The 3801 steam train is Australia’s best known and most
widely travelled steam train. The racing-green streamlined 1940s locomotive
lives at the NSW Rail
Transport Museum
in the Southern Highlands during the week yet
is causing problems at Mortuary Station in Chippendale some weekends. The
locomotive is part of the heritage steam fleet operating under the name
Heritage Express which runs a number of excursions from Central Station at
weekends.
Complications have arisen for Chippendale residents when the
trains (namely the 3801) are parked in the Mortuary Station siding, creating
pollution attacks from the sooty smoke emitted by the parked engines. One
resident from a street which backs onto the station platform said, “Depending
on the direction and strength of the wind residents of the apartment blocks at 52 Regent Street
are now regularly suffering pollution and are being forced to shut windows on
these warm evenings.”
A spokesperson from Heritage Express who does not wish to be
named was quick to point out that the amount of pollution from a steam powered
vehicle is less than a motor vehicle on a horse-power basis. Steam trains need
to be fired up for many hours to get them going and it is during this process
that the most smoke is created. Heritage Express say they always ensure they
let the fire die down overnight called “banking the fire” in order to create a
minimum amount of pollution, and wherever possible avoid using dusty, low grade
steaming coal which can create dirty, black smoke with a sulphurous smell.
Source: South Sydney
Herald May 2007 http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/