Today, 21st March 2022, marks the 100th birthday of Livio Dante Porta, the Argentinian engineer who took over the mantle from Chapelon in continuing the development of steam locomotive technology through to the end of the 20th century and on to his death in 2003. ASTT is celebrating his centenary by releasing the first volume […]
We are deeply saddened to report the untimely death of Shaun McMahon. It is understood that he died in Buenos Aires from complications associated with Covid. Shaun began his railway career on the Ffestiniog Railway, joining the permanent staff there as a trainee technician engineer in 1984 when Phil Girdlestone was Works Manager. Thus began […]
The Bure Valley Railway, Advanced Steam Tractions Trust and the Heritage Railway Association have held a further set of trials to test bio–coal under more arduous working conditions. The first set of trials took place in June and tested the fuels under normal Bure Valley train operating conditions. The objective of the second trials was […]
For all those who attended or missed the 2021 ASTT conference at the Great Central Railway the presentations are now available for viewing. The presentations for the 2021 conference are as follows: USA – The Zenith of Steam – (David Pawson) Why did BR give up on Steam? Part 2 (Andrew Hartland) Turbine Locomotives 1910 […]
After a few set-backs and delays, ASTT’s latest publication “Selection of Papers by L.D. Porta – Volume 3” is now available for purchase through this website. It features 19 papers formed into three groups under the headings: Boilers, Fireboxes and Combustion. Full details can be found on the book’s sales page. This is the third […]
For those who attended or did not attend the 2021 ASTT AGM hosted on Zoom the presentations have now been uploaded to the site and are available at the link below. Please note that an active membership with the Advanced Steam Traction Trust is required to access this content
The DS Spiez has returned to lake operation in Switzerland, equipped with a brand new V-2 steam engine designed and built by Roger Waller through the auspices of his DLM company. A video of the ship on test can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MZVIFrvIP4. The German description of the video says: “During this trial, the new […]
Camden Publishing have informed ASTT that David Wardale’s book – Red Devil & Other Tales From the Age of Steam is now out of stock. Camden have also announced that no plans exist to produce another print run. It would be a shame to see this publication unavailable to our members and others interested in […]
A message from chairman John Hind in regards to the Covid-19 situation and the 2020 ASTT conference. Like a lot of organisations large and small, we have put arrangements for our 2020 conference on hold, because of the Covid-19 crisis. By this time of the year, we normally have all arrangements finalised, but following the […]
Radio 4 listeners will have been saddened today (28th Jan 2020) at the news of the death of Nicholas Parsons at the grand age of 96. By a sad coincidence, Vyvyan Vickers has just reported that George Carpenter died yesterday (27th Jan) also at the age of 96. Vyvyan reports as follows: “George was born […]
In response to an August 2019 article in The Railway Hub drawing attention to the threat of a government crackdown on the burning of coal on heritage steam railways, ASTT approached Steve Oates of the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) to offer assistance in preparing a submission to a government inquiry into “carbon offsetting in transport“. […]
Our member from China, Liang Chenyuan, reports that steam locomotive construction did not end with the last of the SYs in 1999, but that anyone with enough money can still purchase a brand-new narrow gauge C2 Class 0-8-0 locomotive. He sent the picture below of the most recent version of the diminutive type, built in […]