Finnish Tk3 Waiting
for the Spring
In
this impressive and dramatic photograph by Christian
Westerlund the
Finnish vintage Tk3 type steam locomotive is clearly waiting for the
spring. Sitting in the snow and covered throughoutly with the frost the
unit 1163 is seen against the sun in the horizon, barely capable
of warming the air. With the coming months the angle will change
and
with time the sun will be able to melt the frost on the loco. Given a
few more weather cycles this preserved but not in driving condition
steam locomotive can hopefully be restored to original working order.
Interestingly, the locomotive is sitting just 100 meters from the
busiest Finnish station Pasila, Helsinki, so if you visit Helsinki,
give it a few minutes!
Picture by Christian Westerlund 2009.
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From
the Editors - Time for Electric Trains
The
overhead wire,
after more than a century of use, seems now to be better investment
than ever for different rr infrastructure organizations. With fuel
prices surging up again after the latest recession several
infrastructure managers are either starting to build the wire or
considering seriously on buying one.
Great Britain where
the whole
industry started 2 centuries ago has only now realized the potential of
electric trains against fuel propelled ones. China is rapidly
expanding its
electric railway network and building new lines. Russia has expansion
projects going
on. Even the U.S.
is
considering on joining the electricity club. Continental Europe?
It always was
the premium student of the club, and the main attention is on
manufacturing enough electric locomotives that can utilize all 4 common
electrical overhead wire systems of the main land! This involves use of
4 different pantographs because of different design requirements and
electrical systems for 1500V DC, 3000V DC, 15kV 16,7Hz AC and 25kV 50
Hz AC, the last one being the alternative most modern systems are built
to use.
Advantages
of using electricity:
- Power:
current electrical trains use Megawatts of electricity, enabling all
kinds of solutions from super high speed trains to truly powerfull
freight transports.
- Energy
efficiency: AC electrics of today can often feed much of
the
consumed electricity back when slowing down on "dynamic regenerative
braking". Often the savings can be 50% of the power consumed.
-
Environmental issues:
the electric
trains, when well designed, are both silent and cause less pollution
than their typical diesel conterparts.
- For the
nonelectirified
sections you still need another solution like a hybrid electric/diesel
EMUs which have debuted in the local and regional traffic.
-
25kV
50Hz has proven its reliability and the rolling stock seems to have a
working second hand markets.
- Electrical trains might
require a
lot less maintenance.
-
Electric trains truly have an incredibly
long life span.
Disanvantages:
-
If there is no
electric infrastructure, the cost
of
getting started can be quite high. However, in countries
like
Sweden and Finland where distances are great and traffic might be only
a few trains per day on some lines even these are electrified, and the
cost does NOT seem to be the issue. This is a cultural issue, once you
can build the electricity it becomes "business as usual" mode
relatively cheap commodity structure.
- If you are running
hundreds of diesels, it takes time before they come to the end of their
life cycle. However, if you are running diesel electric locomotives,
these might be effectively converted to hybrid use, adding electrical
equipment might not need too much space on them or add much weight.
These hybrids would again provide more time to gradually build the
electrical lines.
If
you would like to share your electric railroading pictures and thoughts
with the railfan and
railpro community reading 4rail.net, please
contact us by the form!
- John McKey, November - December 2009 -
For
railroad related discussions, did you know there is a great forum
available at trainorders.com.
See for yourself!
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