CSR is excited to announce the release of two new White Papers: 1) Visit to Mauritania to Explore NRRI-Developed Option for Conversion of Typha australis to Biocoal and 2) Steam Locomotive Rail Wheel Dynamics Part 1: Precedent Speed of Steam Locomotives.
The first white paper outlines exciting research CSR research collaborator, the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) of the University of Minnesota - Duluth, is undertaking in pursuit of converting invasive species to energy in Mauritania. Working with the non-profit Agency to Facilitate the Growth of Rural Organizations (AFGRO), NRRI has investigated the ability of turning Typha Australis, an invasive relative of the North American cattail that is choking the Senegal River in Mauritania and Senegal, Africa, into a usable, clean cooking, heating and electricity fuel source.
In late June 2013, CSR Board Member and Director for the Center for Applied Research and Technological Development (CARTD) at NRRI, Dr. Don Fosnacht, and Peter P. Strzok of AFGRO traveled to Mauritania to meet with officials and share information about the torrefaction technologies NRRI champions.
The second white paper is the first in a two-part series on steam locomotive rail wheel dynamics. An outgrowth of having received a number of inquiries concerning the feasibility of a modern steam locomotive to operate efficiently and safely at higher speeds since announcing "Project 130" in May 2012. That in mind, it has decided to formulate a two-part white paper on steam locomotive speed and rail dynamics: 1.) Precedent Speed and 2.) Primer on the Mechanical Balancing of Steam Locomotives. This paper focuses on the anecodotal history of traditional steam locomotives at speed, while the next paper will provide an in-depth engineering investigation of locomotive wheel balancing and engineering.
The current interest in the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W) J Class steam locomotive, due to the recent announcement of the Virginia Museum of Transportation's Fire Up 611 committee to investigate the feasibility of restoring locomotive 611 to operation, provides an ideal segway into a solid precedent on steam locomotives at high speed. In this white paper, the high-speed performance of the N&W Class J will be explored. While the 3460-class of locomotives, of which CSR's 3463 is a member, were well suited to running at 100+ miles per hour, it is valuable to take lessons learned from the Class J, which has 14" smaller diameter driving wheels and could attain similar operational speeds.