These photos came through on railpictures.net. With the loss of steam at Mt. Washington I have to wonder if a modern steam could compete with the recently built diesels at Mt. Washington. If not with a total economic victory maybe close enough that the nostalgia factor would close the gap.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 16&nseq=18

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 16&nseq=18

That caption states the thermal efficiency of the locomotives at 10% - that's good for a conventional reciprocating locomotive. Dismals are still about 25-30% thermally efficient (newer AC and Evolution series), but steam with that efficiency is about 35% better than older designs.

Ross can refresh our memories with his ACE3000 Project. I admit to not having Wardale's book, but how efficient did the Red Devils get? I recall that Nigel Day (Thank you for the CD with your excellent book, Mr. Day) managed quite a bit of improvement at Mt. Washington on their antiques, but not enough to convince them to forego the dismals.

Best,
Mike