"fireless" steam

[majortom]

I have heard about, and recently saw a "fireless" steam engine.

How did these work?

 

majortom

[wm3798]

There would be a stationery boiler that would generate steam, then transfer it to the locomotive to pressurize a tank.  When it was charged to the appropriate pressure, it would go about it's work until it needed to be charged up again.

These were commonly used inside industrial plants where chemicals were in use that would make having an open flame a bad thing.  There was a tannery at Parsons, WV that had one in service into the late 60's or early 70's according to the book "Fireballs and Black Diamonds".

Lee 

[dehusman]

They were also used at places where they had huge amounts of steam available (power plants) and relatively little switching required.

Dave H.

[ndbprr]

National Cash Register in Dayton Ohio used one well into the 70's.  They are ungainly beasts with a huge boiler (tank) for their size and very small cylinders.  That one is preserved in the park downtown where the Carillion is located on the Miami River

[ssgauge]

I vaguely recall an article...possibly in TRAINS...about fireless locomotives still in use...might have been in the late 1960s.

[Looshi]

National Cash Register in Dayton Ohio used one well into the 70's.  They are ungainly beasts with a huge boiler (tank) for their size and very small cylinders.  That one is preserved in the park downtown where the Carillion is located on the Miami River

 I read in a reference once that NCR didn't use them for any saftey reason but instead because the owner of the plant, John A Patterson, didn't like engine's getting smoke and soot because it got all over the buildings. They had at least three: the Dayton, the Rubicon, and the South Park.

 Also interesting was the employees of the plant nicknamed the switchers  "tea kettles" or "hot watter bottles" among other names.

[markpierce]

There is an ATSF fireless locomotive available on ebay.  The minimum bid is 5 cents less than the buy-now price.

Mark

[exPalaceDog]

There is one in a museum at Northeast, Pa

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/steamtown/tic-s6afh.jpg

 

 Have fun

 

[wjstix]

I believe a couple of small (0-4-0?) fireless steam switchers were used by a sugarbeet plant in NW Minnesota until the early eighties??

[majortom]

That is the one I was referring to in my original post.

You are right; very large tank and small cylinders

 

majortom

[DLSerres]

Hi,

In the mines of the Black Hills of South Dakota, there was a fireless "steam-type" locomotive that I believe ran on compressed air, rather than steam.  The exhaust provided new air for the miners. 

Help me out here guys -- above is from memory of a book I sold years ago.  Does anyone has the real story??

Dave Serres

[DSO17]

     1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia has picture of compressed-air locomotive built by Porter for the H. C. Frick Coke Company.

     Same Cyclopedia has cut-away drawing of a fireless steam locomotive, also from Porter. A local power plant used a fireless cooker to shift coal cars to the dumper. It was very quiet as the exhaust steam didn't have to go through a nozzle to create a draft for the fire. After they got a diesel (early "80"s?) they donated the steamer to the Wilmington and Western R.R. in Marshallton DE. Don't know if it's still there.

     Those old Cyclopedias are a great source of information.

[AltonFan]

Hi,

In the mines of the Black Hills of South Dakota, there was a fireless "steam-type" locomotive that I believe ran on compressed air, rather than steam.  The exhaust provided new air for the miners. 

Help me out here guys -- above is from memory of a book I sold years ago.  Does anyone has the real story??

Dave Serres

I can't speak to this particular application, but I seem to recall seeing a picture of a compressed air locomotive.  I beleive they were called "pneumatic".

[richg1998]

A little suggestion. You can also search google.

Here are some fireless locos

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/steam21.html

http://www.nrhs.com/web_exclusives/fireless_cooker/

http://www.cdmrr.com/porter.html

Rich