Steam Train Lawsuit Receives Clarity, CSR Position Regarding ATSF 3463 Validated

T O P E K A,  K A N S A S | April 11, 2017 –  Shawnee County District Court has ruled in favor of Sustainable Rail International d/b/a Coalition for Sustainable Rail (CSR) in its case concerning quiet title of the former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) steam locomotive No. 3463. District Court Judge, the Honorable Larry D. Hendricks, released a detailed decision concerning the case Wednesday, March 29, 2017, in which he finds that defendant Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railroad, Inc. (TCSFR) has no standing to remain in the lawsuit.  This decision paves the way for CSR to enter negotiations with the City of Topeka concerning the locomotive.

“Now that the court has determined that TCSFR does not have sufficient standing to remain in the lawsuit, we look forward to working with the City of Topeka to resolve the matter,” said CSR President Davidson Ward. “Of specific importance to CSR is outlining a realistic path forward that provides for the preservation of No. 3463 and a secure facility in Topeka for it to call home.”

CSR’s ownership of No. 3463 was first challenged by the TCSFR in April 2013 who, at that time, claimed absolute ownership of the locomotive. Following months of unsuccessful attempts to meet with TCSFR about its claims, CSR filed suit in May 2014 requesting a legal determination as to ownership of No. 3463. Shortly after filing suit, TCSFR reversed its position of outright ownership, claiming instead that they were trustees of a trust to protect the locomotive, and that the City of Topeka was the rightful owner, thus drawing the City into the suit as a Party Defendant.

“Through his decision, Judge Hendricks plainly sets forth why each of TCSFR’s arguments fails as a matter of law. While we were confident in our position, the decision clearly supports CSR and the filing of this litigation,” said outside counsel to CSR Matthew Bergmann, of Topeka-based Frieden, Unrein and Forbes, LLP.  “We are extremely pleased with Judge Hendricks ruling.”

“Of specific importance to CSR is outlining a realistic path forward that provides for the preservation of No. 3463 and a secure facility in Topeka for it to call home.”

— Davidson Ward | CSR

Though the project with No. 3463 has been on hold since 2013, CSR has worked diligently to refine its focus in both the preservation field and the steam and biofuel arenas in response to changing market conditions. Not only has the organization been retained to assist railroads in Germany and the U.S. with matters concerning steam locomotive preservation, but it has also been working with research collaborators at the University of Minnesota to further advance fuel and boiler technologies. 

NEW NRRI Paper - Use of Biomass Fuels with a Focus on Biomass Pre-Treatment

This new paper by CSR research collaborator Natural Resources Research Institute was authored by Don Fosnacht, Ph.D (a CSR Board Member) and his colleague David W. Hendrickson. It provides a very in-depth look at the way in which pre-treatment of biomass can be used in steam boilers to make electricity (or, in some cases, propulsion for trains). It is of great importance in serving as a "bridge" fuel to transition from coal to cleaner energy, lowering conversion costs at power plants.

The following executive summary provides a good overview of the paper, which can be downloaded in its entirety here.

The desire to fire biomass for electric power generation has recently been amplified by President Obama’s new Clean Power Plan with a call for a 32% cut in power plant emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels.

With carbon-capture and sequestration technology still developing, many coal plants are looking for alternative ways to reduce the CO2 from larger scale fossil fueled power plants. Some utilities have started mixing their coal with a cheap material such as woody biomass that could help them meet the expected EPA targets. Co-firing with wood and coal is becoming a viable ‘bridge strategy’ for increasing the use of renewable resources while reducing atmospheric CO2. Worldwide, over 200 test burns have been completed for co-firing wood with coal at large-scale coal fired power plants to show the feasibility of this technique to reduce CO2 in plant emissions.

