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Naomi Cornish

About Naomi Cornish

Posts by Naomi Cornish:

Staying safe on the road in a heatwave…

Far be it for the Trust to act as the Steam Police and not wishing to be killjoys but, in these incredibly dry times and with Wiltshire and Dorset experiencing wildfires, no one would wish to exacerbate an already dangerous situation for both farmers and wildlife by creating accidental fires while roading an engine.
 
We thought we’d share the words of a concerned Trust member who took the trouble to write to us and share his thoughts on the dry weather and the resultant risks associated with roading an engine.
 
We’re sorry if we’re preaching to the converted and you’re already doing this, but we all want to enjoy ourselves over the next few weeks and be able to reflect on how we managed the current challenging situation.
 
From our concerned member: “With the Great Dorset Steam Fair only a few days away, the last thing we want now is to draw unwanted attention to ourselves by setting the countryside ablaze; I just have this vision of engines storming Coombe Bissett hill in an attempt to get to Tarrant Hinton for the first time in three years, and excitement getting the better of people.”
 
Thank you to our member for his thoughts.
Roading Advise

Friday Evening Forum @ GDSF

All are welcome and warmly invited to join us at Great Dorset Steam Fair for the NTET’s traditional Friday Evening Forum. Come along to our marquee from 6:30pm on 26th August to meet some of the team who keep the Trust going, catch up with friends and have a complimentary drink.

GDSF Friday Forum AD2

Missing Disc Data causing frustration for Authorised Event Organisers.

When the new on-line Insurance Disc system went live earlier in the year, we were not aware that data for some Insurance Discs which had been issued using the old redundant system was not made available to us for loading into the new system.

Consequently, when using the Disc Search facility, Event Organisers are unable to find evidence of those discs but are then concerned to find that ‘active’ Discs are displayed on their engines.

The NTET acknowledges that this situation is frustrating but emphasise that it is not a reflection of the performance of the new system and is not of the NTET’s making.

The data relating to new discs issued by the on-line system will always be available to the Disc Search facility and as the season wears on the gap created by the ‘missing discs’ will no longer be an issue.

CO2 ‘Stats’ Leaflet

The NTET has developed an informative leaflet which aims to help owners and crew of road-going steam engines (both full size and miniature) to answer any potential questions given by the general public about the impact our engines have on the environment.

We will have printed leaflets produced in due course, however in the meantime, for those happy to do so, you can view the PDF below and print your own copies.


n.b.: the leaflet is A5 double sided.

CO2 Leaflet PDF Download

Visit to Ffos-y-Fran

Photo courtesy of Heritage Railway Association
Photo courtesy of Heritage Railway Association
On Wednesday 25 May, David Smith and Tom Attwood (NTET), James Hervey-Bathurst (HFA), Steve Oates (HRA) and Paul Lewin (F&WHRlys), met at Ffos-y-Fran where they learnt first hand from Chris Barber, mine manager and Darren Lewis, son of the owner, of the operational and market pressures in getting sufficient coal out to keep the mine viable and the cost of coal acceptable.
 
In return they were able to explain the huge reliance that heritage coal users have on the availability of Ffos-y-Fran supplies and that our political energies are focussed on ensuring that the English and Welsh Governments are made aware of the financial and socioeconomic consequences of not having that indigenous fuel available.
 
They were happy to learn that Ffos-y-Fran coal will be back on the market, in modest supply initially, by mid June with promises of increasing volumes going forward.
 
It was not thought prudent to discuss costs but it is endeavoured to identify economical routes to market, which may not be the traditional routes.

Coal Trials – Diary Sheet Update

Coal Trials – Anecdotal Diary Sheet
High Level Feedback.

Update from Tom Attwood

The Anecdotal Diary Sheets have been running for three months and there has been a good response allowing sufficient feedback to now be given. The Diary Sheets are still active and further feedback is encouraged, including coals which have not featured heavily so far.

More detailed feedback will be given on the commonly featured fuels in the coming weeks. Please consider this update as an introduction or highlights of the Diary Sheet responses so far.

Ffos-y-Fran has been treated as the comparator for this data, a score like Ffos-y-Fran (88% overall) is considered a fuel that is performing with merit in road steam applications. The score shown is against the 8 questions shown in the table. It does not cover all possible variations, characteristics, likes/dislikes of the various fuels but is there to address what was considered to be key factors for the purpose of comparing and selecting a suitable alternative in the absence of Ffos-y-Fran.

The table below shows the eight questions, the 13 fuels which have had Diary Sheet response recorded, the average score given (shown in the green bars visually representing the score) and the overall Total % achieved by the fuel. Ffos-y-Fran is shown at the top as the comparator. Some of the data is also shown in a Spider Diagram at the end of this update, if you prefer.

