Linked from an inquiry on oil-burning steam engines on the Bachmann model railroad site, what is likely a classic on the firing up of an oil-burning steamer:

http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/hostling.html

I recall reading this particular article a few years back and finding it a bit remarkable that the author could/would take a locomotive of that size from being completely cold at 5AM to running at 11AM. Six hours seems like a pretty short interval to heat up that much steel and not introduce a fair amount of stress. Having visited quite a number of steam operations in the last five years however, I'm finding that this practice is not that uncommon. I recently watched another museum bring up a pair of somewhat smaller engines in just 4 hours, using shop air to run the blower from the very start.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, one east coast operation that I've been to many times places a torpedo heater in the firebox for many hours prior to even starting a fire. They typically light the match during the daylight hours of the day before the engine will go into service.

I'm wondering, does the tourist railroad industry have any general guidelines as to what time intervals are appropriate for any given size steam engine? Having a mechanical engineering and materials background, I'm speculating that the guys with the torpedo heater and the very gradual start-up process are probably doing less heavy maintenance in the long run.

/Kevin

The more care and time you take to fire up and the attention to properly shutting down an oilburner will pay off in less leaky flues and staybolts. All of this metal has to grow gradually. If you sit on an engine which is being fired up, you can hear the little thumps and noises of the boiler moving.
What the heck was this guy firing up that held 5000 gallons of water? We always figured the 1522 to be around 3000 full.

So, what's going on with 153 these days? Anything?

Les

Apparently his imagination....

A quick Google search shows the engine to be #153 at the Gold Coast Museum.

Their website says the boiler diameter is 61" at the front course. So, using that number in a handy online calculator, in order to hold 5,000 gallons, the boiler would have to be 400 inches (33.3 feet) long, before you even begin deducting the volume occupied by the tubes, smokebox and firebox.

So, assuming he hadn't climbed on board 3985 by mistake (not sure even it would use that much), he was apparently exaggerating a bit.

Or it was a typo.

Heating it about 275 degrees in 6 hours, less then a degree a minute, with water 'convecting' around to even out the temperature, can't be any more stress then running it. , think of the pounding and flexing it gets running. Just having the fireman be a bit slow and loosing pressure fast with subsequently firing it harder to catch back up seems to me like it would be tons more stress.

Robert

In my experience, once the boiler has reached the point at which steam to light the main burner and run the blower is stable, you can do so within reason - and forcing it is beyond most boilers capability at low pressures anyhow - without concern about thermally overstressing the boiler. 6 hours isn't too fast for a light pacific or a logging mike.......maybe a bit rapid for a 2-8-8-2. The creaking and groaning under pressure is mostly expanding steam, not heat expansion of metal at that point anyhow.

I've seen 150 PSI in 2 hours and THAT is scary.

dave

A little late to be critiquing this article. I remember first reading it back in the mid-1990s. Thought it was the real deal because I knew next to nothing about steam and found the article endlessly informative. STILL think it is the real deal because it is pretty much right on in terms of what has to happen and in what order.

In the pre FRA Part 230 days not many places had faced the music regarding worn out fireboxes yet, or learned the consequences of improper fire-up procedures. It was probably perfectly normal to heat up a boiler like that because nobody knew any better. Of course we are more careful now, after sinking $500K into boiler repairs that have to last for 15 years.

I would agree it's the real deal.

My "Firing up his imagination" comment was made in jest (mostly because it was a good pun for the "what was he firing up?" question) and only in related to the stated water volume in the boiler, i.e. he was imagining a bigger loco than the one he was on.

The fact that one figure is questionable doesn't ruin the entire article! The 5,000 gallon figure could be a typo, simply an "order of magnitude" estimate, a bit of exaggeration, maybe the quantity the tender usually takes, who knows? But the article sounds fine, and as others have mentioned the 5 or 6 hours he takes to steam her up seems reasonable.

Robert,
I'm not asking in a mean way, but have you been around an oilburner as it brought up from dead cold?

I've had the pain/pleasure of firing up a Baldwin logging Mike at North Freedom and have always been struck by the great temperature differential between the firebox water legs above and below the brick line as the engine comes up.
Forgive me if I'm covering something you already know, but the firebox is lined with refractory brick on the floor and part way up the sides partially to protect the steel from direct contact with the flame. This also contributes to the most interesting effect that I have been able to hold my hand on the wrapper sheet below the brick line but above the mudring while there was about 15 psi on the boiler and the main burner was lit. My best uncalibrated guess is the wrapper sheet was around 120 F (admittedly near the threshold of pain) while the steam space would have been (according to saturated steam tables) about 250 F.
Why, you may ask? I would offer as part of it the convection you mentioned. The crown & tubes will heat faster without the brick between the flame & the steel. As the warmer water from the crown rises, some water will flow in from the barrel area and the coldest of that will drop into the water legs and effectively behind the brick lining.
I in no way discount the mechanical beating a boiler gets pounding down the rails. I likewise won't discount the thermal stress of trying to catch up after making a mistake. But looking at the saturated steam tables the temperature difference (from a misbehaving fireman) between 150 psig and 180 psig is a bit over 13 F. I'll let you draw your own conclusion here.
At North Freedom we would try to allow about 8 hours or so on the day before operation to bring the engine up from dead cold to around 100 psig. That was normally enough to ensure the boiler was sound and there was enough steam left in the morning to light off the main burner and not have to fool with external sources on the morning of operation.
I read the article myself a few years ago and think it is a classic case of Your Mileage May Vary. It gives a fairly good feel for what was necessary in that engine house at that time and is written in an entertaining way that is sneakily educational.
All this is my opinion and worth what you've paid for it...mld

I have fired them up from "relatively" cold iron to 200 PSI in about four hours. The rule I was taught to follow when firing up is one pound per minute. If the boiler water is already warm then it does want to come up even more quickly, and you just have to keep a keen eys on the guage and your fire.

I still favor a nice slow fireup. Once you hit 80-100psi you can kick up the burner a little, but I don't see a point if trying to set a speed record. 1522 would grow about an inch judging by the paint marks on the pipes alongside that ran through slip fit hangers.
Could notice it in the waist sheets also.

@Frisco1522

While we have your attention, I must ask something I've been pondering about all these years regarding 1522. Hands down, I think that locomotive had/has the absolute BEST sounding exhaust of any locomotive I've seen. Now, when I say "BEST" I'm not pulling out my foamer card and saying that because it chugs and goes "woo!". What I am referring to is the sharpness and balanced characteristics of her exhaust. She was perfectly quartered and there was not an ounce of blow by in either her valves or cylinders. I remember many occasions when she had a decent load on her where her exhaust would EASILY drown out her whistle. If you don't mind me asking, what was your secret? My hat is off to whomever did the machining/quartering work.

Best,
DC

At the other end of the "gentle firing up" spectrum, I heard a story from a retired gentleman in Charleston that was riding an N&W passenger train through Roanoke in the late 50's behind an ailing leased ACL E unit. While they waited, a J was pulled out of a siding and brought up to full pressure in well under an hour (!) and their train departed behind steam power.

On top of that, the gentleman said he was wearing a white linen suit but he couldn't resist standing outside as they force-fired the J up to pressure. I imagine he was quite a sight after that.

Maybe a tale, but a good one!