Hi
I've created a loco service area with a turntable, ash conveyor, water, sand etc etc..... and I would like to have a loco washing area. I can only find one photo on the internet. A lady steam hosing a loco (SP I think) in the 40's and that's about all. Does anyone know what equipment they used? Or have any links to photos of a steam loco washing area? Anything?
Thanks in advance.
Barry
I just entered "washing steam locomotive" into google and received a number of photos.
Good hunting.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
I think there is som footage of loco cleaning in this video on the UP Cheyenne shops:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1txJ6u2b3c
EDIT: Sorry, it's no longer there A super 59 minute video but I haven't found it again.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Yeah, did that before but only about 3 photos.
One of Jack Delano's most famous color photos from the steam era is the woman with a scarf on her head washing a massive C&NW class H 4-8-4. I believe the hose she is using mixed high pressure steam and oil for the wash and the photo shows how the hose attached to the ground.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b2/Washing_loco.jpg
Dave Nelson
I don't recall exactly which video it is in, but I have one that shows a steam locomotive being washed using a high pressure steam hose, with the locomotive parked on a concrete pad area. The hose is connected to the side of the locomotive as the steam source.
Another one I have is about Garratt locomotives in South Africa that have a steam hose permanently connected to the side of the engine, that crew members use periodically as they're stopped for servicing.
A videotape of #611 in excursion service included washing the loco - with ordinary garden hoses, buckets, long-handled brushes (looked like street brooms) and LOTS of suds.
John Allen had a loco washer in his service area - a simple croquet hoop of thin tubing with holes drilled in the inside. It would 'spray' the loco with cigarette smoke. (He discontinued using it because the smoke messed up the area and the loco finishes.) It might be worth trying with dry ice 'smoke' - wet, but non-carcogenic.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with dirty locomotives)
Hi Dave
Yes I have that one. Have also just found this one... http://www.pinterest.com/pin/218706125629425466/
She holds a lance with a holding hoop in the middle and a valve at the other end to regulate the water / steam / suds flow. I assume that this just connects by hose to a outlet in the ground.
Thanks
I Googled this and it seems like steam is washed by hand as opposed to diesels which tend to be run though a loco wash. The loco washes looks like a shower for locos. I am guessing that steam requires a more precise stream than a diesel to keep water out of where it doesn't belong.
Joe Staten Island West
Hi Joe
Yes, diesels can go through a washer just like passenger cars.
I think I'll make a spout coming out of the ground with a hose and a lance attached for my steamers.
UP at Cheyenne had a arch made of pipe that straddled the wash track to which nozels were plumbed at frequent intervals, a mixture of steam,water and degreaser delivered under high pressure and tempature got the job done. Locomotives were pushed through the arch by a shop switcher to a drying area where wipers commenced to clean cab glass/markers/headlight/number boards,cab interior and provide a final wipe down of the tender and boiler jacket.
Dave
The wipers.
The spot cleaner.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."