Course work includes a range of challenging and interesting
briefs (working both physically and digitally in three dimensions).
The model follows the detailed drawings of
the locomotive and is built to a scale of 1:30, making it 750mm (30 inches)
long. During its construction William first prepared CAD (computer aided
design) drawings. Subsequently a combination of both traditional hand making
skills and modern computer controlled machinery was employed to construct
the model.
William kindly agreed to present the model
he has built to the 5AT group. The presentation took place on June 28 in
the model making studios at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. The attached
photograph shows the model being handed over by William Powell to Alan Fozard
, 5AT Project Co-coordinator. William has already gained a fantastic job
opportunity as an in house modelmaker for Terence O'Rourke, a local architectural
practice
The 5AT locomotive
The proposed 5AT has a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement
and will be of the same size and format as the ex-BR Class 5MT locomotives.
It is, however, a completely new design and will be the world’s first fully
optimized “second generation” main line steam locomotive*.
The locomotive will produce 2535 drawbar hp
at 70mph (113kph) – twice that of the BR 5MT. The combination of low fuel
and water consumption combined with a large tender will provide a range
of 380 miles (water) and 570 miles (fuel) under representative average service
conditions. The locomotive is being designed for a top speed of 125mph and
a maximum operating speed of 112.5mph. (Allowable operating speed will of
course be set by the appropriate railway authorities).
Design
of the 5AT was originally conceived by the eminent steam locomotive engineer
David Wardale seven years ago. David subsequently undertook the fundamental
design calculations for the locomotive which include performance estimates
and provide the foundation on which the detailed component design will be
based. The 5AT project is currently being progressed by the 5AT Group; an
informal group of interested professional engineers and other professionals
from several continents who collaborate (using CAD/CAM and the latest project
management technology) via the internet.
The initial aim of the 5AT Group has been
to undertake the research necessary to produce a detailed feasibility study
and business plan for the initial locomotive. This work is now nearing completion.
The study will quantify the effort needed (including associated cost estimates),
detail how the engineering can be organized and put forward a plan for implementation.
When it is completed the study will provide a basis for discussions on project
finance.
Full details about the 5AT project can be
found at www.5at.co.uk . The website includes a page showing progressive
photos of William’s model during its construction.
* Livio Dante Porta, the outstanding steam
locomotive engineer who died in 2003, catagorised steam locomotives as:
First Generation Steam (FGS) – latter-day
designs with a drawbar thermal efficiency around 7%.
Second Generation Steam (SGS) - new designs
which could be built using the best proven technology and having a drawbar
thermal efficiency of up to 15%.
Third Generation Steam (TGS) – new designs
requiring very considerable research and development and having (condensing
locomotives) a drawbar thermal efficiency of up to 25%.
27th Apr
2007:
Further to the yesterday's news bulletin,
William Powell has just written to say that his 5AT model
has to be completed and handed over to his supervisors on Wednesday 2nd
May. Unfortunately due to unforeseen delays he has run out of time to complete
the painting work and has decided to submit it in a matt off-white finish.
Hopefully it will be possible to have the model repainted in its planned
blue and orange livery at a later date. William sent some current
photos of the model which are appended. Also appended are some additional
photos that he sent to me in late March.
26th Apr
2007:
Chris Newman
and Robin Barnes meet Malcolm Cluett in Australia: By complete
coincidence, Chris Newman and Robin Barnes landed in Australia on the same
day, March 1st 2007 and met up with Malcolm Cluett next day at his home
in Como, Sydney. Robin brought with him his latest
5AT painting which he kindly presented to Malcolm who now has it framed
and hanging in his living room.
Malcolm Cluett presents paper on
Steam Developments: By another coincidence 1st March happened to
be the day that Malcolm Cluett presented a paper on Steam Traction Developments
to Railway Technical Society of Australasia (which forms part of the Institution
of Engineers Australia's Sydney Division) at IE Aust's Chatswood office.
Chris Newman attended the meeting where he met several 5AT followers including
Terry Flynn from the Aerodynamics Laboratory of the School of Mechanical
and Manufacturing Engineering at University of New South Wales in Sydney,
who recently supervised a student's project that looked into the smoke deflecting
capabilities of the 5AT. I hope to be able to present a copy of Malcolm's
paper on this website soon.
William Powell 5AT model
is nearing completion. A recent photo
of his work is appended, however this was taken in early March, so the
model should be well advanced now. Robin Barnes' latest painting arrived
just in time, because by general (if not unanimous) agreement, it has been
accepted as the colour scheme to be applied to William's model.
John
Hind, who heads up the Engineering Planning for the 5AT project
continues to spend such spare time as he has refining his cost estimates
for the 5AT. He is in communication with several key people and organizations
in the railway industry who are being very helpful with advice and cost
estimates. Meanwhile Alan Fozard is working
hard to refine the latest version of the 5AT Business Plan which will incorporate
John's cost estimates. At the same time, Chris
Newman has been working on a spreadsheet version of the FDCs from which
he has been calculating the potential performance of an 8AT eight-coupled
variant of the 5AT (see 18th December
2006 newsletter). This work is also
expected to feature in the 5AT Business Plan, to demonstrate some of the
wider opportunities that the development of the 5AT might offer investors.
Finally I am deeply saddened to report that
David Wardale's wife Irene died last week as a result of complications following
heart surgery. I am sure it will not be out of place for me to pass on to
David the condolences of everyone who has been following this project.
11th Feb
2007 - Website Additions and Updates
Several updates have just been added to the
website together with one new page. These are listed as follows:
Four fine
new paintings by Robin Barnes have been added to the website. Miniatures
can be found on the "home"
page each of which contains a link to a page with a larger version of
the image. Each of the new images is also displayed on the Artist's
Impressions page.
