Steam to the rescue?

[Marx]

Hi all............. Would anyone know if, there any locos still equipped with 'steam producing boilers', connected to 'steam pipes/lances'; that could be used to tackle frozen points, etc
I ask because a lot of the TOC s seem to be cancelling trains due to snow and ice..........Last nights farce on 'Southern' services left passengers, er.sorry 'customers' stranded................
Regards
Marx

[strang steel]

Would that method work, though? If the air temperature is below zero and there is a brisk wind blowing, any melting of ice by steam would be very temporary and it would re-freeze within minutes I suspect. Not only that, but the steam would condense on the surfaces and add even more moisture to create more ice as soon as it froze.

[hq1hitchin]

I don't think there's any steam heated coaching stock left on our main lines so very much doubt there are any diesels left with steam heating boilers needed to provide steam to the lances. Thinking back, surely there haven't been any since the 1980s - that right? My spies tell me that things are far from well in Sussex at the moment, either. (Not sure what this topic has to do with LNER people, to be honest - shouldn't it be in 'Railway Chat'?)

[StoneRoad]

The points problem is, more than likely, being made worse because they have pressure-washed leaves off the lines, and omitted to re-grease the moving parts! So even point motor heaters will be fighting a losing battle.

cynical? who - me?

[richard]

Yes LNER People doesn't seem quite the right place. I'm moving the thread.

Richard

[sng7]

Also wouldn't the steam condense and then water could possibly get into the electrics wich would probably be worse

[IAK]

Progress?
Aye my aunty...........

[manna]

G'day Gents
Years ago there things called PW workers that used to go out in the dead of night to keep things running, but I suppose in the quest for more profit they've become extinct?

I know more than once I spent a very happy night shuttling up and down the main line to Hitchin light engine to keep in reasonably clear of snow, or has that gone the way of the DODO

manna

[52D]

Theres been a few dodos running up the ECML north of Newcastle this week

[Artur Gorote]

In a different context, when the Eurostar got stuck in the Channel Tunnel on 18.12.2009, the BBC had a HYS on the subject. My comment was: "It wouldn't have happened with a steam locomotive." I stand by my words. If they'd had (say) a Bulleid Pacific (or, perhaps more interestingly, a Chapelon one) standing by, the delay would have been greatly reduced. Ah well, there's no law against dreaming...

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

In the mid 1970s, the Western Region experimented with a steam-heat class 31 which had steam lances fitted to its ploughs which were then painted red.

Anyone got a photo of this?