After having my ISP fizzle out a couple times while writing up some of what I think is great advice on oil firing, my posting appears in the middle of the thread where it is unlikely to be noticed. Since I'm trying to get the information to students or beginners who might be able to use it, I'm going to copy and paste the text here, too. Please excuse the duplication of my long winded posting if you've seen it already....

With all due respect to the previous postings, I would like to contribute some suggestions based on my experience firing Baldwin (and one cantankarous ALCO) oil burners for Texas State RR and Ferrovias Guatemala. Where my observations differ from those of others, please believe that I have no desire to argue, but am only speaking up in the interest of safety.

Besides what I was taught by experienced old heads, what I am about to say is also standard procedure for CB&Q, as laid out in our textbooks from the steam days. The first and most important point I want to make is that the correct way to fire up an oil burner is as follows:

After checking water level, making sure the engine has the brake applied or is secured with track chains, cylinder cocks open, throttle pinned shut, reversor in neutral, then you go up top, check the fuel level, and lift the pin. Open the damper, uncover the stack, open the fuel valve on the supply line, and then drain whatever water condensed in the fuel tank and oil line after the last blowback. Whether you use steam or air to fire up, you also have to open the blower and atomizer valves good and wide for a minute until they spit out all the condensate. Otherwise, your fire will huff and puff and keep going out for at least an hour. I open the door and look around inside the firebox with a lantern, inspecting the sheets, staybolt heads, and brickwork. (When we used thick oil in Guatemala, we put burning waste or rags on the supply line so the fuel would flow, but we never needed tank heat to fire up. Of course cold climates or various fuels will differ.) THEN you can light it.

When it comes to the big event itself, you first crack the blower, and you NEVER stand in front of the firedoor. Open the firing valve for a second and spill a shot of fuel onto the firebox floor. I hang a diesel soaked rag or piece of waste over the firedoor and get it started burning before tossing it into the puddle of fuel a foot or two in front of the burner.. On those rare occasions when I miss my mark, I use a fire hook to position the rag. You should have plenty of light to see the mouth of the burner now, so you adjust the firing valve to the point where fuel just begins to dribble out. This method works without a mark, pin, or notch on the quadrant, and whether or not the linkage is adjusted properly. THEN YOU GENTLY OPEN THE ATOMIZER. It will light with a perfectly smooth idle fire EVERY SINGLE TIME if you do it this way. Try it once and you'll be convinced.

If you turn on the atomizer first, and then start adding fuel, you have an excellent chance of setting yourself on fire, causing one of those white gas explosions, or at least working way too hard trying to adjust your fire so it builds pressure slowly and doesn't smoke too much. When you see a bunch of black smoke during fireup, you better look under the engine because you probably started a fire somewhere, and you just don't know it yet. Naturally, you should always have a firehose handy. A small oil fire can be put out easily with water. IF YOU GET A FIRE GOING UNDER THE GANGWAY, YOU BETTER PUT IT OUT OR MOVE THE ENGINE BEFORE THE FUEL HOSE BURNS THROUGH.

When you get ready to change over from air to steam, I usually do that at about 50 psi, but it can vary considerably depending on the timing of my coffee break. Just open the steam up gradually, taking about five minutes or so, allowing for the fire to stabilize and any condensate to work through the system. Then, slowly cut the air off, again taking your time. One more little item to remember is to use an implement pin to secure the gladhand connections while under pressure.

I always keep the blower cracked as a hedge against flashbacks or white gas explosions. It doesn't take that much steam to do this, and it will save you a lot of grief. Some previous posters have mentioned seeing engines standing in the station with the blower and the pops all opened up. That isn't necessary. The trick is to balance the adjustment of fuel, atomizer and blower, so that the pressure stays 5 or 10 pounds below lift off. You should, however, lift at least one safety valve once during every eight hour shift as a check. I just watch the throttle, reversor, air brake valve, water glass, steam gauge, and stack, and adjust as needed. The engineer has plenty to do without babysitting me, so, NO, we don't "call out throttle settings". On good oil, this is a pretty easy trick once you get it, and a well set up engine practically fires herself. On diesel or waste oil, many more adjustments are required much more often. I think I'd just as soon fire a QJ as mess with that stuff....

