Articles and Correspondence about
Modern Steam and the 5AT Project
Introduction: The idea for creating this page comes from David Wardale himself
when he asked me to publish unabridged copies of his responses to readers' letters
about his recent (2002) articles
in Steam Railway magazine. I would appreciate feedback (to webmaster@5at.co.uk) from anyone
who can add to the list of articles that I have assembled.
Section 1: UK Railway Press
The 5AT must have originated in David Wardale's
mind sometime before he finished writing his book "The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam".
The idea makes its appearance in the concluding chapter of that book (at
the bottom of page 497), which he then dubbed the "Super Class 5 4-6-0".
Since then, reference to it has appeared in several magazines:
Apr 1998 - Steam Railway - Issue 216 p.36:
Wardale first broadcast his idea for
a new steam locomotive in an article in Steam Railway's April 1998 issue titled
"Whither Steam Now"
by when the locomotive had changed its name to '5GT'. The article presented
a very forceful case for an economically viable modern steam locomotive to
take over main line duties from "classic" steam, and including the
observation that "arguably the most celebrated British steam haulage
feat of all time was A4 Capercaillie's wartime run between Darlington and
York when 75 mph was averaged over 24.9 miles pulling 730 tons, requiring
only some 2200 dbhp, which is not more than 85% of the power output that the
much smaller 5GT would be able to sustain at the same speed".
Nov 1999 - Railway Magazine - p.35: The Railway Magazine followed a year later in November
1999 with an article on modern steam titled "Clean Steam" and written by Chris Milner. Instead of
the 5GT, this article focused on Roger Waller's work with Sulzer Winpro in
Switzerland, with particular reference to his spectacular rebuild of Kriegslok
2-10-0 No 52 8055. So far as I know, the only correspondence that resulted
was a letter from John Hine which was published in RM's March 2000
(p.39). Chris Newman's
letter to RM written in response to John Hine's did not get published.
June-July 2000 - Locomotives International
issue No 54 (p.1): Paul Catchpole,
editor/proprietor of Locomotives International, was next to raise the subject of
modern steam when he wrote an editorial titled "What Could You Do With £1.7 Million?" which challenged
the enthusiast fraternity to forward with a 21st Century Steam Locomotive
Project.
Aug-Sept 2000 - Locomotives International
No 55 p.2, featured David Wardale's
response to Catchpole's challenge with a page 2 lead article titled "What Could You Do With £1.7
Million? David Wardale's Answer" in which he carried forward his
earlier ideas and set out his criteria for an economically viable modern main
line locomotive for the tourist market. His criteria were (1) it must be aesthetically
attractive, (2) it must give very high reliability and (3) it must offer high
performance in terms of high power output and low fuel and water consumption.
The locomotive was still called the 5GT at this stage, and the possibility
of it being a 3-cylinder compound was still a possibility. David nevertheless
warned that "if the very tepid published response which the deliberately
provocative 'Whither Steam Now?' produced is anything to go by, it will remain
simply an idea". Catchpole dedicated a
second editorial to the subject, this time challenging people to come
forward to take on the project.
Oct-Nov 2000 - Locomotives International Issue
No 56 introduced the first of Robin Barnes's paintings of the 5AT
which was commissioned by Paul Catchpole and donated to the cause by the artist.
The painting appeared on the front cover of the magazine with the locomotive
displaying a green colour scheme, and fitted with its original short tender
and protruding feed-water heater in front of the chimney. The magazine's editorial
encouraged readers to offer their comments.
Oct-Nov 2000 - Locomotives International Issue
56 p.23 also contained an article by Bob Butrims, Maintenance
Manager of the West Coast Railway Company of Victoria, Australia titled "The
World's Most Modern Steam Locomotive" in which he described the operation
in regular service of the semi-Porta-ized 4-6-4 R711. The article concluded
with a response to David Wardale's 5AT proposals in which he criticized several
aspects of the proposed design - in particular the choice of a 4-6-0 wheel
arrangement because of the necessity to use a narrow firebox and because of
the poor ride quality that might be expected. This prompted a
response from Wardale in the Feb-Mar 2001 issue No 57 (p.29) in
which he strongly defended his design noting that a narrow firebox was a far
better arrangement for both for oil-firing and for a GPCS (Gas Producer Combustion
System) and also facilitated locomotive operation by allowing fitting of a
self-emptying ash-pan for quick ash removal. David also noted that Britannia
4-6-2s were rejected by GWR footplatemen because their ride quality was nowhere
near as good as the 4-6-0 Castles and Kings. David also challenged Bob Butrims's
definition of reliability as applied to R711. The same issue also contained
further exhortations by Catchpole for readers to respond with offers to lead
and participate in the project.
