Steam tech for the 21st century

摘要

Owners of historic rail equipment in operation today face tough decisions as they balance operational requirements brought on by economics or regulations with maintaining the historic fabric of equipment. One railroad attempting to test the limits of that balance is Germany's nearly 90-mile-long Harz narrow gauge railway, with its aging steam locomotive fleet. It regularly carries passengers in numbers that would make a handful of U.S. commuter railroads jealous. To aid in improving power and decreasing maintenance costs of one 1918-built 0-4-4-0T Mallet steam locomotive, railroad management contracted with the Minnesota-based Coalition for Sustainable Rail to find engineering solutions that would leave the historic appearance of the locomotive unaltered.