Steam & Excursion > Shutting down a steam locomotive

OK, the day is over. The passenger cars are dropped at the depot. The locomotive has been run back to the roundhouse.

Now what?

Fuel is shut off and fire dies off. Locomotive steams into roundhouse stall with left over steam? Water is drained? If so, when? If the locomotive isn't going to move for say, six weeks, what needs to be done to put it to bed?

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

NEVER, and I mean NEVER drain the water!!!! Befor you ever "kill" the fire, you fill the boiler COMPLETELY full, then "kill" the fire. All this AFTER you have moved the locomotive into the roundhouse.

And while you're at it, block the reverser (figuring said locomotive is slightly older than dirt).

Well when you say never kill the fire until you have moved the engine into the shop and filled it up with water I think you are forgetting about coal burners. Fires are dumped before going into the roundhouse and most add water after tying up in the house. If you believe that is wrong then you better tell the Durango and Silverton because that is the way they do it.

It's not a good idea to kill the fire on an oilburner, then run it under power as it draws "cold" air through the firebox and plays hell with the firebox sheets and the flue sheets and causes leaks in extreme cases. As Jack said, fill the boiler, shut off the oil supply, blow the oil lines out backward and forward, cap the stack, chain the drivers AFTER it's where it will stay and mark off.

That is usually the practice with a coal burner is to "dump" the fire at the ash pit, the move the locomotive to the 'house. As for oil burners, they do not require an ash pit or anything, so you can run them into the 'house and then kill the fire.

tomstp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well when you say never kill the fire until you
> have moved the engine into the shop and filled it
> up with water I think you are forgetting about
> coal burners. Fires are dumped before going into
> the roundhouse and most add water after tying up
> in the house. If you believe that is wrong then
> you better tell the Durango and Silverton because
> that is the way they do it.

Tom, what I believe HotWater was saying was to fill the boiler. Not completely full, but up to the very top of the waterglass. Start planning early on this as you neve want to put too much cold water into a boiler quickly as the temperature change is hard on the boiler. Once the glass is full the fire can be extinguised or banked. Overnight, the boiler which you left full will be down about 4 to 6 inches, maybe more, because as the boiler cools off the volume of water will shink. If you had left the engine with low water, you may not see any in the glass when you show up next morning, and will have to assume the crownsheet is bare.

Also, you don't generally dump the a coal fire before putting her away for the night. Rather, you clean the fire of ash, dump the ashpan (not the fire on the grate), then build up a bank of coals burning gently on the back of the grate and cover the front half of the grate with a thin layer of coal. The bank will keep the engine warm and quickly give you a fire in the morning.

We sorta kicked this around a couple years ago at this thread
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2064791,2064840#msg-2064840

And, here's a thread with some illustrations
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,1466718,1467364#msg-1467364

-Larry Doyle

tomstp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well when you say never kill the fire until you
> have moved the engine into the shop and filled it
> up with water I think you are forgetting about
> coal burners. Fires are dumped before going into
> the roundhouse and most add water after tying up
> in the house. If you believe that is wrong then
> you better tell the Durango and Silverton because
> that is the way they do it.

Ashes are dumped, and the fire is cleaned during that process, but the fire itself usually isn't - it's usually allowed to die on the grates.

As others have noted for oil burners, totally dumping the fire would cause cold air to enter the firebox as the engine is moved, which isn't good for the engine.

Once the engine is parked, it's common to the run the injectors until they "break" (are no longer able to force water into the boiler), cap the stack to prevent cold air from circulating, and allow the engine to cool down.

When I worked at Steamtown, at the end of the day we'd dump ash, bank the fire and top off the boiler before putting our assigned engine into the roundhouse for the night.

When it came time to dump the fire for a boiler wash, we would do that right before heading for the roundhouse. We would have more than enough steam left to get us there.

Dave

At the Gold Coast Railroad Museum we'd run the engine into the house, shutdown the oil burner, and run the injector until it "broke", while at the same time, running an oxygen scavenger into the boiler along with th water. Also, we'd insure that the drivers were fully chocked while we still had air.

Yes Larry, I know the water "shrinks". Even on my 1 1/2 scale coal burner it will shrink in the glass about 20% from hot to cold. But still D&S in the winter will completely dump the fire when the engine has a couple of days or more before it will be used again. They don't run the whole week in the winter, only about 4 days of the week and I personally witnessed them dump the fire on 473 (not just clean ash) and then put it in the roundhouse. And, of course, if any engine is to continue to be used the ash will be dumped and then the engine put in the house. Many years ago (1960's-70's) I used to visit with the night hostler at Durango Co and we would check the engines every couple of hours, blow down the water glass, put in needed water, and shovel in some coal and start it burning, then turn the blower way back down, and then go back to the office for a couple more hours. He was glad to have the company since it made the night pass faster (and did not go to sleep). It was lots of fun.

An interesting thread indeed. Many thanks!

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

Reminds me of a story from a railfan who got into Durango late one evening back in the 1960's. He checked into the hotel, and the room clerk said, "We've only got one room left, and I'll give you a break on the rate, because it faces the railroad yard and it's kinda noisy." Of course the railfan A) liked getting a discount, and B) was up until midnight watching and hearing coal-burning, steam-powered railroad action that was almost extinct in North America. Dreams do come true.

DNRY122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reminds me of a story from a railfan who got into
> Durango late one evening back in the 1960's. He
> checked into the hotel, and the room clerk said,
> "We've only got one room left, and I'll give you a
> break on the rate, because it faces the railroad
> yard and it's kinda noisy." Of course the railfan
> A) liked getting a discount, and B) was up until
> midnight watching and hearing coal-burning,
> steam-powered railroad action that was almost
> extinct in North America. Dreams do come true.

Was the room clerk still working the next day? Should'a charged him double.

-Larry Doyle