Feb
2001 Railway Magazine p.71: In Feb 2001
a "news" article appeared in Railway Magazine headed "Wardale reveals £1.7
million 'new steam' proposal for the heritage market" featuring a
reproduction of Robin Barnes's "green machine" that had appeared
in Locomotives International the year before. Railway Magazine's interest
in the project was astonishingly short-lived, however since they declined
to publish any responses to the article from their readership. I have recently
discovered that my own
response was not the only one that did not get published. So far as I
know, this was the last occasion that RM has made any mention of the 5AT project
to date.
April-May 2001 - Steam Railway's issue 257
ran an editorial which asked the question "What sort of main line will
there be in five or ten years' time? The network is getting ever-more crowded
and increasing safety demands have the potential to force steam off the core
high-speed routes in the longer term". This drew a response from Alan Fozard in SR 259 June-July 2001 p.43
in which he questioned whether "old" steam will be allowed to run
all at all in 5 or 10 years time, and suggested that "the only practical
solution to this major problem is that suggested by David Wardale who proposes
a new, modern, high-powered 4-6-0". SR published a further letter
from Chris Newman in SR 261 Aug-Sept 2001 p.40 in support of Fozard's
view, stating that it would be a "huge and irredeemable loss if the opportunity
is missed to take advantage of Wardale's (and Porta's) knowledge and experience
whilst they are still actively involved in steam development".
May-June 2001 - Locomotives International
Issue 58 p.1 contained an editorial announcing the Alan Fozard's
involvement in the preparation of the Business Plan for the 5AT, while issue
59 (Aug-Sept 2001) published several reader responses including one from artist Robin Barnes.
June and
July 2002 - Steam
Railway went on to publish a further two-part article "Steaming into the Future" by David
Wardale in SR 272 p.36 and 273 p.44,reproduced in
unabridged form on this website. SR went on to publish four letters in response
to Wardale's articles: from Chris Newman, Ray Christopher and Peter Featherstone in SR
275 p.47 (Sept 2002) and from Angus Eickhoff in SR 276 p.38 (Oct 2002). (Unabridged versions of two
of these letters are reproduced.) Wardale's response to Eickhoff's letter appeared in SR
277 p.34 (Nov 2002) along with two other letters from Graham Lawrence and Leonard Staghurst.
A response from Chris Newman
to Mr Staghurst's letter was published in SR 279 p.48 (Jan 2003); unfortunately
Dave Wardale's very
informative reply was not also published. A letter sent to SR by Mr. Bryan
Attewell in response to the Wardale articles also failed to gain publication
and hence Dave Wardale's prepared response to it was also not published. With
permission of both SR and Mr Attewell, his letter and Wardale's response are reproduced
here. Discussion on the articles finally ended with another letter from Angus
Eickhoff to Steam Railway which did not get into print: Mr
Eickhoff's letter is reproduced here with permission of both SR and its
author.
Aug-Sept 2002 - Locomotives International
Issue 63 p.6editorial introduced articles on Ing. Porta's and Roger Waller's
recent work, and announced the introduction of the 5AT website and the provision
of funding for the Fundamental Design Calculations for the locomotive.
Feb - Mar 2003 - Locomotives International
Issue 65 published a letter from Chris
Newman under the title "Is Steam Preservation
Forever?" in response to an earlier editorial commenting on the destruction
of two "preserved" locomotives by a Belgian museum.
Feb 2003 - the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Railway Division, whilst not a "press"
publication per-se, published a the paper by Roger Waller that was presented to
the Institution's Railway Division under the auspice of the "Sir Seymour
Biscoe Tritton Lecture". The paper was titled "Modern Steam - An Economic
and Environmental Alternative to Diesel Traction".
