Hi all,
I was wondering if any of you knew what this part of a steam locomotive is. I can’t seem to find it.
Sorry I do not have a picture, but I will try to describe.
On the front of a steam loco. Before streamlining. In front of the smoke stack and above the headlight. It is shaped like an elongated boiler lying on its side.
I think I saw a Pere Marquette have one. I think they were extra equipment because I do not see every loco with one.
I hope this desciption is good.
Thanks
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=171459
Does this loco have it??
It sounds like you are describing an Elesco Feed Water header type system. Some were mounted recessed into the smoke box and other types also were used that looked different.
Many roads used this type.
They were not extra parts. Not all locomotives used this types and a few older and smaller locomotives did not use them.
Yup, that’s it.
I’m not a steam guy but I think that’s called a “steam roller”?
That’s an Elesco feedwater heater. Bowser (Cal-Scale and Cary), PIA, and Precision Scale all make the parts you need:
http://www.bowser-trains.com/index.htm
I don’t think it was a PM locomotive with one. I’ll double check with “Pere Marquette Power” when I get home.
That’s the heat exchanger part of the Feedwater Heater system. The other very noticible part of the system is the feedwater pump. On the 3254, it’s located on the left side of the engine, right next, and behind, the air pump.
http://trains.nute.ws/2-8-2/CNR3254.htm
It’s the one with the brass plate on the lower portion of it.
The Elesco feedwater heating system was used on a number of U.S. railroads. In the last days of steam it was almost universal in Japan.
The top-of-the-smokebox location was the most common, both for for ‘built with the locomotive’ systems and for retrofits - but it was not universal. IIRC, AT&SF preferred a pilot beam mounting because their hard water required frequent washouts and other maintenance.
In Japan, one class of locos had the retrofit heat exchanger behind the stack! Others, mainly passenger stock, used pilot beam mountings more for appearance than for any other reason. And then there was the first subclass of D51 2-8-2’s, which carried the Elesco heater lengthwise atop the boiler, inside a skyline casing that ran from the stack to the steam dome. (Later D51’s had the customary placing, which says volumes about the success(?) of the original idea.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September 1964 - with Elesco equipped steam)
After flipping through Pere Marquette Power, my original thoughts were confirmed. The PM didn’t have any locomotives equiped with Elesco feedwater heaters. Only the PM’s Berkshires and one retrofitted Sante Fe even had feedwater heaters and those were of the Worthington variety.
Thanks for all of the info.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Busy.
I am pretty sure it the feedwater heater, although that might be the whole contraption including the piping.
It was very difficult to locate what the actual part is. Usually when I got a result, it would show me the whole shebang and not the actual part.
I Think we can assume it is the feedwater heater.
As for the Pere Marquette, it may have been their on an HO scale model just for effect and not for accuracy.
We know how some of them like to do that.
You are in such luck!!!
Yes that is an Elesco feedwater heater up top there. Thats where the Elescos were. The March 2007 Model Railroader magazine (just hit my mailbox today) has a section on the detail parts of real steam locos. On page 64 it will tell you all about feedwater heaters, many of which, unlike the Elesco, are behind the pilot beam or is a square box on top the smokebox (not stand out as much as the Elesco).
Steamtown National Park in Scranton PA this past summer had a new “thrill”. for $50.00 you could ride up in the cab with the fireman and engineer of their 2-8-2 CN Mikado during its local short run!!! The fireman ( a female who was puttin in her time waiting to be an engineer) explained to me she had the cold water feed valve on her side (L), and the feedwater heated hot valve was on the engineers side (R). She had to be careful adding the cold water too quickly or too much to avoid cooling down the boiler water temp. Even the feedwater heated water could cool down the boiler water temp, as it was still colder than the boiling water.
Naturally, this experience left me wanting to model in 1:1 scale!!![;)]
-G
I do not have that issue yet. I will look for the heater in there.
Thanks
I always thought the Elesco was the more handsome of the feedwater heater systems, especially the ‘bundle’ that was usually propped on the boiler in front of the stack.
Here in the West, Rio Grande used them on a number of their standard-gauge steamers, and they mounted them three ways. On their F-81 2-10-2’s, and their M-64 4-8-4’s they were mounted on the deck (similar to Santa Fe), under the boiler front, and on their 3-cylinder M-78 4-8-2’s, they were mounted right in front of the stack, between the stack and the bell. On their L-131 2-8-8-2’s and many of their L-105 4-6-6-4’s, they were mounted on an extension over the boiler front in what is commonly known as the “Eyebrow” configuration, and these ‘bundles’ were normally a lot bigger than usual. It made the locos look even more powerful than they were (which was considerable!). On the 1800 series M-68 4-8-4’s, however, the 'Bundle" gave way to a rather large upright curved box more similar to the later Worthington style.
Santa Fe was a big user of Elescos, but they generally mounted them on the deck under the loco, since the quality of the water meant flushing them out frequently. One Santa Fe loco, the 5000 2-10-4 “Madame Queen” had the bundle mounted on the boiler-front top, and possibly several other Santa Fe locos did also, but it was an unusual position for the railroad.
Western Pacific also used the Elesco “Bundle” on most of their 2-8-2’s, 2-6-6-2 ‘Baby’ Mallets, and on some of their powerful 251 series 2-8-8-2’s. These were all mounted into the boiler front right ahead of the stack.
SP seemed to be more fond of the Worthington style FWH on their locos–either the BL side-pump variety or the later ‘box’ style in front of the stack. Several of their locos inherited from the El Paso and Southwestern or the Texas and New Orleans, however, had