Wow!

This is an exciting development! The "Cog" has been under pressure by environmentalists to "clean up' its operations for years. Considering the line's remote location, this always seemed an excessive requirement to me. But given the "dynamics" of today's world, this is nothing short of a visionary move on the part of the Mount Washington folks.

Congratulations and thank you for your leadership!


Sincerely,
Glenn

The linked story has some interesting technical details.

As related in this forum previously, Disneyland is using biofuel as well.

Biofuel discussion

Alan Maples

I wish Mr. Day had commented about how the modifications are combating the major disadvantage the Cog has over Disneyland with the use of Biodiesel, namely the fuel temperature in the storage tank. Biodiesel has a major disadvantage to Petroleum (aka Mineral) Diesel, that there is currently no chemical way to lower the gel point of the fuel unless it is used in concentrations lower than that of grade B20 (20%Bio /70% Mineral). If you are unfamiliar with the term gel point, it is the temperature at which the fuel thickens to the point that it will no longer flow.

I guess he could do what was done with Bunker C engines where a steam pipe was run through the tank to raise the temperature high enough to allow it to flow.

Rich C.

Interesting article. I was very surprised to find her burning coal again this past October. A crew member told me high crown sheet temperatures was one of the reasons for the conversion back to coal.

I fail to see how one could have to high of a crownsheet temp unless a: the locomotive is being overfired or b: scale build up on the crown. Either way it is a matter of human error in practice and not design(if either are the case).
Also, did they detail what type of device was used to capture the temp of the crown? I am highly suspect of the idea that there is actually anything "wrong" with the arangement as there is no flame being directed (or shot) towards the crown. It is an omni-directional burner creating a flame laterally in all directions from the center of the box.
I would like to know more of what they said.

What is not understood is necessarily wrong (Brazilian Office Theory) – L.D. Porta

I've always wondered how long it will be till the environmentalists set their sights on our locomotives. I have a scary feeling there could soon be a witch hunt in progress. My self I think nothing smells or looks better then coal!!! But leave it to some stupid NIMBY's to tell you what to do. It is always easier to target the little guys. Yet try getting them to hand over their SUV's!!!! What is next them not liking the smell of horse pooh and forcing the Amish to go buy fuel cell powered horse drawn wagons?

It isn't the black smoke they can see that is the problem. That is merely unburned carbon, that will merely precipitate to the ground rather shortly. It is the CO2 you can't see that they say causes global warming!!! Long and short of it is how much less CO2 leaves the stack of a Biodiesel burner locomotive? Probably about the same amount! Second question of the state of NH's total CO2 emissions what percentage of them come from the cog?

Does anyone else think this is silly? I just hope the hysteria doesn't spread too much further.

Another funny question here's a quote from the site "
A look back to 2004. A typical train on the Mount Washington Cog Railway starts away for the summit producing a column of smoke. All unmodified locos ascend the mountain emitting vast clouds of smoke. Money up the chimney in no uncertain way! © Nigel Day "

A question that I would be curious to see is are they saving or loosing money by going over to biofuel? Sure they don't seem to show any black plumes of smoke but the key question is how much less money per BTU coal cost you then premium biodiesel?

I am not taking a stab at anyone who worked on the project it sure does seem like a neat challenge here for Mr. Day to convert a locomotive over to biodiesel none the less I really fear for our future in the hands of misguided "Environmentalists"

Adam

errr as someone's just said.... "What is not understood is necessarily wrong (Brazilian Office Theory) – L.D. Porta"

A lot of it is also BTUs going out the stack. Nigel has also done some very interesting work in feedwater heating using exhaust steam which effectively reduced coal consumption by about half. Combined with a decent combustion system that emits far less unburned fuel into the tubes, even more costly fuel is probably a relative bargain. If the Sulzer style efficient boiler insulation and tightness were added, so much the better. I don't know if Vicky has had Porta style pistons and rings retrofit to reduce blowby either - it all adds up.

dave

From the pictures accompanying the article, it would appear that fuel temperature was somehow dealt with -- the test runs clearly show snow on the ground and crew members rather bundled up. I agree that it would be nice to know just HOW this was dealt with, though.

I like that! I must remember to steal that as an email signature line...

Congratulations!

It looks like what you did, mainly, was convert it to an "oil burner". What did you have to deal with to support biodiesel specifically? (as opposed to, say, ordinary home heating oil.)

Would you be able to use a more viscous fuel like bunker?

Now now... don't confuse "environmentalists" with "NIMBYs" :)

Thing is, nobody wants to be called a NIMBY because it's seen as self-serving and dishonorable -- so NIMBYs cloak themselves behind more legitimate titles.

Environmentalists -- we are their friend. Nearly every faction of environmentalism is extremely favorable toward railroading, because it is naturally efficient and electrify'able! They would cover America with fast mainlines and high speed rail, install rail transit and revive the interurbans. That makes them a good group to evangelize to.

Sensible environmentalists would not object to historic steam operations for the same reason California exempts classic cars from smog -- there are simply too few of them to have a significant impact.

.