Re: Steam in general

Do I have to be the one to remind everyone that the commercial railroads dumped steam in favor of diesels back in the 1950's because of the cost of proper maintenance?
Those of us who deal with both steam and diesels know that the diesel is vastly superior in terms of operational cost (infrastructure, labor, maintenance etc) to steam. yet we love steam and are willing to do what it takes to keep it going.
But because we love steam doesn't mean it makes any sense to ignore reality. Besides the issues above it also helps to remember that the average age of one of these machines is 75 years old. Sorry but metal fatigue, loosening of tolerances, etc are real issues.
But what would I know - I've been driving nothing but Corvairs since 1967. My wife daily drives a 49 year old 1960 Corvair and I drive a 1962 station wagon and a 1964 van daily. We still put 20,000 miles a year on these cars.
I will tell you that the Corvair was clearly one of the most reliable cars Detroit built since the model T, but age is an undeniable factor. We are starting to see failures that we never did before - all because of age.

Lon Wall
www.pacificmodelloggerscongress.com