I am working on a small engine servicing yard for diesel and steam locos; it is very compact. I want to include all facilities required. I understand there was a need to release most of the steam and pressure from a locomotive before it is moved to the roundhouse. A friend spoke of concrete bunkers or a simple three sided shed placed on both sides of the track where a steam locomotive would stop and release most of its steam before entering a round house or engine shed. The bunker-like shed would contain the bust of steam thus protecting the neighboring yard facilities and workers. In my small yard, a pair of steam release bunkers would be important due to the close proximity of my other servicing facilities.
In the May 2010 MR Magazine a photo, page 38, of Jeff Kraker’s engine servicing yard shows what appears to be such a steam release facility. In the photo, the unit appears to be a metal or concrete collecting unit, almost scoop-like in shape directed into a large diameter, vertically oriented stand pipe on both sides of the track. It is difficult to resolve the details of the structure in that photo.
Question: What is the name of this steam release facility?
What little I know of steam operations (having served on steam ships) and photos indicate to me that a separate steam release facility was not all that common. I just don’t see them in the photos of prototype engine facilities.
The amount of residual steam can be fairly well controlled in the boilers by the heat applied. The fireman is not going to keep firing the boiler at max as the engine approaches the last stop with the train. He is going to keep the fire so there is just enough steam to move the engine by itself as it disconnects from the train.
For just an overnight stop, you seldom go to cold plant. It takes too long to start from cold plant to ready for full power - several hours in most cases.
That said, the dry steam that comes out of superheaters is quite dangerous compared to a release of wet steam from saturated steam boilers. Saturated steam scalds and burns. But you can see saturated steam because of the condensation. High pressure dry steam amputates parts of the body as effectively as a saw - and a dry steam stream is invisible. So having a safe place to release residual dry steam would be more important in the days of superheated steam (post-1912).
But I’d like to know for sure from those who know more than I.
I am working on a small engine servicing yard for diesel and steam locos; it is very compact. I want to include all facilities required. I understand there was a need to release most of the steam and pressure from a locomotive before it is moved to the roundhouse. A friend spoke of concrete bunkers or a simple three sided shed placed on both sides of the track where a steam locomotive would stop and release most of its steam before entering a round house or engine shed. The bunker-like shed would contain the bust of steam thus protecting the neighboring yard facilities and workers. In my small yard, a pair of steam release bunkers would be important due to the close proximity of my other servicing facilities.
In the May 2010 MR Magazine a photo, page 38, of Jeff Kraker’s engine servicing yard shows what appears to be such a steam release facility. In the photo, the unit appears to be a metal or concrete collecting unit, almost scoop-like in shape directed into a large diameter, vertically oriented stand pipe on both sides of the track. It is difficult to resolve the details of the structure in that photo.
Question: What is the name of this steam release facility?
The operation you’re referring to was colloquially known as “blowing her nose” — venting the cylinders (the filter probably won’t like the actual part name) to remove accumulated water and dirt.
Water pressurizes and too much in the cylinders can blow the cylinder head off. When an engine had been standing for any length of time, it was started with the parts-that-must-not-be-named slightly open, discharging great hissing clouds of steam and dirty, oily water. It was also done every so often out on the road to get dirt and water out of the cylinders, often while crossing bridges, where it wouldn’t create problems for anyone near by.
In some yards “blowdown boxes” were used to direct the steam up and away from the tracks. These ranged from old boilers set on end, to the box-like structures you’ve described. It may be very hard to see on a model photo, but these had rods or grates over the opening to keep transients and critters out of them.
The Chicago & North Western had plans for standard designs, which were reproduced some years ago in books put out by the C&NWHS.
Thank you Mr Burton. The “blowdown boxes” you describe must be the name of the structure I am referring to. So if I cobbled together such units for each side of my track directing the steam upways I won’t be too far off the mark. As you say the actual boxes had grates or grills to keep critters Out. The sad sorry my friend told me was from his childhood in the Drumheller Valley of Alberta, Canada serving the neighboring coal fields when they were still active. A boy in the town was playing hide and seek and he mistakenly hid inside a blowdown box with fatal consequences when a steam locomotive pulled up.