Kenya- Uganda Railway

Kenya does indeed have the potential to develop a fair bit of geothermal power. I don't have the figures to hand, but it's already a small but significant percentage of total electricity generation. I know there has been a lot of development in the last few years, and it's in the news from time to time so it's relatively well known by those who read newspapers (which seems to be just about every literate Kenyan - they really take their newspapers seriously here). First time I actually saw a geothermal power station was about 20 years ago in Hell's Gate National Park, about 100 km from Nairobi. Incidentally that's the only major park in the country where you can go on foot or on a bicycle, as there are no large carnivores in the park for some reason.

johnthefireman wrote:Kenya does indeed have the potential to develop a fair bit of geothermal power. I don't have the figures to hand, but it's already a small but significant percentage of total electricity generation. I know there has been a lot of development in the last few years, and it's in the news from time to time so it's relatively well known by those who read newspapers (which seems to be just about every literate Kenyan - they really take their newspapers seriously here). First time I actually saw a geothermal power station was about 20 years ago in Hell's Gate National Park, about 100 km from Nairobi. Incidentally that's the only major park in the country where you can go on foot or on a bicycle, as there are no large carnivores in the park for some reason.

I have the impression that Kenya has very large potential for geothermal. My interest is in biogas where I built a gas generator and did my cooking on it for several years (near Kakamega)30 or 40 years ago. I have seen a report that now there are 10,000 biogas generators. Is that my doing?

Well done, George! I think biogas is beginning to take off now. I remember first seeing one thirty years ago in South Sudan, a home-made one which a Presbyterian missionary had cobbled together from old oil drums, using the water hyacinth from the Nile to produce gas. Nowadays in Kenya I think you can get small ready-made ones fairly easily.

Thanks for all the information about geothermal power, and now bio gas. I certainly getting an education on this forum.

If you live in the US, you can see geothermal at work closer to home. It's all over Iceland. We were there earlier this year and the locals were telling us that heat from the geothermal plants is so cheap that they literally open windows in the winter, from time to time, just to cool off. Definitely looks otherworldly when you're driving along past a landscape that looks like it belongs on the moon with steam rising hundred of feet in the air in the distance (and glaciers beyond THAT).

I don't know, offhand, what their electricity rates are and there are no rails in Iceland other than an industrial short line related to a hydro dam project. 6 years ago, there was talk of a tram system in Reykjavik and/or a shuttle train from there to the international airport in Keflavik.

johnthefireman wrote:Well done, George! I think biogas is beginning to take off now. I remember first seeing one thirty years ago in South Sudan, a home-made one which a Presbyterian missionary had cobbled together from old oil drums, using the water hyacinth from the Nile to produce gas. Nowadays in Kenya I think you can get small ready-made ones fairly easily.

I used oil drums and smaller drums in Nigeria. The smaller ones were the gas containers and floated on the mixture in the oil drums. The cost was very low. Unlike the US enthusiasm for oil and coal biogas does not alter the climate. There is a biogas powered train in Scandinavia.

Looks like the NZ Herald has been following our discussion on Railroad.net, and have published this news.
Geothermal electrcity production beats natural gas production.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news ... d=11372220" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
I believe bio gas is used extensively in India too.

george matthews wrote: There is a biogas powered train in Scandinavia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4112926.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

David Benton wrote:Looks like the NZ Herald has been following our discussion on Railroad.net, and have published this news.
Geothermal electrcity production beats natural gas production.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news ... d=11372220" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
I believe bio gas is used extensively in India too.

Yes, but the government and official business milieu is even worse than the Americans. They burn coal so prolifically that they are affecting the global climate seriously.

A few pictures from the Nairobi workshops posted at http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 21&t=12859" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If all goes well there'll be more photos in the next ten days as we are planning two steam safaris on 19th and 21st December, to Athi River and Naivasha respectively.

philipmartin wrote:Thailand- Nice photo by Andrew Benton of the colorful Siamese diesel, and the folks sitting on bench between the tracks, (must be railfans.) I grew up with a Siamese cat, so I am interested in Siam.

Here's a photo from "Friends of the Rail People," by Nathan Berelowitz, of the locomotive depot at Thoburri in Bangkok in 2011. Pictured is Nippon Thongtaree.

Nathan always takes Fireman Ted with him on foreign rail trips, and I believe both Nathan and Ted made a lot of friends amongst the crews in Thailand.

I've posted some more random pictures from the Nairobi workshop at http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 21&t=12859" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also the first pictures of the brand new (well, reconditioned) Class 96 locomotives which only arrived in Nairobi from the USA yesterday - http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 18&t=12886" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And a vintage Class 71 in the works for bogie repairs - http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 18&t=12887" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I'm led to believe that this loco will be 50 years old in 2015.

The steam safari referred to above is cancelled. Once again it was the commercial side which didn't quite work. We'll try again in 2015.

A lot of good pictures, John. The commuter car looks designed accommodate a lot of standees. The emblems of the East African Railways Corporation and the Kenya Railways are attractive.
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... ntry=Kenya" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One of these railpictures.net photos (copyright George Trub,) shows the East African Railways 2409 pulling a mixed train from Makadara past the Nairobi East signal box, into the station.

Railway bridges in western Kenya: http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 21&t=12910" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;