Compared with fossil fuels, biomass has not been widely utilized in the electric power generation industry due to its relatively low energy density. Biomass pre-treatment technologies have therefore been developed to densify biomass into forms that can be stored and handled in a manner consistent with coal usage at power generation operations.(2) The biomass industry is currently focusing on biomass pretreatment technologies for either pelletizing raw biomass fuels or pelletizing torrefied biomass fuels. The wood pelletizing process for production of wood fuel pellets is a well-developed technology worldwide. The torrefied wood industry, however, is in a ‘development stage’ in that many torrefaction processes are being researched and refined, with no one technology perfected or preferred as yet.

The global electric power industry is thus seeking ‘refined’ renewable fuel products to partially or fully replace coal as its fuel source in order to reduce carbon and other significant emissions. ‘Refining’ is a generic term for different fuel processing technologies including steam explosion, torrefaction, and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) (also called wet torrefaction). Through the use of torrefaction ‘mild pyrolysis process,’ a significant improvement in the suitability of biomass for co-firing in coal fired power plants is produced while providing the potential to enable higher co-firing percentages of biomass versus using untreated wood pellets. The quality of the torrefaction process depends on the balance between temperature and residence time to preserve a maximum of energy density to achieve certain fuel properties like grindability and hydrophobicity.(3) While the lignin content in wood is usually enough to bind pellets, other forms of biomass require special conditioning to strengthen them. Sometimes binders such as starch, sugars, paraffin oils, or lignin must be added to make the pelletized biomass more durable.(4) Pelletizing into a highly water repellent pellet or briquette is required for the torrefied wood industry to produce an acceptable coal replacement product that can be shipped in bulk in open containers and stored in a manner similar to coal. As of 2015, emerging biomass torrefaction companies have significantly improved their ability to produce high quality products with pellets of comparable durability to conventional wood pellets. Key areas of work remain, and these include: densification with and without binders to enhance the bulk density of the produced fuels, development of moisture resistance regimes to allow avoidance of indoor storage, optimization of the shape and size of the fuel products, and the degree of pretreatment required to reduce ash content and to achieve the desired fuel values in the products.

Southern Company, at its Gulf Power subsidiary, successfully tested the use of ‘white pellets’ that had undergone torrefaction in a mobile torrefaction facility. Even though the produced materials were not of ideal physical quality, the company showed that up to 100% coal substitution could be achieved. The company concluded that the use of torrefied materials was a straightforward path to substitution of increasing amounts of coal in power generation. Ontario Power in Canada has converted two plants in Western Ontario to completely use biomass materials. In one case, they modified the power plant to utilize white pellets, and the capital costs for this modification were estimated to be C$170,000,000. In the second case, the power plant decided to use advanced wood pellets produced from steam explosion processing methods (Zilkha or Arbaflame), and the capital costs to allow the materials to be used was only C$5,000,000. The capital cost reduction illustrated that the advanced wood pellets could be used like coal in that second plant example. Finally, a European economic analysis indicates that considering all aspects of potential fuel use, advanced wood pellets compared to ‘white pellets’ have a significant economic advantage when logistics and actual cost of use at the power plant is considered.

In Memoriam - Phil Girdlestone

“Lastly, of course there are the locomotives themselves, magnificent machines that were the true inspiration”

— Phil Girdlestone, 2012

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Girdlestone shows off a newly-manufactured lightweight multi-ring piston valve from an ACR NGG16. Photo: ACR

Within the past decade, the last revenue-earning steam locomotives have almost entirely vanished from the Earth. While there are thousands parked in municipal parks and museums, the few that remain in operation today are primarily for the tourist-hauling public – a reminder of the trains of yesteryear.

However, a small group of dedicated mechanical engineers and steam technicians have spent years working to make the steam locomotive as mechanically and thermodynamically efficient and reliable as possible. Three of the leading experts, David Wardale, Shaun McMahon, and Phil Girdlstone, are disciples of Argentinean modern steam locomotive expert Livio Dante Porta. Each of them worked directly with Porta on a number of projects on five continents, and following Porta’s death in 2003, they were left to carry on his legacy. One of the most accomplished and senior members of that group, Phil Girdlestone, has died this week at the age of 61. 

