The postings about the Wine Train Alcos being converted to natural gas made me wonder if any tourist railroads or museums with steam locos have been pressured to convert to oil burning or use other methods to reduce emissions. I seem to remember reading several years ago about a group of citizens in Durango (maybe with a sympathetic ear in the local government?) who were trying to get the D&S to do something about the coal smoke. Also, I read a story in Railfan & Railroad last summer about the Mt. Washington Cog RR beginning to convert some of their locos to oil burners after lobbying from local environmentalists.

Does anyone think that this kind of "persuasion" could eventually become a threat to steam preservation (including scale modelers and threshing shows)? If I counted right, Jim Wrinn's list of servicable U.S. steam locomotives for 2004 (current issue of R&R) has only 161 listings. If, by some miracle, all of them operated over the same weekend, I'd think that would still be less particulate matter thrown in the air over two days than what is expelled along one busy expressway during rush hour. Still, much of the general public might not be aware of this. I remember watching the decapod operating at IRM a few years ago and hearing another visitor grumbling about "all that black smoke," even though there wasn't very much coming out of the stack. Does anyone have any other examples? Are there other early diesels like the Napa Alcos that have been targeted? Do any states have grandfather clauses that protect the operation of historic equipment from current emissions laws (I would hope there are)? Is this something the railroad preservation community should be concerned about, or am I just seeing a problem that isn't really there?


mckay1995@comcast.net

"Do any states have
> grandfather clauses that protect the
> operation of historic equipment from current
> emissions laws (I would hope there are)? Is
> this something the railroad preservation
> community should be concerned about, or am I
> just seeing a problem that isn't really
> there?"

This is a very large area of regulation, involving the Clean Air Act and the Constitution's Commerce Clause at the federal level, and various state and local powers. My vague understanding of federal law is that steam locomotives are unregulated. States have some power to regulate emissions, and so do cities (remember smoke ordinances?) so the issue is at least theoretically a threat to coal-burning operations. Until this post, I had forgotten that Michigan has a state law specifically exempting coal-burning trains from state air-pollution regulation. Locomotives were added to a bill whose real intent was to exempt the coal-burning ex-C&O car and auto ferries at Ludington, so as to make the bill apply more broadly than to one business, but whether for legal or political P.R. reasons, I don't know. I do know that trains weren't added to the law at the request of us or any other Michigan locomotive operators.

In general, I doubt the threat is severe, although I do note that many museum attendees, especially children, have been brainwashed to react to a column of coal smoke with, "Oooh, pollution!"

And in the interest of Michigan tourism, remember that the S.S. Badger's 2004 season has begun, Skinner Unaflows, coal trucks and all.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, Michigan 48867-0665

> And in the interest of Michigan tourism,
> remember that the S.S. Badger's 2004 season
> has begun, Skinner Unaflows, coal trucks and
> all.

Chant the matra with me "MMM S-k-i-n-n-e-r U-n-i-f-l-o-w ........." Taking my trip in September!

TJG


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

I know what the S.S. Badger is but what is Skinner Uniflow? And who are the current owners of the Badger and what service does it provide today?

Thanks!

Joshua

> Chant the matra with me "MMM
> S-k-i-n-n-e-r U-n-i-f-l-o-w ........."
> Taking my trip in September!

> TJG

> I know what the S.S. Badger is but what is
> Skinner Uniflow? And who are the current
> owners of the Badger and what service does
> it provide today?

> Thanks!

> Joshua

Skinner uniflow are the type of steam engines that the Badger and many of the later reciprocating steam engine-powered Great Lakes vessels, US Navy escort carriers and other Navy vessels were equipped with them.

They are a fully enclosed, high speed engine. They look more like an I.C. engine than a steam engine. There used to be a picture of one on the net, along with a good writeup; but Google and my bookmark list are failing me right now.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project
james@survivingworldsteam.com

who are the current
> owners of the Badger and what service does
> it provide today?
See the web site ssbadger.com for more information.

During the summer, the Badger operates two round trips a day between Ludington and Manitowoc. Fares are $47 per adult and $49 per auto. Briefly, the operation was sold to local entrepreneurs with a taste for steamboats after abandonment of the carferry line by CSX. Auto traffic increased once the schedule was no longer compromised by rail schedule considerations. The oldest of the 3 ships, the City of Midland 41 was sold and cut down into a barge. The sister ship of the Badger, the Spartan, remains stored. I believe the operation has changed hands once since then, but remains a very fine service committed to maintaining the tradition of the Pere Marquette car ferries. I'm told the ship contains a small museum devoted to the Lake Michigan carferries.

All rail connections with the docks are gone, and the Badger is loaded with coal from trucks through the car deck, as it had been from coal hoppers in days past.

In a few days, a competitive service between Muskegon and Milwuakee, using a Diesel-powered catamaran ferry, will start. These cities are closer to population centers than Ludington and Manitowoc, and the new ferry is faster, so it remains to be seen whether the Badger will suffer from the (subsidized) competition.

And remember, it's Unaflow, not uniflow. The best way to think of these engines is as a cross between a 2-stroke Diesel and a steam engine; the exhaust valves are ports in the cylinder wall.

- Aarne Frobom

Link to a picture of a Skinner Uniflow in the SS Southdown Challenger. A Great Lakes cement carrier.
http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newpicture ... -01-al.jpg

> Skinner uniflow are the type of steam
> engines that the Badger and many of the
> later reciprocating steam engine-powered
> Great Lakes vessels, US Navy escort carriers
> and other Navy vessels were equipped with
> them.

> They are a fully enclosed, high speed
> engine. They look more like an I.C. engine
> than a steam engine. There used to be a
> picture of one on the net, along with a good
> writeup; but Google and my bookmark list are
> failing me right now.

> -James Hefner
> Hebrews 10:20a



hsinn@aerzenusa.com

Actually, based on what I've read of the regs, steam locomotives are not exempted at all. They fall under the classification of mobile sources but there are no restrictions at the federal level, yet.

For its entire operating history, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum has operated under a local exemption from the Chattanooga Air Pollution Control Bureau. The Air Pollution Control Bureau is a regulatory agency that has full enforcement powers under state and federal law. It was created (at the insistance of local citizens) as a direct result of Chattanooga having the worst air quality (along with the associated problems) during the 1950s and 60s. If I remember correctly, regulations in place prohibit the commercial operation of any coal fired boiler in the county. Specific exemptions may be made for historical or cultural reasons, specifically steam locomotives (TVRM) and steam powered river boats (Delta Queen Riverboat Company). However, those exemptions can be revoked by an inspector for cause. For a number of reasons, our management has made the decision that the 630, currently undergoing a rebuild, will burn oil when it re-enters service but could be reconfigured to burn coal in short order.

awalker1829@yahoo.com

I'm guessing the link below is the one that James is thinking of.

As I understand it, "Unaflow" was a brand name used by the Skinner company, while "uniflow" is the generic term for this type of engine. So while the Badger and Southdown Challenger are powered by actual Skinner Unaflows, the James Norris (photo below from Boatnerd.com) has a uniflow built by Canadian Vickers.

http://carferries.com/skinner/

rjenkins@northeasternmaritime.org

Skinner Unaflow descriptions are excellent on the www.carferries.com site. Frankly, the whole site is one the best on the web. Cross-section of Badger's Unaflow as built below.

Carferries of the Great Lakes-Skinners

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

The USN's Casablanca class CVE's had Skinner Unaflows, probably simple as I believe the steeple compound version was postwar. These ships were good for 19 knots when not towing a U-boat.

USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) was the carrier in the group that captured U-505.

See http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/shi ... canal.html

Electric City Trolley Museum Association