There was mention made of brickwork being set up to protect firebox sheets which don't have water behind them for cooling. IF THIS EVER HAPPENS, KILL THE FIRE IMMEDIATELY. The whole point of a fireman is to keep ALL FIREBOX SHEETS COVERED WITH WATER ALL THE TIME. What the brickwork does is protect staybolt heads from being melted off, and prevent the flame from being focused on one spot in the sheet with sufficient intensity to melt it even with water behind it. According to AE Bruce, the tempreature of an oil fire can be betweewn 3500 and 5000 degrees. To do what most steam engines do today, a small, clean, hot fire is all you need most of the time.

There was also mention made of the standard safety rule prohibiting relighting your fire off the bricks. Well, I got news for you --- When everything is red hot and YOUR BLOWER IS OPEN, it's no problem. Matter of fact, in most conditions of service if your fire goes out, you can relight it easiest and quickest just by turning off your atomizer for a few seconds and then opening it back up. Try it once and you'll be convinced.

There are many versions of oil firing setups, but the simple, tried and true Baldwin setup does great with decent fuel, and will burn anything if you insist. Another contributer mentioned the burners getting gunked up or glazed with crummy fuel. Here's what you do: After shutting down, you first blow back through the fuel line into the tank, and you also open the atomizer wide for a minute with the fuel cut off to clear the ports. This is pretty standard. To clear a clogged or glazed burner orifice, first drop the pin and close the fuel supply valve, open blower wide, and crack the firing valve. THEN GENTLY OPEN THE BLOWBACK VALVE. Then you can gradually open both the blowback and the firing valve all the way, blasting and destroying any trace of slop in the burner. Then, shut it all down, being carefull not to blow the fuel hose off the supply line in the process.... Try it once, and you'll be convinced.

That says it all.
One thing we did differently with the 1522 was after the burning rag went in, we closed the firedoor and swung the cover open to observe the goings on.
I see videos of tourist roads lighting off with the door wide open and I kind of shudder. A little bad luck and you have fireman flambe'.

With all the brilliant advice I was handing out, there's a few things I left out, like SHUT THE FIREDOOR AND PIN IT FIRST. I thought everybody knew THAT.... Best of luck with your gorgeous 1522. Hope you get to visit us in Denver some day soon.

Your post finally sent me to get my Western Maryland rulebook and looking in the section covering firing their 4 oil burning pacifics. I remembered they stressed standing to the side of the firedoor and securing it before liting the fire as did you. Most of the WM rules were a close copy of your post. The most notable exception I found is when starting a fire you say to open the firing valve and then the atomizer and the WM rule is just the opposite. Since 99 percent of their steam power burned coal it would be interesting to know where they borrowed their rules from.

Your mention of the white gas explosions when starting the fire brings back memories of the first time WM started a fire in their first oil burner. They were having trouble getting the fire to start off the burning waste and did not notice oil running out the draft port and into the pit. Then the white gas exploded setting the cab on fire and blowing windows out of the Hagerstown roundhouse. Needless to say they had to rebuild the cab before trying again. Perhaps that is where their rule to make sure there is nobody working under the engine came from.

One thing that has occurred to me in these threads involving oil firing is the amount of information that must be given to a green fireman. When you teach someone to hand fire most of the time you just point to the coal pile and then to the firedoor. The only thing you need to say starting out is to shovel the black stuff from there to here and when you run out of black stuff we will get you more.

Thanks a lot for all the information.

John Bohon

Hi John,

WOW !!! I'd say they should have tried lighting off the way I say to, but I was also contacted by another gentleman who seems to know his craft quite well and who swears that the Santa Fe also did it by turning on the atomizer and then adding oil, too. Hard to believe that I don't know everything, yet that might be a remote possibility. I'm also guessing that WM didn't have an experienced oil fireman around the first time they tried, but they must have wised up after that experience.

I can tell you that I was fortunate enough to be trained by, and always worked around, experienced steam guys, and that I had the chance to learn in a full time paid position. I was also gung ho and studied hard, and it still took me awhile to get it. It's easy once you do, though, and anybody can do it given the right chance.

