Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
First off, it might pop. It would burn. Temperatures in a firebox are 'way above ideal popcorn popping level.
Then, whatever reached the smokebox would either be small enough to pass through the screen, or big enough to foul it.
It's a safe bet that whatever made it out the stack would not be recognizable as popcorn.
Chuck (Las Vegas resident)
I guess you have to dump the popcorn down the stack:
http://youtu.be/vSQewMHS-LI
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
I've heard of pizza from a coal-fired oven, why not coal-fired popcorn?
You'd be better off doing it Jiffy-Pop style in a sealed container to prevent your corn from tasting sulfur-ish.
Hey Firelock! Why are we always online at the same time?
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Penny Trains You'd be better off doing it Jiffy-Pop style in a sealed container to prevent your corn from tasting sulfur-ish. Hey Firelock! Why are we always online at the same time?
I dunno, spooky ain't it?
This is where I come to unwind, although sometimes I get wound up!
Anyway, Lady Firestorm's got the remote tonight and is doing some exploring. 350 channels and nuthin's on! Isn't progress wonderful?
David Wardale in "Red Devil" writes of his mentor L. D. Porta working a steam locomotive for Cuba (Porta was from Argentina, and I guess they didn't have restrictions as in the U.S. regarding commerce with Cuba, but don't everyone start getting all political on me, Porta was going to build an improved steam locomotive for Cuba).
The locomotive was supposed to burn a "biofuel" in the form of sugar cane waste, that they have a lot of in Cuba. This is not a very good locomotive fuel, and Porta needed some way to stir the charge of fuel on the firebed without requiring the fireman to constantly go at it with the fire irons. His idea was small explosive charges -- stoking the locomotive with the sugar cane waste mixed with firecrackers.
I got it, popcorn! You feed the boiler with a biofuel with popcorn kernels mixed in, and as the stoker feed contacts the firebed, you get the stirring action from popping.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Sugar cane waste is officially called "Bagasse." When I started working for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company in 1991 as an inspector, we had a form that asked what the fuel was for the boiler in question and there was oil, gas, wood, coal and bagasse. I had to ask my boss what that was. Not a lot of sugar cane waste in the Northeastern U.S. I suppose.
I was once at a beach party on Long Island with a big bonfire and someone tried to do a Jiffy-pop in it. The fire burnt it up instantly. All that was left was the wire ring and handle. Oh well. No popcorn that night!
When I was growing up I would visit a favorite tourist railroad. The crew would be making breakfast in the firebox. Wrap bacon in foil, place on coal scoop, insert coal scoop into firebox for about 30 - 45 seconds and the result was great bacon. The crew had it down to a science.
Well then, that's the trick! It has to be done very quickly!
There's a scene in the Disney film "The Great Locomotive Chase" where the "Generals" engineer and fireman (engineer played by Slim Pickens) are frying bacon on the backhead!
I'm sure old-time head-end crews really did that, and I'm sure the grease was good for putting a nice polish on the iron!
Watching it made me hungry...
pajrrWhen I was growing up I would visit a favorite tourist railroad. The crew would be making breakfast in the firebox. Wrap bacon in foil, place on coal scoop, insert coal scoop into firebox for about 30 - 45 seconds and the result was great bacon. The crew had it down to a science.
A real crew wouldn't bother with the foil.
Saw a video of the Nevada Northern doing just that, minus the foil.
When I was a kid we used to pop corn in the coal furnace. We had a special covered steel pan with a very long handle that was made just to pop corn in a fire.
BoydWhy can't I subscribe to my own thread?
OK I logged in and now get replies.
Any thread you start will be under "Your Discussions".
As to burning bagasse, that was the fuel used on sugar plantations to heat the juice of the cane to condense it to the point that it would granulate. You would press the juice out of the cane, and then use the fiber that was left to heat the juice. I do not doubt that the smell of burnt sugar pervaded the operation.
Johnny
Reminds me of making coffee on the exhaust manifold of an M-48 tank. (Hey, we had to let the engine run to keep the batteries charged anyway so we weren't wasting Uncle's gasoline.) SOP was to have a coffee pot on an exhust manifold if we were going to be stopped for more than 15 minutes. Irritated the heck out of nearby Infantry units.
ChuckAllen, TX
You know, I just remembered that I have a cartoon on DVD somewhere that claims popcorn was invented in a manner similar to the original question. I believe it was a stationary mill engine but the toon clearly showed popcorn coming out of the stack! And it was one of those educational cartoons too!
cefinkjr Reminds me of making coffee on the exhaust manifold of an M-48 tank. (Hey, we had to let the engine run to keep the batteries charged anyway so we weren't wasting Uncle's gasoline.) SOP was to have a coffee pot on an exhust manifold if we were going to be stopped for more than 15 minutes. Irritated the heck out of nearby Infantry units.
Why, because they could smell the coffee and you didn't offer them any?
Down the engine room of my ship guys would heat up cans of C-rations as the food from the galley was often inedible. Put a vent hole in the top of the can and put it on a steam line and you had hot grub in a few minutes. One guy put a can of beans on and didn't put a vent in the can. BAM! It was like an episode of the Three Stooges!
OK, probably a dumb question, but what makes the chuf-chuf on the tank engine? There's no piston movement, so it's not from the cylinders. Does the air pump exhaust through the smokebox?
Interesting, a friend who's retired engineer from BNSF and worked for them going back to Q days tells a story about hitting a truck filled with corn. The heat from motor popped it and their cab smelled like a movie theater for weeks.
54light15 Down the engine room of my ship guys would heat up cans of C-rations as the food from the galley was often inedible. Put a vent hole in the top of the can and put it on a steam line and you had hot grub in a few minutes. One guy put a can of beans on and didn't put a vent in the can. BAM! It was like an episode of the Three Stooges!
Man, that chow must have REALLY been bad if you preferred C-Rats to it!
Big Bill OK, probably a dumb question, but what makes the chuf-chuf on the tank engine? There's no piston movement, so it's not from the cylinders. Does the air pump exhaust through the smokebox?
That would be my guess, the "chuff-chuff" seems to have the same timing that an air compressor would. Venting compressor exhaust through the smokebox would have the same effect as a blower in keeping the fire hot, at least on a small engine.
An air pump would not work well as a form of draft stimulant, mostly because it does not exhaust a great enough volume of steam. You wouldn't want pulses for a draft anyways; steady and even is what you want, and the blower does just that.
The blower is much easier to maintain anyways. The air-pump exhausting through the smokebox is just a point of convenience.
Makes perfect sense.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.