About a month back folks here put me onto te the Coalition for Sustainable Rail - a non-profit dedicated to buying ATSF Hudson 3463, restoring/upgrading it to run on renewable fuel, and using it to break the steam land-speed record as a way of highlighting what modern steam can do with regard to eco-friendly and economical railroading. I'm not certain how viable their idea (low-carbon footprint steam in the 21st century) but I joined anyway with a good size monthly contribution I will renew each year.
I just got their welcome packet in the mail along with their newsletter, which is interesting but about what you would expect from a non-profit like this. However, it highlightedtheir white paper program (their website, under News and Info, top selection), and i took a second look at it. Very nice! Anyone, even someone who has not contributed the minimum $34.63, can download some really meaty stuff on steam locomotive history and design. Among the more interesting items, they have a booklet on Chapelon that, while not nearly as comprehensive as his own book, La Locomotive A Vapeur, is about $400 cheaper to get, given its free, and has a good deal of Capelon's meat on valve timing" for steam locos, etc., in it.
