Actually....Walschaert gear in outside admission form was fairly common once locomotives grew large enough that there wasn't enough room for inside Stephenson gear or the weight of it made handling the Johnson bar difficult. Superheated steam temperatures and old time steam oils made keeping slide valve seats lubed encouraged adoption of piston valves. George Sapp tells me you could order the Hot Rod piston valve and superheater conversion kits from the railroad edition of J C Whitney catalog back in the old days but I've never found a copy. I did have the great experience of working on a converted 2-8-0 that was very hard to hook up - the Johnson bar had a mind of its own and more muscle than me.

dave

Eastern road oil burners:

New York Central, had some K-11 Pacifics equipped for summer service on the Adirondack Division (yes, where ADK Scenic runs today) due to fire hazards.

NYNH&H, had three K-class 2-6-0s equipped, for west end wire train power (the only steam power regularly used on the west end, west of New Haven)

Howard P.

Howard's post jogged my memory (maybe-). Didn't D&H have a few locomotives that were seasonally converted between coal and oil, for the same reason as the NYC engines?

The N&W's brief flirtation with oil-burning steam locomotives came in late 1946 during the United Mine Workers strike. In mid-November the N&W purchased 2 sets of oil-burning equipment from the Santa Fe. K1 class 4-8-2's #'s 107 & 108(?) were converted to oil fuel. They were then assigned to trains 9/10 and 11/12, the Bluefield to Williamson local passenger runs. (For those of you not familiar with the N&W, that is the heart of the coalfields, and was home to many of the striking miners). Rather than an experiment in alternative fuel, this was more of a raising of a "corporate digit" to the miner's union. Plans were also announced for the conversion of of a number of other locomotives including some Class A's, although company records only show the purchase of the 2 sets of burners & accessories. The locomotives reverted to coal fuel in early 1947 after the strike ended.

OT, my mother, spent her early years migrate in the late 1930's, in the west, moved to Columbus, Ohio part early in WWII. Soon after moving, at school was asked what powered trains and ended up being sent to principal's office for refusing to concede that oil was the wrong answer.

Bob

How about coal smell from a diesel? When the SP was running the ex-Pacific Electric lines out of Baldwin Park, CA with EMD switchers (around 1967), the caboose stoves still used coal, so on a cold morning a most bituminous aroma came from the ready track. I have movies of this operation; too bad they aren't in Smell-o-Vision. Here in California, coal burners were very scarce after about 1910. Pacific Southwest Ry. Museum acquired a coal-burning 0-6-0 from Pennsylvania (the state, not the railroad) back in the late 60's or early 70's and ran it a few times at Orange Empire, making it probably the only operating coal-burner west of Colorado at the time. During various special events, coal-burning engines from England have visited California, with their crews bringing a supply of native fuel.

The funny thing about firing an oil fired locomotive is that it takes a different set of skills to be successful. The comunication between engineer & fireman is even more important when burning oil. Slip the wheels on an oil burner & you can suck the fire right out of an oil burner unless the oil valve is opened up. Also not only do you have to worry about the fuel supply & water level but add air damper adjustment & steam atmozier settings.
We burn mainly used motor oil in #401. Do I miss burning coal? In some way's I say yes BUT It is real hard to get "GOOD" coal the correct size for hand firing here in East Central Illinois. Transportation costs for good coal are way to high to make it feasable. Most coal is produced as stoker coal which is to small to hand fire. We are getting used motor oil free or very cheap.

Dave Huffman

Don't forget that most, if not all, of the FEC's steam fleet were oil burners. Odd, maybe, but this is what comes when the owner was a partner in Standard Oil.

Odd? Florida has no reserves of coal handy, but oil is a close as the Gulf. Odd if they chose coal.

dave

Dave -

I hope that wasn't meant as a "tongue in the cheek" comment.

Les

Moi?

Typo aside, a real condition. Bagasse burns too fast and takes up too much room, phosphate doesn't make good fuel, cypress and other southern hardwoods and conifers are worth more as lumber and turpentine than as locomotive food. Oil from nextdoor or coal from West Virginia - Alabama used theirs for steelmaking - especially when Flagler was an oil baron anyhow?

FEC used molasseslike bunker oil, melted down to flow through a burner cored in concentric rings. Atomizing steam come through the central core, oil through the next core our, and it had a steam heating jacket outside of it all. Cool for pre WW I technology.

dave