Bulleid's bizarre turf-powered train - CIÉ CC1

In today's video, we take a look at one of the more unusual locomotives built by Oliver Bulleid, a steam engine powered by dirt
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This video falls under the fair use act of 1976 This video is available to use under the appropriate Creative Commons Licence.
Any images used that fall under any Creative Commons Licence belong to their respective owners.

[@spencers5898]

If I had a nickel for every time Bulleid designed an articulated, double-ended steam engine that looked more like a diesel, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's interesting that it happened twice.

[@alanfbrookes9771]

Every railway enthusiast knows about this engine. No-one ever calls it a "mud" engine.

[@zoqaeski]

Bulleid had some great ideas, and then he went and ruined them with excessively complicated designs and a weird obsession with chains.

[@Damien.D]

The diesel-like look of experimental steam engines is a recurring form factor. Most steam turbine locos looks diesel-ish, and there's even the twin Franco-Crosti belgian articulated mammoth that looked like a diesel.

[@martinsto8190]

This channel is reaching absurd levels, its getting uncomfortable on how TOT is able to keep finding information about railways during the last 230+ years

[@True_NOON]

_tá sé ag screadaíl go mall faoina smaointe maidir le hábhar don todhchaí_

[@timmyturner5358]

@@True_NOONkeep up the Irish 👍

[@evilmkkillpeoplez6185]

bro has some connections

[@concept5631]

Its his job + passion

[@captaincool3329]

I was initally confused at seeing the "turf", as in Australia, "turf" refers to rolls of grass (natural or synthetic) that people buy to re-lawn their gardens. I was reassured when it was explained to also be called "peat", as I know the substance by that name, and was aware of Bulleid's peat-powered Irish engine, but it was nice to learn more about it.

[@buddyclem7328]

Turf also refers to sod in the US, or artificial turf.

[@pulaski1]

Yeah, the Irish call cut peat "turf".

[@Arkay315]

Oliver bullied was a mad man and a genius

[@FunAngelo2005]

Yup

[@theinspector1023]

No. He was very clever and an experimentalist.

[@True_NOON]

Breathnaigh suas 4DD 😂

[@theinspector1023]

@@True_NOON Agus?

[@2000Ajjet]

He was a New Zealander...says it all.

[@brianwillson9567]

Bulleid was the last of the great engineers. Never afraid to think outside the box, but not always successfully.

[@caboose9843]

better to fail than to not try at all

[@Einwetok]

@@caboose9843 Exactly, he moved technology forward.

[@OfficialDUNCANOMG]

I could never imagine a mud powered train eve-

[@gaurdein]

damn

[@toyotaprius79]

Brown coal is just turf after many more tens of thousands of years

[@Skoolitz]

damn

[@johnblood10]

damn

[@therealatlanticfoamer]

damn

[@mikeblatzheim2797]

Some railways did have significant numbers of exclusively turf/peat-burning locomotives before the 1930s, for example the royal bavarian state railways, which had a significant fleet from the mid-1800s up until the early 1900s. Examples of such locomotives include the series B VI, or the Oldenburg railways class G

[@flyer3849]

Sweden had some too

[@Isochest]

Have any German Railways tried lignite as Germany has substantial deposits?

[@that1niceguy246]

​@@Isochest Probably, i would be surprised if not.

[@iankemp1131]

A very fair summary of an ingenious idea. The problem with turf/peat is its low calorific value and high water content compared to coal, thus needing a large grate area and strong draught to give reasonable combustion. It made sense for Ireland to try it as they had little indigenous coal or spare dollars to pay for oil. The engine was more successful than the Leader and the use of a conventional firebox with water spaces rather than firebricks, and normal piston valves rather than sleeve valves, must have helped this. Perhaps a conventional rod drive rather than a chain drive would have improved things further. But as dieselisation took hold (despite major teething troubles) it is a much more efficient way of burning oil than in a steam engine. Incidentally, unrebuilt Bulleid Pacifics with chain gear and oil baths now reportedly perform well with modern seals which have overcome the oil leakage problem.

