Locomotive boiler management

[georged38]

Hi everyone,

I know that the fireman is responsible for the management of the boiler on a steam locomotive, but apart from use of the injectors, how does he do this? I know the firehole doors can be opened and shut as a way of maintaining the fire, but when would this be something the fireman would do?

Thanks in advance,
George

 

[DelW]

Hi everyone,

I know that the fireman is responsible for the management of the boiler on a steam locomotive, but apart from use of the injectors, how does he do this? I know the firehole doors can be opened and shut as a way of maintaining the fire, but when would this be something the fireman would do?

Thanks in advance,
George

Others on here will have better knowledge, but to start the ball rolling, I think that loco ashpans normally had vents with flaps which could be opened or closed to vary the amount of air getting to the fire. Adding a shovelful of small pieces of coal, a.k.a. "slack", could also be used to reduce the heat of the fire, while raking ash through would in time increase it.

Presumably the regulator and reverser settings would also affect the fire via the amount of draught produced, but they would be under the driver's control.

 

[John Webb]

Get hold of a copy of "Handbook for Railway Steam Locomotive Enginemen" for a comprehensive review of the various duties of both fireman and driver and their expected interdependence on each other. Originally published by the British Transport Commission in 1957, Ian Allan did several reprints in 1977 and the 1990s. (ISBN 0 7110 0628 8). Copies of the original and the reprints often turn up on the second-hand market.

 

[Teaboy1]

Control Primary Air.
Control Secondary Air.
Control water level using exhaust and live steam injectors.
Control fuel delivery rate , location over grate, check bed for clinker [blue flames], trim coal in bunker,
Control steam pressure with blower when stationary.
Maintain gauge glasses should they decide to fail.
Try to regulate discharge of black smoke.
Replensish water in tender whenever possible.

And when your relief turns up, leg it !!

 

[georged38]

Thanks for the replies all, cleared a few things up!