So you want to be a railroad fireman?

[jacon12]

I thought I'd pass this along to all the steam fans here. I read a good bit of it and found it interesting, though a lot of the terms were unfamilar..
http://www.forecyte.com/firing/index.html
Jacon

[chutton01]

Of all the jobs on a steam-era railroad, I always thought the fireman had it the worst, particularly when they talk about shoving tons of coal per trip... I guess I am surprised it took so long for the automatic stoker to be accepted (pretty much only a few decades before steam locomotives were mostly phased out). Even the pre-airbrake brakemen who ran along the icy roof-waks setting brakes in driving sleet seemed to have it better (what did those guys do with trainloads of hopper cars full of ore and coal anyway? - or even better, with empty high-sided hoppers?).
OK, perhaps the poor smuck at the engine terminal who had to shovel ashes from the loco-pit into a gondola all day had it a bit worse than a loco-fireman.

[jacon12]

I know! I can't imagine doing that on a blazing hot July day, even when I was a young man.
Chutton, maybe you can tell me... what was the hostler? I think I spelled it right.
Jarrell

[jwr_1986]

Hostlers worked at the engine servicing facilities. They would move the engine around in the facility and to the ready track when it was done being serviced. Basically he was like the guy at the car dealership who goes out in the lot to get your car.

[chutton01]

Darn you, jwr_1986, you beat me to the answer handily.
Anyway, jwr_1986 nailed it, but I can add that several types of cab-style locomotives (including the compartively recent P40 Genesis) had rear windows called "Hostler Windows" http://www.4rr.com/INTRO/info001009.jpg (which have since been removed on the P40s - wonder why?) to help the hostler move these babies in reverse.
Especially important on the old-style B-units...

[bikerraypa]

Here's a book that gives you some of the other aspects, and it is a really fun read:

http://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=26363459&src=frg


Ray

P.S. my grandfather was a fireman on the PRR Low Grade Line back in the steam days, then became an engineer after they dieselized.