Let me know if I can ever be of any assistance, please.

I will quote a couple of sources in print.

First is an ICS book titled "Firing of locomotives".

"To start the oil burning, blow out the burner and use a piece of lighted oily waste as before. (another section on starting a cold boiler) Start the atomizer and blower medium hard and fasten the firedoor shut. Turn the oil on very gradually and when it lights adjust the atomizer and blower to a light fire, adjust the damper and close the oil regulator gradually until the stack becomes almost clear".

Second is the Santa Fe Instructions for Enginemen governing the care, maintenance and economical operation of the steam locomotive.

Skipping a lot of the obvious checking and set ups and to the point at hand

"When everything is ready for lighting the fire, increase the blower strong enough to create the necessary draft. Next open the atomizer valve and blow out any water that may have condensed in the burner and pipes, then close the valve and throw a bunch of burning waste on the floor of the pan in front of the burner. Old scrap cotton waste saturated with oil should serve this purpose. The burning waste should be placed not less than two feet from the mouth of the burner. Close and fasten the fire door leaving the sanding hole open so as to observe the fire. Next turn on the atomizer strong enough to carry oil from the the burner to the burning waste, then open firing valve slowly and cautiously until ignition of the oil takes place. After ignition of the oil has ben established and the fire is burning steadily, the atomizer and the firing valve should be opened wide enough to carry the flame back to the flash wall".

If anyone does not have the Santa fe book then I would recommend finding one. It is an excellent resource. They can be found occasionally on Ebay for 35 and above.

Since we got a good discussion going here, I've got a question... have you ever tried doing it the way I insist is best ??? Were you convinced ???

I tried it many times the way just quoted in both of these reliable, accepted sources, and finally I started a real scary looking fire one day. I had the tender truck, trailer truck, and last set of drivers all surrounded by a lake of burning diesel with flames up to the ARM RESTS. The guys sat me down after that and told me what I did wrong, and I never had any trouble ever again after I started opening the atomizer last.

OK, now I got out my CB&Q oil firing instructions, all ready to quote the passage backing me up, but the wording says almost the exact same thing as Mr Mizer got from the ATSF and ICS books.

Maybe I saw the procedure described as I do it in a MoPac book, but I don't have many steam books in English language these days. I DO KNOW, however, that an awful lot of folks agree with me, and I bet somebody has it in writing somewhere in a reliable, standard source. I hope....

.

My experience and practice firing the oil-burners at the Georgetown Loop was similar to what Kelly Anderson described. Opening the oil valve first usually resulted in a puddle of oil in the pan which either dripped on the ground, or burned uncontrollably once the fire was lit. Opening the atomizer to a low setting and then opening the oil valve slowly until the fire lit off ususally produced better results.

However, opening the atomizer too much resulted in blowing out the rag fire and, much to your dismay, having to start the process all over again.

Fellas --- I'll be glad to give you a demonstration should the chance ever arise. I bet you'll be convinced after you see me do it, as everybody who has seen it has been.

Of course, you WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING so you don't pour oil into the pit and then light it. When you turn the atomizer on first, you can't see how much fuel is flowing. But if you have the atomizer closed, and a lit rag in front of the burner so you can see what you're doing, you can tell exactly when you have the right firing valve setting before lighting off.

Thanks to all who have contributed to an interesting discussion, and work safe.

Sorry but I can not subscribe to method number two. The atomizer first method is very simple and easy. If the atomizer has been drained and purged then any residual oil will also be carried away from the burner. I open the atomizer before closing the door. I can see the atomizer jet gently kissing the flaming oily rag. Now I know that I haven't blown the rag out nor have I pinned it up against the flashwall. Satisfied with my setting I now close and latch the big door leaving the small door open. The oil regulator is not jerked wide open rather it is gently nudged into the correct predetermined position until you get the familiar "Whoosh" of the flame lighting. To me this is simple and safe.

We have problems with dripping oil anyway and to introduce oil without it being blown back into the box will just allow it to run out and puddle under the locomotive in the drip pan. I hate the fires under the locomotive, they make me feel uneasy.