The scoring criteria used is, 1 = very poor/No, through to 5 = Totally acceptable/Yes.

coaltrials-01

Newburn, Wildfire, Ecoal50 and Trevithick are all manufactured ovoid fuel products which have received multiple Diary Sheet responses. It should be noted that Trevithick Welsh Steaming Ovoids (Hargreaves) and Ecoal50 (CPL), dominated the early stages of ovoid trials in road steam. In comparison to those trialled in the last 6-8 weeks, their performance has been more disappointing than would have been hoped for, with overall scores of just 59% and 63% respectively.

Newburn (M&G) and Wildfire (CPL) are both repeatedly finding favour in a range of road steam uses, from generating for rides with showman’s engines, through to roading in hilly terrain with road trains of up to 10 tons, with overall scores of 88% and 83% respectively. Whilst not perfect, they are appearing to be viable options in a range of uses.

A few trials have been carried out by mixing Trevithick Welsh Steaming Ovoids with coal, ranging from Scottish, Russian and Welsh in ratios of 50/50 or 40/60. In general, this seems to have improved the usability of these ovoids in road use but issues of eventual clinkering, high ash in the ashpan/clogging the grate are reported after a few hours in some cases. There may be merit in this approach for some users to extend coal stocks for example. Collectively, combining coal with Trevithick Welsh Steaming Ovoids has improved the overall score from 59 to 78%.

Although no Diary Sheets have been submitted on just Trevithick Ovoids in a steam rally type setting, some operators are suggesting that they are suitable for sedentary rally use, feedback on this would be appreciated as the season gets underway. However, captured within the Diary Sheets, they did not perform well for hard working showman’s engines generating at an event, with pressure difficulties, dead spots in the fire, excessive ash, smokebox debris/char and ash emitted from the chimneys being common issues.

Briteflame (CPL), Country Blend (Stafford – Ireland), Taybrite (CPL) and Homefire (CPL), are all further Manufactured Ovoids that have been trialled with feedback via the Diary Sheets. However, these products have only had 1 or 2 responses each. Their scores are still valid and provided here to advise but unlike the 4 discussed above, have not benefitted from trials across a range of engine types and uses. Further feedback is greatly encouraged.

Briteflame (CPL) has attracted attention as it has performed well in 2 separate and challenging road trips undertaken by 2 different steam tractors in hilly terrain with trailers. It is hoped to expand the range of engines that this product is trialled on in the coming weeks.

Holzkohle is a restaurant grade charcoal and was initially selected by the owner for the desire of a clean burning fuel to attend a non-steam focused, family-orientated event. This included a short road trip. Perhaps surprisingly, it performed the task very well and was adopted by a further event (along with Newburn) due to the clean burning nature.

Russian Coal, there are reasonable stocks of this with various merchants around the country which was sourced before the war in Ukraine began. An already known and used coal by some in road steam, it has performed well for the owner who completed the diary sheet with the feedback that it was excellent, a little smoky at first but cleared when going down the road.

Finally, Colombian Coal Trebles. Opinion on Colombian coal seems to vary extensively and no doubt in part down to the source mine quality of coal. However, from the Diary Sheet received it has performed extremely well for the owner. The comment of little and often firing being used to support the ability to burn cleanly. This engine was undertaking wood sawing.

In conclusion, a return of Ffos-y-fran supply would be very desirable for most of us. However, in a volatile and challenging market it is hoped that this information will help owners, operators and event organisers be able to make suitable selections of an appropriate alternative for their application.  

Some miniature owners have asked about manufactured ovoid sizes and if any manufacturers will make “scale” ovoids. One manufacturer is trialling a “scaled” ovoid which is approximately 40mm in maximum size. Whilst not assured it will be viable, it is being fully explored. A few miniature owners have found the need to break up the ovoids to allow an even fire, good results have then been attained in most cases.

Most full-size engine operators have reported a need for a deeper fire particularly when working an engine using a manufactured fuel. This may be useful information for some who are yet to use such a product, but it will be a case of trial and improvement as factors such as firebar spacing and design, height of bars in the firebox along with a multitude of other variables will likely change the requirements from engine to engine.

Further feedback via the Diary Sheets is encouraged, please.

coaltrials-spider-01
Coal Trials Diary Sheet

NTET Statement of Support

In the UK there are reckoned to be some 3,826 surviving steam powered road going engines and portable engines, many of which are owned by members of the NTET.  The capital value of this wide spread heritage collection, plus the 2,250 scale models, is reckoned to be £339,950,000.