Feb 2003 - Steam Railway Issue 279 published an article about the National Railway Museum
(York). Chris Newman responded with a letter published in SR's March issue
SR-280 under the title "Wardale '5AT' is key to keeping steam 'flat-out'" in which he
suggested that the 5AT will be essential for keeping interest in steam alive
in the future. A response from Paul Mercer was published in SR-282 titled
"Much as we may love
it, steam has had its day" which suggested that the proposal for
the 5AT was equivalent to returning to propellers instead of jets on airliners.
This in turn drew responses from John Duncan and Mike Horne titled "'Old' Steam could gain from 5AT, says engineer" and "Why shouldn't
steam be allowed to progress?" which appeared inSR's May 2003 issue
SR-283. A letter from Martyn Bane written in response to the Chris Newman's
SR-281 letter remains unpublished.
May 2003 - Steam Railway Issue 283 published an article by David Ward titled "Has Mainline
Steam got a Future?". June's issue 284 included a letter from Martyn Bane
suggesting that the 5AT will hold the key to the future of mainline steam
operation. The same issue included a letter from Ian Pow titled "5AT is our best hope".
August 2003 - Steam Railway Issue 286 published two articles and two letters relating to modern
steam and to the 5AT project. A letter from Malcolm Cluett drew attention to the successful operation
of modernized R class steam locomotives operating regular trains for West
Coast Rail in Australia and suggested that a 5AT locomotive would provide
the solution to the problems of running steam on the main line in the future.
An obituary to
L.D. Porta quoted from his recent letter where he wrote "when the
5AT runs, there will be an avalanche of steam buildings" (see also reference
to L.D. Porta on this website). An article on the subject of the Barry Ten mentioned the possibility
of upgrading one of the locomotives (Black 5 44901) into a Super 5, though
without specific reference to the 5AT project. And a letter from Ian Smith
of Carlesbrook suggesting that Ian Riley should get in touch with David
Wardale to discuss upgrading 35009 to bring its performance up to 21st Century
standards.
October 2003 - Steam Railway Issue 288 published a brief notification of Alan Fozard's inaugural
5AT presentation at the 1st International Steam and Tourist Train Congress
in Switzerland on Oct 6/7 2003.
December 2003 - Railway Magazine published another commentary by David Morgan with the
somewhat corny and misleading title "World Unity Fires High-tech Steam Hope".
May 2004 - Heritage Railway issue 61 published a commentary by David Morgan titled
"Live Steam Must
Survive" supporting the concept of building the 5AT "to excite
the imagination of those who follow us".
Autumn 2003 - Continental Railway Journal issue No.135 published an obituary to L.D. Porta.
September
2003 - Railfan and Railroad Magazine (USA) published
an erroneous obituary to L.D.
Porta crediting him with David Wardale's rebuilds of 2644 and 3450
in South Africa.
September 2003 - LOK Report (Germany) published an obituary to L.D. Porta (in the German language, with
an English translation kindly supplied by Cris Vande Velde)
May 2004: Japan's "Rail" Magazine published an article by Takagi Hiroshi titled "Steam
for the 3rd Century" describing the A1 and the 5AT projects.
Section 3: Non-Railway Press Articles
Interest in "Modern Steam" activities
extend beyond the railway press. From my own observations and from an abbreviated
search of a few newspaper archives on the Internet, the following articles
are listed:
Dec 1998 - The Economist ran an article in its December 17th 1998 issue titled "A Blast from the Past" which described oil-burning
and other developments undertaken by SLM in Switzerland, noting that "although
they consume slightly more fuel, steam locomotives are simpler to maintain
and repair (than diesel locomotives), making them especially suitable for
use in poor countries. They last longer, too. And they are also less smelly:
because they rely on external combustion (the burning of fuel at a constant
rate outside the engine's cylinders, rather than explosively inside them),
they produce only a fifth of the noxious emissions of diesels of comparable
power. That is especially desirable in such applications as shunting, when
locomotives spend 70% of their time idling, often in built-up areas in which
pollution is particularly unwelcome".
