Just curious...What is the appliance circled on this picture of a Lehigh Valley 4-8-2 engine #5002?


P.S. After viewing many photos of LV steam power, I never realized how attractive their engines looked....and the John Wilkes Booth steamliner looked pretty classy!

Turbocharger? (just kidding...)

I don't think it's a booster exhaust such as the NYC would use; this 4-8-2 has a fabricated trailing truck, so I wouldn't think it has a booster. I'm guessing it's some sort of muffler, perhaps a centrifuge separator of some sort. But what is it for? The engine looks to have an extended smokebox holding a Coffin feedwater heater--yet the water pipe leading to the check valve is coming from the rear, such as it would with an injector (non-lifting in this case).

Is it the separator and muffler for some sort of continuous or automatic blow-down device? Did the LV have water problems like the Santa Fe, which extensively used such appliances?

Good looking steam power? Indeed. It's a shame the LV didn't save any of it.

Any Lehigh Valley experts here?

A PS about the looks--seems the LV had a lot of Alco and New York Central elements in its designs; that drop pilot, those air compressor shields, and the smokebox front and door with the centered headlight and no bell would all be right at home on a Hudson or a 3000-series (L-3?) Mohawk. Nice straight running boards were a classic touch from both as well, at least on as-built locomotives. The 4-8-4s the LV had (Wyomings, for a county) looked more like classic NYC engines than the Niagaras the NYC actually got!

It's a "Locomotive Automatic Draft Control" device. You can find an advertisement for it on page 335 of the 1941 Locomotive Cyclopedia. The locomotive in the advertisement also appears to be an LV 4-8-2.

The manufacturer claims the device limits the exhaust backpressure and therefore the draft by allowing exhaust steam to bypass the nozzle and stack when the backpressure exceeds a pre-set value. The manufacturer claims it functioned in the high power output ranges and reduced waste of fuel and allowed grates with larger air openings.

I have no idea how well the things worked but I don't recall seeing them on photos of any other locomotives.

the LV train was the "John Wilkes"..not the "John Wilkes Booth"! ;)



John Wilkes was a Revolutionary-era English politician, and a namesake of the city of Wilkes Barre, PA. (along with Isaac Barré.)

The LV passed through and served Wilkes Barre PA,, and so named their "John Wilkes" train after this historic figure, and namesake of the city.
(and the train ran only between Wilkes Barre and NY City)

John Wilkes Booth is the infamous assassin of Abraham Lincoln!
He is *also* named after John Wilkes..
but the LV did not name their train after the assassin of the President! ;)

I have often thought it was perhaps a poor name choice for the LV..since the name "John Wilkes" is now forever "tainted" by John Wilkes Booth..and today the name "John Wilkes Booth" is *much* more famous than "John Wilkes"..the original has been eclipsed by the infamous successor...but for the people of Wilkes Barre, they certaintly werent confused by the name of the train, they clearly understood the distinction..but for anyone outside the region, the confusion could be significant..and continues to this day, as witnessed by your post! ;)

Scot

Scot,
Thanks for your clarification of the name of the train. I must say I was a bit perplexed to read that the LV had named a train after the assassin of President Lincoln! It just didn't make any sense, so thanks for explaining something that folks in other parts of the country may, or probably, didn't understand. :>)

Well that was an interesting sidebar, but can we get back to the original question? I, like the OP, am interested in what this appliance was and what it was supposed to do. Since I have never seen another photo with the this device, was it an experiment? Did any other roads use it? It is also interesting in that it kind of dovetails into the discussion about front end design, drafting and Lempor exhausts.

I know there are steam techno guys out there who will have the right answer. Anybody?

The question was answered in the 4th post of this thread.

Scot