Keeping locomotives in Steam

[alexl92]

I understand that for some of the largest steam locomotives, it can take up to 24 hours after the fire has been lit for the boiler pressure to be at the required level to haul trains. Firstly, is this correct?

Secondly, presumably this means that at gala events or similar held over 3 or 4 days, the engines are kept in steam over the time rather than lighting up each morning. What does this mean from a staffing point of view? Does the railway have to have some staff stay on sight all night each night to keep an eye on the locomotives and for security reasons?

Cheers

 

[trainmania100]

It does take a while to get the steam, a few hours if not more. A whole day seems rather a lot but i doubt its anymore than 8 hours. The blower is used once theres enough boiler pressure to make a small draft to help the coal birn

 

[37038]

I understand that for some of the largest steam locomotives, it can take up to 24 hours after the fire has been lit for the boiler pressure to be at the required level to haul trains. Firstly, is this correct?

Secondly, presumably this means that at gala events or similar held over 3 or 4 days, the engines are kept in steam over the time rather than lighting up each morning. What does this mean from a staffing point of view? Does the railway have to have some staff stay on sight all night each night to keep an eye on the locomotives and for security reasons?

Cheers

Takes no more than 3-4 hours to get it up to pressure. Round of coal, some scrap wood, few oily/paraffin rags on top, lit match, let it crack on... Give it a rake if it needs it and crack the blower after a while.

Disposed every night and they cool slowly overnight. Generally if disposed late on and lit at 5am, they'll have a smidge of residual pressure (definitely still warm). Locos can be unlit for days and still be warm inside.

 

[infobleep]

I was told at the National Rail Museum that back in the day the big express locos would have two weeks on and two weeks off for maintenance. The fire would be damped down over night but not fully extinguished. I can't remember much more but I found it fascinating.

I was actually pondering your question on very recently. Just that had I hadn't got around to asking it.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[Cowley]

I just mentioned this yesterday on another thread strangely enough. In the early 90s I spent a few nights helping keep the locos warm for the Santa services on the Mid Hants. The services started earlier than normal and obviously the weather was fairly cold.
It just involved keeping them warmed through and sticking the odd shovel full of coal in to keep them not quite up to pressure but not too far off, having locomotives blowing off at 3am clearly wouldn't have pleased the neighbours.
My friend who was a driver and locomotive owner said this was the right way to do things on a machine that was being used frequently day after day to stop the expanding and contracting of the various metals in the boiler.
After a certain amount of time the loco would be due to have a boiler washout and would be allowed to cool down gently for this.
It was a very interesting thing to be involved in and very atmospheric too...

 

[broadgage]

With a bit of determination, steam can be raised from cold in a few hours, certainly nothing like 24 hours !
However repeated rapid heating from cold shortens the life of a boiler and increases the frequency of costly repairs.
It is therefore preferable to take many hours in gently warming from cold, rather than rushing.
When steam was in regular main line use, an engine used until late evening would certainly still be hot for an early start the next morning, and might still have a bit of steam.

If the fire was dropped but the boiler still hot it was common practice to place a bucket over the chimney, so as to retain the heat for longer.
It was important for the early morning fireman to double check that any such bucket had been removed before trying to raise steam !

Sometimes the fire was not dropped, but a small fire kept going overnight so as to facilitate an early start.
In London at least, engines would still be arriving on trains until after midnight, and a lot of services started by 06-00, so keeping some engines in steam was worthwhile.

 

[alexl92]

I just mentioned this yesterday on another thread strangely enough. In the early 90s I spent a few nights helping keep the locos warm for the Santa services on the Mid Hants.

Might have been your comment that prompted it to be honest!

Thanks all, not sure where I got 24 hours from! Interesting to learn though.

 

[Spartacus]

I've certainly heard of locos in BR days being moved using the residual energy from the night before, both accidentally and on purpose!

It's becoming increasingly common for preserved locos to be steamed in big blocks, particularly during periods of 7 days running, before sitting out the rest of the season to try and prevent too much cooling down to cold before being resteamed in an effort to conserve the boiler, firebox, stays and various other parts: any joint between two different metals is particularly prone to issues.

The trouble with this is sometimes things can get a bit boring from an enthusiast's point of view, but it's something the casual once or twice a year visitor's unlikely to notice.