Click or paste the URL to see the news story about the WMSR being cited for smoke. BUT isn't that what makes a steam railroad?

http://www.nbc25.com/news/default.asp?m ... ws&id=1901


WHAG Channel 25, Hagerstown, MD
hugh.clayton@nara.gov

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/nonroad/lo ... f99037.pdf

FederalEPA technical document exempting historical locomotives don't apply here? See exclusions and exemptions on the document. Is it the state EPA that is fining them, or did the federal EPA cahnge their ruling?
This is a case of having your cake and eating it too, they don't want to get rid of the engine, but don't want the smoke. Is oil firing an option here? But then again there's the enviromental dileema of more oil usage versus huge coal supplies? Didn't the Mt. Washington Cog railway go to oil firing because of this problem?


captbuck@comcast.net

I will bet these same people moved from New Hope to Cumberland......LOL

mcc385@yahoo.com

In all fairness to these residents, 734 smokes more than ANY engine its size I have ever seen. I don't know if it's just a characteristic of the engine, operating practice, or the kind of coal. Even when the train is standing in the Cumberland station for 20-30 minutes, it just belches like a big boy on Sherman Hill! The safeties never go off, either . . . so it's not being overfired.

I have to believe there's some intermediate solution before oil conversion becomes necessary.

JPS

ironandsteam@mac.com

They said "we dont want to get rid of the steam locomotive, we just want it outa our backyard"

With this crap they are causing thats just what they are gonna get!! I wonder if in a few years after steam stops they will miss it and say humm we used to have a steam train ride I wonder what happened to it.

Another thing, Id love to know how long the complaining people have been living there.

alan@mcneese.edu

What did they do when WM ran 3-engine trains up the mountain several times a day?

I bet they will find lots of polution if they go over to the Cumberland CSX yard, or up the valley to Sand Patch, or 17 Mile Grade, when they run some freights over there.

When steam was eliminated on the N&W out of Cincinnati, and diesels had run for a couple of years, we had far more nasty black stuff stuck to our home, and never when steam ran. Diesels are worse in my opinion.
Greg (eat my Cinders) Scholl

sales@gregschollvideo.com

Has there been any thought of fitting overfire jets? Since the smoke only seems to be a problem while standing they may be a solution. They may not illiminate the smoke completely but they should lessen it significantly.

Roger

belpaire@aol.com

Complaints about excess smoke were quite common during the steam era - even near busy engine terminals and main lines. I would be interested in learning more details about this case and the record of complaints made before these latest charges

altoonaroundhouse@umich.edu

> Complaints about excess smoke were quite
> common during the steam era - even near busy
> engine terminals and main lines. I would be
> interested in learning more details about
> this case and the record of complaints made
> before these latest charges

One factor to keep in mind is that the entire WMSRR operation is in the State of Maryland (the name says it all!) and all economic impacts are perceived to benefit Maryland. But due to an unfortunate geographical fact, the layover facilities (only) are in the State of West Virginia. Guess who the elected and appointed officials in Ridgeley, WV listen too?

Peter Schmidt


pjslks@ix.netcom.com

> One factor to keep in mind is that the
> entire WMSRR operation is in the State of
> Maryland (the name says it all!) and all
> economic impacts are perceived to benefit
> Maryland. But due to an unfortunate
> geographical fact, the layover facilities
> (only) are in the State of West Virginia.
> Guess who the elected and appointed
> officials in Ridgeley, WV listen too?

Jurisdictional issues may indeed be part of the root cause here, but there is a broader issue that must not be overlooked. By nature, we as preservationists devote ourselves to turning the clock back and reliving the past. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world shares our enthusiasm for The Good Old Days. Air pollution is air pollution, and just because it comes from a steam locomotive does not make it any less annoying to neighbors. The world put up with railroad coal smoke in, say, the 1930s only because there was no good alternative.

As historians, railfans, and preservationists, we do ourselves and our cause a great disservice if we fail to appreciate the needs and concerns of our neighbors and community. Urban development will continue to encroach on established tourist railroads and museums, and how effective we are at mitigating some of the less desirable impacts of our activities will determine how long our enterprises survive.

Alan Maples


AMaples@aol.com

I sympathize with the sentiments but the Interchange has a very strict and broad no profanity rule.

Please leave aside the c--p, p--sed off, etc. if you would be so kind.



eledbetter@rypn.org

There is, as usual, more to this than meets the eye.

First of all, I have heard (second hand) that the originator of the complaint is a mainline railroad employee, who decided to put a house trailer on land adjacent to the railroad only in the past year. Seems its cheaper to get land in W VA than Cumberland and the taxes are lower!
However, steam has been operating out of Ridgely for over ten years now. And BTW, his mainline employer is producing many times more complex pollutants than the simple SO2 and carbon particlate coming out of the steam locomotive in the Cumberland area.

Second, as has been mentioned, there is seen little economic benefit of the railroad to West Virginia. I think it is a little more than a coincidence that there is a sign directing visitors to the excursion train on the South Branch Valley only about 30 feet inside the border from the bridge crossing from Cumberland to Ridgely (and has to be passed to go to the WMSR enginehouse).

State of W VA needs to tread lightly here. They own and operate five times as many Steam Locomotives than the WMSR (including one that spent its last days on the railroad stored in Ridgely, WM 6).

Steve

SZuidervee@aol.com

> State of W VA needs to tread lightly here.

The State of West Virginia knows exactly what they're doing. It's the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection that issued the citation.

The way they see it, the problem is the steam engine owned by the State of Maryland.

gerald_altizer@atlanticbb.net

> There is, as usual, more to this than meets
> the eye.

Steve,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight regarding this particular situation.

Alan

AMaples@aol.com

> The State of West Virginia knows exactly
> what they're doing. It's the West Virginia
> Division of Environmental Protection that
> issued the citation.

> The way they see it, the problem is the
> steam engine owned by the State of Maryland.

I remember seeing a photograph somewhere, maybe in a RR Club slide show some years ago, of a steam operation in Japan that had a smoke scrubber of some kind at it's engine facility, sort of like a penstock, that could be swung over the smokestack during fire-up to lessen the pollution. Maybe something like this would work at Ridgely shops?

pww57@hotmail.com