Richard Colby has produced another
pair of high quality drawings, this time of a Boxpok (BFB) wheel.
These can be viewed in PDF
format (2D and 3D) and as a Solidworks
e-drawing (3D) and can be compared with Richard's drawings of the Scullin
wheel (see below). The new drawings
are of a wheel for a Bullied Pacific which has a much shorter stroke than
the 5AT. Interestingly, Richard thinks that the Boxpok/BFB wheel may turn
out to be lighter than the Scullin which would offer the significant advantage
of reducing unsprung weight. Richard is now starting on assembly drawing
of the crankpin, coupling rod and associated bearings and seals. Note: Richard's
Boxpok and Scullin drawings can be viewed through new links at the bottom
of the Design page where a list
of completed drawings is being compiled.
William Powell is a student
at Bournemouth Arts Institute, taking a BA Hons degree in Model Making.
For his final year project, he has offered to make a 1:30 model of the 5AT
which we hope will be made available to display at 5AT functions and promotional
events. William's offer has been enthisiastically accepted and it is hoped
that the model will be completed by the end of the academic year. William
has sent some photos of
his preliminary work and will send more as his work continues.
Mike Allen from Norfolk
in the UK has made a parallel offer to create a virtual model of the 5AT
to operate on Microsoft's train simulation software, which has also been
accepted. Mike is 21 years old and is heading the Trackworks team that is
building the North Norfolk railway for Microsoft Train Simulator (see www.trackworkts.co.uk/forum).
He says that he developed an interest in railways after discovering that
Peppercorn A1 60114 "W.P Allen" was named after his great-grandfather".
Mike sent two examples of
his work, one of which is (interestingly) of a Standard 8F (a conceptual
design that was featured in a recent edition of Steam Railway magazine).
Mike knows very little about his great-grandfather other than that he was
a top link driver on the NER and LNER, so if anyone has any information
about him I will be glad to pass the information on to him. Mike is also
looking for work in the railway sector so once again let me know if anyone
has anything to offer him.
A new "Performance"
page has been added to the website describing the anticipated performance
of the 5AT and outlining how its performance has been predicted. Many thanks
to Dr David Pawson for assisting in the preparation of this page. The new
page can be accessed directly from the main index.
As mentioned on the updates
page, revised versions of FDC 1.3 and FDC 1.3.F have
been uploaded onto this website.
FDC 1.3b is the original FDC 1.3 as first
presented on this website, but with a minor clarification in that the
units "Nm3" has been changed to "N*m3"
and a note added that "N*m3 = m3 at NTP".
This change was made to avoid confusion where "Nm3"
might have been interpreted as Newton-metres-cubed.
FDC 1.3.F Rev 2 incorporates a number
of minor corrections and clarifications by Dave Wardale including the
one mentioned above. It also includes several excerpts from correspondence
from Wardale that I have added in red font.
Wardale stressed in a recent letter that
"the relationship between FDC 1.3. and 1.3.F. should be clear. FDC
1.3. were the initial calculations on which all other FDCs were based,
as necessary. There are references to FDC.1.3. throughout the FDCs. As
such FDC 1.3. remains an integral part of the FDCs. FDC 1.3.F. is 1.3.
repeated with all calculated values of parameters substituted for the
original estimated ones. It is thus more accurate and serves as a check
on whether the original values are accurate enough as a base for the rest
of the FDCs, which they are to my satisfaction. Thus 1.3.F. is what one
uses now, but as this did not exist until the end 1.3. remains as the
foundation of the FDCs."
"Modern
Steam" Conference, York, 11th December 2006
A one-day conference titled "Developments
in Modern Steam Traction for Railways" was held at the National Railway
Museum at York on 11th December 2006. The conference was sponsored jointly
by the Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History, the University
of York, the National Railway Museum, Rail Research UK of the University of
Birmingham, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University
of Sheffield:
The conference was very well attended with over
70 delegates in addition to the 10 speakers. Papers were presented as follows:
Colin Divall: Welcome and Introduction;
Jos Koopmans: "Beyond Porta": New
Front End Research;
David Elliot: New Build Steam in England:
The A1 Project;
Roger Waller: Experience with Modern Steam
and new Developments;
Felix Schmid: Reconverting the Good Ship
Spiez to Steam Operation;
Felix Schmid: Closing address.
In addition, locomotive ‘Fox’ from the Kirklees
Light Railway near Huddersfield was displayed in steam (see below) by Ian
Screeton who carried out its "modernization" by implementing
several improvements recommended by L.D. Porta.
Finally, Dave Wardale announced at the conference
that he wished to have his formal response to Jos Koopman's book published
on this website. His response is therefore included and can be found through
the following link.
15th
December 2006 (continued)
Conference
Photos
I only managed to take a couple of poor quality
photos during the conference which I have supplemented with others taken by
Alan Fozard.
Chris Newman (5AT), Richard Siddall
and Andrew King (both from Alstom), John Hind (5AT) and Thomas Schmid attending
pre-conference dinner
Thomas Schmid, Roger Waller,
Felix Schmid, Dave Wardale and Jos Koopmans at pre-conference dinner.
