Getting the Engine Ready

The first thing to be done in getting ready for a trip is to see that there is sufficient water in the boiler, so that if there is not, there is time to supply the deficiency.

If the boiler is cold it may be that the condensation of the steam in cooling may have left a partial vacuum in the boiler, and it will be necessary in that case to open the top gauge cock and let in air so that the water will come to its proper level in the gauge glass. Similarly, in filling the boiler, it may be necessary to open a gauge cock to let the air out.

The lower cock of the gauge glass should be opened to let the steam blow through if there is pressure on the boiler, or to let a little water out if there is not.

The safety valve should next be examined and moved to see that it works properly and does not stick to its seat.

Before laying the fire the fire bars and ash pan should be cleared of ashes and clinkers, and the grate bars tried with the shaking levers to see that the grates will shake properly. It should be seen that the tubes, etc., are clear of ashes.

In laying a new fire an ample supply of lighting material should be used, disposing it so that the fire will light evenly and not in spots, and a good layer of wood should be evenly distributed over the bars, the thinnest pieces being at the bottom as they will light easiest, and it is necessary to light the fire at the bottom, so that the heat from the wood that is first lighted shall pass through that to be lighted.

The wood should be kept burning without coal until the lower stratum has ceased to blaze and covers the bars, while there is an even layer of blazing wood above it.

The quantity of coal to be fed at a time, and the depth of fire to be kept, depends upon the size of the coal, because the larger the coal the less it obstructs the draught, and the thicker the layer required in order to prevent currents of air from passing through without entering into combination with the gases from the coal.

If the coal is mixed, containing large lumps, they should be broken.

The first layer of coal should be enough to cover the fire to a depth of about two inches, which will permit of a good draught. This will get well alight while the wood is still serviceable, and a second layer may be applied of another two inches. The third feeding should be given with a view to have a greater depth of fire at the sides than at the middle of the fire box, because the cool sides of the box prevent perfect combustion, and currents of cold air are more apt to find their way through the sides than in the middle of the fire box.

Banking a fire consists of piling it up at the back half of the fire box and covering it up with green coal, so that it may keep alight and keep the boiler hot without increasing the steam pressure.

The air passing through the uncovered half of the fire bars prevents rapid combustion and a dead fire is maintained.

In starting up a banked fire, the first thing to do is to clean it of ashes, clinker, etc., shaking up the bars to see that they will work properly. The fire is then spread evenly over the bars, and wood fed to enliven the fire and promote the draught.

The blower or blast pipe is then set going, and coal gradually fed a little at a time, evenly distributed, covering those parts the most where the fire burns through the most brightly.

A steady fire is better than one that is forced, because the combustion is more perfect and less clinker is formed, hence less cleaning will be necessary, and the fire door will not be kept open so long to let in cold air. This is important because a steady temperature in the fire box promotes its durability, as well as giving a uniform boiler pressure. The strains placed upon a fire box by a fierce fire suddenly cooled by a heavy charge of coal or of cold air from an open fire door are highly destructive.

Furthermore, the greatest economy of fuel is attained by keeping the boiler pressure up, and using the steam expansively by hooking up the links to shorten the point of cut-off.

A safety valve steadily blowing off steam, whether the engine is running or not, is a sign of bad firing and wastefulness.

It is the fireman’s duty to attend to the fire, but nevertheless a careful engineer will be as much interested in proper firing as in his own duties, and as the engineer has more experience than the fireman, he is warranted in exercising an ordinary supervision on the firing, which will be welcome to an earnest or ambitious fireman.

The engineer should examine, with a wrench in hand, the bolts and nuts about the trucks and axle boxes, as these are apt to become loose and come off on the road. A proper construction would remedy this defect almost entirely, and by a proper construction is meant the more frequent employment of split pins, cotters, and other similar safety appliances now omitted for the sake of economy of manufacture.

Nothing in the future of the locomotive is more certain than improvement in this respect, and nothing is more urgently needed, as any engineer will become satisfied if he will gather up along a mile of ordinary railroad the nuts and washers that lay along the track.

