Let me answer with this. I do not know the WM engine or the cass engines and so can not say that the operation was correct or incorrect. Full blower though is not correct from what I was taught. And one other thing. Yes a full blower will dilute the effluent so that it appears clean but that does not mean that the fire is correct or that the inrush of air is not causing problems on the flue sheet.

No problem. Was this "back in the day"? I had the privilege of meeting Cy Martin. He is a neat guy to chat with. Not too drift too far from the subject, but I bet she was a sight to see fired up.

From my experience, the blower for oil, just as with coal, should only be used what it is needed for - maintain a slight draft on the spot (if at all) and to keep the smoke out of the cab while bringing up the pressure. I can't figure out why it needs to be wide open to maintain pressure. If you are firing correctly, with good fuel, and properly operating equipment, the use of the blower should be minimal.

How much steam is being consumed on the spot to require wide open blower??? Maybe they leave the fuel valve on high fire all the time???...

I only knew of one oil burner at Cass - #3 I believe. Where did she go to and what was the other one? I know #11 and #2 were oil burners, converted to burn WV real estate.

Hit the nail on the head from my experience. As I'm being taught, you should be able to work your fire and get the needed result. A "handful" of blower is all that's needed to either keep draft while stopped during a run, or to clean the stack during a track level change or while stopping. While on layover between runs, the blower is kept in the off position. We normaly set our atomizer during fireup and once at pressure (150psi) we leave it were it sits. Awesome discussion. Thank you all for the knowledge!

I don't know what number she carried while at Cass, but Mt. Emily Shay # 1 is owned by the Northwest Historical Society (I believe that is correct, loggerhogger can tell you for certain) and was on loan for many years to Cass.

I had an opportunity to fire her, albiet very briefly, last year. She seems to smoke and I don't know why. Perhaps the draft is insufficient, I don't know for certain.

SVRy 19 is a great steamer. An experienced Fireman can keep her steam and water up with no smoke. It takes a lot of experience to know when to adjust, and what to adjust. Up hill and on the flats, we use no blower, set the atomizer to about 3/4 open and keep checking the stack while adjusting oil flow for no smoke.

I've found many factors change the Fireman's settings, almost on a daily basis. Weather, humidity, exterior temperature, oil thickness and temperature etc. The Engineer can make it easy or difficult to keep up pressure and water. An Engineer who constantly adjusts the throttle makes it difficult to keep up. I try to be easy on the Fireman with minimum adjustments on the throttle and only when necessary. Sometimes setting a minimum reduction on train brakes is a good way to decrease speed when there is need.

Oil firing requires no physical abililties, but does require concentration and constant tweaking. You need to watch the Engineer to catch those throttle adjustment he doesn't call out to you. Also adjusting the Johnson bar will effect draft and the fire.

I use the blower when stopped, and only enough to keep smoke out of the cab. While running I shut the blower off. Blowers do consume a lot of steam.

We have a draft door below the burner, and I typically open it 2 or 3 notches while running up hill. While switching and at low speeds I keep the draft door closed.

I use a bare minimum atomizer for a spot fire. While running I open it up, but only as much as needed to keep a bright, yellow fire.

Two books on the subject if you can find them are:

An Engineer's Guide to Firing and Handling of Steam Locomotives. by Jerry Brooks and Karl Ryden.

Firing a Passion for Steam, A Handbook. by Darrell Tilcock

dan

Number 2 was oil fired at Cass for about 10 years. I think she may have been converted to coal after the state bought the engine when the lease ran out but I am really unsure of that detail.

The Mt. Emily engine was number 3 at Cass and always oil fired there.

I remember it was particularly irritating when the train was sitting in the station with the blower roaring and usually the pop was also lifting. Having very few oil burners here in the east to compare the few I have seen to has made me question this method for 30 years. Thanks for all the answers. They make perfect sense to me. I hope to get some on the job training someday on an oil burner. The experience should prove interesting and fun.

T&P 610 is the most fascinating steam locomotive I have ever seen run. I hope to someday get lucky enough to see that great locomotive run again. At least I can hope I live that long.

John Bohon

Come on out to Colorado John, we'll give you an intensive course.

dave

Night time firing is a whole new and different experience with oil. If you do any night running, I suggest you learn what the color of the fire means in terms of smoke and efficiency because you likely won't see the exhaust at night.

