Steam & Excursion > "Heavy Hog"

Photographer: Harold Webber
Publisher: Hank Webber
Date:1981 

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I had a girlfriend with similar proportions!

Probably two sets of fire doors to cover that large grate.... AND it’s a hand-bomber, to boot!

There’s no room for two firemen, either. Yes, anthracite burns low and slow, but hand firing is a strong man’s job... you need stamina and s strong back —- it’s cold, drafty and dirty... anthracite burners never had stokers .... burns too slow. However it puts out copious amounts of radiant heat, low/no smoke, lots of ashes..( also no brick arch.. in the firebox...

Thanks for the great photo & essay.

W.

Posted from iPhone

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> also no brick arch.. in the firebox...

Is that because the fire was not as hot/intense as with soft coal?

The brick arch does two things for a bituminous/lignite burner.  It provides a source of radiant heat, which an anthricite burner already has plenty of, and it lengthens the firepath for combustion of the volatile gasses  for better combustion.  Anthricite doesn't have much in the volatiles department, so the arch can be dispensed with.

See also this post last week on this subject.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4681490

Notice the "dirt" piled high in the tender.  That's culm, an otherwise waste material from the coal breakers that the railroads figured how to use cheaply.

-John



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/18 08:38 by LarryDoyle.

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> Notice the "dirt" piled high in the tender. 
> That's culm, an otherwise waste material from the
> coal breakers that the railroads figured how to
> use cheaply.
>
> -John

"Sell the best and burn the rest."

I am looking but can not see the other pilot wheels, is it really a 4-8-0? 

MP4093 Wrote:
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> I am looking but can not see the other pilot
> wheels, is it really a 4-8-0? 

Sure looks to me like enough room for a set of pilot wheels behind the cylinders.

Google "Jersey Central Steam Roster" for confirmation.

-John

Camelback steam locomotives are an aquired taste.   ;-)

-Larry Doyle

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> MP4093 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I am looking but can not see the other pilot
> > wheels, is it really a 4-8-0? 
>
> Sure looks to me like enough room for a set of
> pilot wheels behind the cylinders.
>
> Google "Jersey Central Steam Roster" for
> confirmation.
>
> -John

I did just that, and sure enough that roster shows it as a 4-8-0.

That makes it even more unique. Few roads had twelve wheelers, much less camelbacks. Usually for lighter loading but some roads like SP, had some big ones. This one is a hog.

Posted from Android

MP4093 Wrote:
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> That makes it even more unique. Few roads had
> twelve wheelers, much less camelbacks. Usually for
> lighter loading but some roads like SP, had some
> big ones. This one is a hog.
>
> Posted from Android

Alfred Bruce, in The Steam Locomotive in America, estimates that about 600 4-8-0 type engines were built in America.  By contrast, he estimates thet there were 17,000 4-6-0 and 21,000 2-8-0 types built for use domestically.   So, yes, the 4-8-0 is rara avis.

-LD