Reading through the FAQ on the NC&STL 576 restoration page, I came across a statement that it is fitted with Superior Soot Blowers. Is this a fancy name for a type of overfire jet fitted to the sides of the firebox?

No, they aren’t over fire jets. These directed a stream of steam at the rear flue sheet to supposedly clear honeycomb, soot, and cinders from the flues. Google books has this article from Railway Age describing them: https://books.google.com/books?id=kgcjA ... 22&f=false

They are a corporate successor to a company called Inferior Soot Blowers whose business model left something to be desired... and marketed under the names Huron Soot Blowers and Michigan Soot Blowers in Canada before the tariffs.

I worked a few years in a 1936 Power Plant with 6 Riley 800 lb boilers and 1 B&W.

One of the older head operators who I worked for told me that if I ever got short of time on a swing shift when we were supposed to blow soot, to be sure and at least get the ones that were dedicated to the superheater section as these were of the most benefit as we distributed steam about a half mile to the north end of the Refinery.

These devices function by using a jet of h.p. steam to clean off accumulated soot from the outside of tubes thus increasing heat transfer.

So does anybody have RR applications or pictures to share on this? I figured it was something on this order. Did they work in RR application better than sand in a oil burner? Have never heard or seen anything on this in RR application. Many things I have not seen so I thought it interesting. Will have to google this'

So Dave, what do you remember from the 1970s? Funny.

Regards, John.

Does this set you right?

Also, this:

I rebuilt a pair for our GTW 4-8-4 #6325 back in 2000. You can see the fireman's side in the picture just above running board behind second air tank.

We rebuilt them back to the drawings and they worked for awhile. You would run them prior to coming into station to clean the tube sheet. It would turn stack dark for a few seconds and then clear again. We typically ran Pocahontas Coal, so smoke and ash were not much of a concern for us. They were neat but hardly ever used. I am not aware of any other engines running with them.

After awhile, they would just blow steam, they would stop oscillating up and down. We never bothered to tear them apart to see what needed to be done. I am sure it was some debris inside on of the slide valves stopping the steam passage. I have a feeling that is what happened back in the days of steam and they weren't used much.

I have to think a smooth talking salesman sold the railroads at time to keep people happy at station stops. In theory it would be a good solution, reality is much different.

It just never ceases to amaze me the level of complexity of the auxiliaries and accessories in the last few decades of steam.

Thank you for all the responses! Definitely not what I originally expected. If anything, more interesting for sure! To those that provided experiences and technical data, thank you for contributing to this interesting and highly educational topic.

Is there really a need for this on a coal burner? I would think the fly ash would scour things clean. The same way one sands the flues on an oil burner but I've never heard of that with coal.

It's a reason the Locomotive Cyclopedia went from an all-time high in pages in the 1944 and 1947 editions to much smaller editions in 1952 and 1956. Diesels did not have as many add-on auxiliary items.

It's like Jason said. You blew the soot as you came in to a station stop. THEN, you did not eject the soot in the first exhausts as you pulled away from the platform.