The eccentric straps and the pins in the link motion require an examination, which may be done while oiling the parts of the engine.

The oiling requires careful attention; first the cups themselves sometimes become loose, an argument in favor of having, wherever possible, the cups solid on the parts, as done in European practice.

Oil holes are apt to get choked by gumming, which is that the oil in time forms into a brown gummy substance that fills the oil hole. Perfect lubrication does not imply wasteful lubrication by any means, but a wasteful use of oil is probably less expensive than insufficient lubrication.

A thorough engineer will use no more oil than is necessary; he will leave nothing to conjecture or chance, but know from personal inspection that his engine is in complete working order, and to this end the lubrication of the working parts is a vital element.

After having oiled the eccentric straps, the link motion and the reversing gear beneath the engine, the reversing lever and the parts above the frame must be oiled, and the reversing lever moved back and forth several times, from end to end of the sector or quadrant, so as to distribute the oil throughout the joints and working surfaces.

The axle boxes require careful attention in oiling. In English practice, tallow is packed in the corners of the cavities of the top of the box, so that if the box should begin to heat the tallow will melt, and afford extra lubrication with a heavier lubricant than usual, which will often stop the heating.

The connecting and coupling rods then require attention, the cups being filled and the lubrication adjusted.

When steam is up the gauge glass should be blown through again, and it will be found that the water stands higher in the glass than it did before the boiler was under pressure.

The packing of the piston and of the pump glands, if the engine has pumps, should be known to be properly set up, bearing in mind that a leaky pump gland lets air into the pump and impairs its action.

The sand box should contain dry sand, as wet sand will not feed properly.

If steam is raising too rapidly, close the lower damper to reduce the consumption of fuel and save blowing off steam through the safety valve, which should always be avoided as much as possible.

Before starting the engine, open the cylinder cocks and keep them open until the sound discloses that dry steam, and not steam and water, is issuing.

Open the throttle enough to start the engine easily and not with a jump, and be prepared to shut off steam instantly if a blow in any part of the engine should indicate an obstruction to its working.

In starting a train, the reversing lever is put in the end forward notch and the cylinder cocks opened. Then the throttle is opened a little at first, so as to avoid starting with a violent shock that might break the couplings.

If in starting (or in ascending gradients) the wheels are forced to slip, the sand lever should be operated, a slight sprinkling of sand serving better than a heavy one. If the sand is damp, it will fall in lumps and not distribute evenly as it should do, while at the same time a great deal more sand will be found necessary.

When the train is fairly under way, the aim should be to maintain full boiler pressure, so as to keep up the required speed with the links hooked up to work the steam as expansively as possible, bearing in mind that the higher up the links are hooked the more expansively the steam is used, and that therefore less steam is used to do the work and the boiler pressure can be kept up easier.

To understand this clearly, let it be supposed that the steam pressure in the boiler is 90 lbs. per square inch, and that the piston area is 400 inches, and the total pressure impelling the piston will be 36,000 lbs.; if this follows the piston for 22 inches, the power becomes 792,000 inch lbs. per stroke.

Now suppose the pressure is 150 lbs. per square inch, and this multiplied by the piston area (400) gives 60,000 lbs. impelling the piston, and this would require to follow the piston but 13.2 inches in order to give 792,000 inch lbs. In the one case we have 22 inches, and in the other 13.2 inches of the cylinder to fill with steam. Of course it will take more fuel under the heat of firing to keep the pressure up to the 150 lbs.; but on the other hand, when the steam is cut off in the cylinder there will be 160 lbs. per square inch in it, and all the work that this does in expanding is gained during the rest of the stroke, so that the required amount of power would be obtained by cutting off earlier than at 13 inches.

The water should, under ordinary conditions, be kept at an uniform level in the boiler. Steam can of course be made quicker with a small than with a large quantity of water, but the smaller the quantity of water the more the steam pressure is liable to fluctuate, and the closer the firing must be attended to.