[@iankemp1131]

One other problem with peat is that as it dries out, the burning strands of turf can be caught in the draught and swept out of the chimney, hence the lineside fires and need for spark arresters.

[@russellgxy2905]

With how Bulleid derived his Chain-Drive gear, I feel like he was trying to design an alternative to poppet valves. The enclosed automotive design is very in line with original Caprotti, or the Franklin System. The cam boxes and gear casing were smaller so has smaller volumes of oil to seal. Poppet valves also seem to offer stronger blasts which could compensate for peat’s heating qualities.

[@garryferrington811]

This was certainly interesting! By the way, some claim Egyptian railways were known to burn mummies (from mass gravesites) while I've read that on one occasion, an American engineer and fireman stuck with a tender-full of badly burning slag stopped the engine, picked up a bunch of old tires, and jammed those into the firebox, where they burned beautifully, albeit leaving the grate covered in metal rods and melted rubber, which didn't go down well.

[@terrier_productions]

This is why I love this channel. Not just because of the streams but also that if I may have never been recommended this channel, I would have never found out about this unique railway facts!

[@roadtrain_]

Peat you say? There's a little museum here in the Netherlands which is completely focused on Peat. 'Veenpark' is what it's called. And, we DO have some engines here that actually run on Peat!

[@bobolobocus333]

Still in steam, or museum pieces?

[@roadtrain_]

@@bobolobocus333Last time I went they were still using them though it's been a while. I don't believe they have any plans of retiring them though... I think they have 2? I... honestly forgot...

[@bingbong7316]

At Christmas, they use a darker variety called Zwarte peat.

[@mikeball6182]

@@bingbong7316 Ga in de hoek staan!

[@mikeball6182]

Not far from there, in the peatlands of Germany, there were power stations burning peat. They may still exist, as they may, indeed in Ireland. It may have been a better idea to electify the railways using peat as the primary source.

[@1_railfan]

While on topic of alternate fuel sources, I do recall one that surprised me (I don't know if you're ready for this one). The benefits of this alternate source happens to be: Cheaper, efficient, safe disposal of, less environmental pollution, and is sustainable & renewable. And it was none other than...animal dry dung...yes, basically dried up poop. Can't say I know any engines that were powered by dung (I doubt that there were any), but I know a steamship that was powered by llama dung until 1914.

[@botondtoth8263]

Someone told me the gases may damage the boiler (nitric acid IIRC).

[@nathandeal9703]

Seeing how in some countries, people use dried dung to burn fuel, I can imagine that this would’ve worked if it had come to fruition in a place with little or no coal reserves. (Come to think of it, given how well it burns I bet Buffalo dung could’ve been used once or twice in the old west for American railroads.)

[@autobotoctolingthomasho3362]

Can you try make a video about biofuel engines?

[@zacharyrollick6169]

I've always loved this one. I received some railroad reference books from my mother on Christmas over 20 years ago. This one caught my eye.

[@CardboardSliver]

Such a neat looking engine!

[@DmanOfficial15]

Maybe its just a me problem but the BG music was doing my head in. The low volume made it sound like muttering in the background. Other than that, great video as usual 👍

[@sharkymcsharknose2979]

You forgot a very important use of peat: Making whisky! OK, so peated whiskies are more of a Scottish thing, but some Irish whiskies do/did use peat in the distillation process. I had wrongly assumed CC1 was a complete failure like Leader, but it's interesting to know it showed some promise. Great video!

[@OscarOSullivan]

Connemara whiskey is peated

[@LukeVilent]

Steampower on turf wasn't a thing unheard of. I grew up near what used to be the biggest textile factory in the former Russian Empire, and it was entirely turf- powered up until at least mid XX century. There's no coal in the Central Russian Plain, but large forested bogs stretching many dozens of kilometres - so called Meschera. When the factory was still steam-powered, it had a dedicated narrow gauge railway to deliver turf from the pits some 20km away. Me and my dad once travelled the still existing trail. What were the trains of the railroad powered by - that, unfortunately, is beyond my knowledge.

