This came through on my Flickr feed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jterry618/4324808435/

There are some other fine photos in the set.

With respect to the DM&IR 2-8-8-4, In a video A Last Look At Steam (by Rail Innovations) narrator Newt Rossiter, mentions an unusual feature of the cabs of these engines, that being the stoker conveyor tube which he describes as:

"running flush with the deck, covered with a grating, and light with lights encased in heavy glass gaurds, one could observe the path of the coal on its way to the elevator..."

This photo shows some sort of grate on the floor of the cab just under the fire door, but doesn't show the entire floor.

Can anyone comment on this, and possibly provide better photos of this arrangement?

A lot of MB stoker-equipped locomotives had this setup. The converyor screw is under the deck plates, and does not clutter the cab, so there is a way to see if the coal is moving. 1225 and 765 are set up like this, if I remember correctly. I know 759 has the "grate" in the deck plate.

The "outside" designs, the HT and BK stokers, had a sliding horizontal bar with a series of holes in it. The bar could be slid over to reveal the coal going up the elevating housing before landing on the distributing plate inside the firedoor.

I think the Duplex stokers also had a "peep-hole" for the same purpose.

Howard P.

Makes sense.

As I was going back through these photos, I suddenly came upon BEDT 0-6-0T #13. Wow, I thought, I didn't realize that that the engine was up in Duluth! And then came the next photo and it dawned on me that the photos had changed to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania! Don't startle me like that!

Les