last summer at steamtown

[steamhead]

Must be a heck of a feeling knowing you've got as good a model as can be made of a really REAL steamer..!! Congratulations..and may she serve you well..!!

 

[cn nutbar]

hi gus---thanks for your comments---what's even a better feeling is knowing i have a good friend in Doctor Wayne who has painted and detailed my collection of locomotives---here's another shot of #3254 while in service on the EG&E

 

[nkp174]

Are the CP pacifics from the postwar batch made for light freight service?
If they are of that batch, then they're the same class as one on another tourist line that had the infamous 90s boiler explosion... and is still in one piece. Most US engines would have been destroyed. It seems the Canadian engines were built stronger, with higher safety margins.

The two at the Ohio Central are post-war engines. I thought they were built for suburban service in Toronto. I check on it, and the pacific at Steamtown is a pre-war engine.

As for the boiler explosion, that engine is one of the Ohio Central engines...it was then a Gettysburg RR engine. It was not that Canadian locomotives are more durably constructed, but rather the nature of the explosion and the fact that it was a very modern design. When a crew screws up and adds the water that causes an explosion, many factors determine the power of the explosion...especially the boiler pressure when he hits the injector. Having examined the engine first hand since the accident...as well as being familiar with the forces involved...I am quite convinced that the explosion had far less energy than the Virginian 2-10-10-2, the C&O 2-6-6-6, or any of the more famous examples. Normally preserved locomotives are operated at lower pressures than when they were in service...let alone if the pressure was even lower when they made their mistake.

These engines were designed to not explode catastrophically. One detail I remember is that much of the force was to be directed out the bottom of the firebox...although I don't know how this was achieved. I do not know if these design features were common to other modern designs...or if they always worked. Further, a locomotive operating at 300psi with a rapid injector will produce a far greater explosion than an engine operating around 200psi with a slow injector (or an injector set to less than max...since they are variable on every locomotive I've ever seen).

In general, most any locomotive would have been devastated by such an explosion. The CP pacific at Steamtown would be no exception. The survival of the Gettysburg engine was a function of the excellent design and of the conditions of the explosion.

I think the take home message is simple: If you're in a locomotive and the low water alarm (whistle) goes off...or you notice that the water glasses are empty...drop the fire. Do NOT touch the injector. :mrgreen:

 

[toptrain1]

Here is a photo was taken at Steamtown on Feb. 12, 2018. Two views of Onterio and Western 44 ton Centercab #106.
frank