Phil Girdlestone (1954-2016) was born in London and, like many children, he became fascinated with the steam locomotive. He spent many hours as a child watching the mainline steam locomotives of the British Railways chuff by, and he also witnessed their replacement by the diesels and electric locomotives that rule the rails today. Girdlestone believed that the steam locomotive still held promise but in a more refined form. In the words of Bob Harris, former Assistant Works Manager at the Ffestiniog Railways Boston Lodge Works: “Phil is a man who firmly believes in his own vision of steam locomotives, born twenty years too late!” 

Girdlestone  started his railway carreer on the 1`-11 ½`` gauge Ffestiniog Railway in north Wales in the summer of 1970 as a volunteer fireman at the age of only 15. By 1977, he had qualified as one of the very few (in those days) volunteer drivers on the line. In January 1979, Girdlestone joined the permanent staff at FR's Boston Lodge Works, and he was soon appointed to the position of Technical Assistant. This allowed him to develop the steam locomotive fleet so as to incorporate modern cost effective enhancements. Brought up in the Allan Garraway-era of the FR, Phil was a keen and disciplined engineer, and he always insisted upon the highest standards when out on the mainline.

This 1984 photograph of the Boston Lodge Workshop shows a 30 year-old Girdlestone (center with paper in hand) as well a 19 year-old McMahon (second from right in the back row). Photo: collection of S.T. McMahon

In the 1982, Girdlestone began correspondence with David Wardale and L.D. Porta regarding modern steam development work in South Africa and Argentina. By 1981, the advanced steam improvements to a South African Railway Class 25NC 4-8-4 number 3450 (nicknamed “Red Devil” due to its paint scheme) began to make news. Wardale and Porta had engineered and rebuilt the locomotive to include the latest in thermodynamics, resulting in a steam locomotive that was more powerful, cheaper to maintain, and cheaper to operate than all diesel-electric locomotives on the railroad. In raw numbers, the narrow-gauge 4-8-4 generated more than 4,400 drawbar horsepower (43% higher than standard 25NCs), could travel faster than 75 mph with a 22 car passenger train, and saved 30% in coal and water compared to the unmodified locomotives.

The evidence of modern steam application was staggering, and Girdlestone sought to bring modern steam to his native Great Britain. By 1983, he had been appointed Works Superintendent at Boston Lodge, and he began applying a much heavier set of improvements to 2-4-0 saddle tank tender locomotive (STT) No. 590, a Hunslet Engine Company-manufactured steam locomotive built in 1893.  He and his crew, including a young Shaun McMahon, converted the 2-4-0STT named  “Linda” from oil to coal with an advanced “Gas Producer Combustion System” and Lempor exhaust, much of the same improvements made to the “Red Devil.” After initiation into service in 1985, Linda quickly proved its worth, able to haul longer trains than in its previous configuration as an oil burner, with less than 70% the operating cost of an oil-burning locomotive. Ultimately, a significant drop in oil prices in 1986 resulted in the engine being re-converted to oil, making again a homogenous fleet at the Railway.

Girdlestone (forefront in the cab) with "Linda" post conversion on the Ffestiniog Railway. Note the new smokestack with reinforced gussets along narrow portion. Photo: G. Rushton, collection of S.T. McMahon

The work at the Ffestiniog Railway a technological success, Girdlestone moved to live and work in South Wales at Hugh Philips Engineering Ltd. and worked on the Sudan locomotive modernization program, which included modernization of the locomotive fleet by applying Lempor exhausts and a modified rotary oil burner. Prior to this, Phil had been on standby to move to the U.S to take the position of chief draughtsman on the ACE 3000 project alongside Porta and Wardale. To that end, Porta often described Phil as “the best draughtsman he had ever come across in all of his working years.”

