Hi All
Here is an Air powered loco on ebay.
if the link doesnt work here is the Item Number: 3842946870
just past it into ebay and click Search.
Andrew Martin

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 46870&rd=1

Forgive me if I'm violating the RYPN terms of service, but has somebody contacted the Colorado Historical Society about this? Maybe we need to call Railstar........

Cynical, but just curious. Actually, it looks more like a fireless locomotive to me. How do you tell the difference between a fireless and a compressed air locomotive?

This is a fireless cooker. The person who owns it just doesn't know what he has. Compressed air locomotives were used in mines and look very much different. They also do not have insulation on them becuase there is no heat involved.

It is indeed an H. K Porter fireless loco, b/n 7240 and originally owned by Texaco Oil at a refinery in NJ or PA. At one time it was the subject of a restoration job at a trade school in NJ. Looks like it has fallen on hard times since then. It would weigh around 22 to 24 tons drained, and given its height, transport would be expensive. A short move might run $2500 and any distance gets to 5 figures quickly. This loco is erroneously shown in Porter builder's lists as a geared loco. The preceding b/n 7239 was a geared fireless and Porter's notoriously bad record keeping just put in too many ditto marks for 7240. Cyl. size is shown as 18.5"x16". Fireless locos by Porter typically had a larger bore than stroke as the cylinders worked on 60 psi thru a regulator regardless of tank storage pressure so the tractive effort would remain constant as the storage pressure dropped after a recharge.

Compressed air locos, of which Porter built many, were typically "wart hogs" with big heavily riveted storage tanks that, as remarked, were not insulated as were fireless storage tanks. Smaller air locos would have a single tank and stored air at up to 6000 psi. Bigger air locos usually had 3 separate tanks stacked and were easy to tell from a fireless.

It is a good guess that whoever's selling this loco hasn't a clue what it is or what it might be worth. Depending on the buyer's luck, they could get a relative bargain.

I'm always interested in news and info on fireless locos and would welcome any communication on the subject.

I'm interested in how you have determined this is a Porter. I notice it
has Walchearts valve gear and piston valves, which normally indicate
a Heisler built loco. I realize that Porter bought Heisler's fireless
business, but have not seen anything on Porter building from their
designs.

I'm interested in your comments.

It's pedigree has been widely quoted by J. David Conrad's "Directory of North American Steam Locomotives" and other sources. It is a 21 ton model.

I have pictures of three of the twelve existing Heisler firelesses in existance in North America, and the cab looks more like a Porter than one of the Heislers.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

Others have described well the visual differences between a fireless and a compressed air locomotive, here is a picture of compressed air locomotive:



This is an example of one that has three smaller tanks instead of one large tank. Notice how they are unlagged; there is not much in the way of an exhaust pipe on it either:



The two bases on top held sand domes at one time.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project[/quote]

Buyer beware, I think I see asbestos under that rusting jacket in the pics. No DOT will permit that transport until it is removed or encapsulated.

Jeff

Its a piece of machinery! Just tarp it good and act stuipd. its sometimes convenient not to know what the BIG A looks like.

Porter built a number of fireless locos with piston valves and Walschaert gear before their acquisition of Heisler's fireless business in Aug. 1941, so the appearance of those features on a Porter is not necessarily an indication of any Heisler influence.

The first Porter with Heisler features (it was in fact Heisler b/n 61, essentially complete before the Porter takeover) was b/n 7330, so this one by its number 7240 definitely predates the Heisler influences.

Aside from 7330, there were several others delivered as Porters that had various degrees of Heisler components in their construction. But Porter then did not adopt very many of the Heisler features (e.g., roller bearings) in later production. They were merely eliminating a competitor.