Steam & Excursion > Poised and Ready to Go

Having just emerged from the East Ely, NV enginehouse, 2-8-0's #81 and #93 of the Nevada Northern Railway are posed for a handful of photographers. Both will soon start their duties this Saturday morning, September 25, 2021. #93 will be used on a "Be the Engineer" run and the regular excursion train up to Keystone. #81 will be handling the special movements with the small group (there were maybe25 of us) who signed up for the Locomotive #81 Photoshoot weekend. Early morning lighting and the cool, crisp Autumn air of 6,000' make for memorable images. Thanks for looking in!

KC

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Other then maybe cleaner intake air, is there a reason why the Nevada Northern likes to mount their single phase air pumps on the smoke box front?

Sorry, I haven't a clue. I'm sure someone will have an answer for you.

KC

Good question, might have soimething to do with side clearance thru a loadout but someone
on here probably knows.

Out 

Typically these single-cylinder compressors are used in pairs ....
If side- mounted,  that MAY present balance problems, left to right...

These compressors are weighty, so, two front-mounted compressors
solve that 'weighty problem'..

Early variants used 9" pistons,  later versions used 11" pistons..

W.
 ( An easy way to tell if it's the smaller of the two:  the smaller A/C 
    has horizontal cooling fins around the lower cylinder, the 'air-end'...
    The larger, 11",  compressors have plain air-end cylinders
     
      Early Standard Stokers used the Westinghouse compressor's steam cylinder 
      to operate the screw conveyor system.  The Standard 'Duplex' stoker uses two
      elevator screws ( angled up either side of the backhead--- about 45"  tall).  
 
       There is the "conveyor screw" that brings the coal from the tender to the
        base of the twin 'elevator' screws.    The steam cylinder made a ratcheting noise
       when operating:  back-and-forth , back-and-forth...
    
       As far as I know, Loco 4070 is --- they're a 'rare bird', today ---- equipped with the
       Standard  Duplex stoker.   What's 4070's status, now?
        Are either of these two engines equipped with the Duplex stokers?).

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/21 19:47 by wcamp1472.

Sounds very plausible Wes. Thanks for the reply!!!

KC
 wcamp1472 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Typically these single-cylinder compressors are
> used in pairs ....
> If side- mounted,  that MAY present balance
> problems, left to right...
>
> These compressors are weighty, so, two
> front-mounted compressors
> solve that 'weighty problem'..
>
> Early variants used 9" pistons,  later versions
> used 11" pistons..
>
> W.
>
>
>  

wcamp1472 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>      
>       Early Standard Stokers used the
> Westinghouse compressor's steam cylinder 
>       to operate the screw conveyor system.

Wes, please elaborate.  How is the compressor steam cylinder connected to a stoker?  A steam line?

Are they still pulling copper ore out of the old mine at Ely?  If so, are they still trucking it to some destination?  I remember reading something like that, and how it was hoped the old Nevada Northern rail line could be re-activated and used, instead of dumping thousands of trucks on the highway, costing the taxpayers lots of expensive repairs to road damage.

Elaboration....

The valving inside the steam cylinder automatically reverses the piston
at the end of its stroke ---- whether there's anything connected to the piston rod.
RRs and manufacturers used those steam cylinders for many purposes around Loco repair shops.

You can find virtual copies on feedwater pumps, stokers, shop-use hydrostatic pumps,
et cetera, as well as air compressors.

Standsrd Stoker's first commercially successful RR Loco stokers was the 
Duplex stoker.

The steam cylinder was placed on on it's side, operating a ratchet and pawl mechanism 
The stoker cylinder was mounted under the cab. fireman's side and sitting crosswise of the frame..
 It was the piston and cylinder that turned the Archemedes' Screw coal conveyor shaft about
60-degrees of arc, for each piston stroke.  The ratchet wheel was engaged with the 'pawl' at
the start of the piston stroke.  The 60-degree 'stokes' were only contributing to the rotation
for the 'outward' stroke only..... to return the piston steam piston to the top end of the cylinder,
180-degrees, the pawl would not engage the ratchet gear, thus no motion was imparted to the screw.

( On compressors, each stroke,  both 'out" and 'back', each compressed air towards the Loco's
  Main Resevoirs...  in the train braking system, the storage tanks on each car are called
   Auxiliary Reservoirs,
 
   Those [arcane]   titles can be confusing... but, back in the early days of the burgeoning
   science of train air brakes, texts tended to be confusing ---- also, most of the mechanics
   had limited educations. and 'book reading' was not an appreciated skill.... So companies
   like Westinghouse Air Brakes didn't write their texts to be used in an educational setting...).

The Steam piston & shaft pushed the pawl engaging & turning the ratchet for one stroke..
and gave the conveyor screw, a partial turn,,,, then the piston reversed, & the pawl,
flopped noisily past the ratchet wheel, and not 'engaged'  during the return stroke.

Later, Standard stokers ( B, MB, HT, etc,') used a small, 2-cylinder 'steam engine' to drive
the Archemedes' Screw in a continuous rotational motion --- conveying the crushed coal to
a 'firing table' ....where an arrsy of small steam jets blew the coal all over the grate areas..

The latest version  of the HT stoker did the best job of delivering the coal and evenly 
distributing the green coal across the whole grate.

​W.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/21 14:28 by wcamp1472.

Re elaboration....

Thank you -- very interesting.

In a matter, yes. The mining operation is owned by KGHM, a Polish mining conglomerate. The ore is processed on site and the concentrate is trucked out to a storage location in Wendover, UT  for distribution, according to their website.  Besides copper, some silver, gold and moly was also being mined a while ago. Not sure if this is still the case. There are no plans to re-open the line to the UP connection at Shafter by the mining company but the NN RYW Museum will soon be rehabbing the main up to McGill after receiving a grant. 
KC

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are they still pulling copper ore out of the old
> mine at Ely?  If so, are they still trucking it
> to some destination?  I remember reading
> something like that, and how it was hoped the old
> Nevada Northern rail line could be re-activated
> and used, instead of dumping thousands of trucks
> on the highway, costing the taxpayers lots of
> expensive repairs to road damage.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/21 16:38 by GRNDMND.

Nice pic!!