Gentlemen,

I am writing an article for TIES magazine (the journal of the Southern Railway Historical Association) on the development of Southern's K, Ks and Ks-1 Class Consolidations (such as survivors Nos. 630 and 722). Some of these locomotives were equipped with Worthington feedwater heaters in the 1940s, but I am not clear as to which one(s), though I think it was most likely the SA and SCA2 systems.

There are some decent photos of these locomotives (attached) and I have found the cover for a Worthington maintenance manual online (but no scanned text). I am hoping someone may be able to identify which system is used in the photos and might even have some scanned Worthington literature he would be willing to share.

Can anyone help?

Warmly,

Dave Queener
Knoxville, Tennessee
Dave@CumberlandModelEngineering.com

8338 and 6920 have Elesco FWH systems, with the more modern coil style heat exchanger located ahead of the stack.

6907 has a Worthington S-type system, with the hot water pump on the pilot and cold water pump under the cab.

Howard P.

There is a full copy of that manual, W-220-E13D (issued in 1943, replacing W-220-E13C) in the O. Winston Link Museum Archives collection in Roanoke. It is shown as item OWL2005.05.05, 56pp, 7" x 4-¾".

Call them for information, (540) 982-5465. It is possible that they may have digitized the pages; if not, you may have to go there and access the appropriate section of the Archives directly:

101 Shenandoah Avenue NE
Roanoke, Virginia 24016.

It would probably be good form to pay them the Educator/Student admission, which I believe is still $5.

Most of the Southern engines which were retrofitted later in life, be they Ks, Ms, or Ts, got the Worthington S-type. They usually got a big non-lifting injector on the engineer side at the same time. The 836, and Atlanta engine, had the Worthington heater fully recessed in the smokebox with only the water pumps and heater exhaust to indicate its presence.

Andrew,

You are spot on. SR Ks Class 836 very clearly does have a Worthington S-series system on it, as can be seen by the hot water pump on the pilot deck.

As best I can tell from a Worthington advertisement, what distinguishes the S from the SA system is the location of the piping into the feedwater heater itself. The SA has either a cast or pressed steel top with a cold water inlet built into the top. The type S feedwater heater seems to have a more rounded top without these connections.

A curious bit of data which we found in Southern's mechanical department lists of drawings for the K, Ks and Ks-1 locomotives (L-7, L-8 and L-9) was a specification for the Worthington 3.5 SCA-2 system. None of these drawings in Southern's list are known to exist, neither with the SRHA or in the Bill Purdie collection at SERM, and I have not seen any illustrations of the SCA-2 system. That's why I was hoping to get a copy of the Worthington maintenance manual on these systems.

I'll attach a few examples of the documents named above.

Dave Queener
Knoxville, Tennessee
Dave@CumberlandModelEngineering.com

Mr. Ellsworth,

Thank you for the heads up on the Worthington manual at the O. Winston Link museum. Ironically, I was just there in September and walked past the small room where they keep books, manuals, and other documents. It is listed as part of their collection alright:

https://hswv.pastperfectonline.com/arch ... 5175512419

I contacted them today; and sadly, the manual is not digitized nor can they grant access to any of these materials until at least February due to staff limitations. They are also closed to the public through January 18th. My article's deadline is mid to late January.

Thanks nonetheless,

Dave Queener
Knoxville, Tennessee
Dave@CumberlandModelEngineering.com

Howard,

Thank you for pointing out the Elesco coil type feedwater heater on both GS&F Ks 8338 and NO&NE Ks-1 6920. I suppose that big oval box ahead of the stack is the give-away, along with the typical Elesco pump mounted beneath the running boards. That pump appears to be visually about the same as those used with the Elesco bundle type feedwater heaters.

I have not been able to find any literature or drawings online for the Elesco coil type FWH, but it would be a pleasure if anyone has anything they might be able to share.

Warmly,

Dave Queener
Knoxville, Tennessee
Dave@CumberlandModelEngineering.com

I had a couple of these but gave them away. Looks like DeGolyer has a copy you could borrow, scan, and post.
https://search.worldcat.org/title/1130060216

If I remember correctly, the "coil-type" Elesco heater tank is not "oval", but shaped like a fat figure-8, with three nests of double coils in each side of the tank. This replaced the little multipass steam-to-water 'boiler' of the traditional Elesco system. There are clear illustrations of the internals in illustrations 4.10 and 4.11 in the 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia (p.356)

The '47 Cyc also mentions that the "earlier" S sytems from 1929 on can be converted to the S-2 type ("which operates just like the SA") by making specific changes, which they list. If you can't find a copy, I can summarize them (at the risk of inducing MEGO syndrome in the non-technical preservationists...)

The S and SA have a different valve system for the cold pump, I think on the "s" the cold pump runs continuously, whereas on the SA, like on a NKP berk etc, there's a float valve that triggers the cold pump.

It is interesting see how far recessed the unit is on the 836. I guess this full recessing would make smokebox cleanout/maintenance more difficult since more of the unit is inside it vs the more normal look with the FWH box in partially sticking up in front of the stack.

Sou must have felt the FWH heaters were worth the money even on the smaller 2-8-0s, light mikados etc to retrofit them.

I think some of the SOU 2-8-8-2s used exhaust steam injectors if I remember right.

The reference says that you convert the cold-water pump from type S to type S-2 (which is 'comparable in operation to' SA) by disengaging the cold-water pump governor (by which I assume they mean the Pyle-National turbine control) and fitting a "brake and brake shoe" arrangement. There is nothing in the diagram I can see that controls the brake with a thermostatic control; the 'control valve' on the heater exchanger apparently throttles the turbine steam.

There is a 'float-operated steam control valve' which involves a large, probably transverse cylindrical float riding on the water level inside the heater. I surmise this modulates the cold-water turbine simply at its supply. Interestingly, the turbine exhaust goes straight to air with no attempt to conserve either the mass flow or the heat.

For anyone who has the source material, the diagram in the Cyc is DX-66673.