Kirklees Light Railway locomotive
"Fox" in steam at the York Conference
Ian Screeton (Kirklees Light
Railway) discusses about "Fox" with David Wardale
Alan Fozard and Robin Barnes
at York (apologies for the poor photo quality)
15th
December 2006 (continued)
Scullin Wheel Drawings by Richard
Coleby
The 5AT group set up a display
outside the conference room at the National Railway Museum at York, which
included a project
description by Alan Fozard, several paintings
of the 5AT by Robin Barnes (copies not yet available
for publishing on this website) plus previously
published drawings of the 5AT connecting rod by David Smith and Jamie
Keyte, and some new 3-D drawings of a Scullin wheel that had just been prepared
for us by Richard Coleby, based on original drawings kindly sent to us from
Dan Myers in America (thanks Dan and Richard!)
Richard's 2D drawings can be viewed
in PDF format (please
note there are two drawings on this file) or a "dynamic" 3D version
may be downloaded from the attached "zip"
file. Richard offers the following instructions for viewing the dynamic
drawing:
In order to view the enclosed
"eDrawings" file, you must open the zip file, and then open the
executable file contained in the zip file. To open the zip file, we recommend
using WinZip. An evaluation version of WinZip is available for download
at http://www.winzip.com.
After you open the zip file,
double-click the executable (*.exe) file contained in the zip file to view
the eDrawings file.
If
you want to view sections press the section button top right and drag plane
through the wheel.
A new program has been issued for the one day
conference to be held at York on 11th December on the subject of "Developments
in Modern Steam Traction for Railways". This can be viewed or
downloaded by clicking on the link below:
Porta's Water Treatment Commercialised
- News Report
Whilst water treatment may seem to be slightly
"off-topic", it is a critical item in the 5AT's Technical Specification
and it should be an critical component of preservation and/or life-extension
strategies for all steam traction projects. Porta's water treatment dramatically
reduces the frequency of boiler washouts and practically elimate boiler corrosion.
Thus, at a single stroke, it massively reduces the greatest single cost in
steam locomotive maintenance.
"The routine application (of Porta's
water treatment) consists of the drivers simply adding a pre-measured amount
of treatment every time water is taken, and that is it. The end result after
two years of use is regular blow downs are eliminated, only being required
after significant periods when the boiler water chemistry becomes concentrated
enough to override the effects of the antifoam (usually around thirty to
forty days in steam), washout periods are extended to basically the annual
inspection (around one hundred and twenty days in steam) and the boilers
are now internally very clean, as commented on by our boiler inspector."
Since Porta's death in 2003, Shaun
McMahon has been the principal exponent of his water treatment methodology,
and he has demonstrated it with great success on the FCAF railway in Ushuaia,
Argentina. Martyn Bane
has now taken up the challenge of commercialising the technology which is
very good news for all steam locomotive owners and operators, especially in
the UK (where Martyn is based). Details of the treatment and its demonstration
trials on 6024 King Edward I can be found at www.portatreatment.com.
See also appended press
release.
6th October 2006
Modern Steam Conference - News
Update
Modern Steam Conference Update: A
new program and publicity "flyer" have been issued for the one day
conference to be held at York on 11th December on the subject of "Developments
in Modern Steam Traction for Railways". These documents can
be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the links below:
BBC Rejects 5AT Request to allow
copies of "Steam Driven" broadcast to be distributed on 5AT Website
BBC Radio 4 has rejected our request to be
allowed to present a copy of the 19th July radio broadcast "Steam Driven"
on this website, saying that "BBC Copyright cannot permit identifiable
BBC footage to be hosted on a non BBC site, due to the complex copyright issues
involved." We have written back to ask the nature of the "complex
issues" but we do not expect to receive a swift reply.
BBC Radio 4 did go on to offer the helpful suggestion
that we "are more than welcome to provide hyperlinks to or publish the
URL for our content", however our attempts to locate the program on the
BBC's website has so far come up only with a link to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/pip/78kt9/
which seems to offer no access to the broadcast.
If anyone really needs to obtain a copy of the
broadcast, then please let me know by writing to me (Chris Newman) at info@5at.co.uk.
18th September 2006
5AT Group Meeting, BBC Broadcast
and Modern Steam Conference
On 19th July BBC Radio 4 presented a
broadcast titled "Steam Driven" featuring the views and
voices of David Wardale, Roger
Waller, Shaun McMahon and Martyn
Bane, together with Ben Russell from the Science Museum. The half-hour
broadcast was presented by Clare Barrett and focussed on the improvements
to the steam locomotive brought about through the application of the design
principles defined by Chapelon and Porta by the present generation of "modern
steam" exponents. It is hoped to offer a copy of the broadcast through
the 5AT website, however we are still awaiting word from the BBC as to their
copyright policies.
On 23rd July the 5AT Leading Group held
a meeting at Alan Fozard's home in Staffordshire. The meeting was
attended by Alan Fozard; John Hind; David Smith; John Duncan; Jamie Keyte;
Chris Newman; Angus Eichoff; Mike Horne; Mark Smith and David Stringer (details
to be circulated in newsletter).
On 11th December 2006 a Conference titled
"Developments in Modern Steam Traction for Railways" is
to be held at the York Railway Museum under the auspices of the "Institute
of Railway Studies and Transport History, Universities of Birmingham, Sheffield
and York". This exciting conference is expected to host several major
speakers from the "modern steam" fraternity, including:
David Wardale who will talk
on "The Design of the 5AT";
Roger Waller who will talk on
"Experience with Modern Steam and new Developments";
Jos Koopmans who will talk on
"Beyond Porta: New Front End Research";
David Elliot who will talk on
"The A1 Project";
Martyn Bane who will talk on
"Water Treatment for Modern Steam Locomotives".
Information about the conference is to be found
in the attached flyer which can be downloaded
in PDF format.