During the summer of 1988, Girdlestone was contracted for a three month period by the Brecon Mountain Railway to design new boilers for their existing fleet as well as consult on the forthcoming purchase of the Vale of Rheidol Railway in mid-Wales by the same company.

Also in 1988, the then-recently-privatized Alfred County Railway in South Africa had begun steam-hauled freight service. The two-foot-gauge ACR hauled logs, produce, and some passengers over its 75 mile-long railroad. The line used a fleet of NGG16 Class 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt locomotives to haul its trains, and management, aware of the successes of the “Red Devil” and work Girdlestone had undertaken in Great Britain and Sudan, hired him to serve as its fulltime Chief Mechanical Officer.

Moving from Great Britain to South Africa in September 1988, Girdlestone immediately began modernization work on locomotive 141. The 40 foot long, 62 ton locomotive was significantly larger than “Linda,” carrying a boiler pressure of 180 PSI and generating 21,360 lbs of tractive effort, complete with superheat. Girdlestone and his crew rebuilt the locomotive with a GPCS, Lempor exhaust system, self-cleaning US-style Master Mechanics’ smokebox, computer-designed light weight piston valves with multiple rings (to save steam consumption), and additional improvements.

Girdlestone (middle with arms crossed) and the shop crews at ACR stand before locomotive 138 in February 1996. Photo: collection of S.T. McMahon

Reclassified as NGG 16A, locomotive No. 141 rolled out of the shop in a bright red paint scheme in August 1989, and it showed immediate improvements (it too was soon nicknamed - based on its coloration –as the “Red Dragon.”) The rebuilt locomotive saved more than 30 percent on coal, generated 10 percent increased pulling power, and significant maintenance cost savings.  The modifications to the Red Dragon resulted in 90% availability, and the cost of the improvements was paid off in less than 12 months.  A similar rebuilding of ACR No. 155 was undertaken in 1990, resulting in equally impressive results.  In addition to developing the NGG 16A class locomotive, Girdlestone went on to design both the NGG 16B and NGG 17 class locomotives for use on the ACR and other South African two foot gauge railways on the national system.

Girdlestone leans out the cab of ACR 141 as it powers up Wilson's Cut. Note the lack of smoke from the stack. Photo: ACR

While at the ACR, Girdlestone hired Porta disciple Shaun T. McMahon as Assistant CMO of the railroad. Girdlestone hired McMahon to assist during a time of ACR business and the planned takeover of the Port Elizabeth branch. This provided McMahon an opportunity to gain significant experience hands on in the advancement of steam technology.

While at ACR, Girdlestone was co-opted on to a committee to determine what fuel options were open for a partial retention of steam on the 3'-6" gauge SAR mainline (soon to be converted into semi-privatized Spoornet). At that time, steam was still in service only between Kimberley and De Aar and in switching services on the Reef. The result of this initiative was the first oil-fired SAR steam locomotive since an experiment in 1946. This was 15F class 4-8-2 No.2916 which was converted at Germiston depot using equipment from East African Railways, and Girdlestone was brought in to help supervise the tests and tuning up.

This 1991 photograph shows Girdlestone (second from left) shown with other crew involved with conversion of SAR 15F Class 4-8-2 No. 2916 from coal to oil firing. Photo: P. Girdlestone courtesy of H. Odom

The application of the East African "American-type" trough burners to No.2916 was not particularly successful and Girdlestone suggested an alternative. As a result he was asked to design equipment for the conversion of a 25NC class 4-8-4. The impetus behind all this work was to equip locomotives for work during the dry season, the formation of Spoornet having seen elimination of steam in normal service. It was now operated on behalf of the Transnet Heritage Foundation and normal line clearing and the making of firebreaks had ceased. The new burners were circular with superior atomising characteristics and the first was applied to a 25NC of Beaconsfield depot at Kimberly. It was subsequently applied to a second 25NC No.3417 and retrospectively to 15F No.2916 with success.

