Dear Sir
I would like and update,, how is that oil fireing working out for the cog railroad???good or bad ??
or is coal still the KING

thank you

Pat

CPRH1b@yahoo.com

> Dear Sir
> I would like and update,, how is that oil
> fireing working out for the cog
> railroad???good or bad ??
> or is coal still the KING

> thank you

> Pat

Pat:

Mt. Washington tried an oil firing setup on one of their engines a few years ago without much success. As far as I know, all their engines still burn coal.

As far as modernizing their engines, Nigel Day of Wales recently fitted one engine with a Lempor exhaust system- see the link below for more info. This should significantly improve the power and fuel economy of the engine.

Hugh Odom
The Ultimate Steam Page
http://www.trainweb.org/tusp



The Work of Nigel Day
whodom2001@yahoo.com

Highly Cool, Hugh!

It was interesting reading what's new at the Cog on their Web page. A new Lempor exhaust in #9. Man, that exhaust difference is incredible! I'll miss the old 9-motion switch at Waumbek but the new one improves their operations and capacity so much, the change is clearly worth it.

Obviously, I haven't been to either your page or the Cog page (both of which are bookmarked) in far too long! Clearly my loss.

Rest assured that shall be rectified.

Thanks,
Glenn

christensenge@yahoo.com

I am told by a friend that they are looking to add feed water heaters to the engines. They used a cobbled together one and it made a real improvement. Now they'll made some real ones and together with Nigel's nozzles, they'll be saving fuel big time. I am also told the "down side" to the new nozzles as that more cinders are staying in the smokebox from the reduced draft which requires a little more in the way of service, but then again, there is no perfect system. Worthy trade off in anybody's book to shovel cinders out of the smokebox more often to save fuel.

> I am told by a friend that they are looking
> to add feed water heaters to the engines.
> They used a cobbled together one and it made
> a real improvement. Now they'll made some
> real ones and together with Nigel's nozzles,
> they'll be saving fuel big time. I am also
> told the "down side" to the new
> nozzles as that more cinders are staying in
> the smokebox from the reduced draft which
> requires a little more in the way of
> service, but then again, there is no perfect
> system. Worthy trade off in anybody's book
> to shovel cinders out of the smokebox more
> often to save fuel.

From an engineering view, they need to loop back around and ask themselves "how can we reduce the amount of cinders?"
Modify the firebox/combustion chamber for more complete burn?
Change type or fuel mixture?
I hope they are. Steam is not dead. Technologies from the past, may return, but in a different use or niche application.
The work being done at Mt. Washington should be distributed and supported.

H.Sinn

Hugh (man, it feels weird to start a post like that),

Those are good points. Nigel has done a lot of similar conversions in the UK, fitting Lempor exhausts within the existing stacks of operating steamers to avoid changing the external appearance of the locomotives, while at the same time significantly improving the drafting and performance of the engines. He has also done one engine (No. 6A) on the Puffing Billy Railway in Australia with excellent results in service.

This work shows how significant improvements can be made to everyday working tourist railway steam locomotives for minimal cost to make them more economical to operate. From all accounts, there is lots of room for improvements to be made to the Mt. Washington engines (for instance, I don't think any of the engines have brick arches which would be one obvious answer to improving combustion conditions to reduce cinder emissions). Hopefully they will accomplish impressive improvements there, some of which can be spread to other tourist railways in the U.S.

Regards,
Hugh Odom

> From an engineering view, they need to loop
> back around and ask themselves "how can
> we reduce the amount of cinders?"
> Modify the firebox/combustion chamber for
> more complete burn?
> Change type or fuel mixture?
> I hope they are. Steam is not dead.
> Technologies from the past, may return, but
> in a different use or niche application.
> The work being done at Mt. Washington should
> be distributed and supported.

> H.Sinn


The Ultimate Steam Page
whodom2001@yahoo.com

Hugh (Odom),
The MWCR cog locos do (or at least did) have a type of brick arch. The one I saw looked like two large slabs anchored at the firebox sides and coming together in the middle to form a shallow upside down V. They also had a metal backing, most likely to give them strength. What they really seem to cry out for is secondary air, whcih would reduce the pull on the fire and help make the combustion more complete.

In any event, it is great that work is being done to make them more efficient and keep them steaming into the future.

> Hugh (man, it feels weird to start a post
> like that),

> Those are good points. Nigel has done a lot
> of similar conversions in the UK, fitting
> Lempor exhausts within the existing stacks
> of operating steamers to avoid changing the
> external appearance of the locomotives,
> while at the same time significantly
> improving the drafting and performance of
> the engines. He has also done one engine
> (No. 6A) on the Puffing Billy Railway in
> Australia with excellent results in service.

> This work shows how significant improvements
> can be made to everyday working tourist
> railway steam locomotives for minimal cost
> to make them more economical to operate.
> From all accounts, there is lots of room for
> improvements to be made to the Mt.
> Washington engines (for instance, I don't
> think any of the engines have brick arches
> which would be one obvious answer to
> improving combustion conditions to reduce
> cinder emissions). Hopefully they will
> accomplish impressive improvements there,
> some of which can be spread to other tourist
> railways in the U.S.

> Regards,
> Hugh Odom


belpaire@aol.com

Gas Producer Combustion System retrofit?

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net