Coal, for use on steam hauled heritage railways - merged posts

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Peat is now out of favour for either fuel or for horticultural purposes, due to the environmental harm resulting from the large scale extraction of peat.

**snip**

Hard agree, even though I was the perpetrator of that particular peat product burning.

Mark

[GBM]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg7m7n511vo

Train smoke is making us sick, say residents
Families living above a tourist railway believe thick acrid smoke from trains is making them ill.

They claim fumes from the Welsh Highland Railway has caused "considerable concern" on Rhes Segontiwm, in Caernarfon, Gwynedd.

Nia Davies Williams said: "People are getting sick. It's terrible, I'm very worried about our health."

The railway said the war in Ukraine was making it more difficult to get cleaner coal leaving them reliant on dirtier imports.

...........continues

[Mark A]

**Paddington Hard Stare at the design of the new station there**

Not sure how its contribution to the issue can be mitigated. Extend the roof over the platform perhaps. :-)

Mark

[TonyK]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg7m7n511vo

Train smoke is making us sick, say residents
Families living above a tourist railway believe thick acrid smoke from trains is making them ill.

They claim fumes from the Welsh Highland Railway has caused "considerable concern" on Rhes Segontiwm, in Caernarfon, Gwynedd.

Nia Davies Williams said: "People are getting sick. It's terrible, I'm very worried about our health."

The railway said the war in Ukraine was making it more difficult to get cleaner coal leaving them reliant on dirtier imports.

...........continues

It seems the Welsh mine supplying the best steam coal was closed for environmental reasons, thus leading to the environmental pollution.

[JayMac]

When I was on the Isle of Man last year the steam railway was using Colombian coal. Very smoky and a strong sulphurous smell. A driver told me that it burns well with a high heat, with better thermal efficiency and much less ash than the Welsh coal they previously used.

[Image from here is not available to guests]

[ChrisB]

**Paddington Hard Stare at the design of the new station there**

Pardon? Please elucidate? What new station?

[Mark A]

Carnarfon's new and much remodelled WHR station, opened, was it 2019? Compared with the first station there, the track was taken further along beneath the retaining wall, and is now in a confined slot between the wall and the new station building. The arrangement possibly gives more opportunity for loco smoke to emerge onto the terrace above. Below, a Google Streetview link.

In its original guise, the WHR in its brief previous existence didn't enter the town at all: beneath the terrace there the through lines ran to the town's station where Morrisons now is, while maps.nls.uk shows the slate wharf and various connections to an engineering works for good measure.

Mark


https://tinyurl.com/mr3j9hce

[ChrisB]

Ahhhh, 'new'. Indeed, nearly 5 years old.

[Chris from Nailsea]

When I was on the Isle of Man last year the steam railway was using Colombian coal. Very smoky and a strong sulphurous smell. A driver told me that it burns well with a high heat, with better thermal efficiency and much less ash than the Welsh coal they previously used.

[Image from here is not available to guests]

Finn is conducting his own scientific analysis of those alleged smells ... 

[broadgage]

The smoke pictured does look excessive and bad smelling, and yes smoke can look as though it smells bad ! A yellow/green/brown colour often indicates bad smelling smoke.

I think that they should consider smokeless fuel, either for initial lighting up, or for the whole duty. In the longer term electric preheating or even electric steam raising would help.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Reform candidate says reviving coal can help Wales' energy demands

Reviving coal mining in Wales could support the country's future energy demands, a Reform UK^▸ (United Kingdom) candidate has claimed.

Ben Hodge-McKenna, his party's lead candidate in Afan Ogwr Rhondda for the Senedd election, said new "safer" technologies could be used to extract Welsh coal which is of the "highest quality".

Environmental campaigners raised concerns when Reform's leader Nigel Farage called for coal mines to be re-opened on a visit to Wales last year.

Hodge-McKenna spoke to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on the show's visit to Treorchy ahead of the Senedd election, where it also spoke to representatives of Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and the Welsh Conservatives.

Treorchy is in the new Afan Ogwr Rhondda constituency, which will represent area with a rich coal mining heritage in the Welsh Parliament.

Welsh coal was key to the industrial revolution and a significant source of power until recent times, but concerns over carbon emissions has seen production drastically cut.

Hodge-McKenna said Wales should utilise what he called the "highest quality coal that exists in the world".

"I don't think anybody's talking about sort of going back to the 70s or 80s and reopening mines in the conditions that they were previously. But if there are commercial opportunities to enjoy the natural resources that we have then we shouldn't be automatically closed off to any options without at least giving them a fair consideration," he added.

Hodge-McKenna said he understood the concerns about climate change, but the emissions that are produced in Wales on a global scale "are absolutely minuscule" meaning any changes would have "virtually no impact".

"It doesn't make sense for us to be sabotaging our economic policy and sacrificing jobs in Wales when you have other countries around the world that are ramping up," he added.

(BBC article continues)

[broadgage]

I am in general opposed to coal burning on account of it being carbon intensive, and therefore damaging to the environment.

I would accept some small scale coal burning for heritage rail, and road vehicle use. Such coal would be better mined in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), than imported.

I would also accept coal use (converted into coke) for iron and steel production. Iron and steel are essential for a modern economy, or even a Victorian economy. Such coal would be better mined in the UK than imported.
Iron and steel are better made in the UK than imported.

Importing coal EXPORTS jobs, and increases carbon emissions due to transport.

We should be reducing coal usage, but domestic production is preferable to imports for that which is still required.