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 Post subject: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:34 pm 

Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:17 pm
Posts: 321
Location: Houston, TX
A question came up this past weekend at the Southern Forest Heritage Museum, where I put in some volunteer work on weekends. It really is in two parts.

First, How many wood burning steam engines are there in the US that are active on occasion. I can think of the Eureka, but after that, I am sort of lost.
The second was, of those active engines, how many are still serving on the original railroad for which they were built?

Any help would be appreciated.

Everett Lueck


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:52 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 9:14 am
Posts: 223
Location: Baltimore, MD
The William Mason is steamed up a few days per year at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. It was built for the B&O in 1856 and still operates on the first mile of "commen carrier" railroad track in the United States.

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Peter Schmidt


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:58 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
I've fired the wood-burning Climax at Clark's Trading Post many years ago.......


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:07 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:46 am
Posts: 166
I had heard that the William Mason was converted to an oil-burner and just burned (melted?) foam logs for show. Don't know if that's correct or not.

But it brings up a "splitting hairs" question for the original poster - many wood-burners were later converted to oil. Do you want to know about engines that were originally wood-burning, or that still burn real wood?


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:44 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 9:14 am
Posts: 223
Location: Baltimore, MD
Quote:
I had heard that the William Mason was converted to an oil-burner and just burned (melted?) foam logs for show. Don't know if that's correct or not.

The Mason currently burns wood. Smells great too! Particularly compared to coal.

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Peter Schmidt


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:10 pm 

Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:17 pm
Posts: 321
Location: Houston, TX
I am really only interested in actual woodburners, that still use wood for a fuel. As you say, many logging locos that were built as woodburners were converted to use oil and ended their days as oil burners. I am also trying to locate active woodburners. For instance, Louisiana Longleaf Lumber #7 is in storage at Reader, AR, but is not active, and is not on it's original rails. The William Mason then has to be the premier loco of a very small group!


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:00 pm 

Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:46 am
Posts: 166
PJS wrote:
Quote:
I had heard that the William Mason was converted to an oil-burner and just burned (melted?) foam logs for show. Don't know if that's correct or not.

The Mason currently burns wood. Smells great too! Particularly compared to coal.


Cool! Glad to hear that! I was a little disappointed when I had heard otherwise.

As I recall, the Shay at Hesston is a true wood-burner, and remains so:

http://www.hesston.org/

Makes for a fun ride, too. It really shows off the advantages of a Shay with how steep the grade is.


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:52 pm 

Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:27 pm
Posts: 552
Location: Milford,Mass
HI All

At Clark's trading post in Lincoln,New Hampshire,,you have Heisler # 4,

Climax # 6,, East Branch & Lincoln # 5 2-4-2T & Koppers Co. # 2 0-4-0T the

EB&L & Koppers only run for special event's..

Loon Mountain also in Lincoln , New Hampshire at the J.E. Henry Railway runs

a 0-4-0 only during winter,, as a ski shuttle,, see March issue 2009 of Railfan &

Railroad on article on Loon Mountain...

I hope this is of help...Pat.


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:56 pm 

Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:54 pm
Posts: 67
Location: Soquel, CA
The California State Railroad Museum has "Sweeny" from the Mattole Lumber Co. built by Vulcan in 1908. It recently ran at the Hillcrest & Wahtoke Railroad http://www.5inchsteam.8k.com/tf.htm in Reedley, CA for the annual Railfest that is held each October. I had the pleasure of operating this locomotive that weekend and she is truly a wood burner.

Image


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:44 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:38 am
Posts: 1001
Location: Philadelphia
As I remember the William was indeed converted to oil but was converted back to wood during her most recent rebuild. Did she also burn coal? Might she be the only engine running that burned all three at one point or another?

Joshua


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:52 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:04 am
Posts: 137
W. H. Eccles Lumber Heisler #3 at Sumpter Valley is a wood burner, isn't it?


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:23 pm 

Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:56 pm
Posts: 126
Virginia And Truckee "Inyo" was also converted back to burn wood during its restoration in the 1980s and runs a few times a year at the Nevada State RR Museum.


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:24 pm 

Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:33 am
Posts: 54
Yes, SVRy #3 is definately a wood burner. The downside is, often, due to fire danger, it can't operate in the late summer!

Steve


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:03 am 

Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 4:05 pm
Posts: 49
Not only is SVRy Heisler # 3 a wood burner, but it always has been. Plus it started on the SVRy and was owned by the W.H. Eccles Lbr. Co. at the time. You're right in that we do not operate her much in the summer due to fire danger. She gets fired up during the Fall Foliage Photo runs in October.
dan

http://www.svry.com


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 Post subject: Re: Wood burning steam engines
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:54 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:19 am
Posts: 6399
Location: southeastern USA
Joshua K. Blay wrote:
As I remember the William was indeed converted to oil but was converted back to wood during her most recent rebuild. Did she also burn coal? Might she be the only engine running that burned all three at one point or another?
Joshua


Depends on how you define "running". Hasn't for a few decades now, but GENERAL burned wood, converted to coal after the post War reconstruction, converted to oil during the 1961 rebuilding (using Vapor Clarkson steam generator hardware). The coal grate is preserved in the old cotton gin in Kennesaw.

There's a lot of coal to oil conversions out there, but wood would appear to be the limiting factor in this set of criteria.

dave

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“God, the beautiful racket of it all: the sighing and hissing, the rattle and clack of the cars over the rails. These were the sounds that made America the greatest country on earth." Jonathan Evison


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