- Strategic steam reserve
A Strategic steam reserve (SSR) is a collection of withdrawn
steam locomotive s which is kept in working order for possible use in a national emergency. During theCold War several countries, includingSweden and theSoviet Union , kept SSRs.Need for a SSR
Many European railways have a large mileage which is electrified. In the event of a war, or major natural disaster, electricity supplies could be disrupted and
electric locomotive s would be unworkable.Diesel locomotive s could also be at risk for two reasons:
# supplies of imported oil might be cut off,
# solid state components in diesel locomotives might be destroyed by theelectromagnetic pulse (EMP) from anuclear weapon .United Kingdom SSR
The
UK did not officially have a SSR. The UK government did discuss the matter in the 1960s but decided against it. Possible reasons include:
# Britain has a smaller electrified mileage than most European countries,
# the first generation of British Railways diesel locomotives had no solid state components and would not have been vulnerable to EMP.However, rumours persist that the UK did have a SSR at
RAF Rudloe Manor [http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/rudloe.htm] and photographs have been published purporting to show locomotives from the SSR at work [http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/strategic-reserve.htm] . TheBBC radio programme "Punt PI" reported on the alleged SSR on 1 October 2008 [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/puntpi/pip/7p1d0/] .References
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