Re: Coal Smoke

This is so very true in today's society. As a whole, the public looks at a steam locomotive spewing out clouds of black smoke as a "dirty, old, polluting, obsolete machine" that should not be allowed to operate because it pollutes so much (this is the extremest view of course). However, what most people don't realize is that the car that they drive probably pollutes more than that smoke-spewing locomotive does! I state this on the following reasons. These are not necessarily facts, but what I have some knowledge of.
-Most steam locomotives do not operate NEARLY as often as automobiles
-What pollution the locomotive does contribute is INFITESIMAL when compared to automobile emissions to the atmosphere
-How do most people define "pollution"? Most probably have the idea of "what depletes the ozone layer and contributes to global warming". The gases given off from the combustion of gasoline are much finer and lighter, and rise to the upper reaches of the atmosphere (along with creating ozone problems in urban areas), where damgage is done to the ozone layer
-The heavier particulates emitted from locomotives (coal or oil) settle back to the earth
Yes, steam locomotive DO pollute. But so does everything else in the world (cars, trucks, aircraft, cruise ships, power plants, manufacturing plants, etc, etc.............)
My 2 cents
Shane