I would suspect that hard woods, i.e., oaks and maples,
would have been preferred over soft woods such as pine.
Dave
nitroboy wrote:Does anyone know what type, length and width of wood was used for engines such as the General and others during the Civil War?Thanks!!!
From what I've read, railroads burning wood for fuel in those days used whatever type wood was available, based on the locale. That's not hard to figure out.
That said, if there was a choice, railroads opted for hardwoods like white oak or red oak or maple because those woods burn more evenly, cleaner, last longer and give off more heat. That is the "ideal" scenario.
On the other hand, railroads tried to stay away coniferous trees like pines. While pine wood contains turpentine, making it a quick burner, it gave off less heat per pound plus burning pine in a locomotive coated everything inside the firebox, flues, smokebox and stack with thick layers of sticky, tar-like creosote -- which not only could catch fire and burn, but acted like an insulator inside the flue pipes. You could also go three times as far with a tender filled with oak or maple than you could with pine. But if pine was all that was available, they made do.
There was no standard size -- logs were usually cut in two-foot lengths and quartered so more wood would be exposed to the fire in the firebox. Plus that size made it easier for the fireman to load. It also helped the wood dry out more quickly in the storage sheds, a very important step -- green (freshly-cut) wood will not burn well at all, and less heat means less steam. Especially in the days before superheaters and massive fireboxes, etc. Those 4-4-0s weren't as technologically advanced as steamers built during the 1940s.
But far better and much more preferable was coal after it was discovered in Pennsylvania.
The firebox on the Jupiter replica of an 1868 locomotive that the National Park Service operates at Golden Spike NHS is about 3 foot wide by 5 foot long. Most of the wood we use is cut in 4 foot lengths split at least in half. I think that 4 foot lengths would be more common than 2 foot lengths as wood was purchased by the cord, which is 4 x 4 x 8 ft. 4 foot lengths are not at all difficult to fire and get more wood into the firebox with each stick than 2 foot lengths. In the Civil War period, wood would have been axe cut to length and 4 foot lengths require half the labor of 2 footers.
We have found the wood placement in the firebox is as important in generating steam as is the quality of wood. We place most of the the wood length wise (parallel to the rails) and then try to find some shorter lengths to place cross wise across the back just under the fire door. We try for a uniform layer that covers the grate. Any uncovered grate (like that hidden spot under the fire door) allows the fire to suck cold air in to the flues and that can cost you 10 pounds of steam in just a few minutes.
Currrently we are firing with lodgepole pine cut from maintenance operations at Yellowstone Park, but we have also fired with cedar (burns really hot) and cottonwood (not much different from pine). Contrary to popular belief, we have found that if you are running a hot enough fire to generate 150 psi, resin buildup from pine is almost negligable. We have more trouble with buildup in the coal-fired UP119 . Even so, both engines get the boiler flues cleaned out once a month during boiler wash - and that is a dirty job.
Since wood is a bulky fuel, it would not be transported any further than needed - so Civil War wood burners would have burned anything that was available locally.
dd
The General is still on display at the Locomotive Museum of the Civil War in Kennesaw, Georgia. They have the archives of the Southern Railways Historical Society there as well. They can answer your questions and would be more than happy to do so.
Hardwoods might have been used, but the predominant fuel used by the General was pine. Pine trees were plentiful (and still are) in that part of Georgia. As near as I can tell, the capacity of the General's tender was about a cord of wood. Each log was probably about two feet long. The firebox door is not big. The tender was loaded by hand, which made wooding up a job for a couple of people and took a while to do.
And just for reference - a full cord is 4x4x8 feet.
The wood people buy nowadays for their woodstoves and fireplaces is usually sold by the face cord - 4x8x the length of the cut (usually 16-18", but varies).
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
nitroboy wrote:Thanks for all the help!!! Do you happen to know how much a tender could hold?Thanks again
The Jupiter holds at least a cord of wood. With careful stacking you can get another 1/2 cord piled above the side boards and over the water tank. Some contemporary photos show wood stacked almost as high as the cab roof.
Datafever wrote:A related question:How far would a cord of wood (or a full tender) take such a train?
The standard answer to that question at the Golden Spike NHS is 20 to 30 miles, depending on train size, terrain, and wood quality.
nitroboy wrote:While I was visiting the B&O Museum, they had a B&ORR train there, but no one could answer my questions on the wood. The staff informed me the the wood on the tender was just put up there for show. There were some big pieces that looked like there was no way they would fit in the firebox.
Is this the William Mason that was test run recently?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5CO4UoU3DE
Over that last 6 mongths I have been learning to fire a wood fired steam locomotive. Generally, the wood is stacked, not just thrown in - because you can get more wood in the tender by stacking. Stacked wood also makes it easier for the fireman to select a log. I like to have a selection of diameters to keep the fire as uniform as possible. See we leave our locomotive for an hour or so while on display, I like some large logs (we call them lunch logs) to hold fire without constant tending. Most of our logs are 4 foot, which works very well in a 5 foot firebox.
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