A question about railways technical language.

[Anonymous]

What's the word describing all the mantainance operations performed on a steam engine before and after a trip (from starting the fire, oiling the rods, keeping the fire
alive while the engine is idle, cleaning the smokebox etc.) ?


Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Stoking?

I'm pretty sure the guys that used to be responsible for starting the fires and keeping them going were called Stokers.

[BNSFNUT]

The person who serviced the locomotives is called a hostler. He also moved locomotives around in the shop area and move serviced locomotives to the ready track for the road crew to pick up.

[cefinkjr]

I'd say that "turning" would have referred to the whole process and that regardless of whether the engine's direction was reversed. I often heard old timers on the NYC in the early 70s use that term when they meant all of the actions required to prepare a diseasel lash-up for another run.

BTW: A 'stoker' on American steam boats (and steam ships?) was what we in railroading would call a 'fireman'. My Dad spent 35 years on river boats (steam and Diesel) and advanced from stoker to 'striker' (junior engineer) to engineer to chief engineer in that time. Unlike our firemen, the stoker was dropped when Diesel replaced steam on the rivers around Pittsburgh.

[jeaton]

This thread brought back something.

My father was a stationary engineer at Swift & Co's Chicago Stock Yards operations from 1938 until 1946. He operated the huge Wankel steam engines that powered the amonia pumps for the refrigeration systems. For those not familiar, these were reciprical steam powered engines with a fly wheel that I guess was at least 20 feet in diameter. A rod fastened to the fly wheel moved the piston for the amonia pump.

The number two man in this operation was known as an oiler.

With that I have a question. Does any one know what fuel was used for these particular engines? I don't remember ever asking or being told about that.

Jay

[Anonymous]

"Coal! Oil has always been very expensive in Chicago relative to coal. The Illinois and Indiana oilfields that led to the location of the Standard of Indiana refinery at Whiting were never large enough to exceed the demand for refined products in Chicago, first kerosene and later gasoline."

do you remember the source for this position? would it be fair to assume that this is true for the majority of the midwest,ie, cleveland, milwaukee, st.louis as well as chicago? i believe that the entire northern indiana and ohio refinery industry was heavily supplied by texas pipeline oil (Across this Land: John C. Hudson).

[jeaton]

Mark

Given the close proximity of the Illinois coal fields, your response makes sense. In fact I know of at least two other coal fired inductrial applications still in operation as late as the mid to late 60's. One was Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago complex and the other was Markham Yard.

By the time I went to work for Old Ben Coal in 1984, coal use for heat and power in operations other than electric utility plants had become next to nothing. We did have a one year contract to supply coal to several General Motor's plants. I don't think it was more than 300 to 400 carloads for the entire year.

All though this is a little off topic, I did have a chance to see what may have been the last Wankel in operation at Swift somewhere around 1960. Quite a sight. It brought new meaning to the story my father told about the time a govenor malfunctioned and he had to shut down an engine that was getting into a dangerous over speed condition. The flywheel was spinning fast enough to splatter oin on the walls and ceiling of the engine room.

Jay

[Anonymous]

re hudson: try " the making of the corn belt " . sadly gives little treatment to rail, however,
it covers so much else so very well.

[Anonymous]

"Now that's a book I don't have, and need! There is very little written about the development and economics of cash-crop farming in the U.S. and Canada, .."
hudson ties an awful lot together very nicely.

Indiana University Press 1994
extensively referenced and footnoted.
254 pages, you should be able to finish it off
over a long lunch.

[jeaton]

Mark

I don't know if this would have the thing you are looking for, but Tom Hieronymus wrote quite a bit on ag economics as a professor at the U of Illinois Ag School. Just a thought.

Jay

[Anonymous]

Thank you people for all the kind answers.

I'm working on the engli***ranslation of an historical trains association (AVTS, Verona, Italy) and I needed an english word pairing our "accudienza" that includes all the laborer activities in Mr. Hemphill post plus wiping the engine and banking the fire.

Thank you again.

G.U. Lauri

[zardoz]

BNSFnut, et.al

At outlying points where the locomotive stays at the place where the crew goes on duty, the daily inspections and routine servicing such as taking fuel, water, and sand must be done by the engineer. The locomotives are exchanged as needed for more thorough (and required) inspections and repairs.

[martin.knoepfel]

Does anyone know: do the Wankel steam engines have any connection to the Wankel-motor, which is used in some cars?