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Hello all,   This might be a bit out of the realm of railroading, but here we go:   Some time ago I was asked by a visitor (To the museum at which I volunteer.) why steamboats always had boiler explosions, while they were (somewhat) less frequent on railroads of that time.   Through some reasearch/observation I found some major things that stuck out at me: 1. It was commomplace on the river boats to tie the safeties down for exra pressure and speed. 2. Boilers were nary taken proper care of, and clean water for them was non-existent, with it being taken directly from the river. 3. Boilers were smaller than you would think, only about 2-3 feet in diameter, with two large flues. The fires were burned inside of these, putting direct heat on them. 4. I could find no refrences to water-sight glasses used in steamboats, and the large tubes meant there was little room between the top of the crown sheet and the top of the boiler.   Any other ideas on what else contributed to this?   If you know more about these kind of things or found anything wrong with my findings, please correct me. I am no expert in any way, shape, or form.
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