Girdlestone remained at the ACR through 1999, some years before the railroad shut down operations due to increased truck freight competition, issues with the national railroad board “Spoornet,” and the washing away of a large rail bridge in a flash flood. 

West Coast Railway Class R 4-6-4s numbers 711 and 766 undertake a light engine move from Ballarat to Newport on May 11, 2004. Photo: Tony 'Ashcat' Marsden

In 1996 , Girdlestone opened “Girdlestone and Associates,” which undertook contract advanced steam engineering and retrofitting work across the globe.The first major project for G&A took place with the modernization of West Coast Railway (Australia) Class R 4-6-4 type locomotives numbers R 711& R 766, for which Girdlestone provided detailed engineering drawings via correspondence. The retrofits included application of a dual Lempor exhaust, conversion from coal to advanced oil firing, addition of power reverse, and additional detailed improvements to allow the locomotives to maintain speeds on regular steam-hauled excursions between Melbourne and Warrnambool, maintaining a 3 hour and 13 minute schedule along the 166 mile route. The WCR reported a 30% improvement in power and a 30% reduction in fuel consumption compared with standard R class 4-6-4s.

From 2003, Girdlestone (second from right) stands with some of his crew members beside the two foot gauge Class LSN he was building from scratch for a customer in the UK. Photo: collection of S.T. McMahon

Between 2000 and 2003 G&A designed and manufactured the main bulk of a two foot gauge modern steam locomotive for a UK customer, denominated Class LSN.  The firm was also hired by Spanish based company ARMF for a number of years so as to carry out locomotive modification work. 

Girdlestone stands in front of P36.0032 after installation of the dual Lempor. Photo: Collection of P. Girdlestone

Following the engineering work in Australia, Girdlestone took on work modernizing a broad-gauge Russian P36 Class 4-8-4 number P36.0032. The locomotive is owned and operated by Golden Eagle Luxury Trains, a company that operates luxury passenger trains in Russia. They hired G&A to design and construct an advanced dual Lempor Exhaust system for the large passenger locomotive. The one-ton assembly was manufactured in South Africa and air-freighted to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where it was installed on the locomotive in 2004. The train operator realized significant power improvements post-installation, and the locomotive maintains the exhaust system today.

Around the same time, G&A was hired by Argentina’s Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino, a 500 mm gauge operation that hauls tourists in the southern-most city of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. G&A built an 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic locomotive based on a UK design and, later on during 2005, built an 0-4-0+0-4-0T Garratt locomotive from a mix of spare components left over from a spare Garratt that was never completed and a range of new major components, including a new boiler. The small locomotive included the utmost in modernizations and went into service in 2006. It has operated with diesel-like availability and cheaper-than-diesel maintenance and fuel costs since entering operation.

FCAF locomotive "H.R. Zubieta" on a revenue train. The locomotive was built from scratch by G&A in South Africa and shipped to Argentina in 2006. Photo: FCAF

Up until his death, Girdlestone had been focusing on authorship, including having recently published a book detailing the history of SAR Class 25 Condensing and Non-Condensing 4-8-4s (Camels and Cadillacs, Stenvalls 2014 – ISBN 978-91-7266-185-1). He also had a hand in multiple projects advancing the state of the art in steam technology. It is worth noting that his autobiography is complete and awaiting publication. 

Girdlestone was dedicated to steam technology, traveling the world in pursuit of its advancements pushing the state of the art. It was his passion for technology, science, railway development and, above all, the steam locomotive, which drove Phil Girdlestone to dedicate so much to the iron horse.

Phillip R. Girdlestone, locomotive engineer, born September 1, 1954; died April 20, 2016

Diametral Speed for Pi Day

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Today is "Pi Day" - the date of 3-14.16. Pi was very important to railroad engineers of yesteryear, and not just the dessert-type.

Balancing of steam locomotive driving wheels was an engineering exercise subject to much trial and error (and some success). One term often thrown around in steam locomotive technical pieces is "Diametral Speed," or the the speed when the diameter of the driving wheel (in inches) equals the speed (in mph). This “Diametral Speed” occurs at 333RPM thanks to the relationship between the circumference of the driving wheel (2πr).

