THE FUTURE

Beetlejuice · Post by **Beetlejuice** » Mon May 30, 2005 5:37 pm

Hi I don't know if anyone else has heard about the lifetime left of coal but i was just thinking that in the future what wil steam loco's use?

skipperdipper · Post by **skipperdipper** » Mon May 30, 2005 5:45 pm

You don't have to worry, you won't be around in 300 years when that happens.

Rob

nwallace · Post by **nwallace** » Mon May 30, 2005 5:51 pm

Theres quite a bit of it left in
Fife, Lanarkshire, Yorkshire, Wales and China

Though to get at some of the fife stuff needs some massive changes in methods of removing coal from under the Forth

johncard · Post by **johncard** » Mon May 30, 2005 6:11 pm

skipperdipper wrote:You don't have to worry, you won't be around in 300 years when that happens.

Rob

You might be 3 times reincarnated

...just because one doesn't believe in it, it doesn't mean it won't happen...

300 years...lets see...

What's left of steam traction will be confined to ancient history museums...you wouldn't be able to use them due to the pollution they produce

On the topic of 'The Future', what do you reckon Britain's Railways will be like 50 years into the future, or 100 years into the future?

John

salopiangrowler · Post by **salopiangrowler** » Mon May 30, 2005 6:23 pm

i know SVR and ELR have coal from the same place, Scotland.

DFR, LR, GR get theres from Wales

most the others deal with house hold coal operators who get below quality coal from abroad, similar to that used on the SVR before the water contamination problems in the boilers.

salopiangrowler · Post by **salopiangrowler** » Mon May 30, 2005 6:25 pm

Ironbridge power station is going gas from 2012 and theres a 5 year stock pile to get rid of.

250787 · Post by **250787** » Mon May 30, 2005 6:51 pm

My local coal mine Dor Mill has just started mining from a new coal face

Post by **martinhodgson** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:00 pm

I'm more concerned about diesel traction, and cars, busses etc, when oil runs out!

salopiangrowler · Post by **salopiangrowler** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:11 pm

martinhodgson wrote:I'm more concerned about diesel traction, and cars, busses etc, when oil runs out!

Gas and electric

Ido beleve Amtrak in america have an Acela style diesel loco that runs on gas now.

skipperdipper · Post by **skipperdipper** » Mon May 30, 2005 8:15 pm

Merseytravel run 'Smart Eco' buses on low fuel, and america are starting to eliminate thier 'fuel guzilers', so we'll have plenty of oil for the next 40 years.

Rob

Elojikal · Post by **Elojikal** » Mon May 30, 2005 8:20 pm

They'll be like the DeLorean car in BTTFII and run on rubbish.

ianmacmillan · Post by **ianmacmillan** » Mon May 30, 2005 11:23 pm

I thought the DeLorean car ran on a white powder.

Hence the slogan " Things go better with Coke"

Stooopidperson · Post by **Stooopidperson** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:07 am

ianmacmillan wrote:I thought the DeLorean car ran on a white powder.

The Back to the Future DMC ran on rubbish though!

arabiandisco · Post by **arabiandisco** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:20 am

I thought the DeLorean *was* rubbish. An automotive version of Keytosis?

What will steam engines use in 300 years? I doubt there will be any running then. The few that survive that long will be stuffed & mounted.

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:32 am

There's always room for replicas, and converting them to oil, gas or whatever combustable material is used then isn't much of a problem.

There are already plenty of alternatives to oil, it's just that they're too expensive at the moment, or don't work well in practice due to lack of support, such as LPG powered cars. The price of oil WILL rise, and as always the cost of new technologies will fall. Just as many places are moving away from coal extraction despite remaining supplies, due to it not being econimic to continue, I doubt we'll ever 'run out' of oil.