Furthermore, the more water there is in the boiler, the greater the safety, because the longer the boiler can go without feeding, and, if the pumps or injectors, as the case may be, should act imperfectly, there is more time to get them working properly.

In testing the water level, the gauge glass alone is not to be entirely depended upon, hence the gauge cocks should be opened. The water should not be allowed to go below the middle gauge cock.

It is obvious that when the water is below a certain gauge cock, the gauge glass only can give any information as to how far it is below it, hence it must be used for this purpose.

When using it, it should be blown through by opening its lower cock, and if there is any doubt about its showing the proper water level it should be blown through two or three times, watching the level of the water in the glass at each trial.

A constant boiler feeding is the best, as it is more conducive to a uniform boiler pressure and temperature.

The fire should be fed in small charges, the fire door being kept open as little as possible, because a high temperature in the firebox is necessary to perfect combustion. If heavy charges of coal are given at once, then for some time the fire box will be cooled, and then, as the fire burns through, a fierce heat will be generated. This alternate heating and cooling is very destructive to the fire box and the tubes, as it causes an expansion and contraction that rack the joints and seams.

There are several ways of firing, each having its advocate. Upon the following points, however, there is no dispute. First, a slow combustion is the most perfect, because it produces less clinker, which saves fuel and also saves a large amount of fire cleaning and therefore of admission of cold air to the fire box. A high temperature is necessary to combustion, and the temperature of the fuel is most difficult to keep up at the sides of the fire box.

By light and frequent firing the bright fire will never be covered up, hence the temperature will be maintained. This favors an even distribution over a large surface of the fire of each shovelful of coal. But if at any point the draught is lifting the fire, and small bright pieces of fire are lifting up, it is an evidence that the fire is thinnest there or else that the bars are cleanest there. In either case, an extra amount of coal is required at that spot.

Some engineers will charge one side of the fire box lightly and then the other, this being done so as to keep up the temperature in the fire box. Others will fire first the front and then the back of the box, which answers the same purpose, but in no case should the charge be heavy.

A fireman may become so accustomed to the road and his engine, that under some conditions he may fire when he reaches certain points on the road, regulating it like clockwork.

On a trip from Philadelphia to Reading, on an engine having a Wooten fire box (whose special feature is a large fire box, which enables slow combustion), the firing was conducted as follows:

The fire was was not fed or touched until just before reaching Bridgeport, 18 miles from Philadelphia, when a thin layer of coal was spread evenly on the fire. Eleven miles were then made without opening the fire door, the next firing taking place just before reaching Phœnixville.

Ten miles were run before the next firing, which occurred just before arriving at Pottstown.

The next firing occurred at Bordenboro’, three miles from Pottstown. The remaining 8 miles were made without firing. The steam pressure did not vary more than 10 lbs. per square inch during the trip.

On a trip from New York to Philadelphia by the lightning express train the firing was conducted as follows:

The coal was anthracite and in lumps from 5 to 7 inches in diameter; at one end it reached up to the level of the fire door, while at the tube plate end of the fire box it was about 6 inches deep.

The grate bars were constructed to shake in three sections, and shaking the bars to clear out the fire caused it to feed forward of itself, and the combustion of the coal caused it to break up into lumps about 2 inches in diameter at the tube plate, where the fire was much brighter than at the fire door end. The steam pressure varied about 10 lbs. during the trip.

We now come to the best times to fire, to feed, and to oil the valves, and this depends on the level of the road.

On a level road these matters could be attended to with regularity, but as the engine has most work to do in ascending inclines, it is necessary to prepare for such emergencies: First, by having a good fire prepared, so that the fire door may be kept closed as much as possible while the engine is ascending; second, by having plenty of water in the boiler, so as to keep steam, without feeding any more than possible when the engine is calling for more steam, by reason of the reversing lever being put over towards full gear.

The speed is kept well up before reaching the incline, and the reversing lever moved forward a notch or two at a time to maintain the speed, while at the same time moving the sand lever to feed the sand as soon as the engine speed shows signs of reducing.