Steam & Excursion > 3985 Stoker

Here's a somewhat less volatile UP question.  Was the stoker from the Challenger's coal firing days a Standard MB, like those in the Big Boys?  If so, did it survive the recent "cleanups", if it was even still around prior?

It was an MB type stoker and I know Steve had it stored on pallets while I was still there. Not sure what its condition is these days.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

The popcorn is ready just in case.

Bob, Tell the story where you had to go to get the Stoker screw when you restored the 3985 in 1980.
Some where I have photos of it and 11 of the old driver tires on pallets out side of the round house in the 90's
Steve

Bob3985 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was an MB type stoker and I know Steve had it
> stored on pallets while I was still there. Not
> sure what its condition is these days.

Bob3985 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was an MB type stoker and I know Steve had it
> stored on pallets while I was still there. Not
> sure what its condition is these days.

Bob, I remember talking to Lynn Nystrom at Portola, right after 3985 was converted to oil.  I remember asking him what did they do with the coal equipment.  He said something about how it had been sold to the NS.  I could have misunderstood him, but I'm almost sure that's what he said.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CIO

The Standard MB style was named after the Model B stoker, which had the stoker-pot mostly in the cab, and taking up a lot of cab deck space.

The Modified B stoker (MB) placed the vertical tube INSIDE the firebox, protected from the intense heat by a wall of cast iron vertical blocks that rested on the grate foot-casting that supports the coal elevator rube and the steam-jet spray head, as well as the U-shaped 'firing table'.

The MOST COMMON arrangement for the stoker jets was using 4 "directional" jets:Lleft Rear, Left Front, Right Rear, Right Front.
There is a 5th jet control valve labeled 'Fine Coal'.  This fed a series of jets the were aimed at all regions of the firebox.

There is NO 'elevator' screw in the vertical stoker tube in side the firebox.   The coal comes out the top of the tube like a big slug of sausage.   The clockwise rotation of the screw, tends to pack the engineer's side to the coal feeding tube with the largest cup hunks of coal confined to the right half, when the coal is pushed into the path of the firing jets-----if unattended,, a HUGE 'bank', made up mostly of these larger chunks.  Watch-out.

For HUGE grates, Standard supplied a 7-Jet 'distributing  head'.
Adding jets for intermediate distances down the side sheets: "Left Side" & "Right Side.

The MBs, when fired by a skilled person, were MORE than enough capacity to keep a good fire, nice and bright.
What worked the best was a big heal of cold, wet coal built up around the stoker 'pot', that construction of verticals grate pieces under the firing table, as well as the rear 2 corners of the grate buying built up with a good dense 'heel'

The draft through the grates is most violent at the back, so it tends to burn-out very quickly, and results in immense amounts of COLD air roaring up the rear firebox sheets.  The well-built heel, keeps this cold air from from ruining the fire, and forces most of the beneficial combustion air-flow to occur throughout the remaining 80%, forward part,  of the grate area.

The Nickel Plate's young, firemen taught us well about  the easiest way to make every firing-day, an easy firing-day.

W.

(....Similar firing techniques were taught to us by: ex-NYC, PRR, N&W, Reading, D&H, and CNJ crews.....They ALL preferred the big, deep heels in the back of the firebox...).