This is a recent development. Lyd, the L&B replica tank engine (now having been in SR green for the past few months) has been converted from oil firing to coal firing by Boston Lodge crews. As usual, the Ffestiniog Railway crews should be commended for their work. Here are some links to the article and video of Lyd post-fuel conversion:
http://www.festrail.co.uk/content/publi ... coal.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y1mjXrY ... ture=share

Thanks for sharing this Dylan. This is the second conversion from oil to solid fuel in 2011. The other being to a wood burner in Florida.

As I understand it, the Ffestiniog has gone back and forth between oil and coal firing for at least some of their locomotives more than once.

Back in 1983/1984, Linda was converted to coal firing by Phil Girdlestone using Porta's Gas Producer Combustion System. The driver for the conversion was rising oil prices at the time. Use of the GPCS helped minimize spark-throwing which had been a major concern about the conversion.

By 1986 oil prices had fallen again and the locomotive was converted back to oil firing; however it did retain its new Lempor exhaust system and improved superheaters which were added during the coal conversion.

More info on Girdlestone's work at the Ffestiniog and elsewhere can be found here: http://www.trainweb.org/tusp/girdlestone.html

This reminds me that I have read that the Frisco actually converted some of their engines "back and forth" between coal and oil when they had them in regular service. Someone who has a better knowledge on SLSF probably knows the story better than I. I wonder if any of the surviving Frisco engines were part of this "switcheroo". If so, it would be a good point to bring up when a docent talks about that particular engine. I am also fairly certain that other railroads may also have done this "back and forth" type conversion relating to the price and/or availabilty of the different fuels.

Les

Lyd is performing excellently on coal, steaming freely and economically. We initially had problems with the spark arrestor screen getting clogged, but installing a char breaker has resolved this.

On the Welsh Highland, NG/G16 138 is being converted to coal over the winter - it is extremely expensive to run on oil at UK prices - so we will have three coal-fired Garratts in service in 2012 and possibly four in 2013.

This loco ran on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, a minor narrow gauge line in England that has a devoted following there even though it was closed in 1935. It would be a service to users of this site if the whole name of a railroad was used when first posting instead of just its initials. Even though I lived in the UK for five years and had visited it I had to go to my bookshelf to find a book to remind me of the name. I don't know how one can assume everyone knows what the initials L&B stand for, especially a line like this. I know this has been brought up before and this thread should be a reminder.

Hi Ron,

Many would argue that, far from being a minor narrow gauge line in England, the Lynton & Barnstaple was the most important NG line England ever had.

I should also point out that Lyd was built at the Ffestiniog's workshops at Boston Lodge - the oldest railway workshop in the world - and is an improved version of the L&B's Lew, itself an improved version of the original Manning, Wardle locos that ran on this line.

Lyd is brand new, having been outshopped in 2010.

Having visited Boston Lodge in September, I can see how they can do such projects as 138 and LYD. I just can't seem to figure out how they do it with a 150+ year old facility in such a small space.
My hat's off to all the people at Boston Lodge.

Ira Schreiber

Here's my theory:
1) Experience with new construction
- Earl Of Merioneth II
- David Lloyd George
- Taliesin

2) Experience with heavy duty overhauls:
- Original work done to Merddin Emrys in the 1960s
- Completely returning Palmerston from piece of junk to fully functional locomotive
- Re-fitting (and re-boilering in some cases) of Linda, Blanche, Mountaineer II, Merddin Emrys, and Prince with superheating equipment.

3) Dedication of the staff
and finally;
4) Knowledgeable corp of volunteers

That's not a theory, Dylan, that's a list. I have no doubt that, to a greater or lesser extent, all those listed apply, but.........

You're missing the most critical thing: an ongoing business that makes all the items you have listed possible. Check into how Ffestiniog /Welsh Highland does that over your holiday break, and think about how you would expand this list by making it a subset of what you learn about building and maintaining that business.

And you thought you would be free from homework during thre holiday break - but in this case, it is more fun and potentially more useful than algebra.

dave

Sorry that I didn't realize the loco in question was nearly new, but the point was that most of us on this side of the pond would not realize what L&B stood for, when it would have been so easy to spell the name out. I'm sure many in Britain also scratch their heads when we assume the same for a less well known American line.

Yours is a valid point; most of the references to the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway I've seen and remember refer to it specifically as the Lynton & Barnstaple and rarely (if ever) used its initials; quite a few other well-known railroads are also referred to in the same fashion, and a lot of folks might not know which railroad one was talking about without additional (and very specific) details. (And heaven help whoever tries to search for it on Google or Bing!)

Videos of Lyd on coal here:

http://youtu.be/_y1mjXrYYWc?hd=1
and
http://youtu.be/PyzaQ9ktr9w?hd=1

Pix here:

www.festrail.co.uk/press in the Locomotives, Lyd folder.