Thus, when the 84” diving wheels of an ATSF 4-6-4 are rotating at 333 RPM, the locomotive is traveling at 84 mph. Likewise, when the 60” wheels of a Chinese QJ are spinning at 333 RPM, that locomotive is traveling 60 mph, and so on. Since a steam “engine,” like an automotive “engine,” is limited by maximum rotational speed (read: “redline”) at approximately 550 RPM, the larger the wheel, the higher the speed. But, since the power range of steam locomotives depend partially on the flow of steam through the pistons at certain RPMs, the smaller-wheeled locomotives develop maximum horsepower at lower speeds, which is why small driving wheels were used on freight locomotives moreso than passenger locomotives.

As to this advertisement, when cast steel wheels of Boxpok and Baldwin Disc variety came onto the scene in the late 1930’s, they allowed railroads to improve balance and reduce dynamic augment (track forces attributable to overbalance) since they were significantly lighter (and stronger!) than the traditional spoked wheel. This 1937 Baldwin ad outlines the significant improvements. More info on balancing can be found in CSR's White Papers on Steam Locomotive Balancing -www.csrail.org/whitepapers

Regardless, we hope you had a chance to eat some “pi” yesterday. Enjoy your ‪#‎techtuesday‬!

Refined Mission and New Website

2015 flew by almost as fast as this ATSF express passenger train... almost! Photograph by Jack Delano, LOC.

The year 2016 is off to a strong start here at CSR. The following are brief insights into some of the exciting news.

Refined Mission

As has been said many times before: “the only constant in life is change.” So too is it important for us here at CSR to continue to focus on the work we perform and the goals of the organization to ensure that we are striving to realize our mission.

The original mission of CSR, written back in 2011, was as follows: 

to conduct bio-fuel research; to research and develop sustainable railroad locomotives; to investigate associated sustainable technologies; and to conduct education and outreach about sustainable railroad locomotives

The CSR Board of Directors put considerable thought into the existing mission of the organization, the ways in which our actions line up with that mission, and what will be needed to ensure continued prosperity of the not-for-profit. After significant consideration, two board meetings, and numerous iterations, the CSR Board voted unanimously to refine the CSR mission to as follows:

CSR is dedicated to:

INNOVATION – supporting and advancing sustainable modern steam, fuel, energy, and transportation technologies

PRESERVATION – promoting the safe and efficient operation and preservation of historic rail equipment

EDUCATION – supporting and conducting educational and informational activities to increase awareness of sustainable and historical technologies

This revised mission is in harmony with the initial goals of CSR, but focuses the group’s efforts on three important areas, each of which is being addressed by CSR's various technological developments. The three graphics below speak to each of those three core areas:

INNOVATION • PRESERVATION • EDUCATION

New Website

Accompanying the ratification of CSR's revised mission is a new website that provides a more user friendly way of receiving information from CSR (which, if you are reading this, you have found!). The new website had been under construction for some time, and its release around the New Year coincided with an added dedication to web security as sites similar to CSR's old homepage were subject to a continually increasing barrage of web attacks (which CSR was fortunate to avoid).

This new site provides information pertaining to all portions of CSR's undertaking, including its work with former ATSF steam locomotive 3463. The work with ATSF 3463 has been on hold since 2013 following a challenge to CSR's ownership of the locomotive. CSR took the challengers to court in Topeka, Kansas, to seek clarification as to the title of the locomotive, and those legal proceedings are ongoing. That said, CSR's plans with the locomotive remain unchanged and are intended to be undertaken in accordance with its mission. Also note that throughout the duration of the litigation, CSR has continued to remain the owner of the locomotive, including maintaining responsibility for insurance, power, and other associated duties related to ATSF 3463.

Take a look through the site at your leisure and, as always, please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or comments.