How did (do) they get a fire satrted in a coal burning locomotive? Seems like I remember using corncobs and kerosene to light off the coal fired furnace, but I doubt that would be a practice in a locomotive. Thanks, Steve
On our steamer in Freeport we lay down some newspaper then kindling. Usually just old scrap wood laying around the shop. Toss some Kero on it and a light layer of coal. Add match bake at 1200 till water boils and enjoy
I seem to recall a story where after having to dump the fire a steam crew tore down someones shed and used it to get the fire going again.Lets see that happen in 2008!!
Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train
The way I've lit them up in the past from cold is first check your water level in the boiler. If you have enough water in the glass,then you can continue. Open the firebox doors and check for leaks in the crown,staybolts and flue sheets. Take a look at the grates and make sure they are not burned out or missing. Next step is you take your scoop and cover the grates with a layer of coal.Make sure it's even on the grates. then you take whatever flame source of choice( fusee, rag with kerosene or diesel),ignite it and throw it in the firebox. If you have no steam at all on the boiler and no outside drafting help, this is when things start to get smoky until you have enough steam to run the blower. While the fire begins to burn, you can attend to any other duties,such as watering the tender,filling oil cans and servicing the air pumps while steam is coming up. You may also have to scoop in some more coal as the fire begins to burn holes in the first fire you laid in,so you have to pay attention to what's going on and not get too distracted. In a couple of hours you should have enough steam to run the blower and continue to bring up the pressure. that pretty much sums it up. I may have left something out.it's been about 20 years since I lit off a coal burner. Been on oil ever since then.
txhighballer The way I've lit them up in the past from cold is first check your water level in the boiler. If you have enough water in the glass,then you can continue. Open the firebox doors and check for leaks in the crown,staybolts and flue sheets. Take a look at the grates and make sure they are not burned out or missing. Next step is you take your scoop and cover the grates with a layer of coal.Make sure it's even on the grates. then you take whatever flame source of choice( fusee, rag with kerosene or diesel),ignite it and throw it in the firebox. If you have no steam at all on the boiler and no outside drafting help, this is when things start to get smoky until you have enough steam to run the blower. While the fire begins to burn, you can attend to any other duties,such as watering the tender,filling oil cans and servicing the air pumps while steam is coming up. You may also have to scoop in some more coal as the fire begins to burn holes in the first fire you laid in,so you have to pay attention to what's going on and not get too distracted. In a couple of hours you should have enough steam to run the blower and continue to bring up the pressure. that pretty much sums it up. I may have left something out.it's been about 20 years since I lit off a coal burner. Been on oil ever since then.
One thing you forgot on the prefire inspections is to check that the pile of ashes in the ash pan are not up to the level of the grates. A coal file without draft coming up through the grates will get hot enough to melt the grate sections together.
And trust me, they can be an SOB to replace when this happens.
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That was always my wonder when this very topic came up about 3 years ago, probably in the Classic Trains forum next door. I had asked why they wouldn't just use a sizeable tiger torch, something fueled by fuel oil, kerosene, natural gas....whatever. Insert it into the firebox and let 'er rip until you could get a decent fire heating up the boiler more evenly for the sake of the flues. Kootenay Central suggests that this was done.
-Crandell
Trust me I believe you.....and I did say it's been about 20 years since I lit off a coal burner.....
txhighballer has it right. The only difference is that we also have a wood burner so have a lot of split wood around. We put a layer of split wood on top of the coal and then light it with diesel. We use a smoke jack fan to generate draft until we get 20 psi or so to start the blower.
I had heard of using a torch or a propane burner - but we are concerned about heating the boiler too fast. The old rule of thumb of a pound of steam per minute works quite well. 140 psi from a no fire start takes about 2 1/2 hours.
dd
txhighballer Trust me I believe you.....and I did say it's been about 20 years since I lit off a coal burner.....
I must not have made myself clear. I have never even seen a steamer fired from cold, let along done it myself. Rather, I have read a bit, and we had at one time a resident boiler repairman, inspector, fireman, hogger....he had many hundreds of hours on various footplates. The gentleman had been quite specific in this thread I had mentioned that it would always be best to raise steam slowly. A knowledgeable countryman of his, or someone who seemed so, disagreed and said that full steam could be raised in the majority of boilers in just a few hours. Not sure who is right, or under what circumstances either could be right.
To get back to my tiger torch supposition, I had not meant to suggest that the torch should be used to light a bed of any combustible material, but used by itself until the blower could be activated and combustibles shoveled into the firebox and lit without much in the way of an accelerant, thus not straining the flues unduly. It would be unlike the typical cylindrical combustion fairing on a traditional tiger torch, but it might have three or four such burners arranged in a rocket pack, oriented at angles from each other...diverging,...so that their heat would bloom outward and run to more flues...for obvious benefits.
Just musing.
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