April 1999 - The Economist ran another article titled "In praise of old technology" in its Apr
15th 1999 issue which reviewed the revival of several old technologies
in modern guises. The steam locomotive was offered as one of many examples:
"Filthy, soot-belching steam locomotives were rejected in favour of diesel
and electric ones decades ago. Now new, modernised steam engines are sometimes
more efficient and more environmentally friendly than diesels. ....The lesson
of history is, in short, that even apparently moribund technologies such as
clockwork have a persistent habit of, well, springing back to life. That is
worth remembering next time you hear the death-knell being sounded for a supposedly
outmoded way of doing things. Last year's habit can often turn out to be next
year's habit too".
July 1999 - Another article on the subject of new steam called "Back on track" appeared
in New Scientist" on 17 July 1999
(page 42, vol 163 issue 2195) also covering developments by SLM in Switzerland.
2001 - The Independent ran at least three articles in the second half of 2001
specifically on modern-day steam events (as opposed to "new steam").
The first of these appeared on 10th June 2001 described the operation of the Steam Dreams rail charter
service, and that of 2nd Dec 2001 gave a very positive report on a days outing on the
Catherdrals Express. Prior to that, on 4th Nov 2001, the Independent ran a story about the steam
loco driving courses offered by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Sept 2002 -
More recently on 8th Sept 2002, the Daily Mail ran an article on "The
Wolsztyn Experience" in which Ray Hankin described his week's driving
experience course in Poland. "Better than sex" was the verdict of
one of his fellow-trainees!
Dec 2002 - Stuttgarter Zeitung (Germany):
On 27th Dec 2002, a full page article
by Andreas Geldner titled "Mit Tempo 200 die Gleise entlangschnaufen" (displayed here in
PDF format) was published in the German daily newspaper "Stuttgarter
Zeitung". I hope to be able to present an English translation of this
shortly.
March 2003 - The Engineer Vol 16 Issue 03 (published by Institution of Mechanical
Engineers) published an article titled "Steam Ready to Ride again on the Rails".
April 12th 2003 - The Guardian ran an article by Jonathan Glancy on the The Wolsztyn
Experience titled "All Fired Up".
August 28th 2003
- Cambrian News published an article
on a presentation to be given by Chris Parrott about modern steam developments
on the FCAF railway in Argentina, with brief reference to the "designing
and building of a new steam locomotive to 21st century standards" (i.e.
the 5AT).
Sept 2003 - The Engineer published an article called "Full Steam Ahead?" by Max Glaskin in its 12th Sept issue, advocating a return to steam traction, and
listing instances where this is already happening. The article includes mention
of the 5AT project.
Feb
2001 Railway Magazine p.71: In Feb 2001
a "news" article appeared in Railway Magazine headed "Wardale reveals £1.7
million 'new steam' proposal for the heritage market" featuring a
reproduction of Robin Barnes's "green machine" that had appeared
in Locomotives International the year before. Railway Magazine's interest
in the project was astonishingly short-lived, however since they declined
to publish any responses to the article from their readership. I have recently
discovered that my own
response was not the only one that did not get published. So far as I
know, this was the last occasion that RM has made any mention of the 5AT project
to date.
Steam
Railway went on to publish a further two-part article "Steaming into the Future" by David
Wardale in SR 272 p.36 and 273 p.44, reproduced in
unabridged form on this website. SR went on to publish four letters in response
to Wardale's articles: from Chris Newman, Ray Christopher and Peter Featherstone in SR
275 p.47 (Sept 2002) and from Angus Eickhoff in SR 276 p.38 (Oct 2002). (Unabridged versions of two
of these letters are reproduced.) Wardale's response to Eickhoff's letter appeared in SR
277 p.34 (Nov 2002) along with two other letters from Graham Lawrence and Leonard Staghurst.
A response from Chris Newman
to Mr Staghurst's letter was published in SR 279 p.48 (Jan 2003); unfortunately
Dave Wardale's very
informative reply was not also published. A letter sent to SR by Mr. Bryan
Attewell in response to the Wardale articles also failed to gain publication
and hence Dave Wardale's prepared response to it was also not published. With
permission of both SR and Mr Attewell, his letter and Wardale's response are reproduced
here. Discussion on the articles finally ended with another letter from Angus
Eickhoff to Steam Railway which did not get into print: Mr
Eickhoff's letter is reproduced here with permission of both SR and its
author.
September 2003 - Locomotives International
Issue 67 published an article titled
"The 5AT Project - Where is
it at? Where is it going?" by Chris Newman, which attempted to answer
precisely those two questions.
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