![]() "The fact is that it has driven the railway preservation movement from tiny beginnings 50 years ago to an industry that carried some nine million in Britain in 2000. "Many have tried to explain this love affair with steam" said Dr Fozard. "We've certainly no problem with crews we have plenty of volunteers among our diesel and electric drivers." We'd have no problem, in theory, with a 200kph steam locomotive. Some of them, like The Flying Scotsman, are 80 years old. "Steam locomotives running on the main lines today must meet stringent safety standards. "We'll take a neutral stance on the proposal", said a spokesman for EWS, the main-line freight company that operates existing mainline steam charters. "We are seeking investment and hope to have the first 5AT running in seven years." Additional locos will be £1.5m, the same as a modern diesel. Mr Wardale, a former British Rail engineer who went on to rebuild steam locomotives for the South African Railways in the 1980s - his South African Red Devil 4-8-4 was an outstanding success - plans to complete his detailed designs for 5AT early next summer.ĭr Fozard said: "The cost for the first locomotive, including design, development and testing will be £3.5m. "On a typical eight-coach train a 5AT will have much the same power-to-weight ratio as the Class 165 and 170 Turbostar trains you'll find on many inter-city services today." We have to convince railway managers that we are professionals with a practical proposition for an attractive machine that can keep pace with increasingly fast main-line trains. In any case, we don't want to build a one-off experiment that might go wrong. "We haven't gone for a modern steam-turbine with a cab at both ends and electronic controls", says Mr Wardale, "because this would have none of the appeal of the traditional steam locomotive essential to its future commercial success. Only a small lineage of impassioned engineers in France (Andre Chapelon 1892-1978), Argentina (Livio Dante Porta, 1922-2003), and their disciples, David Wardale, Roger Waller and Phil Girdlestone in Europe, today continue the pursuit of modern steam. Otherwise, it will be a very different machine, 100% more efficient than the finest steam locomotives of the 1950s when technical development of this much loved form of motive power hit the buffers. Yes, it will produce that familiar rhythmic beat, those plumes of white steam its piston rods will race in and out of visible cylinders, and its tall disc wheels will be driven by a form of reciprocating motion invented by the Belgian engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The 5AT will resemble a conventional Stephensonian steam locomotive, yet it will be neither smoky nor grimy. Delegates were shown designs for a machine that will transform the way passengers and railway management alike see the steam locomotive. This week Alan Fozard of the 5AT Group presented technical and business plans for this new generation 4-6-0 steam locomotive at the first World Steam and Tourist Train Congress at Brienz, Switzerland. A handsome, highly-efficient 3,500hp machine, it is smaller but more powerful and much cheaper to run than any of its 20th century predecessors. ![]() At its head is the first of the £1.5m 5AT locomotives designed by the British steam engineer David Wardale. Why the fuss? Because our futuristic Pullman is a brand new steam train.
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