Steam & Excursion > To Maintain A Steam Locomotive Properly You Did this Regularly!

One cannot underestimate the amount of maintenance that steam motive power takes to keep them running properly  This maintenance does not stop when the engine leaves the shop.

One important process in proper boiler maintenance is demonstrated here in this fine Glenn Beier view of Magma Arizona #5 in June 1961.  The crew is in the middle of their daily chores on this copper hauling shortline when they take time to blowdown the boiler.  They have chosen a high trestle for this procedure as it will give them the best view of what sediments they are expelling during the process.

Daily (or more often) boiler blowdowns are a good way to expel scale, bud and other sediments that gather in a boiler down by the firebox mud ring.  By the crew folling this simple proceedure on a regular basis, many hours of additional boiler work can be avoided.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/16 03:24 by LoggerHogger.

---

Like this posted by "Diamond D" from the recent Cheyenne Frontier Days special?
 

---

"That's naught a blowdown......this is a blowdown...."
http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7224/7207250870_7c90ff0267_m.jpg

Posted from iPhone

If you don't blow down frequently, you will pay a dear price for it.   Beginning of the day is a good time to blow down a glass of water and do it frequently on the road.

>"That's naught a blowdown......this is a blowdown...."

Doesn't look like it's coming from the bottom of the mud ring.

Maybe that's how they have it piped now.

Another UP engine being blown down:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWL_AdjPg0c

UP 428 @ IRM seven, yes, seven years ago.  Doesn't the clock start when the first tube is set?  A shame if they have to dismantle that boiler and do it all over before the locomotive has run even one foot.

Is this actually a blow down occuring? Also, in my second attached photo, what is that mud like material coming out, is that normal? I didnt see anything like that coming out of 611?

-Ryan N.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/16 14:14 by dal3294.

---

---

filmteknik Wrote:

> Doesn't the clock start when the first tube is
> set?  A shame if they have to dismantle that
> boiler and do it all over before the locomotive
> has run even one foot.

Yes and no, but mostly yes. They give you a year to install the tubes-so you can get 16 years from when you set the first tube.

I would note that blowing down a locomotive used to be a key safety feature of steam locomotives.

Photo 1) Stupid Bellarmine High School (San Jose, CA) kids sitting on tracks as diesel-powered Coast Daylight roars by at 40 mph.
Photo 2) Remedial action to same available to steam locomotive engineers. I'm envious. As a diesel-only engineer all that I had available was sanders and Dixie cups of water.

EO
Well blow me down!

---

---

Ryan N asked, is this a real blow down, and what's the  "mud like material" seen in his photo? I'm disappointed no one has offered answers. d 

EtoinShrdlu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >"That's naught a blowdown......this is a
> blowdown...."
>
> Doesn't look like it's coming from the bottom of
> the mud ring.

Where else are there "blowdowns"?

dal3294 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is this actually a blow down occuring?

Sort of, yes. That is the "new location" of the re-piped Wilson sludge remover, that the current manager did on 844. Thus, BOTH the "sludge water" and the high pressure exit the same discharge chute, and extreme car must be taken to NOT activate the system, i.e. blowdown, when people are near by.

Also, in my
> second attached photo, what is that mud like
> material coming out, is that normal?

Yes, that COULD be "mud", or it COULD be re resultant color of the highly caustic boiler water chemical treatment that the current manager has been using since 2011. If it is indeed "mud", or other solids from the water, then that is EXACTLY what the Wilson Sludge Removal system is designed to do. i.e. blow the settled mineral deposits from the mudring to the trackside.

I didnt see
> anything like that coming out of 611?

I don't believe the N&W J Class locomotives had the Wilson System, so their blowdown configuration would have been different, and the discharge of same would be different.


> -Ryan N.

There is a video in the Trainorders Library of UP 3985 disappearing in steam - possibly a 'blow down".

Michael McInerney
Marion, South Australia,

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dal3294 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is this actually a blow down occuring?
>
> Sort of, yes. That is the "new location" of the
> re-piped Wilson sludge remover, that the current
> manager did on 844. Thus, BOTH the "sludge water"
> and the high pressure exit the same discharge
> chute, and extreme car must be taken to NOT
> activate the system, i.e. blowdown, when people
> are near by.
>
> Also, in my
> > second attached photo, what is that mud like
> > material coming out, is that normal?
>
> Yes, that COULD be "mud", or it COULD be re
> resultant color of the highly caustic boiler water
> chemical treatment that the current manager has
> been using since 2011. If it is indeed "mud", or
> other solids from the water, then that is EXACTLY
> what the Wilson Sludge Removal system is designed
> to do. i.e. blow the settled mineral deposits from
> the mudring to the trackside.
>
> I didnt see
> > anything like that coming out of 611?
>
> I don't believe the N&W J Class locomotives had
> the Wilson System, so their blowdown configuration
> would have been different, and the discharge of
> same would be different.
>
>
> > -Ryan N.


Thank you for the explanation.

-Ryan N.

mmciau Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is a video in the Trainorders Library of UP
> 3985 disappearing in steam - possibly a 'blow
> down".

I think this may be the photos to which you refer.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,649953,650013#msg-650013

If so, it is not a blowdown, but only relief from the cylinder cocks.

-Larry Doyle, aka MTMEngineer

Way back in the 1990s on a visit to the New Hope and Ivyland, after our trip behind No. 40, the hostler opened up every orifice available and conducted what I have to call a "super blowdown."

---

That is probably mud coming from 844.

That they blow it down at all now is a major change, but they still don't do it nearly enough nor often enough. Don't want to do anything previous crews might have done.

First thing in the morning is a great time to blow down until the water level gets to the bottom of the glass, then refill and do it again. The loco has Benn sitting overnite so much of the crud in the water has had time to settle on the mudring where it can be blown out.

Once underway, the Wilson should be used often (like every 15 or 20 minutes) and the side blowdowns should be used every time the train stops for a few minutes.

UP employee timetable special instructions and operating rules pounded it home, and engine crews who ignored it were subject to discipline, including being fired.