At any one time around 70% of these machines are in working order and steamed at public attended rallies and on public roads across the UK every year.   The majority are designed to burn coal of which ‘Welsh dry steam coal’ is the preferred fuel, rather than bituminous household coal.  However, the available UK sources of either type of coal have reduced in the past 10 years or so.  From data supplied from members of the coal industry, we estimate that the total amount of coal consumed by the ‘road going steam-engine owners’ is around 4,100 tonnes per annum, represented by 2,500 tonnes of Welsh dry steam coal and 1,600 tonnes of bituminous coal.

In the UK there are more than 1,200 events held annually, where the attendance of steam powered traction engines is the major attraction.  The smaller of these events or ‘rallies’ attract some 400 to 1,000 attendees whilst the large rallies are attended by several thousand, up to tens of thousands members of the public, and in the case of the UK’s premier event, hundreds of thousands of members of the public.  Added these heritage focussed events are village fêtes, fairs, agricultural shows, weddings, schools and other public or fundraising events.  Overall it is estimated that between 8 and 11 million visitors a year visit the events described, many from overseas.

gdsf 01

Being able to see and get close to and even stand on these historic machines is an inspiration to young and old, and helps to attract apprentices into the engineering profession. 

From data provided by event organisers and owners, we estimate that in the year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual turnover directly from events held in the UK amounted to £495,099,000, the contribution to local economies was £552,772,000 and to wider regional economies was £745,135,000.

The value to the services industry made by the traction engine owners is conservatively estimated to be between £28m and £36m. These services include restoration and engineering workshops, training and apprentice schemes, insurance services, inspection services, consumables and fuel. 

To these figures may be added subscriptions to clubs, associations and magazines and the purchasing of books and associated paraphernalia. In the same period it is estimated that over £2.8m was directly raised for charities and other social services.

Ever since October 2018 when the government announced its plans to introduce the Environment Bill, which became law in May 2021, along with other organisations, the NTET has been warning that the ban on the domestic burning of bituminous coal would have serious detrimental impact on the heritage steam fraternities, both road and rail, because the economies of scale would be lost resulting in the collapse of the supply chain.

The heritage steam fraternity was advised on many occasions by government departments that there was no intention on behalf of the government to jeopardise the sustainability of the heritage steam activities, there being nothing in the legislation that prevents the burning of coal for those activities.  By extension however, those fraternities would be left to make their own arrangements to procure and take delivery of suitable fuels.

For some time now, because of the reducing number of mines in the UK, coal has been imported from a number of overseas sources that invariably require long rail and sea journeys to be undertaken before the fuel is on the UK dockside.  The carbon footprint associated with these journeys and the costs involved are in simple terms, huge.  And now of course we have the Russia – Ukraine conflict which markedly impacts on an already fragile, long and expensive supply chain.

In the UK there is now just one mine which is capable of supplying good quality, low emission coal into the steam heritage fraternity; Ffos-y-Fran, near Merthyr Tydfil.  This mine, working on the reclamation of old coal stocks also supplies into the steel making industry.  The current licence to extract coal is due to expire in October 2022 but there are stocks of high quality coal in the same vicinity for which an extraction licence has been refused by the Welsh Assembly on environmental grounds.

Where is the economical or environmental sense, we ask, in importing over long distances inferior fuels when we have several million tonnes of superior quality fuel on our doorstep?

The NTET is dedicated to helping minimise the impact on the environment by road going steam vehicles of all types through helping to source and develop the lowest impact fuels suitable for our continued use.

William (Bill) Giles’ aspirations to make these facts public and to raise awareness of the serious plight of the heritage steam fraternity, in particular that of ‘road going traction engines’, is to be applauded.  The NTET fully supports his endeavours.

David Smith
Head of NTET Technical Services

Coal and Alternative Fuels Update.

As noted in previous reports, the NTET has been working with a number of suppliers seeking to prolong access to our current fuels, as well as identify and trial sources of suitable alternative fuels. 

This is a brief update on the current situation.

Ffos-y-Fran.

The owners of the Ffos-y-Fran mine are progressing with their appeal to the planning consent within the existing site boundary.  This would extend mining for roughly a further 1.7 million tonnes of coal over an additional 2 years.  This is being supported by the NTET.

On the basis that this appeal is successful, work continues to ensure that a suitable supply of Ffos-y-Fran steam coal – washed, graded and bagged – will again become available for the UK Heritage Steam market from the summer and moving forward.

Hargreaves are also continuing to look into the possibility of washing and grading at a different facility to support the earliest return of washed, graded and bagged Ffos-y-Fran steam coal.

Other Coal Availability.

Whilst the war in Ukraine has stopped the incoming supply of Russian coal to the UK, reasonable quantities are available with most distributers and coal merchants.  There are also supplies of Colombian coal and early suggestions of Polish coal also being available in limited quantities.  It is recommended that you speak to your coal merchant or to a national distributer if you require more information on what is available, as it is an ever-changing picture.

