On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:08:53 +0000, Richard Casady wrote:

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.


Vintage Washington, Atlas and Enterprise (and others) diesel engines did
this also. They were frequently used in tugs and other medium sized
boats. Not sure if there are any modern midsize diesels which work this
way.