Heating

[daveklepper]

I guess I experienced the full range of heat provisions, from a coal stove (OK, Imissed out on a wood stove) in the combine of the Sunccok Valley mixed to modern electric head-end power heating in Amfleet, Horizan, Superliner, and modern commuter equipment.  When did steam heat begin to be introduced?

A thought:   One item that differentiates classic commuter mu equipment from iersnterurban mus is the usual provision for steam heat so the equipment can be hauled behind steam.  In this respect, the South Shore historically was more commuter railroad than interurban.  Interurbans, possibly even Pacific Electric generally only had electric resistor heating, although I understand there were some special cases of electric heating of circulating water.  And there were early interurbans and streetcars with coal stoves.

A good topic for this time of year, so weigh in with your thoughts and data.

[rcdrye]

The "Modern" steam heat dates to the 1880s and 1890s.  The first successful hot water system was the Baker heater, sort of an in-car version of later steam heat systems, and compatible enough that it was often found in cars that were expected to require local heating - namely business cars and branch line cars.  The big breakthrough was the development of good enough packing to allow the flexible pipe arrangement that lasted most of the 20th century.

CNS&M had cars with hot water and electric heat, some with both at the same time. A big reason for choosing coal stoves was low power - heating a car often drew more power than the motors!

SP used steam heat on its commute trains of Harriman coaches and bilevels right up to CALTrain ownership, even buying new boiler-equipped engines in the 1970s.

[erikem]

In addition to improved packing for the steam line couplings, the other big breakthrough was the devlopment of the "vapor" regulators for steam heat. The basic idea was that the steam pressure would be reduced to less than a PSI above ambient, thus limiting condensation temperature to a bit oer 212F ersus the 300+F for steam at trainline pressures.