I like this video model of the Titanic engine room. I don't know if the sound is accurate, but it sounds convincing. The boiler room complex is amazing. Working in it must have been quite an experience. Boiler rooms can be intimidating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptDFqY-0Do8
Overmod BaltACD It is believed that Titanic sailed from England with a fire in her coal bunkers. And this weakened the critical bulkhead into that last fireroom... Perhaps even more to the point, coal bunkerage 'done wrong' is likely a proximate cause of the rapid sinking of both Lusitania and Britannic. Coal was a very, very dumb liner fuel.
BaltACD It is believed that Titanic sailed from England with a fire in her coal bunkers.
And this weakened the critical bulkhead into that last fireroom...
Perhaps even more to the point, coal bunkerage 'done wrong' is likely a proximate cause of the rapid sinking of both Lusitania and Britannic.
Coal was a very, very dumb liner fuel.
Dumb compared to....what other fuel that was readily available?
Plus, attributing the loss of those three liners to coal-related incidents drifts heavily into paraphrasing Pickett's and saying "I've always thought the torpedoes had something to do with it."
BaltACDIt is believed that Titanic sailed from England with a fire in her coal bunkers.
Jones1945 SeeYou190 I am sure it was less than 10%. Probably much less. .Coal was used for everything, almost all buildings had boilers. Most houses were heated by coal or wood. .Industries all used steam power. Steel mills devoured the stuff. Electrical generation was probably 75% coal at least. .-Kevin Also, some long forgotten transportation like coal-burning ships, ferries, fishing boat and ocean liners which were built before RMS Aquitania of 1913, and SS Vaterland of 1913 were all fed with coal. Renowned transatlantic liner like RMS Mauretania consumes about 5000 to 6,000 tons of coal in a single trip, enough to fill up 214 UP 4-8-8-4 Big Boy tenders. But many transatlantic liners converted to oil-burning since the 1920s.
SeeYou190 I am sure it was less than 10%. Probably much less. .Coal was used for everything, almost all buildings had boilers. Most houses were heated by coal or wood. .Industries all used steam power. Steel mills devoured the stuff. Electrical generation was probably 75% coal at least. .-Kevin
I am sure it was less than 10%. Probably much less.
.Coal was used for everything, almost all buildings had boilers. Most houses were heated by coal or wood.
.Industries all used steam power. Steel mills devoured the stuff. Electrical generation was probably 75% coal at least.
.-Kevin
Also, some long forgotten transportation like coal-burning ships, ferries, fishing boat and ocean liners which were built before RMS Aquitania of 1913, and SS Vaterland of 1913 were all fed with coal.
Renowned transatlantic liner like RMS Mauretania consumes about 5000 to 6,000 tons of coal in a single trip, enough to fill up 214 UP 4-8-8-4 Big Boy tenders. But many transatlantic liners converted to oil-burning since the 1920s.
It is believed that Titanic sailed from England with a fire in her coal bunkers.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Jones 3D Modeling Club https://www.youtube.com/Jones3DModelingClub
timz The ICC annual report says in 1929 US Class I steam locomotives consumed 113.9 million tons of bituminous, 1.6 million tons anthracite, 2.6 billion gallons fuel oil -- and 19499 cords of hard wood and 52815 cords of soft wood. What Class I would that be? In 1929, US produced 535 million tons of bituminous coal.
The ICC annual report says in 1929 US Class I steam locomotives consumed 113.9 million tons of bituminous, 1.6 million tons anthracite, 2.6 billion gallons fuel oil -- and 19499 cords of hard wood and 52815 cords of soft wood. What Class I would that be?
In 1929, US produced 535 million tons of bituminous coal.
Johnny
Murphy SidingThere were trains still using a lot of wood for fuel in 1929?
Review the procedure for firing up boilers from cold. You did not dump a burning oil-soaked rag on a pile of bituminous coal and wait for the heat and smoke to convect their way out the stack.
I do have a suspicion that in 1929 there were some Class Is -- Southern comes promptly to mind -- that might still be using woodburning locomotives on things like accommodation trains.
54light15They call them "gasometers" for some reason.
They are called that because they are not just 'reservoirs' for gas storage; they provide the required service pressure independent of what may have been involved in gas generation and transfer pressure. In so doing, they provide positive-displacement volumetric delivery measurement (as well as a relatively easy-to-read visual guide of the volume of gas available in the system). When producer gas (instead of natural gas) is being used, it doesn't pay to make a large volume of gas merely to store it; supply should lead demand, but only 'just' net of all prediction and production delays.
(And if you wonder, as I did when I was small in a house with a gas oven, why the cartoon suicide trope was 'putting one's head in the oven' -- review the composition of most city gas as provided in these systems...)
timzYeah, wonder what Class I burned any wood.
Yeah, wonder what Class I burned any wood.
Looks like the Minerals Yearbook is the place to look for coal numbers
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435031187982;view=1up;seq=782
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015019917478;view=1up;seq=338
In the second link, anyway, note that the RR consumption given is total, not just by locomotives.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
You see those expanding tanks all over London, but I don't think any of them are in use. They call them "gasometers" for some reason.
CShaveRR Besides all of the uses mentioned, a lot of coal was heated up for the manufacture of cooking gas. Nearly every community of any size had gas works, with at least one of those large expanding tanks, filled with gas prepared in ovens by cooking (and coking) the coal and preserving the gas.
Besides all of the uses mentioned, a lot of coal was heated up for the manufacture of cooking gas. Nearly every community of any size had gas works, with at least one of those large expanding tanks, filled with gas prepared in ovens by cooking (and coking) the coal and preserving the gas.
Think I read that 1948 was the year that decreasing US railroad coal consumption equalled the increasing consumption by electric power plants.
In a book I have on carloadings at specific stations on a particular railroad, coal loadings were separated from all other freight loadings. Yes, this was important business! Besides all of the uses mentioned, a lot of coal was heated up for the manufacture of cooking gas. Nearly every community of any size had gas works, with at least one of those large expanding tanks, filled with gas prepared in ovens by cooking (and coking) the coal and preserving the gas.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
UlrichAny ideas on what fraction of coal consumption (compared to total coal output) was attributable to railroad use? 10%.. 50%..etc?
.
Coal was used for everything, almost all buildings had boilers. Most houses were heated by coal or wood.
Industries all used steam power. Steel mills devoured the stuff. Electrical generation was probably 75% coal at least.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Any ideas on what fraction of coal consumption (compared to total coal output) was attributable to railroad use? 10%.. 50%..etc?
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