> If you follow the links to the photos of the North Korean narrow gauge 2-8-0 which is being fired on old tires, you will see that it is being fired with a perfectly clear stack. My question remains: How do they do this?
J.David

jdconrad@snet.net

> J.David

I looked thru the pictures and yes they have a clean stack but that sure looks like coal piled on the ground in one of the pictures ?????

I wonder what power plants have to do to burn tires in this country ?


lamontdc@adelphia.net

If you go to Google and enter "shredded tire fuel" you will find quite a few places using this as fuel.

Richard

> If shredded tires are used then how often is
> all the wire (steel belt) pulled from the
> firebox?


Unity Railway Supply

Nat. Geo. did a documentary on the sugar locomotives in the island of Negros of the Philipenes and the Bagasse they burned. It took 3 firemen to keep the steam up. It even showed a Shay used in that type of work.

Ray

> Aarne,

> Porta's system wouldn't even require the
> wood to be converted to charcoal; it could
> be burned directly in a variation of his Gas
> Producer Combustion System (GPCS) firebox.
> He converted one wood-burner to GPCS
> combustion in Paraguay in the 1990's, and it
> was reported that it used something like 1/3
> (yes, one-third) of the fuel of a
> conventional wood-burner. Unfortunately, the
> Paraguayan railway system had so many other
> problems that one efficient steam locomotive
> was not of much use.

I meant to post this when this string was “active”, but failed to do so. You mention wood being converted to charcoal. I’ve never understood how wood can be a better fuel after it’s been burned to produce charcoal. Or am I misunderstanding the process? And how does coke fit into this picture? I remember many years ago a magnificent amusement park scale model of the NY Hudson that required coke briquets. They looked just like charcoal briquets for the home BBQ grill, but the engineer told me they were coke. If someone can provide a brief crash course on wood, charcoal, and coke, I’d be much obliged! Thank you!

Dick:

Wood is sort of a crude fuel which contains a lot of non-combustible constituents (all that gray stuff in the bottom of your fireplace after you've had a fire). It has relatively low heating value per pound, and of course green wood has less available heat than seasoned wood.

Turning wood to charcoal makes a cleaner and potentially hotter burning fuel. You have to heat wood in the absence of oxygen to make charcoal, which requires heat input to accomplish. Heating it drives off a lot of the volatile compounds leaving mostly carbon. You end up with a fuel which burns hot and clean, and makes very little smoke.

As I recall, coke is sort of the equivalent fuel made from coal. Coal is heated in the absence of oxygen and you end up with almost pure carbon, which burns VERY hot and cleanly. You lose BTU's in the process (all those chemicals you drove off by heating are no longer available to burn), and you had to input heat to make the stuff. Coke was chiefly used in making steel I believe. There were some full-sized coke burning steamers in England I believe, and possibly here in the states.

Both charcoal and coke were specialized fuels which had to be "manufactured", and which were used for specific purposes in lieu of easier-to-get fuels like wood or coal.

Regards,
Hugh Odom

> I meant to post this when this string was
> “active”, but failed to do so. You mention
> wood being converted to charcoal. IÂ’ve never
> understood how wood can be a better fuel
> after itÂ’s been burned to produce charcoal.
> Or am I misunderstanding the process? And
> how does coke fit into this picture? I
> remember many years ago a magnificent
> amusement park scale model of the NY Hudson
> that required coke briquets. They looked
> just like charcoal briquets for the home BBQ
> grill, but the engineer told me they were
> coke. If someone can provide a brief crash
> course on wood, charcoal, and coke, IÂ’d be
> much obliged! Thank you!


The Ultimate Steam Page
whodom@awod.com

Many thanks, Hugh, for clearing up the mysteries for me. I see - the wood or coal isn't actually burned (which would require oxygen) but only heated. Makes sense.

Dick