[BITList] Steam supercar breaks century old speed record - but it doesn't count - Telegraph

[HUGH]

John,

You may also have raised an eyebrow at steam - allowing them their fancy - being injected into the turbine.  I also noted :

"The problem was quickly traced to an open valve, meaning that steam from one of its 12 boilers was escaping into the atmosphere rather than helping to power its turbine engine."

They must have been deaf, blind or stupid - in any combination - not to have noticed superheated steam venting.  When my wife and I were on the brae that runs down from Glenfinnan Station recently, we heard a great noise, as of air escaping from a reservoir at very high pressure. Others heard it and dashed to the source with cameras raised.  It was the steam locomotive that had pulled our train from Fort William, bound for Mallaig. It stopped at Glenfinnan for a 30 minute break.  There, visible up the hill via the back garden of a house, was the engine, getting rid of excess steam.  Only the dead could have ignored the sound.  It had not been possible to get a photo of the engine up to that point, hence all the cameras.

While with Babcock & Wilcox I worked on a super critical boiler that made steam by compressing water to 3,600 psi.

Hugh.
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