Author: Grant Soden

For all those who attended or missed the 2021 ASTT conference at the Great Central Railway the presentations are now available for viewing.

The presentations for the 2021 conference are as follows:

• USA – The Zenith of Steam – (David Pawson)
• Why did BR give up on Steam? Part 2 (Andrew Hartland)
• Turbine Locomotives 1910 -1960 (Joseph Cliffe)
• A Fireless Future for Heritage Steam (Hendrik Kaptein)
• Running on the Mainline with Clan Line (Alex Powell)
• The Search for a Coal Substitute (John Hind)
• Revolution Update (Jamie Keyte)

Please Note that an active membership with the Advanced Steam Traction Trust is required to access this content.

For those who attended or did not attend the 2021 ASTT AGM hosted on Zoom the presentations have now been uploaded to the site and are available at the link below.

Please note that an active membership with the Advanced Steam Traction Trust is required to access this content

Camden Publishing have informed ASTT that David Wardale’s book – Red Devil & Other Tales From the Age of Steam is now out of stock. Camden have also announced that no plans exist to produce another print run. It would be a shame to see this publication unavailable to our members and others interested in the subject.

In light of this ASTT is proud to annouce that a selection of Papers by L.D. Porta volume 3 is nearing its final authorisation to be released in printed format. Price will be £27.00 for non-members and £21.60 for members.

The book consists of 288 pages and taken from 19 papers and includes :

• Notes on the Responsiveness to Quick Load Changes of a certain Well-Known Type of Boiler when Burning Wood (1978):
• Improvements to Superheater Element Joints for Advanced Steam Locomotive Technology
• A New Superheater–Economizer Element for Advanced Steam Locomotive Technology
• What Steam Pressure for Old Locomotive Boilers?
• Notes on the Flat Plate Stayed Firebox Construction for Locomotive Boilers working at 30 and 60 atm. Steam Pressure
• On the Hudson-Orrok Heat Transfer Equation as applied to Locomotive Boiler
• Note on Burnout Heat Transfer
• The Thermo-Mechanical Behaviour of the Steam Locomotive Boiler Firebox – an Overview
• The Worm Grate and Ash Disposal System
• Note on the present status of Grate Design in connection with the Gas Producer Combustion System
• An essay on steam locomotive boiler tubeplate birdnesting (ash fouling)
• Locomotive Boiler Combustion Calculations – The Heat Balance – A Criticism of the Lawford Fry Method
• Hand Firing in connection with the Gas Producer Combustion System
• Note on combustion efficiency of the Gas Producer Combustion System
• The Gas Producer Combustion System as an answer to coal-derived pollution from steam locomotives
• Locomotive-type Boiler for Bagasse, Peat, and Wood Refuse Burning
• Application of the Gas Producer Combustion System to the 141R – An Exercise
• Comments on a paper by G.G. Thurlow on fluidised bed combustion
• A note on the Gas Producer Combustion System with fluidized bed conditions

ASTT is continually looking to increase its technical library and invite any persons who have any material that they would be interested in publishing to submit the materials to ASTT for review.

Contact can be made via the email link here

A message from chairman John Hind in regards to the Covid-19 situation and the 2020 ASTT conference.

Like a lot of organisations large and small, we have put arrangements for our 2020 conference on hold, because of the Covid-19 crisis.  By this time of the year, we normally have all arrangements finalised, but following the March lockdown in the UK, we cancelled all arrangements with venues and put speakers on hold.  At the end of June (or before if the lockdown finishes sooner) we will see whether we are still in lockdown and evaluate what is possible . The target is to hold a conference during the weekend of 3rd/4th October and we will put an update on here as soon as we know more.