I was looking through a couple of old Railfan mags that I have and I noticed a picture of the CP 2317 buring oil instead of coal. I'm wondering at what point was the 2317 converted to coal from oil and what were the reasons for the conversion. Thanks for any info.

I don't know what 2317 burned when it was built, but at Steamtown in VT it was an oil burner. Once moved to Scranton, it became a coal burner. There is no oil under Scranton or nearby, but lots of coal, although I'm not sure that engine can even burn anthracite efficiently.

When it was built, 2317 burned coal fed through a BK stoker. Same was in place when Blount bought the loco. In conjunction with the 1977 Vermont Bicentennial Train, 2317 was planned to be the main motive power, and was to be converted to oil for ease of fueling at variuos points around the state. It never did get finished in time, and 1293 (as a coal-burner) was painted and used as "the" special engine that year. 2317 was finally finished as an oil burner in 1979-80, and it was found she didn't steam too well on oil. I seem to recall that the burner set-up was not quite to a railroad spec, as would have been found on an SP or ATSF loco of the same size. 2317 was put back to coal firing, and has operated successfully since.

Just a note, an oil to coal conversion is rather difficult I believe, as coal locos have larger fireboxes and all the appliances required for coal burning (grates, etc.)
S'
David D.

Dear Greg:
No. 2317 was converted to burn oil by a fellow from New Jersey who had done conversions on the Morris County Central locos, for the reasons noted by Howard. It is my understanding that some of the 2300s' used in western Canada were oil fired.
I would note that the fireboxes were identical to the coalburners.
As originally set up, 2317 would be able to do runbys during Railfan Weekends at Bellows Falls, but little else before running out of steam.
The oil burner was large enough, but the entire setup inside the firebox was all wrong. The burner was mounted under the firedoor, and although the brickwork was installed in typical railroad fashion, the fire would not fill the box, rather it would just go to the tubes and flues. Since about 80% of the heat transfer in a steam locomotive takes place in the firebox and about 20% in the tubes and flues, well you can see that there was a problem.
In 1983, I tried to get 2317 to steam better. I calculated the amount of primary and secondary air admitted and found that it was less than half of what was needed for a burner of that size (the burner was theoreticly adequate for the size cylinders on the 2317). We added air openings which improved the performance of the locomotive. During the 1984 season at Scranton (our first), No. 2317 was able to pull 6 cars to Moscow and maintain full steam pressure and an acceptable water level. However, it was not possible to make money with 6 cars. Most weekend trains run in 1984 were more than 6 cars. We double headed with an old D&H RS-3 or No. 1246 most of the time on weekends.
The performance of the locomotive was still far below it's rated capacity so in 1985 the shop forces at Scranton began converting the locomotive back to coal firing. Luckily, all of the grates, etc. had been saved and brought to Scranton (although some parts were good only as patterns).
The conversion was completed after I left Steamtown, but I am told that the 2317 will now handle 10 cars without difficulty, at full MAWP and plenty of water to spare.
Had the burner been installed at the front of the firebox and sufficent air openings provided, I am certain that 2317 would have done fine as an oil burner, but the concept and installation were badly flawed.
J.David

David,

Interesting background story on the oil firing conversion.

You may be interested to read about the work Nigel Day is doing at the Grand Canyon Railway updating the oil firing systems on their engines. Last year, Lempor exhausts were fitted to no. 29 and no. 4960 with excellent results. Building on this, he is now developing new oil burners for the engines to more efficiently burn diesel fuel.

See Martyn Bane's webpage on Nigel's work at the GCRR:

http://martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/nday/gc/gc-home.htm

His page on the oil firing mods:

http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/nday/gc/oil.htm

and the article on the GCRR's site:

http://www.thetrain.com/home_news.cfm?newsID=39

All I can say is, as one whose dorm room was a hundred yards from where #2317 would sit on mornings in 1986, I am sure glad it was the sweet smell of coal and not oil wafting into my room!

Rob