Gross Kraftwerk Mannheim 0-6-0F is operational at Gross Kraftwerk Mannheim in Mannheim, Germany. The locomotive was built by Meiningen in 1987 for the company and is still in use. The photo below was interesting to me, because it shows something I'd never seen before. That is, the locomotive is connected to its source of superheated steam for a refill.

Very interesting. DLM (the successor to the Swiss Locomotive Works' steam locomotive division) has done a couple of projects with fireless steam locomotives and has even built a fireless steam truck.

http://www.dlm-ag.ch/

I'd love to see some video of this at work.

Here's an 0-8-0F at Mannheim. Several fireless engines are still at work in Germamy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4wluI83h4E

Mike

Fascinating, a first look at the "feeding" of a fireless I've seen as well.

I've wondered why these locomotives didn't quite seem to catch on quite as well as I would have thought here for such industrial applications, and more interestingly, have wondered why some were retired when they were. They would not seem to have had a lot of the issues with conventional steam, particularly maintenance, and had advantages of being quiet, smoke-free, running on a "free" power source, and of course safe to use in areas with potentially explosive atmospheres.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryFT_dBW7OM

My guess is that this one, built by Heisler, is running on compressed air; not a bad looker for the type, either:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voBKRe6V3tA

Revenue fireless action in Bolivia; oh, that track is awful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VixrQYaBvz0

these engines would run on far higher pressures than conventional steam, any water in the tank as pressure decreases would boil the water creating more steam.
A little use of science is in action here.

Its interesting to note that some of the videos posted were of were of 'cab forwards', in a manner of speaking. I would imagine it was easier to pipe up the steam lines to the cylinders that way.

The fireless locomotives where quite popular in the right applications. Eastman Kodak had several on their in-plant railroad. They had their own electrical power plant so high pressure steam was "free" and close by. And they used lots of flammable solvents to make film base (the flexible plastic part). They dissolved the plastic (cellulose nitrate) in solvent and then pumped the slurry (they called it "dope") onto the top of large (~20 foot diameter) polished wheels to spread out and solidify as the solvent evaporated.

Once diesels (where the combustion is contained inside the engine) became widely available they upgraded (as early as 1940, I think). The diesels required less maintenance, only needed to be filled with fuel once a week or so, and could be used in multiple units for larger trains.

The fireless locomotives where also popular in explosive manufacturing plants (no sparks, PLEASE) and regular coal fired electrical plants (free steam).

But the fireless locomotives used lots of parts in common with regular steam locomotives, so as the regular steam locomotives went away the attractiveness of the fireless locos diminished.

Cheers, Kevin.

North American Rayon at Elizabethton, TN had a 1936 Porter 0-6-0 fireless working until the late 80s. I think it was runnable until the early 90s, I think it was left out in freezing temps one night without draining and it caused damages. Thankfully, she was cosmetically restored and is on display near where she ran. Sadly, both the massive rayon mils in town were torn down and no sign of them exist today, along with all signs of RR tracks in the town anywhere.
I was lucky enough to see her under steam several times and even got into the cab once while under steam (I have photos of me in cab, around here somewhere).
My understanding is that was the last place in America where steam ran in interchange with steam from another company, until 1967 when the ET&WNC gave up the engines now better known as SRR 630 and 722...

I have fond memories of chasing ET&WNC 2-8-0 208 around town in August 1963 and then shooting it and NARC fireless #1 exchanging cars in the late afternoon sun. The ET&WNC crew left their engine simmering on the main while they took over the 0-6-0F to do the switching inside the plant.

Mesta Machine Works in Pittsburgh hung onto steam until the early 80's. I saw the "fireless cookers" as I seem to recall they called them several times, they were easily visible.

I once spent an entire day watching either this engine or it's sister, not sure which.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trainplan ... 156199386/

It was easily visible from along the mainline next to the mill (B&O or P&LE, can't recall) and the crew said "No, you can't come inside, but as long as you're not in our plant, we're not going to bother you..." so I sat on the embankment all day watching them work. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good camera back then, so any instamatic shots I may have gotten are lost to history.

I consider it to be the only "true revenue steam" I've seen in service here in the US. Yes, I've ridden on and even been crew on other other revenue steam moves, but they were all on various tourist operations. This was different, the engine wasn't there because it was cool, or vintage or historic, it was just the same old engine they'd been using for who knows how many year now. Kind of like riding the PCC cars in Pittsburgh back then. They were cool, but they were also still in service on the original line, rather than being some "vintage streetcar".

One of my Grandfather's very few paying jobs working for somebody else was at the Mesta, as a guard during WW II. I have very vague memories of them.

dave

They weren't really all that memorable... They were pretty quiet, not much bark to them, at least in the service they were using them for when I was there. They were also pretty plain Jane and boring looking. In fact, to be honest, the "switcher" they'd fabricated out of a flatbed truck of some sort was more interesting. They used it around lunch time, while they were re-charging the steamer. It was pretty funky looking in it's own way.

No, the only thing at all that held my interest about these locomotives and kept me there longer than say 20 minutes was the fact that they were one of the very few working steam locomotives in the USA. At the time I was of the impression they were the only ones left, but that may not have been correct. It was definitely "minor league" stuff, but when that's all there is, you take what you can get.

It's also why I only spent one day there, as opposed to many riding the PCC lines in various parts of the city. They were far more fascinating, even to this steam fan, and there was much more to explore. Plus they somehow felt more "real" than a small "thermos bottle" steam switcher.

Both of the Mesta Machine Porter 0-6-0F's 6 and 7 were acquired by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation in the 1980s. Intended for display at the former P&LE passenger terminal in Pittsburgh, they languished in an exposed location under the PRR Panhandle Bridge for about a decade before being cut up in place in the 1990s. Around that same time PH&LF disposed of many other rail artifacts, including the 1897 Porter 0-4-0T recently featured in another series of posts.

If American Coal Enterprises had ever built a fireless steamer, I suspect it would have looked something like this one:



The image above comes from a DLM technical paper on modern applications for steam storage power. This locomotive stored steam at 1200+ PSI, and apparently had some means of superheating it before sending it to the cylinders.

You can download the complete document (in German) from DLM's page here: http://www.dlm-ag.ch/en/news

Link in second article down on the page, titled "Alternative Energy for Shunting, Suburban Traffic, Commercial Vehicles and Ferries".