We have a peep hole (about 1" in size) where the door meets the baffle plate. If you will have a peep hole, when you have the exhaust set to no smoke and building steam, note the color of the fire. Likewise note the color when smoking, which will probably be a dull orange. Also the brighter, thinner appearance when you have too little oil or too much atomizer or both. The worst condition is building steam but not knowing you are smoking like crazy. Smoke is unburned hydrocarbon, and therefore a waste of fuel, and fouls the flues requiring frequent sanding.

Speaking of sanding, we sand only when it seems we just can't quite keep up on steam pressure. A good sanding cures the situation. However, too much sanding and you will find it builds up in the firebox and works between the bricks causing them to heave and loosen. It also accumulates in the smokebox.

I have been tempted to mount a large Maglite flashlite near the stack so I can see the exhaust at night. Finding a place to locate it is the issue. As I recall some of the mainlines had lights illuminating the exhaust at night. I plan to experiment with a light on our next night run. The next night run will be our annual Labor Day Night Train.

Once again, good luck with the conversion.

dan

www.svry.com

That is correct; the steam locomotives at Six Flags in Arlington, Texas are also oil fired, and also have a light in front of the stack. It is usually mounted on a post in front of the stack, pointing up and a little to the back.

Jim,

Do you know where I could see a photo showing the light mounting on the Six Flags locos?

dan

We have a drop light with a custom made bracket at the top of our stack for night running. We see a lot of bugs, but it's mainly done by sound and the knowledge of the line.
Because our 1910 Baldwin is a through boiler design, the peephole cannot be seen while at the firing controls withouth craning your neck around and looking in the reflection on the front of the tender. Depending on what going on, we well step to the deck and have a look at our fire or have one of the tender monkeys for the night give us a fire description.

Its been a long time since I was a mechanic on the Six Flags Over Georgia oil-fired locomotives, but as I recall, the dribble slot was below the firebox door, not at the front of the firebox. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong about that.) No. 2 diesel was the fuel. Usually, unless the train had run late the night before, there was insufficient steam pressure to start up in the morning, so shop air was used. A lighted wad of waste was tossed into the brick-lined pan and the fuel quadrant opened. Once the fuel caught up, the atomizer was opened to get a light fire to raise the temp slowly. I don't remember at what pressure we usually switched over from air to steam.

The flame was toward the front of the pan and the lower part of the firebox, as I recall. The firing setup on these engines was very simple. A quadrant was used, but the valve was a simple quarter-turn (ball) valve, so you had to monitor the fire closely. There was the fuel quadrant, a single atomizer valve and a blower valve. We sanded the flues each morning on the dry run after backing from the engine house down to the station to pick up the coaches. Sanding was usually done coming up the grade out of the second station (don't remember its name). Somewhere I have a recording of the fire, exhaust and whistle on one of the morning dry runs. The drumming of the fire overpowers most of the other sounds except when the mic was held up over the cab to get the exhaust sounds.

As mentioned elsewhere above, the blower was always cut down low when in the stations, unless you were trying to build steam. I can remember it being typical to have the blower full on when arriving at the station nearest the engine house because of the demand on the engine between there and the 2nd station on the other side of the park. (Dang it, what are those station names?????)

Hi Steve,

By the time I cam along, the burner was at front of the box. We still used the quadrant with the ball valve. At some point, they switched from #2 to Kerosene. We sanded the flues on dry run, but some of us would sneak around and sand them later in the day. Getting caught was a sure fire way to get Stanfield on your case...

The stations were Marthasville and Rabun Gap, with Marthasville being the one closest to the shop. The blower was usually wide open coming into Marthasville to build steam and water back up after the climb out of Rabun Gap (the engines were not the best drafting beasts in the world). The locomotives would maintain pressure fairly well on level track and going up the hill into Rabun Gap, but didn't keep up very well going up the "big hill" by the Free Fall. Some of us could keep steam better than others, but if you stayed too hot the injectors didn't always like to pick up completely. The little Penberthys would act up above 175 on hot days.

IIRC, the Frisco and maybe another RR or two run stack lights for night time running... Correct me if I am wrong.

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