A few months ago I watched an engineer spray cold water on the smokebox area of a hot steam locomotive. He did this several times over the course of 10 minutes or so, headed back to the cab and seemed to look intently at the gauges in between sprayings. This was winter and he was not washing the thing. This happened in between runs and the engine was moving again 15 minutes later. I can't figure out why he was doing this but it made me a little nervous. Was he trying to correct a dangerous condition or what? I'm not going to say where I saw this until I know more about why an engineer would possibly do this.

That's an interesting one, but I expect more harmless than you envision. Even if he were trying to correct some condition, (which I think is quite unlikely,) the smokebox isn't part of the pressure vessel. In the event of a smokebox failure of some type a locomotive would be crippled or possibly even stranded, but it wouldn't in anyway impair the opperation of the break system, or endanger the boiler that I can see. It would impair proper drafting, making the locomotive difficult or impossible to steam properly, and I would think that's about it.

On the other hand, if he were just cleaning someting, (which I think is probably more likely, say cleaning off a marker lamp maybe,) he would still need to keep an eye on the fire, steam pressure, and water levels. In order to do that, he'd have to step back to the cab and glance at the gauges and sight glass.

Now on another note, a steam locomotive is indeed a fearsome and wonderfull thing that needs to be respected lest it kill one. (I love them deeply, but forgiving they're not. More Old Testament locomotives really, if you'll pardon the religious pun in my locomotive "worship.") They should of course be opperated only by skilled professionals trained in the proper care and feeding of the beasties. So you're right to be cautious, but if the operators in question are carefull and responsible, which we expect and hope they are, then you've nothing to worry about. I can see no reason to spray water on the smoke box at any time for any reason save to clean it. And no matter when it was, there could always be something that would be important to keep clean. (Especially in winter, on a snowy foggy day, when good lights would be more important to visibility, and more prone to getting obscured by snow, dirt, or a combination of the two.)

Sincerely,
David Ackerman

That does make some sense, and when you consider that this a smaller engine and the engineer works solo without the benefit of a fireman; the running around is understandable. I still can't figure out what he was doing though. The only reason I was concerned is because this is an isolated railroad not covered under F.R.A regs and some of the engineers are not very experienced (try six weeks training and then their running solo, others have many years of experience; I'm not sure which type was engineer that day) and from what I understand due to the nature of the railroad, no operators license is required. But it has always seemed to me that they run a safe operation.