Steam Coal Imports.

Whilst it is still early days, a potentially suitable source of Steam Coal has been found abroad.  Progress is being made with an independent importer as to the suitability, cost and quantities that would make it economical.  This should be considered as a feasibility study at this stage and may not prove to be viable, but a broad range of avenues is being explored.

Anecdotal Coal Trials – Diary Sheet Updates.

The coal trials continue and the anecdotal responses, so far, have predominantly focused on manufactured fuels that individuals have purchased to try; some with disappointing results, while other products seem to be working sufficiently well.  A more details report on the specific trials will follow.

The results from further trails on Russian, Kazakhstan, Colombian and Polish coals are awaited, however the feeling from the early feedback seen (provided in different forms) suggest that all of these coals work but produce greater amounts of smoke, particularly on lighting up or heavy firing (sometimes unavoidable) than with Ffos-y-Fran or, indeed, with some of the manufactured fuels.

The NTET is continuing to monitor the situation and will report back as more information becomes available.

Tom Attwood, David Smith, John Durling & Tony Seddon
Technical Services Unit Coals Group.

Coal Update

Coal Update

Photo courtesy of Scottish Energy News

Ffos-y-Fran: I start with what is hopefully some good news.  We have learnt of a deal being brokered between Hargreaves and the owners of Ffos-y-Fran which, if successful, could see lump coal being transported from the mine to Hargreaves own grading plant near Cardiff.  Although the deal is not quite done, Paul Paddock of Hargreaves advises that they are very hopeful of making it work.  If so, Ffos coal could be back on the heritage market in around 3 to 4 weeks and then until the mine closes sometime in October 2022.

Coal Suppliers: CPL advises that it is pulling back from supplying directly to heritage users in order to service its domestic fuel coal merchants.  For the time being heritage users are asked to take supply through a coal merchant.

I am advised that there are still some Scottish and Columbian coal at stock yards and at some merchants.

Please advise me where merchants have supplies and also let me know if you are having difficulty in obtaining supply.

Kazakhstan Coal:  We are advised by the importers that due to the rising tensions in Russia and Ukraine that supplies of Kazakhstan coal is likely to reduce for the immediate future.  CPL have promised an update on this situation when we meet on 1st March.

Coal Trials Diary: There has been an encouraging response to the release of this document with Tom Attwood, our Coal Trials co-ordinator having received back a number of submissions.

Photo: Rob Wing

Tom has written an article which summarises the early experiences with the new Trevithick Welsh Steam Ovoids being produced by Hargreaves and sold by Supa Heat Fuels which, although not at all conclusive, the article makes for interesting reading.

Paul Paddock of Hargreaves has been made aware of the characteristics Tom refers to, and advises that the blend of coals used in the fuel can be modified to suit road steam including rally use.

Diary: The National Transport Trust (NTT) to which the NTET is affiliated, is the only UK organisation established to represent all sectors the Mobile Heritage movement.

The NTT announced recently that its aspirations are to establish a single voice with which to represent the political and environmental aspects of all the 11 major heritage groups, including the NTET, which represent owners and users of mobile heritage exhibits.  To that end the NTT is convening a meeting on the 23rd March of all of the groups with the objective of examining its proposals for establishing a more unified community in these increasingly difficult times.

David Smith
Head of Technical Services
tsu@ntet.co.uk 
21-02-2022

Coal Trials Diary Update:

The NTET would like to thank those of you who have already provided feedback via the Coal Trials Diary Sheets. Although it is early days and the data gather will continue for several more weeks, it is important that we share some feedback from those who have already trialled the Trevithick Ovoid product specifically and another similar smoke-free anthracite based ovoid product, as it is a “new” fuel to many, if not all of us, particularly in a road steam application.

Photo: Rob Wing

Early indications of the ovoid products suggest that they provide good heat and steam generation under working conditions, with no/low visible emissions under all/most conditions. This has included hilly road work and normal road conditions. Ash content is reported as higher than compared to steam coal but powderier/easily dispersed into the ashpan and smokebox. Overall consumption may be higher than compared to steam coal, but more data is required to understand this. However, a growing and common observation to differing degrees of severity, has been reported with difficulties in transitioning to the ovoid product from a wood fire on lighting up resulting in longer times to raise steam and, in some cases after a period of inactivity if the engine has sat idle or under light running conditions.

We provide this feedback to help anyone who is using or considering using this type of product and suggest that preparation with a larger than normal wood fire or lighting up with the assistance of another more easily combustible solid fuel may help. We would welcome your feedback on this and other coal or alternative fuel trials via the diary sheets where we can continue to provide updates for the benefit of all road steam users.

Tom Attwood
NTET Coal and Alternative Fuels Trials
21-02-2022

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