[@Straswa]

A facinating design, for sure. Nice work ToT.

[@UKHeritageRailways]

This locomotive was a follow on from Bulleid's failed Leader locomotive from the 1940s. Of the three Leaders built only one was ever completed and actually ran. It not only suffered from firebox and valve failure, but was hell for the fireman who was in a small badly ventilated central compartment.

[@James-ih4gz]

Thanks for taking my suggestion

[@PennsyPappas]

Definitely an interesting footnote oddity in the world of railroad engineering. Btw I like the video but your background music choice was distracting. It felt like it was trying to talk over what you were saying. Just thought I would mention it I don't knownid anyone else thought the same thing.

[@Mekaniskidiot]

0:13 a pic from my local heritage railway :D

[@peters1127]

Fantastic story that most people did not know. please keep looking for the unusual.

[@bazza945]

I went to the same primary school that Oliver Bullied went to (in NZ). I was there 1957-60.

[@SpookyMcGhee]

Dude you've got to do a ridiculous trains collab with History In The Dark, also keep up the good work and cheers from Cleveland Ohio USA

[@rabiaexplosiva8157]

That's one interesting engine

[@sshuggi]

Took me a while to realize someone was speaking in the background music. Though I was going insane.

[@TrevortheTrainFan]

Interesting 🤔. I never thought of a mud-powered locomotive (or turf-powered I should say).

[@MrNappysanchez]

My prayers have been answered

[@callum110597]

Wow, I have never thought such a bizarre thing! 😲

[@dennisberwick1014]

The Neverhood music at the end fired up some old memories

[@5roundsrapid263]

I suppose Rev. Awdry didn’t know about this, or we might have had Pete the Tank Engine! 😆

[@jamesthomas5109]

Love trains, awesome and fascinating.

[@randywise5241]

It looks like it goes backwards to me. Never heard of these engines. Thanks for doing these interesting videos on history of trains.

[@ieuanbriers]

Oliver Bulleid and his inventions have appeared many times on your channel: The Double Decker Train, The Leader and the Q1. Clearly the man was full of ideas, even if nto all of them worked.

[@micahh9351]

"I eat dirt." "laughs in soil"

[@mikebrown3772]

One of the three Andrew Barclay peat burning locos was bought by the Talyllyn Railway and eventually rebuilt as a coal burning 0-4-2T, now their No 7 "Tom Rolt".

[@kevfrombutterley]

In the UK at least the words turf and peat mean very different things, turf being grass that has a layer of soil attached.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Ah, the turf burner. I came across that in Sean Day-Lewis's 'Bulleid-last Giant of Steam'. To use the term 'mud' is silly but I can see that you wanted something to catch the eye. Yes, turf has a very low calorific value and, as Belgium found out, one needs a good draught or a very large (and sometimes, square) chimney. This was all after his Leader experiments at Brighton.

[@lukechristmas3951]

A book I have on the Bulleid Pacifics mentioned and even provided a picture of the CC1 and I found it very interesting. 6:09 I agree there and I will go further to say I'd love to get a model of the CC1.

[@OscarOSullivan]

I would love a full sized working replica

[@alicehodges9964]

I Like The Steam Engines Thay Are Amazing

[@alicehodges9964]

​@@OscarOSullivanWell If It Can Do wood then It Can Do mud

[@wildonemeister]

The background noise (voices) in the audio was really distracting... Otherwise I enjoyed the video.

[@scotthamp384]

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard in my life

[@AudreyLocomotion]

Now that's some muddled up design

[@jahaniantrainadvanture05]

Very very nice

[@freddieellis8449]

I can never resist calling it “the turd burner”.

