Question about this

AlanD · **Joined:** Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:42 pm **Posts:** 1

Look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB9qqJyirD4

I know the dynamics of the fire ans smoke in a steamer, but how is the stack able to from black to clear so fast over and over? Are they opening and closing the throttle or is it something going on with the stoker?

Thanks for your input.

Always learning
Alan

steamerdon · **Joined:** Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:45 pm **Posts:** 68

The fireman is conrolling his firing by opening and closing the stoker engine valve, admitting short bursts of coal to hit the fire and then turning it off again. This is much akin to hand firing, only much bigger shovels full. You can bet that the steam gauge needle is on the mark and he is likewise using his water pump valve to keep everything in check.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:56 pm

Man, oh man, oh MAN, OH MAN... was THAT a flashback!!!!!

That was EXACTLY as I remember 611 (and to a lesser extent 1218) during her second life for NS, yet it was a detail that remains elusive unless/until one peruses video. Belch, belch, belch, like a drag-racing two-stroke motorcycle. I think the last time I saw this precise pyrotechnics was on the street running in Erie, Pa. as she started off for a return to Conneaut. I remember assuming at the time it was a gentle and steady feed of the stoker augmented by precise shovelfuls by the fireman to fill holes in the grate--and come to think of it, that's not an impossible situation, either.