6th April 2006
Support from Australia
The 5AT project has attracted interest from
all over the world, and Australia is well represented amongst the list of
people who have written to express interest in the project. In fact the project
has already received generous assistance from Dr
Allan Wallace in Adelaide who helped with simulation of the 5AT's valve
gear.
More recently we were offered assistance by
Terry Flynn at the Aerodynamics Laboratory of the School
of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at University of New South Wales
in Sydney. His offer was followed up a month or two ago by Matthew
Turner, one of Terry's final year students, who has accepted the
challange of starting a thesis on "improving the exhaust deflection and
drag reduction on the 5AT locomotive". This is a very exciting development
for the project because it was always hoped that it would attract the interest
and support of universities and their students, and we hope that Terry and
Matthew's contribution to the 5AT project will be the first of many.
The project received further support from Australia
when Malcolm Cluett
(a long-standing supporter of the project) presented a paper about the 5AT
to a meeting of the Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division) at
the Mechanics School of Arts in Sydney on Wednesday 5th April. Malcolm based
his presentation on the PowerPoint presentation given by Alan Fozard and John
Hind to the DRES meeting in Derby in December (see below),
and he reported that there were around 80 people in attendance, including
Terry Flynn and Matthew Turner (mentioned above) and Associate Professor Noor
Ahmed who is Mathew's Academic supervisor. Malcolm reported that his
presentation was well received and confirmed that "there is a lot of
interest in new steam in Australia".
Malcolm concluded with the observation that
a locomotive such as the 5AT would make it easier to organise steam-hauled
excursions on the Australian mainline railways, where steam traction in regular
service ended over thirty years ago. As in the UK, facilities for servicing
steam locomotives have largely disappeared in Australia, and finding paths
for passenger excursions is becoming more difficult.
We sincerely thank Terry and Matthew and Malcolm
for their support and their assistance, and we offer a warm welcome to others
in Australia and in any other country who would like to offer their assistance
in pushing our project forward.
21st
Jan 2006
Presentation to Main Line Steam
Locomotives Operators Limited (MSLOL)
On 21st Jan 2006, Alan Fozard and John Hind
made a second presentation about the 5AT project to the Mainline Steam Locomotives
Operators AGM on Saturday 21st January 2006 at the Ringwood Hall Hotel at
Brimington near Chesterfield. This presentation was limited to only 15 minutes
(compared to 50 minutes for the DRES presentation), so it was only possible
to present an abbreviated description of the project and the locomotive.
On
8th Dec 2005, Alan Fozard and John Hind made a formal presentation about the
5AT project to a meeting of the Derby Railway Engineering Society (DRES) in
Derby. This was the second formal presentation by the 5AT project planners,
and the first to be conducted in the UK (the other being made at the Brienz
International Steam and Tourist Train Conference in 2003).
Approximately 50 guests attended the presentation,
including both retired and active professional railway engineers most of whom
were steam enthusiasts of one form or another.
The meeting was chaired by David Butcher, past
part-owner of the Engineering Link (now sold to AEA). Bob Bramson of AEA,
David Russell (consultant to Mendip Rail), Tony Broughton (ex-AEA and Engineering
Link) and Brian Dale (DRES Lectures Administrator) were amongst those who
attended.
Alan Fozard (chairman of the 5AT Commercial
Planning Committee) began the presentation by outlining the aims of project
and the financial requirements that are expected to be needed.
John Hind (chairman of the 5AT Engineering Planning
Committee) then outlined the engineering aspects of the project, focusing
on the technical advances that the 5AT will bring as compared to “classical”
First Generation Steam” locomotives. Both talks were accompanied by PowerPoint
presentations (which may be viewed by clicking here).
In addition to his verbal presentation, John
displayed to the audience the first finished piece of the 5AT prototype in
the form of a blast nozzle that John had made specially for the presentation
by LNWR at Crewe (see upper photo). In addition, John was able to display
an 8” scale model of a 5AT connecting rod that had been made directly from
a 3D drawing prepared by David Smith (lower photo). [See also Engineering
Design page which shows a 3D drawing and FEA diagram of the connecting
rod.]
The vote of thanks to Alan and John was given
by David Russell (formerly Head of Engineering Link). Brian Dale of DRES subsequently
wrote a formal letter of thanks in which he described the project as “impressive”
and “one that we would all greatly desire to see come to fruition”. He added
that Alan and John’s presentation “made it obvious that the locomotive is
a serious and well thought-out undertaking and it is to be hoped that the
various powers that be will see its potential”.
[Click here
to access the presentation slide-show]
26th Jan 2005: The
following Press Release was distributed to over 100 newspapers and magazines
worldwide
Fundamental Design Calculations Completed
for the 5AT Advanced Technology Steam
Locomotive
The 5AT Project reached an important milestone
at the end of 2004 when the well known steam locomotive engineer David Wardale
completed the Fundamental Design Calculations for the proposed Class 5AT 4-6-0
steam locomotive after 2½ years of work.
The 5AT Project is a unique undertaking which
aims to design and build a new and highly efficient steam locomotive for hauling
excursion and cruise trains on the main line in the 21st Century. An important
objective for the project is to demonstrate the significant advances in steam
locomotive technology which have been made over the last 50 years through
the work of the great French Engineer André Chapelon and by his disciple,
the brilliant and dedicated Argentinean engineer, Livio Dante Porta, who died
in 2003. David Wardale, who conceived the 5AT project, collaborated closely
with Porta when developing steam locomotive designs for use in South Africa
and China.
The new locomotive is designated Class 5AT –
the 5 in recognition of the fact that it has the format and compact size of
the ex British Railways Class 5 whilst the AT stands for Advanced Technology.
Although the 5AT is the same size as the ex BR engine it is a totally new
design and will be the most powerful express steam locomotive design ever
to run on the British rail network.
