Review on the Possibility for Introducing Tourist Steam Train on the Yeongdong-line in the Korean Rail Network

초록

At the energy reform era by coal fuel between 1950s and 1960s, steam trains on the Korean rail network contributed significantly to the industrial development. Steam locomotives were dominated railway transport until the middle of the 1960s. However, from the early 1960s, they were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives and used until 1967. Furthermore, the industry railways, such as Yeongdong-line or Taeback-line, were lost most of role in trans-portation of mineral resources according to the changes in the fuel policy since 1980s, and was stepped into the path of decline. On the other hand, the role of the steam locomotive remains no longer on the main rail net-work, but the unique behavior, such as its noise and smoke, and the image was imprinted with a lot of people strongly. These prompted several initiatives to revive steam power, as a result, steam locomotives operate on the branch line or heritage railway in a few isolated region of the world and in tourist operation. Although steam locomotive no longer used for passenger and freight transport, its status has been renewed as a special device called the tourists gather. The development of tourism products, linked with rail infrastructure and beautiful natural scenery around Baekdudaegan, are being tried as a new alternative for the re-activation of local economy in Korea. These efforts are very meaningful that railway function is re-activated through the creation of new image of scenic railway. In this paper, it is assumed that a real steam train fueled by coal will be introduced between Bongwha and Seokpo on Yeongdong-line. This paper reviews the traction performance of the steam locomotive considering track alignment of Bongwha~Seokpo section, the driving concept of steam locomotive with/without turntable, the specification of environmental friendly coal. These allow the review on the possibility of utilizing historical rail vehicle as tourist attractions.