General Discussion (Classic Trains)

Hi,

I have recently read in a book published in 1875 that heat loss from a locomotive boiler was reduced by covering the boiler and dome with wood, called lagging, and then covering the wood with smooth, polished iron.  I am wondering if the steam locomotives of the 30's - 50's also used some kind of insulator between the boiler and outer shell, and if so what was used?

Asbestos?

Yes, asbestos was common.

That is also why now so many steam engines on static display in locations such as the Railroaders Museum of PA, at Strasburg, and elsewhere have had the boiler jacketing removed.

The environmental nutjobs enacted regulations that demanded that the hazardous waste be removed/cleaned-up.

Since many of the museums are on limited funding, we are left looking at unsightly, unjacketed steam locomotives because a substitute for the lagging has not yet been installed (and on some engines may never be).

Might as well have just sent 'em to scrap as left them rotting outside without their jackets???  Perhaps some will say no, others yes...

John

Back in the Sixties steam was done and over one hundred were gathered for scrapping. Laid-off fitters from the main shops were called back, give a quickie tutorial in operation of cutting torches and put to work on the condemned.

Three parallel tracks were used, piping for Oxygen and Acetylene laid out adjacent.

Steam engines, rods off, were brought up by a Judas Diesel five at a time, and spaced out on the centre track.

A steam crane was on the one outside track, a Diesel crane with a magnet on the other outside track.

Almost first move was to rip the cabs off with the crane, their interior wood lining often ablaze from the cutting torches, paint peeling.

Then they cut the outer tin jacketing to get at the boiler and firebox.

When the boiler shells were cut through, and holes cut for hooks, the big steam crane would yank sections of the top of the boiler off in a cloud of asbestos dust, the cutters on the running boards turning their heads but, surrounded in the white and rust cloud none the less.

The Asbestos block lagging held to the boiler shell by metal straps

Ugly to watch, but captivating.

Scrapping Diesels is NOT the same!

The big steam crane would lift the whole cylinder casting up, after cutting it free from the frame, the valve motion, crosshead and guides and brackets,  the pilot, the front truck suspension, if applied, and the smokebox, and swing it into an awaiting gon, 3 to a car.

After the crews quit, we would climb up into the eviscerated engines to look around, watching out for hot slag.

Waste, wood, coal and oil were always smouldering, shrouding the scene like a War film.

Messy, dirty and stink.

Piles of driving boxes in a heap for their yellow metal.

Ditto headlights, for whatever reason.

Gauges, injectors, tri cocks, cab lights and other appliances scattered all around.

Wonder how the labourers who worked day after day in the white clouds of asbestos dust fared in later years..

 One of the One Hundred. Scrapped serviceable. With a tender full of coal.

http://www.railways.incanada.net/Articles/art2006_12.JPG 

 Fifty years ago.

What about the lagging on steam locomotives currently in service?

UP 4-12-2:

Since many of the museums are on limited funding, we are left looking at unsightly, unjacketed steam locomotives because a substitute for the lagging has not yet been installed (and on some engines may never be).

An example - Yellowstone in Proctor MN

Thanks everyone for the replies so far.  I too am now curious about what is used for lagging in locomotives currently in use.

They used fiberglass batten, shaved and trimmed with sharp knives, when they restored CPR 2816 10 years ago.

-Crandell

Removing the lagging from display locos that are outside is a good thing. The lagging can get wet and keep moisture against the boiler rotting it out or making the boiler shell thin in spots. Not a good thing if someone wants to restore it to operate.

True, removing the lagging would help the preservation of the engine somewhat. However, you know as well as I do that some of the people who've removed the boiler jacket won't be around if or when it is ever time to re-apply it.  In most cases, I bet the current owner/maintainer of the engine doesn't even know which piece of boiler jacket goes where on what engine (assuming they have more than one).  I bet it's easy for stuff like that to get "lost" (pilfered, taken as a souvenir, etc.) or scrapped.

Thanks Kootenay Central for a very interesting, though very sad, story!

John