Significantly the locomotive will be the first
main line locomotive built to fully optimise Chapelon/Porta technology and
thereby produce a “Second Generation” steam locomotive. As a result
it will achieve levels of thermal efficiency twice that of most steam locomotives
of the 1950s. A major objective is to achieve extremely high levels of reliability
and low maintenance costs. These are expected to be at least comparable to
the best achieved by modern diesel locomotives.
The Fundamental Design Calculations (FDCs) were
the necessary starting point to scheme out the 5AT and to establish its engineering
feasibility. Previous generations of steam locomotive designers have employed
largely empirical rules and principles in the design of a steam locomotive.
Whilst some of these are still appropriate others are wholly inadequate for
more sophisticated mechanical and thermodynamic design. In undertaking the
FDCs David Wardale has used a much more rigorous and refined design methodology
developed by Porta which optimises the thermodynamic and mechanical elements
of the locomotive.
The 5AT will produce a constant drawbar power
in excess of 2500 hp at 71 mph and it is being designed for a top speed of
125 mph. The locomotive will have a range of about 385 miles under normal
average operating conditions before needing additional water supplies. The
prototype is expected to be oil fired but a coal fired version is equally
practical.
Work is currently underway to quantify the engineering
resources required for the detailed design and development stages of the 5AT
project and to refine initial estimates of the overall costs of the project.
The results of this work together with data obtained from the FDCs will be
incorporated into a combined 5AT Feasibility Study/Business Plan and it is
intended that a presentation of the project will be given to the rail and
leisure travel industries towards the end of 2005.
The timescale for the completion of a prototype
locomotive will depend on the procurement of funds but it is hoped that the
first Class 5AT locomotive might grace the rails within the next decade. The
project is now at a stage where the 5AT Group would welcome support from individuals
who have appropriate legal, commercial and financing experience and an interest
in seeing the further development of the steam locomotive. Contact with the
5AT Group can be made through the 5AT website at www.5at.co.uk which also
provides considerably more detail about the project.
This project can truly be said to be groundbreaking
and will not only demonstrate what can now be achieved by modern steam locomotives
but should also prepare the ground for variants of the 5AT locomotive to suit
overseas markets.
This new illustration of the proposed 5AT locomotive
by artist Robin Barnes includes the latest design innovations from David Wardale's
work on the Fundamental Design Calculations
Notes for editors:
A summary of the 5AT Fundamental Design Calculations
by David Wardale is attached and forms part of this release.
A copy of the above illustration is included as
a JPEG file. You are free to use this illustration along with the press release
and David Wardale’s summary of the 5AT Fundamental Design Calculations.
This press release has been issued on behalf of
the 5AT Group by Alan Fozard acting as project coordinator. It has been circulated
by Chris Newman, 5AT Project Webmaster and Publicity Officer.
If you require any further information on this
press release please contact Alan Fozard or Chris Newman at info@5at.co.uk.
Wardale's Summary of the 5AT Fundamental Design
Calculations
In undertaking this work, I have had an 'agenda'
(to use a current term) in addition to providing the foundation for the 5AT.
That is to show to my own satisfaction that my supposition that steam could
have been far better than it was is correct. There is nothing in the 5AT calculations
that was not known in the mid 1950's when the BR Standards were being built,
except the oil burner/atomiser data (the valve gear computer programme was
also not available then, but the valve gear would have been quite easily produced
by manual draughting by people who were experts in that kind of work). However
FDC 1.3. shows that the required steam output could be achieved using coal
with the Gas Producer Combustion System (GPCS) at a level of combustion efficiency
that was then quite acceptable, and the GPCS was then current technology,
its principles staring engineers in the face. Therefore oil-firing was not
a necessity. So it was my contention in my book "The Red Devil and Other
Tales from the Age of Steam"* that something like the 5AT could have
been produced in the 1950's, being far better than contemporary diesels and
therefore obviating any changeover from steam, and that the failure to do
so was the fault of the steam fraternity and "gave the knife by the handle"
(one of Porta's phrases) to the opposition. I feel the FDCs have shown this
to be true, at least in a purely technical sense (of course they do not allow
for the financial restraints under which the old steam engineers may have
had to operate, but this itself seems hardly an excuse when untold millions
of £s were made available (and largely squandered by BR) in the 'modernisation'
plan).
The FDCs have been made in the 'old' way, because
that is the way I was educated and the way I know. This is also the way they
would have been made in the 1950's, and are of necessity the way they have
had to be done to prove my above point. They would have been acceptable in-toto
at that time, which was before the present over-regulated and litigious environment
appeared, and would have built seamlessly onto existing steam loco design
practice. If, therefore, the steam fraternity had not been so short sighted
at the time of nationalisation of the railways in the UK in 1948, and a small
amount of money had been set aside for a true steam development section, charged
with producing designs for the future at the same time as the BR Standards
were being produced for the then-present, something like the 5AT could have
appeared by the mid 1950's when the BR Standards were already becoming obsolete,
and could have taken over from them in a continuous seamless development of
steam traction technology. If it had been done in this way and steam had continued
to develop, then its technology would have developed naturally to satisfy
today's standards. But it has not been so, and the gap which exists between
the way things were done in steam times and today's requirements is a major
problem. Thus some of the FDCs that would have been quite acceptable in steam
times are not now. For example FDC.16 "Stability" is probably in
advance of whatever was done then (which would have been mostly based on empiricism
and experience) but will not satisfy today's requirements, which require a
computer simulation to be developed just for a 4-6-0. This limitation is freely
acknowledged, and in such cases whatever has been done provides no more than
a base from which a theory acceptable by today's standards must be developed
by those who are knowledgeable enough to do it.
