Electric Live Steam?

tac foley said:
In the mid 1970's there was a weekly series called 'The World of Model Trains' in 48 weekly parts. In a early issue the very first article was about an indoor layout featuring the Lynton & Barnstaple railway, and the article descrobe a Manning & Wardle loco that picked up current from the track and used it to boil water. I seem to recall that the throttle used a Tri-Ang loco motor.

Does anybody else remember this?

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS [ovgrs.org]
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That also reminds me of a Layout by I think Manchester Model Railway Club described in one of the 50’s or 60’s Model Railway Mags of a 0 Gauge Railway Steam Powered or Controlled from the Track. Totally forgot that one, any one else remember it? Locomotives may have been powered by an internal system and the Regulator just Controlled from the Track.
 
stockers said:
Yes you can.
In the first instance - steam in our boilers is in a compressed state. Being pedantic there may be a difference between expansion and pressure but without pressure you cant have expansion.
I agree that to re-compress saturated steam is difficult as water droplets will form but superheated steam can be re-compressed by a simple pumping device.
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Yes it is the Hot Water that cannot be compressed which is why Priming is a big worry for any driver as the Water Captured can blow a Cylinder Cover off or far worse.
 
dunnyrail said:
That also reminds me of a Layout by I think Manchester Model Railway Club described in one of the 50’s or 60’s Model Railway Mags of a 0 Gauge Railway Steam Powered or Controlled from the Track. Totally forgot that one, any one else remember it? Locomotives may have been powered by an internal system and the Regulator just Controlled from the Track.
Click to expand...

I recall seeing that at a Manchester exhibition in the 60's and also reading an R.M. article. If I recall correctly it was three rail ! I think one common rail, one supply to boiler heater(s) and the other supply to control(s).
 
I remember reading of an experiment back in the eighties involving a standard guage 4-6-2 in 1;32 scale . it did work but derailed causing a short. The resultant arcing actualy melted one of the driving wheels before the poer fuse blew. They were steel tires on white metal cast wheels.
 
Given this is a US member's request would it be possible to work out the energy requirements to heat the boiler of, say, an Accucraft K28. We know this model has twin gas poker gas burners. We can find out what those put out in terms of heat. We can find out how much steam needs to be generated as the "engine" and what it has to move has not changed. This should be the same as the gas fired model.The final question is does the live steamer have insulated wheels ? There is a track powered version that will have.

Given this information how much in terms of volts/amps (peak requirement) would you need to replicate what the twin gas burners do if boiler is configured as an immersion heater like the smaller Hornby jobbies. Or have I missed something here. Max
 
Jensen, a USA based stationary steam engine builder, offers thier stationary engines with electric heating for use in school science labs and homes that do not want to fire with an open flame fuel source. Maybe use thier burner ratings as a baseline then go from there. They do have a nice website. Mike the Aspie
 
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