I read somewhere that during the steam era, railroads cleared the right-of-way of trees so as not to start fires from burning embers. If this was a danger, wouldn’t it also be a concern for railroads that serviced sawmills and lumber yards. Maybe this is a stupid question but since I plan to have one of each on my transition era layout, I wondered if there were any precautions railroads had to take so as not to torch their customers’ businesses.
a lot of railroads put spark arrestors on their stacks but fire was a big problem in the early days of steam…everything from the firebox to the heating systems (pot bellied stoves) in the passenger cars were real dangers in those days because wooden logs were the primary fuel source …a lot of people died in derailments by burning to death when the cars would flip on their side and everything would come out of the stove, catch fire, and burn the wooden cars down to the ground…chuck
Most Steam Railroads had dedicated equipment for fighting fires along the right of way. Usually it consisted of a locomotive with a high presure water pump and several tank cars of water. They were kept ready to go out at a moments notice. Some interesting info here:http://www.steamlocomotive.info/F32003.cfm
Some industries had their own “fireless” engines that were steam engines with no firebox. Their boiler was just a large pressure tank that was filled with steam from a stationary boiler located away from the danger zone. Since they had no on-board firebox, these engines could not start a fire. Most were of the 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 wheel arrangement and could run for several hours on a charge of steam, depending on the size of their steam tank.
The fireless locomotives, while used, were actually used more for the moving of very volitile and flammable substances. Logging lines usually stuck with spark arrestors and the Ridgeway Cinder Catcher or “Beartrap” as shown here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6017575995&category=485
As you can see, the larger cinders were routed in a pipe going down the side of the boiler, and deposited onto the track roadbed. There was still plenty of room for fires, though.
locos that might run around fire hazard areas had spark arrestors on the stacks, huge
coverlike design which might actually be the stack design, why steamers had large ballon stacks.
some would have pipage that goes to the ground for embers to fall to the track than flying in the sky.
This is the Sutherland Steam Mill just outside Tatagamouche, NS.
The barrels on top of the mill carried water and as a steam engine approached the mill it would blow it’s whistle. In turn the mill would open the taps and the barrels would wet down the roof thus protecting the mill from burning embers from the engine.
Fergie
I guess back in the day, my grandfather said that on the Belfast & Moosehead Lake RR that, in addition to clearing the right of way, during the drier months they often kept a tanker with a pump and sprayer in the consist for just such an emergency. Gotta be careful in the back woods of Maine. Not too many firefighters out there in the middle of nowhere. You can burn up a lot of forest before anyone even notices.
True. Because railroads were more image conscious, and because labor was cheap, and because the EPA hadn’t yet been invented, railroads took the time to keep trees and deep undergrowth away from the ROW as much as possible. They cut, sprayed and burned mother nature into submission, and it usually worked. Look at virtually any steam-era photo of a class one ROW< and you’ll see nicely manicured ballast profiles, and virtually no trees or large bushes. Look at the same location today, and you’ll likely see 30+ year old trees completely blocking the ROW from sight.
Well, sort of. Spark arrestors are used to keep flaming embers from setting everything around the ROW ablaze, but that’s only a concern when the steamers are either wood fired or are in major fire hazard areas. 99% of woodburning engines were either scrapped or converted to coal by 1900, and fire hazard areas were in the great plains, sawmills, or California. Even then, 99% of steam engines by 1920 did NOT have spark arrestors. In fact, the only class one road I can think of that did have spark arrestors on a large number of engines was the NYC; their H-5 Mikados and B-whatever 0-6-0 switchers mostly came with little spark shields that hinged over the stacks. In 99% of the pictures I’ve seen of these engines, the arrestor is not in place. As for fire hazards around lumberyards, it was a non-issue. There were thousands of yards around the country, passed by thousands of steam engines, and switched by steam engines. 99.9% of the engines didn’t have spark arestors, and 99.9% of the yards didn’t burn down.
Maybe this is a stupid question but since I plan to have one o