We have an adjustable key on the quadrant. It is always set at the approximate setting that allows for a small fire or spot fire as it is referred as. now when the locomotive is lit the next morning, the fireman of record after going through the entire list and has a burning item in front of the burner with the door latched can see where the appropriate oil setting should be. The fireman from the night before left the key in the spot where the fire is going to catch without sending flames through the cab windows and roof. This is a very good safety tip and has worked flawlessly for us for years. One thing though, sometimes it takes a minute for the oil flow to get to the burner or cold weather has slowed the flow. You can't get froggy and open the flow wide as you will have the giant fire. Just be patient, the fire will catch.

In our very early days with the 1522 and our trip up to Wisconsin, we were spotted in back of the Schiller Park firehouse the first night out. I was instructed by our leader to coach a young snot on lighting off the next morning. We had the burning rag in the firebox, atomizer cracked, door shut and pinned and I instructed him to barely move the firing valve and watch the burner to see when oil first started to feed, then let it catch. This was #6 oil. He promptly opened the valve about halfway and the resulting light off scared the crap out of me and all the firemen standing on the ground watching. It was impressinve at 4:30 AM!
I found out later this guy apparently donated a chunk of money to the restoration and was leading a charmed life with our leader. Must have been true, and the following day the engine was in the diesel shop at Fon du Lac and he was allowed to light it off again. He ran oil into the inspecition pit, all over the trailing truck and when it caught, we had a bonfire with all the resulting fire extinguisher mess and all. The foreman walked in after being on vacation for two weeks and his reaction was much like the fire lighting off. The young snot was finally banished from the engine. SAFETY FIRST!

I have to say that I'm amazed that so many people use method 1, and that I have so successfully done everything so wrong for so long with so little trouble. Maybe you should see how a pro does it, one of my greatest and most skilled examples, WELDON WALLACE from Rusk. I readily admit to being a less than perfect example, but watch this guy if you ever get a chance.

NOW, under controlled circumstances such as you guys describe for 3751, method 1 almost sounds reasonable, BUT, I had four completely different engines and two different crews to deal with five days a week, and often two or more engines going at once. WE NEVER JUST JERK THE FIRING VALVE OPEN. If you saw us do "method 2", you'd see that the whole point is to start with the correct amount of fuel, and that would be JUST A FEW DROPS OR A LITTLE MOISTURE SHOWING ON THE BURNER. This method, including lighting off brickwork, is all about NEVER JUST DUMPING IN FUEL UNTIL SOMETHING EXPLODES OR CATCHES FIRE. We always make the smallest change to the settings that we possibly can, the absolute minimum adjustment needed to keep the fire going smoothly.

Nobody has mentioned this yet, but if you get oil in the pit, hose it down before lighting anything, and if there is any doubt in your mind at all regarding fireballs and burning fuel running out of the burner, JUST STICK A HOSE UNDER THERE AND LET IT RUN....

This has been fun, but I've been a hobby shop railroader for the last six years, and really have no business worrying about what how anybody fires. The way I was taught, however, makes me responsible if somebody gets hurt, and I had said nothing beforehand. Y'all work safe, now.

Just one last little thing though, if any of you guys happen to see me taking your picture someday, please don't make any extra smoke....

All of this discussion and mention of fires under an oil-burner reminds me of an experience I had.

It was during Christmas-time runs on Austin Steam Trains ex-SP 2-8-2 #786. I was down there as a guest with my friend, Vince Kapcynski, one of the regular engineers who also worked with me at the Georgetown Loop.

We were on our way back from Burnett to Austin on a cool December night. I had fired the engine up the hill out of Burnett and then turned it back over to the regular fireman as we drifted down through the San Gabriel River bottom back to Austin. It was a very foggy that night and I went over to stand behind the engineer to help him see mileposts in the fog. For some reason, the fireman was having a VERY difficult time regulating the fire. At one point, he must have closed the atomizer too much and puddled a large quantity of oil in the pan. The resulting flash of flame when ignition occurred curled up the sides of the firebox prompting my friend, the engineer, in his unmistakeable Texas accent to exclaim: DA--IT, Ronnie, ya' caught the engine on fire!!!

But, at least we didn't have any problem seeing the nearby milepost.