[@ciaranburke3243]

I live beside inchicore works never knew this thing exsited, cool 😎👍

[@t.bfisher5855]

I am pretty sure that 'Tom Rolt' of TR Fame was one of the original andrew barclay narrow gauge turf burner locomotive

[@qwertyTRiG]

Hence the line "there's a grand clamp of turf on the bog there" in Percy French's song about the West Claire Railway.

[@shadowtrain451]

I remember going to the railway museum in Dublin where they had a model of this and think what the hell is that.

[@OscarOSullivan]

Must have been the Fry model railway

[@jwalster9412]

I found this channel by complet coincidence and i swear you sound exactly like the spiffing brit.

[@hotboxxxexxxpress1509]

I'm still in the process of finishing the video. Love the information, only I would just add a foot note or two mentioning the German Railways prior to the turn of the century, had turf/peat burning locomotives.

[@davidv5510]

We already knew that diesel and electric trains were 'better' in many ways in the 20s and 30s. In The Netherlands they started to replace steam locos on the busiest trainlines with diesel engines as early as 1934. Many electric trains entered service in 1936 and 1940, large diesellocos entered service in the early 50s. There was enough knowlegde to build good diesel and electrics in the early 50s so this peat engine seemed doomed from the start

[@peter_smyth]

What's with the background voices behind the voicover?

[@moto_random_stuff]

Do only I hear some noises/speaking in background of this clip? Something like a radio noises or some walkie talkie speaking? I'm confused o_o Just listen on a headphones

[@theromanorder]

please do a video on the porters steam loco the cook mogul the Japanese class d51 nick name hero of the railways. one talking about the different types of steam funnles and there uses, the different types of cut offs/reversers/Johnson bar some are a big lever, some are a big valve wheel, and ive also seen some that are like rods, one exsample is train sim world 3 and im not sure where to find the other reverser but a video on the different models of these and different whisle models would be nice

[@Odinnyb13]

i was going absolutely mad with that voice i heard in the background when i watched the video. and then it turned out to be the music. Anyways, Fascinating to learn about this experimental design. i wounder if it could get a resurgence for heritage railways for alternative coal fuel?

[@iankemp1131]

Interesting point, the snag being its low calorific value and high water content which requires a big firebox and different draughting. So most preserved locomotives would need a huge retrofit. That was why Bulleid's first engine No. 356 was pretty unsuccessful. One wonders if some peat briquettes mixed with coal dust and oil could be partly fired alongside coal. The other problem though is that as it dries out, the burning strands of turf can be caught in the draught and swept out of the chimney, hence the lineside fires and need for spark arresters.

[@Odinnyb13]

@@iankemp1131 true yes. I don't expect it to catch on as a main source of fuel on locomotive, unless it was to be remade with burning turf in mind. but it could be a good fuel for warming it up at the start of the day, or maybe as something you mix with regular coal to get more out of it. Though i see the downsides and expect no-one to actually use this. But who knows

[@iankemp1131]

@@Odinnyb13 Yes, interesting ideas, lighting up sounds worth thinking about. I'm not sure what they use at the moment. Remembering my days with home bonfires, it you tried to burn wet plants or wood on a cool fire it tended to produce loads of smoke and not much heat, so that might be a barrier. Whereas a really hot bonfire would incinerate anything!

[@HSMiyamoto]

The Northern Pacific R.R. in the USA fueled its locomotives with lignite, or "brown coal," which wss plentiful near its tracks. The big issue was that lignite lacks the heat content of good "steam coal," which is harder bituminous coal. Lignite is much closer to bituminous than peat, but its the same basic issue.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

I wonder how one can determine where you can get peat in their swamp area. Do they form in ALL Marshy and swampy lands?

[@qwertyTRiG]

Drain the swamp first.

[@ukaszwalczak1154]

Oliver Bulleid, a man who tried the same idea 2 times, for different reasons, and still failed

[@abloogywoogywoo]

I never heard of this loco before, and what a slick awesome American-looking design it had! Unlike that fugly disaster that was the SR Leader. I agree - shame it was scrapped!

