I headed down to the Reading & Northern for 2102 on Saturday, but unfortunately, the firing table failed and the T1 had to be removed from the train. We had a good time anyway, as seen below.
Is a firing table another name for a grate?
I believe the firing table is a component of the automatic stoking system, it’s a “tray” where the coal is delivered before it’s sprayed into the firebox by steam jets.
According to Andy Muller’s message apologizing for 2102’s failure it was supposed to be a NEW firing table! I hope he gets a refund!
I was wondering why the R&N website showed the October 29 trip (even the Pullman rooms) as “sold out”. I was ready to buy tickets. Dang!
Rick
I think those R&N trips are sold out almost as soon as they’re posted! That is one popular railroad!
Nothing to see here: there was damage to the table ahead of the stoker distributor, the plate off which the steam jets distribute the coal to different zones in the firebox. They’ll replace the casting.
The interesting thing is that, according to a somewhat mysterious post on RyPN, this is the second time the firing table on 2102 has started to crumble. That would be unusual enough to have me question how the foundry is making these up.
Don’t go into “why didn’t they hand-fire it and push it with the SD50s?”
And then you have the people asking “why didn’t they put 425 on the train when 2102 failed?” Some people don’t understand how many hours it takes to prepare and fire a locomotive.
If they could have found enough rope I suspect they could have gotten all the help they would need to push and pull the locomotive by “manpower”. [swg]
Only 2124, of the preserved T1s, has the roller bearings…
You mean they don’t just flip a switch and have 200 pounds of boiler pressure[/sarcasm]
Not just that, but 425 couldn’t handle a consist that big by itself, not in that terrain, and probably not even in the flatlands it was originally built for. It would need a diesel assist any way you look at it.
Is it known if the piece is cast iron or cast steel?
Cast iron, so I have been told, doesn’t handle differential heating very well without cracking.
Most of the parts of a stoker like the HT-1 are cast steel. The firing table is cast iron.
I wonder if it was new cast iron or questionable recycled material?
At any rate Andy Muller should ask for a refund! [;)]
There is some interesting technical discussion about this on RyPN. Apparently the firing table was considered a ‘wearing’ part with limited lifetime on the Reading, and there were special tools used to keep the ‘heel’ at the back of the grate clear of the firing-table structure.
Note that the drawing I posted is from a company in New Jersey that offers HT-1 parts for sale, including firing tables. They might be a sensible source for information on what caused this problem, what the technical basis for the ‘crumbling’ was, and what instructions go to the foundry to prevent an “encore presentation”.
I’ve ridden behind many 4-8-4s including the RDG species. But I’ve never been pulled by SD50s. Sorry I missed it.
Not a blasphemous thought.[yeah] There have been a variety of fantrips pulled by diesels because they were a specific model. The Reading & Northern diesels on this trip did have the special “Fast Freight” paint job, making them somewhat special in their own right.
I’ve always likes SD50s since I first saw a pair at speed. (They will be enormously rare in preservation!)
Word is now in: the crew had a problem with debris in or on the steam jets that caused coal to build up on the firing table long enough for the coal to ignite and heat the table by conduction. Multiple firing tables had been made up, so it turned out to be straightforward to replace with the engine cold. This has already been done, and 2102 will ‘make up for it’ by running an excursion that was supposed to be 425’s swan song before 1472-day.
Is it possible that the coal was dirty enough to clog the jets ?. barely recall some out fit noted it received “poor” coal. do not know coal is prepared.
Doesn’t the fireman have on the engine deck or tender tools that are able to knock coal build up off the firing table when it is observed, before it can damage the firing table from differential heating stresses on cast iron?