Isn't this the only surviving example of an ATSF Super Hudson? Be a shame to butcher it up for an unproven experiment. Just my opinion.

The basic engine isn't to be butchered. In fact, they have a pretty cool idea that could potentially make quite an engineering and visual impact.

The Coalition for Sustainable Rail website has a great deal of information about their plans.

I wish them well, but my gut tells me that the electric traction motor is superior to anything that cannot produce power independent of speed. Forget for a minute the huge switching costs associated with returning to steam.

Technical and economic feasibility are two different matters.

What a shame to alter a one of a kind just to waste money and prove that the diesel is stil superior.

You sound pretty sure of yourself

At least they're doing something with it as opposed to letting it sit out in the back 40 and rust to death.

This is a R&D demonstration project for a biofuel alternative.....and should be viewed from that perspective.

dave

The bottom line is that the locomotive is in good and capable hands. To date a cosmetic restoration has been done on it which has greatly enhanced its appearance.

The previous thread containing all the moaning and groaning is at:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24112&hilit=3463

"You sound pretty sure of yourself."

Peter Drucker once made the assertion that for one technology to displace another, it must be ten times better than what it replaces.

I'm pretty sure that diesel is superior, because it won.

Indeed it did, and my own experience with restoring 2926 illustrates why. Of course, most of the "let's go back to steam" types never actually have worked with steam locomotives, so they have no clue what they're really talking about...

I am sorta...grinning...I wish I had not even posted what I came across. I just thought it was great information to share.

I won't do that again.

Pretty harsh words for the founder of American Coal Enterprises, don't you think??? <:-D

Well, the caption of "wicked cool" does come across as foamy in the extreme......and this is really them just reminding us that when they said they would do this a couple years ago they were serious. It'd be more newsworthy if they didn't do it and had a story about that to tell.......

Peter Drucker is the overrated idiot who warped a generation of MBAs by telling them that if it can't be measured, they can't manage it. This led to them ignoring things they couldn't conveniently measure, and to discourage innovations because there were no available metrics for them. Just like that One Minute guy who told managers to not listen to more than the broadest outline and avoid nuance as a waste of time. The Devil IS in the details a lot of the time.

Back to the project, which is about carbon neutral biofuels and making steam less labor intensive and more robust and available to take advantage of them.......if they can demonstrate it to some extent based on this old school park hulk, great news for us all. If it ever goes past demonstration into prototype it will probably seem very different than old school steam. Meanwhile it's an interesting project done by very smart and sophisticated and dedicated people and well worth watching - if you are serious about steam technology.

dave

Last I checked, "easier to maintain" does not equate to "superior." Diesels now may be superior to steam engines of the forties and fifties, but one has only to compare the tractive effort of an EMD F3 (40,000 lbs) to a UP FEF-3 (63,000 lbs) to see that that wasn't the case back then.