Steam & Excursion > Fire on the Mountain – Narrow Gauge Style

Last Saturday, 18 February, I purchased a cab ride aboard Durango & Silverton #473 on its regular Cascade Canyon run. I was in town for the D&S’ annual winter photo special, my third year in attendance.  The weekend was over the top, as usual. Each year something is always a bit different and the D&S employees are to be commended for all of the hard work they put in to the special.
 
This shot is from the cab ride on 473.  I like how the gasses from the firebox seem to be reaching out to pull the coal into the flame …
 
Regards,
Burlington John
 

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Outstanding shot of the firebox taking a deep breath.

What you're seeing here is something every hand-fireman sees regularly.

As each scoop of coal approaches the open fire door the coal is warmed, even before it leaves the scoop.  At a temperatore of 700 degrees (F) hydro carbons begin to instantly "cook" out of the coal, and at a trmperature pf 1750 degrees break down into individual atoms of hydrogen and of carbon.  These free floating atoms immediately flash into flame and are sucked into the firebox, already burning (burning is recombining with oxygen, giving off additional heat and light).

-Larry Doyle

Thanks Larry, I never would have known!

Regards,
Burlington John
 

You can also smell it.

What does their cab ride cost?

Here's another photo similarly showing coal bursting into flame as it leaves the scoop.  This was posted on TO before, watermarked Bill Larduskey in 2002, but I can't find the original post.

-Larry Doyle, aka John Stein

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NKP779 Wrote:
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> What does their cab ride cost?

You can find some of the information around the cab ride at the Durango and Silverton Website:
https://www.durangotrain.com/locomotive-and-motor-car-rides#.WLRwB3-wgeU

Cost is $1000/USD

-Dave