[@berkshire4607]

I would've payed good money to persevered the CC1

[@OscarOSullivan]

Same

[@MattTCfarm]

Was this thought possible because stationary boilers were available with similar technology? Sorry to have to say this but, the background music caused some garbling with your voice. On the topic, I swear sometimes I don't believe these stories are true. I never would have thought peat could produce enough heat, nor have a small enough volume to be useful in locomotive.

[@KevinKosasih-dj8gw]

It didn't work out, did it?

[@ethancausby4895]

I was wondering could you make a video about Steam Turbine trains because I saw a image of it and it kinda reminds of Thomas and the Jet Engine but anyways can you make a video about it that would be nice

[@hywelroberts1653]

Since youve gone from Bulleid's Q1's to his Leader to now with his CC1. What's next? His Pacifics?

[@jamesthomas5109]

1:52 Are there any concepts or images of these locomotives?

[@retrocd7991]

I’m pretty sure they are all in preservation

[@Steamytheme419]

Bullied was a amazing designer and had some of the best ideas. Prove me wrong

[@Duraganthelion]

Nice use of the Neverhood music. XD

[@MonsieurFluffyPants]

liked the music in this one

[@zentran2690]

Was that music from the game The Neverhood at the end?

[@noahdimario1379]

What’s the music in the background? It sounds like the neverhood

[@VT29steamtrain]

It is criminal that the CC1 was not saved

[@3xfaster]

I can not imagine cleaning the boiler of that unit, all that unburnt plant material and chared dirt.

[@abenormal9075]

Someone's probably tried firing a engine with dried cow crap

[@Electrolux219]

>pulls things >consumes grass, moss, & other terrain It’s just a horse lmao.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

When I would think of mud as a fuel my thoughts go more in the direction of using coal dust in the form of sludge. I know coal sludge is used in stationary boilers as it can be pumped and jetted in like oil, but I'm not sure of any use on locomotives.

[@TeaANDbiscuits13]

I swear if there was a engine that was powered by metal instead of coal, I’m going to cry

[@michaelcurrie6008]

Is brilliant and cray cray at the same time Is just like me

[@machanicalgu]

Am I the only one who hears someone very quiet in the background?

[@kingofthepod5169]

Anyone know the music in the background

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

"If the design had come a couple decades earlier" was it even POSSIBLE a couple decades earlier? This design seems to be less of a timing issue and more of an issue of Bulleid nursing his pet technologies decades outside their usefulness. I think every one of his locos I've heard about has the statement "and then the chain valves were removed and the firebox was reconverted" somewhere in the summary.

[@MarcosSilva-p1m]

mud as fuel, paper as wheels, what other crazy crap has been done to trains in the past??

[@ZekPatterson]

“Idk lol try it and see”- Oliver Bulleid.

[@robertmoffett3486]

The Soviets burned peat in some power plants, as they had huge reserves of it. How good they were, I don't know, but they were surely better than nothing

[@dark_one1337]

isn't the Pal spelled Bull eye?

[@Steam98-shortz]

What’s the song

[@andrewstewart1464]

In order to run this train you must bring me . . . A SHRUBBERY

[@jopjop5533]

Fascinating considering I heat my house using turf

[@joshuaW5621]

I can’t believe history literally repeated itself over here in Ireland.

[@maxasaurus3008]

Big difference between mud and peat

[@arthurrytis6010]

Wouldn't like to clean the clinker out of that !

[@rustywidget4813]

God I wish Ireland could still produce a fleet of turf-burning machines. It would be a huge boon for train's rights on the island.

[@Joh_Pa]

ik this doesn't have anything to do with trains but, didn't the soviets make a tractor fueled by piss?

[@LBSC70]

So that how that weird Irish engine I saw in images came to be

[@carolynmarshall5435]

It's fun

[@seanbruce8294]

Do you think we can refine this design for the modern era?

[@johnarnehansen9574]

They could always turn into a stationary steam power plant for electrification!..

[@roadwarrior114]

This thing makes the GT3 seem normal.