On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:11:56 GMT, "Tim W"
wrote:

Isn't an old Vetus an air cooled two stroke marine engine, or am I imagining
some of that? And didn't they do something strange like run backwards and
forwards?
Not strange.
Steam is nearly dead, for large merchant ships, replaced by direct
drive Diesel. You stop and reset the valve gear, and then restart
turning the other direction. If you are inept at manuvering, you can
run out of the compressed air used to start the engine.

Casady