Breaking news from Railroadforums.com


April 1, 2008
Dateline: Washington DC

The FRA has just announced that they are banning the operation of all steam locomotives effective immediately.

This startling move comes after continued research into the possible dangers due to steam locomotive operation. The FRA's initial concerns over steam locomotives were due to the safety risks in operating a high pressure boiler. However, the new regulations and stricter requirements have addressed that issue. There have been no further incidents like the one at the Gettysburg RR that prompted the new regulations, so the new boiler regulations are apparently effective.

The current concern comes from a new issue. The question regards the chemicals used in steam locomotives and the emissions these chemicals cause. The controversy intially came about at the Durango & Silverton with the local residents complaining about smoke. Wasatch Railroad contractors did extensive research and was able to come up with a smoke mitigation project that eliminated much of the problem. http://projects.wasatch-rr-contractors.com/?page_id=56

However, the FRA has now raised further concerns. Research has indicated that steam locomotives emit large amounts of Dihydrogen Monoxide during regular operation. The FRA has questioned the use of this chemical, and the effects that it has on surrounding areas.

When asked about the use of Dihydrogen Monoxide, steam locomotive experts claimed that it was critical to locomotive operation. In fact, if the levels of Dihydrogen Monoxide are allowed in the boiler to fall below a certain level, it can lead to immediate and catastrophic failure of the pressure vessel. Initial research indicates that is not possible to safely operate a steam locomotive without the use of Dihydrogen Monoxide.

During the regular operation of steam locomotives, a few were developed that did not emit Dihydrogen Monoxide as part of the operating cycle, however these engines were unsuccessful due to the added complexity of the exhaust processing equipment, and were never built in large numbers and very few were ever used on a regular basis.

Research continues on this matter, and the FRA has indicated they are willing to work with steam train operators, if an alternate to Dihydrogen Monoxide can be located. The prospects of finding a suitable substitute are not good though.

You may recall that a similiar problem ended the career of the famed GG1 locomotive when PCB's in the transformers became an issue. While there are several preserved GG1's, none of them are permitted to operate.

This is a sad day for the railway preservation scene.

Resources:
Federal Railroad Administration - http://www.fra.dot.gov/
Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division - http://www.dhmo.org/

Dihydrogen Monoxide... sounds pretty serious... ;-)

It definitely is...

Here is the formula for that substance
DU2-H2-O3-H1
DUH OH for short

The proof of concept experiment will begin in Durano, CO.

Bob,

We should not give the FRA any ideas. You never know what will happen some day.

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

Now that it is April 2, just a comment that if anything like this ever does happen it will not be the FRA or "dihydrogen monoxide" (or dilithium crystals either), it will be the EPA and ordinary cylinder oil in the exhaust steam that will be the problem.

MX

Dihydrogen monoxide (H2O, also known as "Water/steam") won't be the issue, exhaust smoke will.

As the folks at Durango can attest, smoke is becoming more and more of an issue, and if you've read just about any magazine, you know that "green" is in, and we're not talking Brunswick Green with gold stripes.

That is indeed an issue, and will most likely get worse as time goes on.

One of the problems is that it's way too easy to scare folks. Apparently some college students went around surveying folks about Dihydrogen monoxide in the water supply (There's water in your water) and something like 98% of the people were ready to sign a petition asking the city to ban Dihydrogen monoxide...

I suspect that if you could get enough television reporters squalking about the "dihydrogen monoxide crisis", you could probably convince about the same proportion of people that you need to increase their taxes to fight the problem.

MX

> ...it will be the EPA and ordinary cylinder oil in
> the exhaust steam that will be the problem.

I suspect that diesel engines would have to get a LOT cleaner before the trace amounts of cylinder oil in the steam will be an issue.

On the other hand, the exhaust gases from your fuel of choice are a different issue. There's a reason many park trains burn propane, and it's not because of lazy firemen.

The City of Alamosa, Colorado is getting sued in court over problems with their Dihydrogen Monoxide but it seems to be the result of a little bacteria rather than the DHMO it self.
Roger Mitchell

The Durango smoke issue is evolving from nimby complaints about overnight smoke to a broader, societal guilt over D&S’s carbon footprint.

Local groups are purchasing carbon credits to offset the 3600 tons of coal that the D&S burns every year. Here is the story:

http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/ar ... 0306_1.htm