Quote:
Originally Posted by VIVA GT
I like the idea of 'rechargeable' compressed air vehicles, but the idea reminds me of something else.
Just down the road from where I work is an old railway engine in a field by the side of the road and when you've looked at it a dew times you realise that although it obviously is a steam train, there's something not quite right about it. Then you realise there's no funnel for the smoke, and that's because it has no firebox.
Apparently it was used in somewhere like a coke manufacturing plant, so a fire is the last thing you need, and was re-charged regularly from the steam boilers in the factory so it could go about its work safely. It would seem that there aren't really any new ideas, just improvements on the old ones...
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There was one of those in a park where I grew up in Manchester, having been rescued from Irlam Steelworks, painted in gaudy colours and parked up for us to climb all over. It mostly got used as a toilet, if I recall correctly!
Steam is a *hugely* powerful energy carrier. Superheated wet steam is used the world over in chemical and large manufacturing plants because it's relatively easy to create and tends to stay in the pipes it moves around in. If it doesn't stay in the pipes, your plant is having a very bad day.