Steam & Excursion > 09/09/2010 - NKP 765

NKP 765 is eastbound on the W&LE heading to the CVSR's "Steam in the Valley 2010". It is ten years to the day September 9, 2010 in Norwalk, Ohio. That is the Ohio Route 18/Route 20 bridge in the background.
Bob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/20 02:59 by refarkas.

---

Nice picture, and nice clean top to the tender. As built. The way it should be.

I'm not a fan of the look of the "tender extension" either, but I'm starting to wish they would weld the damn thing on permanently just to wreck your world and your unrealistic expectations.  Where's your complaint about that non-prototypical tool car she is towing?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/20 08:21 by junctiontower.

junctiontower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not a fan of the look of the "tender
> extension" either, but I'm starting to wish they
> would weld the damn thing on on permanently just
> to wreck your world and your unrealistic
> expectations.  Where's your complaint about that
> non-prototypical tool car she is towing?

elll oh elll

Posted from iPhone

junctiontower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not a fan of the look of the "tender
> extension" either, but I'm starting to wish they
> would weld the damn thing on permanently just to
> wreck your world and your unrealistic
> expectations.  Where's your complaint about that
> non-prototypical tool car she is towing?

Wish Todd would add a "Like" button!

An easy way to increase the coal carrying capacity is to modify the 
angle of slope-sheet at the rear of the tender's coal pile.  
That way you wouldn't be able to see the increase...but, sharp-eyed folks
would notice the increased capacity numbers on the rear of the tender.,
along with reduced number of gallons of water capacity.

Smart firing, where you carry a "heavy heel" across the rear of the grates---
to reduce the active combustion square footage --- so that it matches the mass being
hauled --- is a way to increase the distance between refuelings.

Hauling a single coach uses a huge quantity of water....which must be heated & boiled.  
The engine turns into a "water-pump" and NEVER has the draft to get to superheat generation.  
It's a huge waste of coal because you don't have a decent draft.  

Remember: it takes 8-times the number of BTUs to make steam-- (at the same temperature 
of water in the boiler), than it took to get the water to that heat.... So, if it takes 10,000 BTUs 
to get a quantity of water to the boiling temperature, it takes 80,000 MORE BTUs just to get it boiling ...
at that same temperature ...

You can increase the draft through the active area of the grates by covering the unused
( rear portion of the firebox) with a heavy bank of green coal, decently-coked.  
That way you can have a fire that is under 50% of the grate, but a violent enough
draft through the rest of the grates, to effectively burn the fuel at a very hot temperature.

So, "grate active-area management"  is key to extending fuel mileage.  
You don't need a full-100 sq ft. of active grate area to haul under 30 coaches, much less
hauling under 5 or so. Keep it "thin" down front, and you get longer distance between refuelings.
Trying to keep a one-hundred sq.ft. grate entirely  "involved" is foolish and wastes a lot of coal...
....if you have no sufficient draft.

Another trick is to wash the coal with waste motor oil, instead of water ... holds down the dust, lubricates the
stoker screw, increases the combustion rate and saves tons of coal... Now you know.

Back in the day, Ross had ordered "oil-washed" coal, right from the mine ---- that stuff was sweet to fire!
It burned hotter!  And we got much better distances between refuelings.

​W.


 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/20 14:51 by wcamp1472.