Tag Archives: diesel

‘Hunter Valley Steamfest 2023’ In Australia: 4 Steam Trains Racing — Blinking, Bloody Brilliant.

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by Anura Guruge
on May 19, 2023

Frame grab from YouTube video BELOW.

Google it. They have a Facebook page (left) & their own website.

There is also a TON of YouTube videos — some better than others. I am still searching.

This is BLOODY brilliant. 4 parallel tracks with 4 steam locomotives. Pretty heady stuff for train lovers (like I). Wow, wow, wow.

I am AMAZED that I have never heard of it given that I have been an avid, committed train buff all my life.

One of the videos from the 2023 Steamfest came up on YouTube as a ‘recommendation’. Given that I watch at least ONE train video per night, YouTube knows what will get my attention. I was BLOWN AWAY.

I have watched about 6 of the videos — though I will confess that I am still looking for a ‘better one’. I want a mini-documentary of sorts — with a commentary explaining what is taking place. Yet to find that. If YOU do, please let me know.

I was struck by these 4 points in particular:

1/ I am a TOTAL SUCKER for Beyer-Garratts. So, that one of them, the 6209, is a Garratt, alone would have been enough to get me hooked.

2/ At least two of the trains had HUGE water tenders coupled to the engine. I have not seen that before. Must be an Australian thing. I am going to check that out. Interesting.

3/ Two trains, from what I can see, had ‘modern’ diesel locomotives at the back — & there are clips of the train being pulled back by the diesels. Not sure what that is all about.

4/ Quite the set-up with 4 parallel tracks. I need to learn more.

IF you like trains, especially STEAM, check this out. You will NOT be dissapointed (bar from the non-documentary nature of the videos).

India’s 12,000HP “WAG-12B” Electric Locomotive.

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by Anura Guruge
on February 2, 2023

Click to ENLARGE. For this post on ‘Facebook’.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. Wikipedia link.

The post shown at top appeared on my ‘Facebook‘ timeline last week (no doubt because I belong to a number of train-related groups). It immediately caught my interest — especially the claim that it was the MOST powerful & that it was ‘homegrown’. I made a note to check on these when I had the time.

Yes, I did do some quick checking. Both claims are what I think of as “Indian truths” — they have to be taken with a large grain of salt since they are not exactly true.

Wikipedia, to its credit, has a list of the “World’s Largest Locomotives” — some of them, by their sheer nature, also happening to be the “Most Powerful“. The WAG-12 is listed as the LARGEST but in terms of horsepower (HP) there appears to be at least two Russian locos that supposedly produce 17,000(+) hp.

But, I enjoyed the few minutes I go to look up this stuff. I love trains — or to be really truthful I love train engines. Train carriages, whether passenger, freight or caboose, doesn’t move me. But, I love all engines.

THREE (3) main things I learnt, & if & when I have time I sure plan to look into these more.

1/ That Russia & India made such big, powerful engines — way, way bigger than anything being built in the U.S. That is pretty amazing.

2/ That steam engines could deliver more power than diesel, diesel/electric or electric locs. Wow. Had no idea.

3/ That there is some difference as to the power — to the wheels — delivered by steam compared to the other methods. I really need to understand this better.

Just wanted to share this with you. Hope you find it interesting & maybe even useful.