“NYC would run a single Hudson or Niagara 1250km Harmon-Chicago.”
True in the case of the “20th Century Limited” which bypassed Cleveland via the lakefront trackage but every westbound steam era train that operated through Cleveland Union Terminal had the locomotive from Harmon cut off at Collinwood and a fresh locomotive put on at Linndale. In between those 2 points, CUT 2-C+C-2 electric motors handled the train. Obviously eastbound trains reversed the procedure.
Piper106a
It seems odd to me that American locomotives had the smokebox door secured with multiple bolts, what with the smokebox needing inspection or cleaning daily, or multiple times per day. All that wrenching to get it open and then closed again. The method used by British and French railways, of a single lever or a handwheel to latch/unlatch the smokebox door seems a lot quicker and more efficient.
Take another look. American smokebox doors are/were dogged shut. Half a turn to loosen the nut, then rotate the dog clear. Granted that the ‘busted clock’ lock on modern Japanese locos was faster acting, but it also prevents mounting anything anywhere near the center of the smokebox front. On many roads, that was home base for the headlight.
There is a similar situation aboard WWII era naval vessels. Bulkhead doors which were normally closed and only infrequently opened were clamped shut with dogs. Doors which were frequently used, and only closed when the ship was ‘buttoned up’ for storm or combat, had handwheels to operate their latches.
The N&W Js had less maintenance cost than the Southern E units. I would imagine that something like smoke box cleaning or cleaning the boiler tubes and flues could be done by drones nowadays.
When firing steam locomotives… was it not done, from time to time, when a locomotive was working’hard’ for the fireman to throw a scoop of sand into the firebox?
I was told on a couple of occasions that this was done to clear out the carbon deposits from the boiler, and smoke boxes…
I did not know enough about the reasoning for this practice; I just accepted what I had been told by people, I thought should know(?)
Sam, I don’t know for sure, but I think that sand was used mainly on oil-burning locomotives to clean deposits off of the flues. Maybe oil fires produced oily combustion products that stuck to the flues, and maybe coal fires had enough solids to constantly scour the surfaces. I’m just guessing…
How was the smokebox accessed on locomotives like the Allegheny where the whole face of the locomotive was covered by air pumps and I-don’t-know-what-all?
I have long understood that oil burning produced quite a bit of soot which could not be carried through to the smokebox by the draft, but would cling to the side of the firetubes or flues. Sand, apparently, was found to be the best tool for removing this soot, and some locomotives had an opening into the firebox just for the introduction of the sand. It was easy for an outside observer to tell when the fireman was sanding the flues, for the smoke would suddenly be very black.
I also understand that the sand not only scoured the soot away,it also pitted the surface of the flues.
All this discussion about cleaning smoke boxes because of the despoits left by the burning of coal…seems to show the advantages oil fired engines…sure eliminates a lot of time consuming maintainence
As someone old enough to have followed steam when it was still common, I can attest to the efficiency of the American self-cleaning smokebox. Walking along a station platform on the N&W meant a crunching sound as your shoes crushed cinders and if you left the platform you might sink an inch or two into the soft accumulation of cinders. I visited many steam servicing facilities and rarely ever saw an open smokebox door. The cinders were all over the countryside, not at the bottom of the smokebox. Since opening the smokebox door was not as frequent as you might think, needing to release the many dogs that held it tight was not a major handicap. The dogs helped keep the smokebox door from leaking air which would have hindered the draft. If there had been a serious problem, I think steam designers had enough ingenuity to find a solution. Sometimes a European type door clasp was used here – the B&O, for example, used British styling on some locomotives.
Back when I was able to stand by the J that was going to take #42 out of Bristol, I was warned that when the engine started to move I would be showered with cinders–as the draft from the exhaust threw them out of the stack.
You have to remove sand used to clean tubes from smoke box which accumulated around exhaust nozzle and on bottom of smoke box where it bolted onto top of cylinder castings or it would lay there soaked in water from compressor exhaust, blower and boiler wash and corrode from soot and rust all winter when engine laid up.
The sand could be reused.
Usually done every boiler wash and when engine laid up.
Large electric baseboard heater left on brick floor of firebox over winter to warm boiler and dry interior.
Washout plugs removed all around and WIRE mesh installed in WO holes to keep rodents out.
All bright motion and piston and valve rods covered in oil or grease. Cellars removed. Wicks in Motion removed + more.
If done properly, putting engine back in service much easier in Spring.
Thank You.
P.S. About 3 miles East of here cinders along abandoned RoW 1 inch deep from double-headers 70 years ago B 4 Oil arrived after the War and just before the Diesels came.
