The Kent and East Sussex Railway has begun trialling a new type of fuel for its steam locomotives as they look for a replacement for coal.
The first supply of ovoid coal substitute was delivered in early September to the railway's Rolvenden depot.
With steam returning to the Kent and East Sussex Railway after a long dry summer, the ovoids will be tested alongside coal, which has been imported from Columbia, to see if it is a viable replacement in terms of performance and cost, as well as its environmental impact.
Called Heritage Wildfire, the ovoid substitute has been formulated for use with steam locomotives and has been advertised as being smokeless as well as producing low levels of ash.
Resident locomotive, Swiftsure, was the first locomotive to test the new fuel on its scheduled passenger services, and Pete Salmon, driver for the day, has cautiously called it a success.
General Manager Robin Coombes said: “It is early days so the jury is still out, but we very much hope that this could offer a way for us to continue to reduce our dependence on imported coal, alongside bio diesel, whist ensuring that we can continue to operate as a viable, living heritage railway and keep these magnificent machines in active service.
“Alongside our efforts as a responsible business to continue to improve our sustainability credentials, we also need to ensure that future generations are able to understand the important role that coal played in the history of Britain and to tell the story of a time when nothing that was made, moved or eaten was not, somehow, connected to coal.”
GWSR have done trials already and Ade Showell may help you with test results .
Having looked up how ovoid smokeless briquettes are made, I see this is done from anthracite dust mixed with some biomass and binding agents to form the ovoids. So this fuel still needs a supply of anthracite coal. I guess in Britain we are currently using up stocks of anthracite dust that built up in coal depots over the years that coal was used everywhere. But when this runs out, we are still going to have to import coal, unless we restart mining our own supplies which still exist , in abundance, under our feet.