I have a question dealing with Candian boiler checks,,would someone tell me why they were located on the top of the boiler,,,compared to U.S. engines which had there on the side,,....thank you Dicky

Looks like you went to the same grammar school as Pat Fahey...

> I have a question dealing with Candian
> boiler checks,,would someone tell me why
> they were located on the top of the
> boiler,,,compared to U.S. engines which had
> there on the side,,....thank you Dicky

> Looks like you went to the same grammar
> school as Pat Fahey...
Well Pat who just posted,,you do not like the way that I post certain things,,,please e-mail thank you,,Pat

cprh1b@attbi.com

I am now working on an Alco 4-6-2 built in Schenectady for Florida East Coast with top mounted checks. Unless the historic Canadian boundaries in the first couple decades of the 20th century were much further south then they are now they were used in the US as well.

Dave

It wasn't canadian Versus American practice as many later american steam locomotives had top checked boilers. It was strickly preference by the individual railroad mechanical departments

As discussed in an earlier thread here there are two primary reasons for mounting the boiler checks on top of the boiler. Because the water entering at the top of the boiler has to drop through steam space before hitting the boiler water it is preheated more than if entering directly into the boiler water at the side of the boiler. This increases the thermal efficiency of the boiler and also reduces stresses on the boiler and firebox caused by the cold water flowing back along its sides.

Top mount boiler checks became common accessories on modern steam locomotives. Some roads like the Western Maryland converted many of their older locomotives to top mount checks.
It was by no means a practice limited to the Canadian roads.

jhbohon@yahoo.com

> As discussed in an earlier thread here there
> are two primary reasons for mounting the
> boiler checks on top of the boiler. Because
> the water entering at the top of the boiler
> has to drop through steam space before
> hitting the boiler water it is preheated
> more than if entering directly into the
> boiler water at the side of the boiler. This
> increases the thermal efficiency of the
> boiler and also reduces stresses on the
> boiler and firebox caused by the cold water
> flowing back along its sides.

> Top mount boiler checks became common
> accessories on modern steam locomotives.
> Some roads like the Western Maryland
> converted many of their older locomotives to
> top mount checks.
> It was by no means a practice limited to the
> Canadian roads. its because top checks were found to extend the life of the fire box. there was much writen about this in the 1940s rwy mech. eng. did you know that the lima built mohawks for the nyc last order had new full side sheets in less than 2 years. they also had all crankpins replaced starting when they were 3 or 4 months old. so much for limas workmenship. ref. 1944-1945 rwy. mech, eng. the nyc started to replace side feed with top feed and the new boxes lasted until the end of steam. i don't know how many were changed over until the nyc stopped improvments to steam. regards bb


staybolt2@netscap.net

> Looks like you went to the same grammar
> school as Pat Fahey...

This kind of anonymous sarcasm directed personally at one poster is not welcome at RyPN. Future instances will be removed immediately.

eledbetter@rypn.org

I haven't seen one up close, but top checks appear to have a valve on them, presumably to shut off the water for some reason? As the side checks don't have this I was wondering why they have the extra part?

http://www.museumsnorth.org/cochrane/

> I haven't seen one up close, but top checks
> appear to have a valve on them, presumably
> to shut off the water for some reason? As
> the side checks don't have this I was
> wondering why they have the extra part?

Every side check I have ever been responsible for has had a shutoff built integral with it.

Dave

> Every side check I have ever been
> responsible for has had a shutoff built
> integral with it.

> Dave

Boiler checks have shutoffs, to prevent a stuck or partially stuck valve from draining the boiler.
It can also be opened slightly to feed a tiny amount of steam back through the lines to the injector or feedwater heater. In winter, this will help keep those lines from freezing up. Care must be takne to make certain the valve isn;t opened too much, as that will eventually heat the injector so much that it won't pick uop the water from the tender.

As to the initial question, not all Canadian engines had top checks, and not all American engines had side checks.