JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,907
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Post by JonL on Feb 28, 2019 9:29:02 GMT
I like the devon, elegant little thing.
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Post by delaplume on Feb 28, 2019 10:53:53 GMT
Is the coal processed to be an optimum size or is it as delivered from the coal yard? Brian The coal is from Gunnedah in NSW. It comes mostly as you see. I have no idea if it is processed at all but I know that it is hot stuff! It can be dusty but some recent rain has helped wash the pile down. It is very smokey till it goes and when it goes it is hottttttt and the smoke clears. We just received another couple of loads and the sizing is just lovely. The odd big lumps which I keep for under the door leading up to a decent climb. Low ash and no clinker seen yet. I am told it is the same coal they use for the AD60 Garratt. We have only recently switched from the Qld Blair Atholl coal which was of mixed quality, it was OK, but this Gunnedah brew is happy times firing and cheaper per ton. It is a bit slower to get going but when it does get going it hangs in there. One has to be thoughtful of not having too much on with long coasting sections or platform dwelling that are coming up or she will be howling off. You can leave a good bed of coals with no flame and it gives off good heat for a decent time, down hill and standing at the platform. 10 mins to go, go around the box, a touch of light blower and the bed is fully alight. I reckon we use 10% less as well. Sounds similar to Welsh Steam coal ..........Any idea how deep the mine is ? ..Generally speaking the deeper the mine, the older the coal and the greater its' calorific value due to being compressed more.... An "aid memoir" taught us when Passed Cleaners or qualified Firemen at the SVR for the constituent makeup of coal was}-------- N. O. C. A. S. H. ------ie} Nitrogen 1.5%, Oxygen 8%, Carbon 75%, Ash 10%, Sulphur 0.5%, Hydrogen 5% ........... Traditionally back in the day, a Fireman was always short of money so this helped them remember !!......... Notice that the Carbon content ( it's this which actually burns ) forms 3/4 of each shovel load you put into the firebox and with it goes almost 1/10 as Oxygen...this is released upon burning and adds to the Oxygen in the primary air flowing through the firebars...... BUT.....Constituent parts of air are}----By volume, 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere. So approx 20% of that air coming through those firebars is useful Oxygen but 80% is Nitrogen which, being an inert gas does absolutely NOTHING towards combustion and literally just goes straight up the chimney !!! No wonder that you, as a Fireman, appear to have an impossible job on your hands !!... Have you a copy of "The Black Book"??..........it's all in there.........I believe you can access a PDF download as well....Essential reading for Steam Locomotive crew and fitters alike...
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Feb 28, 2019 11:13:38 GMT
Is the coal processed to be an optimum size or is it as delivered from the coal yard? Brian That is most certainly processed to be that uniform in size. We never produced anything as large as that in my time. Large nuts was the biggest we did which would be about half that size. I think we would call that size "cobbles" in the UK. Pete.
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Post by delaplume on Feb 28, 2019 11:21:16 GMT
Large nuts, eh ??........
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Feb 28, 2019 11:21:48 GMT
Have just been trawling you-tube and found this colour footage in 1940's Paris...It was taken by a German cameraman and has some interesting views inside a makeshift Lufwaffe repair hanger amonst other things........Remember this is actual, real-time film and not a Hollywood sanitised version.....Made me feel quite uncomfortable --- as if I were one of the French civilians for a moment............ See what you think}--------- youtu.be/xOMg75L8FI4Am I alone in wishing a bloody big bomb would drop on the lot of them? Very creepy. Pete.
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Post by Roger on Feb 28, 2019 12:04:30 GMT
Have just been trawling you-tube and found this colour footage in 1940's Paris...It was taken by a German cameraman and has some interesting views inside a makeshift Lufwaffe repair hanger amonst other things........Remember this is actual, real-time film and not a Hollywood sanitised version.....Made me feel quite uncomfortable --- as if I were one of the French civilians for a moment............ See what you think}--------- youtu.be/xOMg75L8FI4Am I alone in wishing a bloody big bomb would drop on the lot of them? Very creepy. Pete. A nice big parade with triumphal Brass Band with pomp and ceremony.... that's sure to win over the French citizens being occupied against their will. What clearer message of complete contempt over them could you possibly have?
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Post by delaplume on Feb 28, 2019 14:50:05 GMT
I would say getting them to sign their armistice in the same railway coach that the Germans signed their armistice in at the end of WW1----------then destroying it and the whole site ........except for the statue of Marshall Foche.
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Post by delaplume on Feb 28, 2019 14:52:12 GMT
PS}--------Hitler never turned up on Day 2 when the documents were actually signed !!!
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Post by Oily Rag on Feb 28, 2019 18:26:58 GMT
No idea how deep the mine is. Don't quote me but I think some one said 13,000 btu. If so that is hot stuff. I have asked for the details.
