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FT Demonstrators On Passenger Trains?
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As to the "steam generator stack" on the dynamometer car and the business car . . . . <br /> <br />One would expect a dynamometer car and any business car to have its own, independent heating system. Not only were cars of this type expected to be carried in trains where they couldn't be supplied with heating steam from the locomotive, but they often were set out on sidings (while occupied, or at least where they wouldn't have their water systems drained -- with attendant concern of freezing in cold weather). <br /> <br />The stacks on the dyno and the business car could indicate the presence of an ordinary coal- or oil-fired stove or (more likely, especially in the business cars) a coal fired Baker or Vapor hot water heater. <br /> <br />The Baker heaters, which operated much like a hydronic, or hot water, heating system in a home, were used in railroad applications since the late 1860s. The Baker stoves heated water in a closed system, and the water (or low pressure steam) flowed by convection through the radiator pipes. However, and here's the important point, by the 1880s, the Baker stand-alone system was equipped so that it could be augmented by heat steam from a locomotive. This involved piping capable of withstanding higher pressures and trainline steam connections at the car ends. Don't take my word for this; google "baker heater" and see what you find. <br /> <br />Also, the Baker and Vapor systems installed in rolling stock were capable only of heating the individual car in which they were housed. They didn't produce sufficient steam flow or pressure to do more. A true "steam generator car" like those on GN required substantial storage capacity for the great amonts of water and fuel they consumed while heating a train. This is another reason a dynamometer car or business car couldn't serve as a steam heat car for a train. <br /> <br />So the sight of a stove stack on a dynamometer or business car does nothing to prove or disprove the existence of a steam generator on the locomotive to which it is coupled. It's as likely as not that the cars in question had Baker or similar systems which, at the time in question, would be expected to be coupled up to steam lines from the locomotive in cold weather climates. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
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