It happens, even to the big roads.

On a 1964 Ramble, 2100's crew found a broken draft gear spring between Norristown and Reading. 2102 worked the trip solo from Reading (they were supposed to doublehead; I think there was a Baldwin AS-16 pushing uphill from Tamaqua)

I think, given the cost of refunding tickets, the new firing plate will be x-rayed for defects.

Phil Mulligan

Hello,

Curious the alloy the table may need, the same as grate bars? We used 309 stainless in convection oven interior design up to a rating of 1350 degF. Maybe the table casting material has a dose of chrome and nickel……

Perhaps the steam jets “cool” the table much like heavy flow combustion air cools grate bars. Once you start drifting your ‘cooling’ stops but with a still very hot fire.

Tough application! Intricate casting as well.

Regards,

Randy

Greetings:

A standard firing tool found on some steam locomotives with a Standard HT-1 or BK stoker was a steel "slash bar", which was about the size and shape of a hockey stick except that the blade was at 90 degrees from the handle and there was an oval loop at the end of the handle. It's purpose was to reach under the firing table an keep the area between the table and the firebed open so air (albeit hot) could circulate under the table.

We had one on Richard Jensen's No.5629 and it was used frequently depending on the fireman. On a coal burner, it is important that the entire grate be covered (no "holes" which would let cold air into the firebox). However, on a locomotive with a wide and/or sloped door sheet it was hard to see the rear firebox corners so a lot of firemen pitched a lot of coal back there forming a "heel", which was a good thing, but if the level of the firebed got up to the level of the firing table, it was possible for it to overheat it and it would warp or disintegrate.

Some guys were downright paranoid about this happening and would frequently put the firedoor "on the latch" and stick the slash bar under the firing table and work it until they were sure that there was clearance under the table. On our trips out of Detroit, there was one guy who brought his own slash bar.

On locomotives with a Standard Duplex stoker, the coal is lifted several inches above the firebox door so there is no way the little Duplex firing tables could be adversely affected. On locomotives with a Standard type "M" or "MB", the jets for distributing the coal are built into a large "U" shaped casting through which the coal is pushed by the auger and under which there are no grates, so no possibility of damage.

At one time (several decades ago) Illinois Railway Museum purchased new BK firing tables from Robert (Benevolent Bob) Carlson. At Steamtown (Bellows Falls) we had wood a Firing table pattern for HT or HT-1 (sorry, I don't recall which) for the former CPR class G-5s.

One important issue to keep in mind is what grade of cast iron the tables are cast from (hint: it isn't the hardest grade nor is it Malleable Iron, don't ask me how I know). As I recall, the last new ones we had cast when I was at Steamtown were Grade 30, but I don't know if any ever were used as the G-5s were all disposed of after I left.

Good luck!

J.David

Fabricate one out of 316L plate, should last forever. (The 316"L" means low carbon specifically for welding.)

Stainless steels are particularly prone to stress cracking under corrosive or high-heat environments and cooling cycles. I've spent a lot of time trying to repair stainless steels under those conditions. Every shut down is another mad rush to replace or weld up new cracks. Almost no material is going to be a miracle solution. A properly cast, high quality iron alloy is capable of holding up to the job for many, many, years. I believe that the R&N steam heads have it well in hand and the 2102 will be back out before we know it, and this temporary problem will quickly be forgotten by most.

Keep in mind that the distributor plate is a "semi-consumable", designed to be periodically replaced. In the absence of original, dimensioned drawings, there's a certain amount of "art" to making a proper pattern and getting good final castings. From my observations, a certain amount of after-casting adjustment is usually needed.

Howard P.

Does this distributor plate have to be cast? Would it be quicker to fabricate a replacement, which might also offer better control over the materials used? Even make two, just in case-

Perhaps but what do you have in mind for the steam jets?

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... excursion/

Apparently the #2102 is already fixed and ready to roll again. They had spare firing tables made in advance, so they just had to swap it out.

According to the article, the table failed because the firing jets got plugged with debris and so the coal just sat on the table and burned there, overheating the table and damaging it

[quote][They had spare firing tables made in advance, so they just had to swap it out./quote]

Not so dumb afterall!

Jeez, it's almost like the people who are doing for a living actually know what they're doing.

I don't know if the internet can handle that type of thing.

Sad but true Ed K. Thankful for all the "transparency" so we all know what "really happened" and nothing was "covered up". Like you can climb into a hot firebox a couple hours after shutting down to fix the problem as in "right now". A drag it happened but as most of us know it can be a simple to fix problem but you can't always jump in to fix it right away. Swear some folks think you can just push a key or buy an App and make all things right in an instant. Hats off to this organization for all they have done and continue to do. Regards, John.

I wasn't criticizing or playing armchair quarterback, I was simply reporting the news. They had spares made in advance, and they have it back up and running, it won't effect later trips.

And, to make up for it, they are running #2102 on the November 6th trip, in place of #425. I was, admittedly a very tiny bit disappointed about that, because #425 didn't run much this year and that weekend was supposed to be the #425's last hurrah before she's due for 1472, which has now been cut back to one day.

It was quite humorous to see the number of folks of Facelessbook saying "why don't they just swap out the 425 for 2102!?!" Seriously, lol? Uh, it just doesn't work like that. Then, there was one guy who kept ranting on and on about "Look at how the R&N is abusing 2102 on these runby's! It's criminal! Really? No one could seem to get it through his head that the apparent hard-running had nothing to do with bothering firing table failing. I just thought that's what she was built to do, but what do we know?

Rob Gardner

I agree with Rob. If firing tables are a “consumable”, then it did as expected. Albeit somewhat unexpectedly at an in opportune moment. Glad they thought ahead and had spares made. Hence, really no big deal.