Steam & Excursion > Working steam in the rain part 2

next edition of Wolsztyn Experience (See previous thread for background)

New experience while running steam in the rain storm. These engines (OL 49s) are hand fired. They have butterfly doors on the firebox and open by a long handle that will latch to keep the doors propped open. There was a good deal of blow back into the cab. Typically they fire when the throttle is off and drifting or sometimes while in a station. The fireman turns on the blower as soon as the engineer closes the throttle. But I could not figure why so much fire and smoke kept coming back into the cab. It also seemed that the coal was not buring quite as well as typical. My first toughts were wet coal. No dummy....that makes little differece, except for some of this "mud" coal dust that we sometimes have.

It was explained to me that the combination of wind and rain were just about right to make the blower much less effective at creating a draft. Strong crosswinds and downdrafts. Never occured to me that wind and rain would have much effect on locomotive firing. Now I have experienced it first hand, so I have to believe it. Also explains why fireman shoveled more coal than using while accelerating or working the engine.

300 miles on the right hand seat in 3 days. It is great. Will continue periodic post. Sorry no photos this time....using an interet cafe computer in Poznan Station during layover.

Thanks for the detailed account of the experience. As a live steamer its something I want to do. A lot more pressure to perform on the full size item! I have not operated full size steam since 2001, and that was small (Lilla at Ffestiniog)

Since your limit is 70 MPH and you're generally running 60, do you attempt to vary the speed slightly to make up for lost time?

-Mike

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Although the track speed is 70mph, there are speed restrictions for curves and slow orders for several grade crossings and some minor grades, so trying to gain a few extra seconds by pushing the throttle is not really all that helpful. The key is in the acceleration and braking. Really painful when it appears you will wind up stopping a couple car lengths short of platform. So you put the brake in full release and wind up drifting those last 2 car lengths at 1 or 2 mph taking an agonizingly long 20 sec or so to a full stop.

There is a sense of accomplishment if you arrive on time. In bound today we were spot on. Outbound we returned 4 minutes late, but dispatcher held us 4 minutes departing due to crossing train traffic in front of us. We were unable to make up time due to head wind. ;)

Thanks for the report, and keep posting. We'll be there for our 4th time in another 85 days, but who's counting.