* Note: David Wardale’s book “The Red
Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam” was published by the author
in 1998. [ISBN 0-9529998-0-3]. For details see http://www.5at.co.uk/Red-Devil-book.shtml.
12th Dec 2004: Completion of FDCs; Formation
of Engineering Planning Working Party
Completion of FDCs: On November 9th David Wardale announced the completion of the FDCs
for the 5AT. The work has taken him two and a half years, during which time
he has produced 24 individual sets of calculations under 17 separate headings,
covering 356 pages and 6541 lines of calculation, plus over 100 diagrams,
drawings and sketches. The calculations are set out in a logical format, readily
understandable by engineers, and usefully comprehensible in a broader sense
to non-engineers who will gain from them a good understanding of the technology
that differentiates the 5AT from the 5MT and (more generally) the technology
that differentiates Second Generation Steam (SGS) from First Generation Steam
(FGS). Dave Wardale also offers some challenging conclusions about the
FDCs which are quoted on a new web-page titled "Wardale's Summary of the 5AT
Fundamental Design Calculations" which can be accessed through the
Calculations page.
Formation of Engineering Planning Working Party:
A meeting was held at Alan Fozard's home in Staffordshire on Saturday 16th
October 2004, to discuss the formation of an Engineering Planning Working
Party. The attendees are listed (and illustrated) on the Who's
Who page. The Working Party will have two permanent members (John Hind
and David Smith) and will second others to assist as and when necessary. The
main task of the committee will be to prepare time and cost estimates for
the engineering design and construction of the locomotive.
The meeting recognized the need to form a parallel
working party to focus on the commercial aspects of the project, and in particular
to prepare a detailed study to demonstrate the commercial viability of the
project. The project's leading group is currently top-heavy with engineers,
so there is an urgent need to recruit people with appropriate financial and
commercial experience to assist us in this task, and an appeal for volunteers
has been launched in the Help page on this website.
4th Feb 2004: Current progress, and preparations
for the Detail Design Phase of the project
Progress on the project may seem slow, but much
goes on behind the scenes in the quiet seclusion of the homes and offices
of those who are involved in pushing the project forward. A list of those
currently involved is now to be found in the Who's
Who page of this website - a list that is sure to expand as the project
moves towards implementation. In fact we encourage anyone who would might
be interested in becoming involved in any facet of the project to send us
their names and CVs (preferrably following a standard format provided). CVs that are sent to us will be treated
in the strictest confidence.
The work in progress includes Wardale's work on
the Fundamental Design Calculations
which is expected to continue through most or all of 2004. During that time
we will begin looking for funding to carry through the next phase of the project
upon which all further progress will depend - the preparation of the Safety
Case for the locomotive and its submission to the relevant authorities. The
costs involved in this most critical task will be quite modest, so please
let us know if you can be of any help in securing the necessary funds.
Alan Fozard, Martyn Bane and myself have now finalized
the constitution for the project support group - the "Friends of the
5AT" or Fo5AT. We hope to be in a position to open the organization for
membership within the next month or two, after we have formed an inaugural
committee to run it.
Looking forward to a slightly more distant horizon,
David Smith is currently preparing a plan (in the form of a discussion document)
for the Detail Design phase of the project, which is considered to be the
most challenging task facing us. The difficulties that we anticipate are now
outlined on the new "Engineering Design"
page of this website.
Other plans currently being hatched, and these
will be revealed through this news column as and when they emerge - so please
keep on watching this space!
8th Jan 2004:
Anyone who attended the First International Steam and Tourist Train Congress
in Brienz in October 2003, (and no doubt many who didn't) will find Martyn
Bane's photographic record of the Congress and associated events very interesting.
These can be found on Martyn's website at http://www.martynbane.co.uk/2003Trips/Brienzetc/oct03home.htm.
Martyn has still to add explanatory text to some of the photos, but he expects
to finish this task in the next few days.
14th October 2003: First Public Presentation
of the 5AT Project
The first public airing of the 5AT project was
made on Oct 6th 2003, when Alan Fozard presented a paper titled "Making the commercial case for the
5AT" at the 1st International Steam and Tourist Train Congress, Brienz,
Switzerland. The paper outlined the main points from the 5AT Business Plan.
See also Photos page of this
website.
The presentation of this paper was reported in
the Guardian newspaper the following Saturday (11th Oct) in an article titled
"Reference added to the Articles and Letters
page to an article in the Guardian newspaper on Saturday 11th Oct,
titled "Steam power on track for great renaissance", which was
immediately followed by a radio
interview with Alan on Radio 4's broadcast this morning (October 14th).
The hit-rate on the 5AT website shot up from its first-year average of 28
hits per day (and a previous recorded maximum of 54 per day) to a peak of
254 on Monday 13th Oct!
The 5AT Project - Where is it at? Where is
it going?: For those who didn't manage
to buy a copy of the latest issue of Locomotives
International magazine (issue 67 Sept - Oct 2003), editor Paul Catchpole
has kindly allowed me to present the text of the article on this website titled
"The 5AT Project - Where is it at? Where is it going?" which
attempts to answer these two questions. A link to the article can be found
on the Articles and Letters page. Those of you
who don't subscribe to this excellent magazine which has been enormously supportive
of the 5AT project, you can email Paul at locomotives.international@talk21.com.
It is pleasing to report that in the 350 days
since we set up a counter on the 5AT website, it has recorded 10,000 hits,
averaging slightly more than 28 per day. Equally satisfying is the fact that
the average daily hit rate has climbed steadily from just below 20 last September
to 28.6 now.
