Info on oil fireing conversions of steam.

[capt_turk]

I'm looking for information on the conversions of steam locos from coal or wood to oil fireing.
1. Did they add tanks where the coal or wood had gone?
2. What did the oiling stations look like?
3. Were there any changes to the outward appearance of the locos?
4. Did the 0-4-0 and 0-4-2 Porters use a tender to carry the oil?
5. When were the first locos converted to oil?

Any other info on oil fireing would be appreciated.

 

[CharlesH.]

As far as I know, several coal-burning steam engines were converted to oil burners by simply replacing the coal bunker with an oil one. The only change (at least tha I have noticed) in the loco's appearance is that the firebox is completely closed.

 

[jetrock]

Many engines were designed originally to burn oil, especially on the West Coast. They generally used heavy bunker oil, which was about the consistency of Jell-O, rather than a lighter weight fuel oil. The tender was a large tank but often didn't look that different because they still carried water in a jacket around the oil tank.

Here's a photo of a Porter 0-6-0 oil-burner, built as such, with tender:

And here's a Porter 0-4-0 oil burner, also built as such, and as you can see, there is no tender.

For comparison, here's a Porter 0-4-0 coal-burner, a lighter model:

And another, this one heavier:

So, no, Porter 0-4-0 oil-burners probably didn't have tenders.

 

[60103]

The other visible external change would be a pipe for the oil from the tender to the loco, and possibly a steam pipe to the tender to keep the oil liquified.