.

I seem to recall watching that episode of Thomas the Tank Engine. :)

Keep in mind that diesel is both more expensive and more volatile than recycled motor oil. As other have said, you have to be sure and get oil that's been filter etc to get rid of unwanted products. Years ago we converted the Heisler to a woodburner long enough to get back to the station after we encountered a large slug of antifreeze. Used tie butts keep enough pressure to limp home.

As for diesel, it can definitely flash a lot faster. We routinely light used waste oil off the bricks. I tried it once with diesel, huge bang, cleaned all the soot of of the tubes. Engineer calmly looks over and says "Bet you won't try that again..."

I've routinely relit both diesel and heavy refined oil off the bricks. That's the main reason for running with a touch of blower all the time. If your fire was adjusted right, and suddenly fizzles out, try shutting off your atomizer for a few seconds and then turning it back on. "Adjusted right" means with a touch of blower.

Don't ever try to relight diesel this way unless your bricks are glowing.

Sammy,
Do any physical changes have to be made to the burners when switching between diesel and heavy oils? Or is that all taken care of with the firing and firebox management?
Thanx.

Rick, To use diesel, everything has to be WATERTIGHT. Not so much with heavy oil, but even in Guatemala, we had to heat it a little. Once heated until it flows like diesel, it even LOOKS like diesel when you see it squirting out of the burner before lighting it. I'd say that heavy, refined oil (I call it "steamship fuel") handles about like diesel except it isn't as finicky --- it's much easier to keep the train happy using it. Firing straight diesel will sharpen your skills.

Refined oils work great in a steam locomotive. But, I'd rather put up with the extra trouble that recycled oil involves, because it makes so much more sense from the environmental standpoint to use oil twice, rather than only once.

To answer your specific question, a good ole Van Boden burner should be happy with anything from (heated) asphalt to diesel, to recycled (and processed) automotive shop refuse, to (straight) dirty motor oil.

Sammy,
The International Textbook Co. volume called "Locomotive Operation" from 1925 has 63 pages on oil burning. It shows the Von Boden-Ingalls burners, plus the Booth, and the Baldwin Locomotive Works burners, which are similar. A very different one was the Hammel system.
I could photocopy some of this section if anyone really needs the information. However, it will take time to do without wrecking the book. The original book marker is with it and it actually tells you how to open the book so as not to ruin the bindings. Photocopiers are not friendly to book bindings. I loaned the book to a gentleman here who was helping to set up a steam licensing course, and he must have taken that to heart because he did not wreck the binding. I could not do the copying until the slower days in winter.
Was there a standard for placement of the burner? I used to be around CNR no. 6060, which was converted to oil in the 1950s, and a little around CPR no. 1201, which was converted for excursion service in the 1970s, but can't recall how the burners were set up -- that is nearly 50 years ago!
Thanx again.

Rick,

I'd like to buy a n original copy of the ICS textbook devoted to "Firing of Locomotives", IIRC. (If anybody has a copy to sell, please shoot me a PM.) Anything I know about firing with oil is from the old timers telling me how to do it, or from my job experiences.

However, I asked Ed Dickens about the Canadian system, which he experienced first hand. It was designed so that it would be easier to convert locomotives from coal to oil or vice versa, and it differs from the American system in that the burner is placed under the door sheet, and aimed at the center of the flash wall which is located so as to protect the throat sheet. The idea is that the fire will be directed around the arch bricks before it enters the tubes, and he said it worked excellent. However, that's all I can tell you, except:

Take Care & WORK SAFE

Sammy,
Very interesting.
I remember a couple of incidents with no. 6060 with flash events that started fires. I expect they were using diesel.
One was at London, Ontario, Saturday overnight at the roundhouse between a 2-trip weekend there. There was a "burp" and a flash that got outside the firebox and up the side of the cab. She needed a quick overnight paint job to spruce up the side of the cab. Another time was at a water stop northeast of Toronto. Something similar happened, but was only very brief and no damage done. Not sure what caused this? Perhaps a gulp of some more volatile liquids through the burner?
I was in the cab getting in the way on no.1201 during a slow warm up in Ottawa. Again, I believe they were firing diesel. The esteemed Monsieur Dufresne, who was oiling around outside, suddenly appeared in the cab door to say the fire had gone out and don't touch anything! There were some well controlled procedures performed, and the fire relit with some oily waste. All was well! Whew!

You got to keep you blower on hard enough so that if something unexpected happens like a wheel slip while working hard that sucks your fire out, then the engineer shuts off, that the DREADED WHITE GAS doesn't accumulate in the firebox when raw fuel gets splashed on those glowing bricks.....

Another scenario --- you're parked at the platform and a bunch of little kids are all around your power getting an eye full, when your fire suddenly stops breathing. If you've left your blower on, this is no big deal, just turn off your atomizer for a few seconds, then turn it back on and nobody will know the difference. But if you didn't ......... KA BBBOOOOMMMMMM !!!!!!!!

We currently use re-refined used motor oil, which is processed to remove water and other stuff that isn't oil. It fires just fine during summer (our only operating season) without preheating, this is on a CN 4-6-0 with the rear burner setup.

It would be more accurate to refer to unmodified used oil as "liquid waste", since the tank will become a home for anything and everything the originating shop produced. As mentioned this can mean quite a bit of water and antifreeze, as well as things like transmission fluid (which may contain flame retardants).

In the past someone had worked out a deal for us to get free fuel in the form of waste from one of the local municipal bus garages. This stuff fired ok once the engine was hot and it was mixed up in the tank, but lighting up from cold was awful (we don't have an external source of steam, only compressed air). Letting it sit for a while and then draining the water from the bottom of the tank helped, as did blowing air back through the fuel line to mix up the contents of the tender tank before trying to light up. We still do both of those things just to be safe, though the re-refined used oil contains minimal water.

We had our tender's oil tank steam cleaned a few years ago. There was quite the layer of solid sludge that had accumulated on the bottom, likely largely composed of metal shavings and shop floor sweepings from the bus 'stuff', along with at least one hard hat and a pair of disposable coveralls (no bones, don't worry).

It was interesting to compare the Canadian and American oil firing setups while CN 1392 and APXX 41 were operating together on the Alberta Prairie Railway in 2017. One thing I noticed was that 41 constantly made a slight blue haze while being lightly fired, whereas 1392 did not.

In Guatemala we usually had no source of steam for fireups. With heavy oil, we would get started by putting some burning oil soaked waste (yes, we had real wool waste) on the fuel line for awhile. After I turned the guys on to diesel, they rigged up a tee on the fuel line and set a barrel of diesel on the running board with a rubber hose to the fuel line. after we got enough steam to work the tank heater, we'd remove the barrel with a forklift, and away we went. I convinced the natives that diesel was best, while they convinced me that steamship fuel is. Go figger.

Before I started at Texas State, they had an SP 4-6-0 that had sat for a long time before they fixed it up and started running it. Oil had dried into a very tough asphalt shingle like layer on the bottom of the fuel tank. after using diesel for a few years, this had loosened up a bit. One day they took off and had to open the firing valve all the way because a piece of this blocked off the fuel line. When they stopped, it sloshed off the fuel line and a huge column of fire shot out the stack. They pulled the pin when THAT happened...