A final reminder for the FIRST WORLD STEAM
& TOURIST TRAIN CONGRESS that is to be held in Brienz, Switzerland,
from Sunday October 5th to Wednesday October 8th 2003 (see http://www.alpenregion.ch/Dampfcongress_e.htm#program). See
below for further details. Not only will
Dr. Alan Fozard be there to present his paper titled "Making the
commercial case for the 5AT", but three others from the project's
organizing group will be in attendance, including your webmaster who will
be travelling over from China to attend the event.
It is with great sadness that we announce the
death of the great engineer Ing. Livio Dante Porta, who died on 10th June
at the age of 81.
Everyone involved in the advancement of steam
locomotive technology, and especially we who are involved with the 5AT project,
owe him 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.
2nd June 2003: Fundamental Design Calcs for
Piston Valves Completed
David Wardale has now completed the Fundamental
Design Calculations (FDC 4) covering the 5AT's piston valves, valve rings,
valve spindles and packings. See "Calculations"
page for further information.
27th April 2003: Further news from David Wardale
on 5AT's Piston Valve design:
Further to David's comments on the design of the
5AT piston valves reported earlier (see April 3rd entry
below), David notes a further side-benefit of his decision to use twin
piston valves:
"The piston valve and spindle calculations
for the 5AT have just been completed. The results are very satisfying
- I think the design is a definite advance over 3450's valves and those designed
for the QJ, on which latter the new design is based. Splitting the valves
into 2 - which is done to minimize clearance volume - has an important side
advantage as follows. The port opening is proportional to the valve
diameter, so 2 valves of half the diameter of one big one give the same port
openings. But the steam forces on the valve head and stem are a function
of the diameter squared, so 2 valves of half the diameter have each only one
quarter of this force compared to one big valve. Thus each valve is
very light, and because of the long valve heads (due to the long lap + exhaust
lap) the bearing area even with 13 rings per head is large, giving a very
low bearing pressure - 0.007 MPa compared to about 0.012 MPa for 3450's valves
and 0.034 MPa recommended by the AAR for pistons of passenger locos (no recommendation
for valves). This very low figure will be highly beneficial to lubrication
and minimizing wear."
23rd April 2003: Dr. Alan Fozard to
present 5AT paper in Brienz, Switzerland at the
FIRST WORLD STEAM & TOURIST TRAIN CONGRESS
FEDECRAIL (the European Federation of Museum &
Tourist Railways), the BRB Railway (Switzerland's oldest, steam powered, cog
railway, serving the line from Brienz to Rothorn Kulm), and DLM (Dampflokomotiv-und
Maschinenfabrik AG), are hosting the First World Steam & Tourist Train
Congress at Brienz, Switzerland, from Sunday October 5th to Wednesday October
8th 2003 (see http://www.alpenregion.ch/Dampfcongress_e.htm#program).
Dr. Alan Fozard, de-facto leader of the 5AT project
and co-author (with David Wardale) of the 5AT Business Plan, has accepted
an invitation to present a paper at the Congress titled "Making
the commercial case for the 5AT".
Other speakers and their papers will include:
Eng. Sergio Rodriguez Zubieta, Founder
of the Congress, Marine Engineer, Shareholder of the Southern Fueguean Railway,
Argentina: "Economic and Financial Strategies for Tourist Railways
in the 21st century";
Mr. David Morgan, President of FEDECRAIL,
Chairman of the Heritage Railway Association, Chairman of Heritage Afloat,
England "The Issues facing Steam and Tourist Trains in the 21st Century";
Mr. Heimo Echensperger, Vice-President
of FEDECRAIL, Chairman of the Association of German Museum and Tourist Railways:
"Modern Steam - A Customer View of the Matter";
Eng. Livio Dante Porta, Mechanical Engineer,
Steam Locomotive Designer and Builder, Argentina, who will present a video-recorded
message;
Dipl. Eng. Roger Waller, Mechanical
Engineer, Steam Locomotive Builder, CEO and Director of DLM AG, Switzerland
Modern Steam Locomotives: "An Economic and Ecological Alternative to
Diesel Units";
Mr. Michael Lohnherr, CEO and Director
of the ‘Saxonian Steam Navigation Company, Dresden, Germany: "Operating
Steam and old Steamboats profitabily and financially successfully";
Dipl. Eng. Roger Waller, Mechanical
Engineer, Steam Engine Builder, CEO and Director of DLM AG, Switzerland
"Modern Marine Steam Engines with Remote Control";
a FEDECRAIL Speaker "The Value of Steam
to the Environment";
Mr. Ashwani Lohani, Chief Motive Power
Engineer, Northern Railway, India "The Future of Steam in India";
Mr. Lawrence Marshall, England Railway
Writer, Author of ‘Indian Narrow Gauge Steam Remembered’ and other
works: "Steam and Narrow Gauge Steam in India – Personal Experiences
and Reflections"
It is hoped that there will be a good attendance
of 5AT supporters at the conference.
15April 2003: 5AT gets its first 'T-Shirt':
[photos by Leon Salter]
6024 Society aficionado and deputy webmaster for
the 5AT project, Martyn Bane proudly sports his (self-created) 5AT T-shirt
in front of Porta-modified J94 'Fred',
at Tyseley Depot last weekend. Martyn and Leon Salter (who took the photos)
were there to help with 6024's return to main-line activity. I believe Fred
is there awaiting restoration prior to sale by its current owner, the Somerset
& Dorset Locomotive Company. Martyn runs his own excellent steam-orientated
website at http://www.martynbane.co.uk,
which includes a
page dedicated to Fred. Recommended viewing!
