Steam & Excursion > Ash

There were, and still are, three theories about what to do with it at the end of the day.  Well, oil burning crews don't have to deal with it.  But coal burning engines must.

There are three methods.  1)  Go home at the end of your shift and let someone else deal with it later.  2) Dump ash at the end of your shift.  3) Some engine facilities in the day of steam had cinder pit men to do this -  Not today.

The job is dirty.  Dusty,   Hot.  Not fun.

Best to wear a mask and a water soaked bandana on your neck.  Goggles.  Did I tell ya this is the worst task associated with steam locomotives?

A pit between the rails is nice.  If you don't have one, ash can be dumped on the track between the rails, and a steel plate should reside where this is gonna happen to prevent burning the ties.  Firstr pic shows the Cadillac version of an ash pit, at Chama.  Once dumped, the ash must still be hand shoveled by some low paid worthy into a disposal container or truck.  Dirty, dusty work.

The ashpans and hopper, themselves, are not self cleaning.  The engine is parked over the duming area.  Grates are shaken, or dumped, as appropriate for the facilities  Much dust flies.  Then someone must use a locomotive rake to push ash from the edges of the ashpan into the hoper, as seen in the second pic.

The DM&IR (I don;t know of anyone else who did this) has "cutters" installed in the ashpans to admit boiler water into the ashpans to flush them out.  These are NICE!  Illustrated in third pic.  No dust, and a thorough cleaning.

-LD

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Wow is that steam "GOLD" in the Chama pit?
Greg

Don't need to hand shovel it from the pit in Chama, that is what a backhoe with a front loader bucket is for. Work smarter, not harder.

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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.  Did I tell ya this is the
> worst task associated with steam locomotives?
>

Without a doubt, ash handlers had tough, dirty jobs.  But...

I always thought the so-called "hot men" (i.e. guys who would crawl into the firebox of a still-hot locomotive to tap on stay bolts) had the worst job associated with steam locomotives.  At least, that sounds like the job I would avoid the most!

Scott Griggs
Louisville, KY

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/19 11:28 by sgriggs.