Steam & Excursion > CAN ANYONE TELL ME.....

What this is? Over the holidays my Aunt gave me this, she said it was my great grandfathers, and she belived it was from when he worked as a switchman for the M-K-T or the Kansas Pacific in Kansas around 1895-1917.
Words cast into it say,

Dayton
Malleable
Iron Co.

1895


Thanks
Brad

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That's an engineers torch.

They burned kerosene, and the wick was quite large, almost an inch in diameter, and set high, to produce a flame about 6" to 10" tall. This one has a shorter handle than most - usually they held the torch about 12" from the engineers hand, rather than the 3" on this model.

These were used at night by engineers doing their inspection before leaving the engine terminal, and with a relatively bright yellow flame and long handle could be poked into most of the nooks and crannies of an engines running gear and frame to allow inspection.

Richard Steinheimer has time lapse pix of Durango showing an engineer having used one while doing his walkaround inspection of 487, in Backwoods Railroads of the West.

My favorite Special Instruction comes from a Milwaukee ETT of the late '40's: "Lighting engineers torches by holding them in the firebox is dangerous and must not be permitted."

I'll try to find time tonite to post a picture of my torch - it's quite different in design from yours.

Ditto MTM's statement. Yours is the first one I've seen with the wick intact. Does anyone know where to find these large wicks or how to make one? I sure would like to get my CNR inspection torch operational.

Gerry, Ottawa ON

Mine does not have a single wick, but a whole bunch of smaller wicks twisted or braided together, then trimmed. The wick is about a foot and a half long, with the surplus stuffed back into the pot. The remainder of the pot is stuffed with more strands of wick so that kero is somewhat bound up by the threads, and doesn't spill very easily. It is not possible, however, to turn it upside down without spilling or putting it out, as can be done with a switchmans lantern.

Thanks to all who responded, for clarification this torch is approximately 10" from base to wick.

Thanks again,
Brad

How about a kerosene switchstand ligher? I couldn't tell you myself, I got that answer from an older gentleman that might be more familiar with older railroad related items.

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

Here's what my engineers torch looks like. It measures 18 nches from the tip of the handle on the left to the tip of the fount on the right.

The reason for that Milwaukee Road special instruction I referred to this morning, is that when a person would reach toward the firedoor and place one of these into the flames to light them, the kero could vaporize instantly from the heat and explode out the firedoor. I personally know of one such fatality on the Soo Line.

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My torch is similar to the one in the first post except that it is made of copper and has no markings on it ...I have been told that this is a very, very early one.

My torch is of another style than what has already been shown.

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It is smaller than either of the other styles in that it is 4 1/4" high at the cap and 5" at the wick. The small size might also be noted by the size number zero cast into the torch. This torch was found in the 1940s in an inspection pit in the roundhouse (not actually round, six parallel tracks) in Wishram, Washington. At the time the torch was in regular use, Wishram was probably still named Fallbridge.

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Maybe that was intended for narrow guage engines. <G>