3rd April 2003:
FDC update from David Wardale:
5AT to get Twin Piston Valves
"I have found that the piston valve, cylinder,
and valve gear designs are intertwined and the necessary calculations made
so far involve all three. I am now in a position to start the valve gear analysis
using the various tools (books and computer programme) and will do this before
the valve is designed in detail. However it is already decided to use twin
175 mm diameter piston valves, the clearance volume becoming unacceptable
if a single valve significantly larger than the existing 5MT one were used.
With twin valves there is a great improvement in internal streamlining yet
the clearance volume comes down from 11.3% on the 5MT to just 10% (it is not
possible to reach the target 8% given in calculations 1.3. with the size of
valves I deem necessary, good "breathing" taking preference over
any slight increase in clearance volume). The "lap + lead" (65 mm
+ 7 mm) is decided, and hence the combination lever and union link lengths
are specified. It was presumed that the union link could be pivoted from the
gudgeon pin but this gives an excessive angle of combination lever swing (76
deg. versus a recommended max of 50 deg) and to achieve the latter a crosshead
arm must be used to lower the union link level (as was the case on almost
all British locos.). The crosshead arm adds reciprocating mass, but this is
part of the valve gear rather than the drive system, and its mass will be
debited to the valve gear and added to that of the union link and part of
the combination lever, to be found as part of the valve gear calculations.
Most importantly, everything appears to fit in!"
In answer to four questions:
(a) why is clearance volume critical with
valve design? I thought it was only a concern with piston/cylinder design.
(b) how are twin valves driven? Are the two valve shafts connected by a
cross-member, which is driven from the top of the combination lever?
(c) how is internal streamlining improved with twin valves?
(d) how and where was the "lap + lead" (65 mm + 7 mm) decided?
FDC 1.3 Item 64 nominates the "Tentative piston valve steam lap"
as 65mm, but I can't find where the lead is nominated, nor any derivation
or explanation of their nomination";
Wardale responded as follows:
"Twin 175 mm valves. Yes, placed side-by-side
above the cylinder, and driven by two separate valve spindles joined to a
cross-member as you suggest - BUT this member is one item where detail calculations
and layout must be made in the FDC's and will be done as part of the valve
design, for which the piston valve mass must first be known (hence inertia
forces).
Most of the clearance volume is not in the cylinder
itself but in the steam passages from the steam chest to the cylinders (will
be quantified in the cylinder FDC's). Imagine looking at a piston valve from
the end. The passage around the valve is like a semi-circle of considerably
larger diameter than the valve - although the cylinder is below, the passage
must extend some way above the valve so that the steam leaving the top of
the valve has a free area in which to travel. If one piston valve is replaced
by two of half the diameter the total valve port opening for any given travel
remains the same, but the valve centre and hence the steam passage will be
closer to the cylinders. Thus there is a saving in the volume of the passages
and the streamlining between valve and cylinders can simply be judged by eye
to be better because the valve centre lines lie closer to the cylinders.
Lap and lead is based on my experience of how
far these parameters can be increased before one gets to practical limits
beyond which the law of dimishing returns sets in (with lap) or detrimental
results (e.g. difficult starting) with lead. More justification will be given
in the FDC's."
Fundamental Design Calculations: David
Wardale is progressing well with the calculations and has now completed
the design of the "engine" and "drive" components of
the locomotive. A summary of the completed calculations are tabulated as
follows:
Item No
Description
No of Pages
Lines of Calcs
Notes
FDC 1
General Calculations
FDC 1.1
Determination of Target Power & Tractive
Effort – Speed Characteristics
4
51
Completed 14 Aug 2002; Posted on website.
FDC 1.2
Determination of Target Load – Speed
- Gradient Curves
2
16
Completed 14 Aug 2002; Posted on website.
FDC 1.3
Preliminary Basic Calculations
13
268
Completed 15 Aug 2002; Posted on website.
FDC 2
Reciprocating Components
of the Engine and Drive Gear
As can be seen from the numbers of pages and
calculations, some of the work that has been quite involved. In fact FDC
2 covers most of the work required for detail design of the reciprocating
components since it was necessary to determine their exact masses in order
to estimate the out-balance forces that will occur at the very high operating
speeds of this 2-cylinder locomotive.
David is now beginning work on the calculations
for the piston valves and valve spindles, which he hopes to finish by the
end of March. He will then move onto the valve gear calculations.
Art
in the Age of Steam: Also nothing to do with the 5AT Project
or modern steam, but there are a few artists among the group and a few non-artists
who are intersted in art (and the Arts). Hence I am taking the opportunity
to pass on a message just received from the National Museums Liverpool about
an art exhibition called Art in the Age of Steam that they will be presenting
from 18th April to 10th August 2008. See http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/steam/
for details. 
Scale
model of proposed 5AT advanced technology steam locomotive presented to 5AT
Group.
Design
of the 5AT was originally conceived by the eminent steam locomotive engineer
David Wardale seven years ago. David subsequently undertook the fundamental
design calculations for the locomotive which include performance estimates
and provide the foundation on which the detailed component design will be
based. The 5AT project is currently being progressed by the 5AT Group; an
informal group of interested professional engineers and other professionals
from several continents who collaborate (using CAD/CAM and the latest project
management technology) via the internet.
On
8th Dec 2005, Alan Fozard and John Hind made a formal presentation about the
5AT project to a meeting of the Derby Railway Engineering Society (DRES) in
Derby. This was the second formal presentation by the 5AT project planners,
and the first to be conducted in the UK (the other being made at the 
12th June 2003: Death of 
