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 […]
For those who are unaware, ASTT’s 2019 Conference was a great success with 50 in attendance, most of whom can be seen in the above photo, lined up in front of Britannia in Crewe. 10 papers were presented, and an afternoon was spent visiting Locomotive Storage Ltd’s workshops in Crewe (where Britannia was on display). […]
ASTT’s publication of Porta Papers Volume 2 is now on sale. The volume includes three papers by Porta: Adhesion in Advanced Steam Locomotive Engineering Facing the Oil Crisis, 1984 (revised 1986); Fundamentals of the Porta Compounding System for Steam Locomotives, 2000; A Proposal for the Tornado Project, 1992. As a corollary to the Tornado […]
ASTTs 2019 Conference will be held over the weekend of 5th-6th October. at the Ibis Styles Hotel in Crewe. It is expected to include nine presentations from an international cast of speakers representing the UK, USA and the Netherlands, plus a tour of Locomotive Storage Ltd’s workshops. Details of the conference and a booking form […]
Volume 1 of a collection of technical papers by Livio Dante Porta is now available for sale – see the book sales section. This first volume focuses on the tribology and lubrication of valves and pistons, and should be essential reading for everyone involved in new-build steam, and wise reading for anyone who is interested […]
Two free seminars on mainline heritage operations will be run by the RSSB in December: on Tuesday 4 December at The Helicon, 1 South Place, London, EC2M 2RB, and on Thursday 6 December at the National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York, YO26 4XJ. See the Mainline Heritage Roadshow website for details. [Click on “Read More” below […]
Last May we passed on news from our Beijing-based member, Liang Chenyuan, who reported that experiments were being conducted in Tianjin and in Inner Mongolia to power to preserved steam locomotives using compressed CO2 gas instead of steam – see https://www.advanced-steam.org/ast-news/news-from-china/. Chenyuan now reports that modification work on Tianjin’s SY1007 is near completion and that […]