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No more Welsh coal for our railways, long live Welsh coal.

woodenhead

By woodenhead,
in Preservation

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FraserClarke

FraserClarke

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I had the "pleasure" of firing a couple of engines with these nuggets at Didcot a few weeks ago (I don't know if it's exactly the same as the GWSR stuff).  Certainly very different to Welsh!! Seems to need a pretty constant blast through it to generate any heat from it; and then when it does burn, it goes pretty damn quick without building much of a bed. We also found we used a lot more of the ovoids than we would on Welsh. It's pretty friable, and a lot of it ended up in the ash pan! 

 

I'm very much a novice fireman, so I'm sure others will do better -- but definitely a learning curve to coming up for everyone! 

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Boris

Boris

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Ovoids are rocket fuel in my rayburn at home, as you say give them a good flow of air and they are pretty decent - in a domestic application.  I'm not sure that they are the future of steam railways.

 

In the meantime the current economic circumstances start to bite in other ways:

 

Public train services cancelled for the remaining weekends in March at Midland Railway – Butterley.

Regrettably we are having to reduce our service train offering for the remainder of March due to the uncertainty around the supply of red diesel for our DMU service which was planned to run. Escalating prices and supply issues are forcing us to conserve fuel ahead of planned events in April.

We apologise for any disappointment this causes and hope to see you all in April . This ongoing situation will be under constant review over the coming weeks. We're planning to keep Butterley office and shop manned for any enquiries.

Midland Railway – Butterley's next public train services will now be on Saturday 2nd April 2022 for the first passenger services in preservation for the 125 Group's High Speed Train!

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faulcon1

faulcon1

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In times past the WSR imported coal from Colombia even though some didn't like it as they thought the lumps were too big. Well you could break them up into smaller lumps with the coal hammer. So UK steam railways may have to look at importing coal from other countries. Oh no sorry you can't do that because it's difficult and if something is difficult in the UK then it's impossible. It's the same reason given as to why you can't have a Great Steam Train Race on the mainline because it's too difficult to organise and so therefore it's impossible. Other countries with different operating rules manage it (Germany and Australia) but not the UK as all you get is pathetic excuses as to why something can't be done.  

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w124bob

w124bob

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I know someone senior in the preserved railway world and the issue appears to be cost not actual supply, he's was talking about an increase from £120 a ton end of last season to a at least £650 at today's price. The stock his railway has is enough for the rest of the season, so they have a window of about 5 months to source a fresh supply. The last lot came from Uzbekistan so that's a non starter for next year.

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Wheatley

Wheatley

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52 minutes ago, faulcon1 said:

Why is more coal from Uzbekistan not possible. 

Uzbekistan is landlocked so it has to come via Russia or Afghanistan and Iran. 

 

Importing coal from or via Russia is banned. I've never tried to import coal via Iran but I doubt it's straightforward. There's difficult and difficult. 

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Aire Head

Aire Head

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On 23/10/2022 at 21:37, faulcon1 said:

Why is more coal from Uzbekistan not possible. Is it the wrong sort of coal for UK steam engines?, or is it just political reasons.     

 

Geography dictates that it has to travel via Russia, Afghanistan or Iran. All places where we are currently not on the friends list!

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tomparryharry

tomparryharry

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The current political climate in south Wales is not in favour of coal extraction. Any coal extraction  won't be done by the accepted means. Things like headstocks have long disappeared, if only because they are no longer considered safe. having seen the turmoil in south Wales during the 1980's, followed by the (almost) total closure of the coalfield, the populace have moved on, and opinions have hardened.

 

As an historical note, a proportion of the Aberfan Funds were ruthlessly diverted by the NCB; a situation that still rankles heavily today. People might forgive, but they never forget. Prospective coal entrepreneurs would invite rectal examinations  with a pitchfork; sterilisation optional. 

 

 

There is (approximately) 4,000 million ton reserves at Cwm Llantwit, but it's not going anywhere soon.

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jjb1970

jjb1970

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Looking at the reaction and controversy around the proposed new mine in West Cumbria which is intended to produce industrial process coal I really can't imagine anyone would even think about opening a mine to produce coal as a fuel source. 

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OnTheBranchline

OnTheBranchline

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On 20/12/2022 at 12:19, tomparryharry said:

The current political climate in south Wales is not in favour of coal extraction. Any coal extraction  won't be done by the accepted means. Things like headstocks have long disappeared, if only because they are no longer considered safe. having seen the turmoil in south Wales during the 1980's, followed by the (almost) total closure of the coalfield, the populace have moved on, and opinions have hardened.

 

As an historical note, a proportion of the Aberfan Funds were ruthlessly diverted by the NCB; a situation that still rankles heavily today. People might forgive, but they never forget. Prospective coal entrepreneurs would invite rectal examinations  with a pitchfork; sterilisation optional. 

 

 

There is (approximately) 4,000 million ton reserves at Cwm Llantwit, but it's not going anywhere soon.

 

Didn't the government eventually repay that amount?

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OnTheBranchline

OnTheBranchline

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On 01/11/2022 at 18:07, KingEdwardII said:

The really stupid thing is that there is plenty more coal sitting in the ground in South Wales, but the Welsh government is stupidly withholding licences to extract it.

 

Yours,  Mike.

 

Coal mining is not currently in vogue in today's environmentalist culture. 

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vikingsmb

vikingsmb

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On 20/12/2022 at 17:19, tomparryharry said:

The current political climate in south Wales is not in favour of coal extraction. Any coal extraction  won't be done by the accepted means. Things like headstocks have long disappeared, if only because they are no longer considered safe. having seen the turmoil in south Wales during the 1980's, followed by the (almost) total closure of the coalfield, the populace have moved on, and opinions have hardened.

 

As an historical note, a proportion of the Aberfan Funds were ruthlessly diverted by the NCB; a situation that still rankles heavily today. People might forgive, but they never forget. Prospective coal entrepreneurs would invite rectal examinations  with a pitchfork; sterilisation optional. 

 

 

There is (approximately) 4,000 million ton reserves at Cwm Llantwit, but it's not going anywhere soon.

also drippy doesnt like anything that is sensible, I cant stand that bloke

 

we need coal 

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Damo666

Damo666

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On 20/12/2022 at 17:19, tomparryharry said:

There is (approximately) 4,000 million ton reserves at Cwm Llantwit, but it's not going anywhere soon.

 

Where is that, near Coedely, (in Rhondda Cynon Taff)?

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Hal Nail

Hal Nail

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Getting a bit off topic but the band Public Service Broadcasting's album Every Valley strings together a series of those old film voice overs, including the one above, set to music and telling the story of the industrial action and decline of mining.

 

R-10535800-1499524270-1627.jpg.a1b3a38affb2693aa731991cfe30ee1f.jpg

 

 

Edited by Hal Nail
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pheaton

pheaton

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12 hours ago, woodenhead said:

License not extended 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65399546

TBH with the current rhetoric from the welsh government i think that was inevitable.....remains to be seen however if.....if port talbot remains viable in the long term....if not you have killed one of the remaining major employers in south wales, if does remain viable then...the green credentials take a serious hit after you have imported container ships of coal...from thousands of miles away when it could quite easily have come from 10s of miles away...

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