Steam & Excursion > Frisco Hotshot in 1940

Frisco appears to be getting its money's worth out of 4-8-2 #1525, hooked up and heading a hotshot freight with refrigerator cars on the head end and hitting track speed in this gorgeous Wm. Barham photo taken in Neosho, MO in 1940. Pickin 'em up and layin 'em down.   Looks like Bill wheedled them into making some smoke as this is a bit heavy for normal service.  Makes a great photo.
The 1522s were a true dual service locomotive which was used in all areas.   Too bad older photos don't come with sound as I'm sure this one would be fantastic.

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Excellent historic action shot.
Bob

Terrific steam photo, thanks for posting...

JG

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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>Too bad older photos don't come with sound as I'm sure this one would be fantastic.

Insert 1522 audio here...can't you hear it?  I know you can!

My photo published in Railfan & Railroad Magazine of #1522 pulling freight from Chattanooga to Birmingham in 1994 comes to mind!

What is not to like ?!!!!

Wow !!

Superheated screamer!

What you can't see is the power of superheated steam. --- which powers 
the pistons all the way down their strokes....

As the author notes: her admission period is under 20% of the 
stroke, yet the heat in the steam powers the pistons all the 
way to the opening of the exhaust-rings!

The stack tells us that the fire is very hot and flames burning into 
flues and tubes ---- extending the flame temps further over
the 'hot' ends of the superheater units!

Also, the short cut-off of the valve gear tells us that the steam is being 
slowed in its flow through the superheater units ----
The longer steam stays in the units --- the hotter it gets!  
Short cutoffs lengthen the 'dwell-time' of the steam inside the superheater units
and that means hotter steam, using less fuel!

"Hotter" means that the H2O molecules, in the 
gaseous state of 'steam', are forced further and further apart ....
Boiler pressure remains the same, but WAY less weight of steam 
is powering the pistons... Fewer molecules of steam, per stoke,
 means lower water consumption, and less fuel is needed!

Its hard to imagine the intensity of the flames and the ferocity of 
the fire in the firebox.  Yes, the smoke is DARK, BUT all the fuel has been 
fully burned --- there's not a wasted bit of the carbon fuel ---  oil or coal.
The stack tells me that flame-tips are burning well down insde the flues and 
tubes.. raising the superheat temperatures !!

​To get THAT HOT, means that only a small amount of steam 
fully powers the pistons.   The fierce wind through the firebox,
exceeds 100 mph!  Fuel-feeding rate is very low, and flame tips 
are easily over 3,000 F!   It's a true, white-hot firestorm in the firebox !!

 It takes about 10 to 12 minutes to heat-up the firebox & brick-work
( reaching a state of incandescence) before all that excitement gets
  to the state that is captured in this Magnificent Photo !!!
BRAVO!

​W.

( The noise and the pounding earth must have been incredible, 
    as she thunders by!) 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/24 17:27 by wcamp1472.

How can a steam locomotive look beautiful ?   Well, it sure is, when it's doing what it was designed for, and the Frisco's looked nicer than many.  Thanks for sharing that photo.

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho

Wes, What I find neat is that the smoke at the stack in split in the middle (left vs. right), between a haze and dark.

What it looks like to me, is the dark portion seems to be a high velocity 
central exhaust-jet, surrounded by a column of lower velocity eddy-currents
making the lighter colored smoke, surrounding the central jet....

The uniformity of the high velocity, central  jet verifies the accuracy of 
the design of the single-port exhaust nozzle.

Later, designs ( like with UP 3900s, 4000s & 800s) are that they 
used 4 jets per 'stack, and two stacks...together with intermediate combining-concentrators 
which resulted in many jet-columns, together withincreasing the impingement concentraing
plates for stronger drafts, especially when the engine is 'hooked-up' ( shortened
 admisson periods)*.  RRs using the more common single jet, you have relatively 
small impingement-surface areas of the one exhaust-column.

Many RRs tried cross-bars, or small separate "fingers", on the top of the
exhaust ( blast) nozzle--- trying to increase surface areas, wirh little success.

​W.
 
(* A distinct disadvantage with  "radial" valve gears  [Walschaert and Baker, for 
    example], is that as you reduce the port-opening width [ hooking-up] you also
    reduce the opening for the exhausted steam.  That reduced exhaust-port opening
    results in serious pressure on the exhaust-face of the pistons.  
    That internal back-pressure in the cylinders acts against the positive steam
    pressure trying to power the drivers).
 

What a fine machine!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/24 09:20 by GN599.

Excellent and enjoyable steam photo!!

Larry

Marvelous photo and great discussion.  Thanks for posting it (as with all you photos).