[/quote]Sounds similar to Welsh Steam coal ..........Any idea how deep the mine is ? ..Generally speaking the deeper the mine, the older the coal and the greater its' calorific value due to being compressed more....
An "aid memoir" taught us when Passed Cleaners or qualified Firemen at the SVR for the constituent makeup of coal was}-------- N. O. C. A. S. H. ------ie} Nitrogen 1.5%, Oxygen 8%, Carbon 75%, Ash 10%, Sulphur 0.5%, Hydrogen 5% ...........
Traditionally back in the day, a Fireman was always short of money so this helped them remember !!.........
Notice that the Carbon content ( it's this which actually burns ) forms 3/4 of each shovel load you put into the firebox and with it goes almost 1/10 as Oxygen...this is released upon burning and adds to the Oxygen in the primary air flowing through the firebars......
BUT.....Constituent parts of air are}----By volume, 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere.
So approx 20% of that air coming through those firebars is useful Oxygen but 80% is Nitrogen which, being an inert gas does absolutely NOTHING towards combustion and literally just goes straight up the chimney !!!
No wonder that you, as a Fireman, appear to have an impossible job on your hands !!...
Have you a copy of "The Black Book"??..........it's all in there.........I believe you can access a PDF download as well....Essential reading for Steam Locomotive crew and fitters alike...
[/quote]
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Feb 28, 2019 21:02:37 GMT
Large nuts, eh ??........ Small nuts also available!
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Post by delaplume on Feb 28, 2019 21:46:20 GMT
Just a matter of personal taste ??
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Mar 1, 2019 0:31:30 GMT
Just a matter of personal taste ?? Different appliances were suited to different sizes of nut. A Parkray roomheater took small nuts while a Rayburn cooker, with a larger firebox, took the large. I had both of these in my time. Hence my preference for the largest coal I can get through the firedoor. Pete.
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Post by delaplume on Mar 1, 2019 0:58:00 GMT
Hello Pete
Oh I see, THOSE kind of nuts---- LoL !!........I'd got entirely the wrong idea ( said he, with tongue in cheek )..
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Tony K
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,573
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Post by Tony K on Mar 1, 2019 7:49:27 GMT
Just a matter of personal taste ?? Different appliances were suited to different sizes of nut. A Parkray roomheater took small nuts while a Rayburn cooker, with a larger firebox, took the large. I had both of these in my time. Hence my preference for the largest coal I can get through the firedoor. Pete. Ought to lead to a conversation about what burns best in the firebox - big nuts (as big as you can get) or small nuts?
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Post by ettingtonliam on Mar 1, 2019 8:09:01 GMT
Due to the greater surface area of a shovel full of small nuts, presumably they will 'catch' more quickly and so give a hot fire more quickly, but will tend to be pulled up the tubes by the blast more easily?
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uuu
Elder Statesman
your message here...
Posts: 2,808
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Post by uuu on Mar 1, 2019 8:17:14 GMT
When I was a boy, we burned "Dr Bronowski's nuts". These were coal dust pressed/moulded into lumps, using a shape developed by Jacob Bronowski, the mathematician/writer/anthropologist/broadcaster.
Wilf
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Tony K
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,573
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Post by Tony K on Mar 1, 2019 10:33:37 GMT
When I was a boy, we burned "Dr Bronowski's nuts". These were coal dust pressed/moulded into lumps, using a shape developed by Jacob Bronowski, the mathematician/writer/anthropologist/broadcaster. Wilf Tongue-in-cheek comment, yes I remember being bored to death by him - perhaps he should have had his nuts burnt? Do you mean these babies (phurnacite), or did the Doc devise an even more cunning plan?
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uuu
Elder Statesman
your message here...
Posts: 2,808
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Post by uuu on Mar 1, 2019 12:22:36 GMT
That may well be them.
Wilf
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,907
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Post by JonL on Mar 2, 2019 20:36:27 GMT
First day of a two day rally today. Quite nicely local to home so it was a good one to do. Early night, got to do it all again tomorrow...
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chrisb
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 340
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Post by chrisb on Mar 2, 2019 20:42:09 GMT
This weekend I have been continuing with the selective unpacking in the garage/workshop after our things were delivered to us in NZ a few weeks ago. I got the lathe off its pallet and onto the floor. I just need to see it the inverter needs reprogramming after 4 1/2 months with out power and then I should be good to go. On the loco front, I need to make a couple of blanks for the main steam pipes so I can get the boiler hydraulic test done. I have also started on a new ash pan as the old one was somewhat "well ventilated" and not particularly suited to the local requirements of being fully screened to avoid fire risk. I did ship some of my materials in the container, but I only had 2mm stainless sheet so it took a bit of bashing to bend it using the vice and a couple of bits of angle and a lump hammer! And on the motorbike front I have the front brake hoses to replace and a couple of spokes in the back wheel to do on my 1974 Trident and then it can go for a compliance inspection to get it registered for the road.
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