Deco Deliveries

[GHT]

Rob

4463 is an A4 Pacific, if you Google that you will get a great deal of information on that type of engine. It's name was Sparrow Hawk, a sister engine, 4468 named Mallard, holds the world speed record for a steam hauled train, a record that still stands to this day.
Nowadays you can catch a Bullet Train in Japan or the TGV in France and travel at speeds well over 250 mph. But nothing stirs the blood like Sir Nigel Gresley's A4 Pacifics in full flow:

 

[Ghostsoldier]

That's pretty impressive.

Rob

 

[GHT]

That's pretty impressive.

Rob

Indeed it is, but if I saw that train you posted earlier, I would be mighty impressed. It looks so futuristic.

 

[BlueTrain]

How quickly something that looks futuristic becomes the past.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[GHT]

How quickly something that looks futuristic becomes the past.

Is it really in the past? What diesel and electric have over steam is immediate start, steam needs two hours for the boiler to start producing steam. You also have the pollution and filth that coal's residue, namely smoke, soot and sulphur and you can see why it's days seem numbered.
In the 19th century the UK sat atop of the world and powering the industrial revolution that put our country there, was coal. We still sit on vast reserves but it stays in the ground because it's cheaper to import, but also, British coal is high in sulphur content.
Have you heard of Livio Dante Porta, an Argentine steam locomotive engineer? He is particularly remembered for his innovative modifications to existing locomotive systems in order to obtain higher performance, energy efficiency and reduced pollution.
Porta also worked on the 5AT Advanced Technology steam locomotive. A conceptual design conceived by the British engineer David Wardale, and first described in his definitive work on modern steam, The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam.
Wardale's purpose in putting forward the "Super Class 5 4-6-0" design concept was to offer a future for steam hauled trains on the main lines in the UK on which the use of heritage traction is likely to be gradually phased out as the speed and density of commercial rail traffic increase.
Work on the project was suspended in March 2012 following completion of a project Feasibility Study and subsequent failure to raise the finance needed to complete the detail design and construction of the locomotive.
There will come a time in the future when fossil fuel will be no more, it's only my speculation, but Porta & Wardale's technological advances for the use of steam might just be dusted off and ressurected. There's no reason why a steam engine has to burn coal. The plentiful supply of timber in 19th century USA, saw the design of wood burning locomotives and during WW2, when vehicle fuel was almost non existent because of the demand by the military, science devised a fuel called coalene, a gasoline derivative made from coal, no reason therefore, that a new generation of steam couldn't run on sugar cane husks, or peat or anything else for that matter.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

GM Parade of Progress, 1955

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Zombie_61]

^ Keep your street clean!

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I'd like to have one of these.

Rob

 

[3fingers]

^^^ The Fedora Lounge road trip bus.

 

[Zombie_61]

^^^ The Fedora Lounge road trip bus.

I'm pretty sure we'd need more than one.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

I'm pretty sure we'd need more than one.

Agreed, I vote we use this awesome one from "Foyle's War" for the overflow:

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[3fingers]

Rob

This thing fascinated me with the fifth wheel hitch, so I looked for it online. It's a Curtiss Aerocar from the '30s. $8500.00 would get you into one. Which would be quite a few times more than the Oldsmobubble coupe that's pulling it. Interesting.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Which would be quite a few times more than the Oldsmobubble coupe that's pulling it...

Compared to most of what's available in today's auto market, I'd take that Oldsmobubble in a heartbeat.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

Not bad for designing a car in the dark - at least everything seems to be there.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob