I searched the archives and did not find my answer, so here is a new thread.

What is the proper technique for banking a fire? I was taught to build a big bank in the middle of the grate, maybe a little closer to the fire door. I do not know if this was for convenience for for purpose.

Does everybody agree on this? Anybody put their pile anywhere else, like against a corner?

I've successfully used both techniques.
On the C&NW 1385 we would put the bank in the center just ahead of the first (rearmost) grates because the first were dump grates. There wasn't a center rocker for that pair, they pivoted at the corner for a quick dump into the ashpan. You also couldn't let yourself go too far ahead (deep) as the front half of the grates were sloped downward. You had to keep the beaver pile between the dump area & the break of the slope.

The technique for the Soo 1003 was to fill the corners but the grates on that engine are flat and you had to work around the stoker pot.

As I said, each one worked.....mld

Back in my days as a Valley RR fireman (Essex CT), we banked the fire at the end of the day by scooping in about 32 shovelfuls of whatever coal/dust was left in the tender & building the bank from rear corner to rear corner to the height of the firebox door. This was done on #s 40 & 97. The Chinka-motive was not there at the time.

The grates were not touched until the next morning when the bank was broken up & rolled out.

Depending on the condition of the locos at the time ambient temperature and wind, we had 50-70# of steam the next morning. One really bad day it was barely 30# with a host of other problems. With about 2 hours to get up steam for the 10:00 train, and not going over about 1#/min rise in pressure, it was nasty.

I did write a poem about it, gotta find my hard copy (pre-computer....).

Does any of this influence staybolt wear and tear?

Would there be an equivalent technique for an oil burning locomotive?

Brandi

No, you don't want to pile up a puddle of oil in the firepan. You do want to fill the biler gradually with water while maintaining pressure, then shut off the fire, cap the stack and close the firedoor and dampers, and shut off all the ways steam can leak out you can, and if you do it right and she's tight you will have enough steam and water to light up again the next morning.

dave

Dave said it, but permit me to add a few minutia.

Before you shut down, whether the engine is to be used the next day or not, fill the boiler until the water goes out the top of the glass, then heat her up until the pops sizzle, before you pull the pin. Your firedoor should be shut and secured, of course.

Leave your blower and atomizer going, then gradually open and shut the firing valve until you have worked as much of the fuel out of the line as you can. DON'T OVERDO IT. When there is no smoke with the firing valve wide open, you're done.

Then, with the firing valve shut off, but your blower and atomizer still going, you should open and shut the blow back valve a few times to clear any sludge or sediment out of the fuel line and hose. Now shut off the supply valve on the tender.

OK, with your blower and atomizer still going, open the firing valve again. Then, GENTLY work the blowback valve open and shut until there is no smoke. (Be sure not to put steam into the fuel line without having the firing valve open, or you can blow the fuel hose off.) THEN the fuel line and burner are actually cleaned out for real, and you can shut off your firing valve, atomizer and blower, close the dampers, and cover the stack.

Of course everybody knows without being told that before doing any of the above, the engine brakes should be set, handbrake tied, reversor centered, cylinder cocks open, and drivers chained or chocked.

If you need power the next day, you'll be in business unless something is seriously wrong. If it's later, you'll still have plenty of water with no free oxygen in it, all you'll need is an air line, a rag and a Zippo lighter to get going again. Either way there should be no puddle of oil in the firepan until you get ready to light off again.

I'd like to hear the arguments for building or not building a bank along the sheets and if there is any detrimental effect to the sheets or stay bolts from having a bank regularly placed along them.

Putting the fire up against the sheets just does not feel right to me.

And, if it the bank is especially in just one corner, it really does not feel right to me. Seems like a very unbalanced temperature distribution.

And we have had a few staybolts failing last two years, but they are also old.

I'm mostly an oil guy, but the coal experience I have had was to bank against the door sheet high and deep , so that in the morning you could just rake it forward, scatter a lot of new coal over the remnants of the fire in the bank, crack the blower and get her up again slowly. Once the grate was pretty well covered, a bit of a shake to drop out the dead ash, and she'd do just fine.

We have to think of fireboxes and things that do normally wear out in service. No point accelerating the pace, but we must be practical as well in how we work with things.

dave