i thought maybe we could take a trip up the hill at Wabash,In.and use the equipment we have been discussing in the forum. The engine will be the 3115.I always thought it was the best of the L-4s that I fired.Fitz has a picture of this engine on # 75 at Wabash southbound on his site. The train is # 74 the northbound daily freight.On the NYC regular trains did not use engine numbers. The meet order simply said,# 74 meet # 75 at Wabash.# 75 arrives at Wabash after our train is together on the main. You will have to use your imagination and smell steam loaded with moisture ,the smell of steam with valve oil and the smell of smoke carried by the wind.In the background the slow thump thump of an air pump working. We return from eating,the engine crew to the engine and the train crew to the depot.Climbing on the engine I blow out the water glasses and start the fire burning from a bank of coal in front of the fire door.The engineer climbs aboard and blows the silt from the mudd ring.By blowing out the silt that has settled to the bottom it will keep the water from foaming and being pulled over into the super heater and into the cylinders,turns on the bell and with the cylinder cocks open slowly moves to the depot.Picking up the head brakeman we pick up the head end cars and double them to our train on the main.The yard engine doubles the Elkhart cars to the rear end and will be a helper over the hill. The train is together and the yard engine has the slack shoved in.I have a 1/2 glass of water put in the boiler by the Worthington feed water pump.The fire is in good shape with 245 lbs. of steam on the gauge.The HT stoker jets are making there noise at 45 lbs.pressure,the engineer looks at me, I nod back and he knows I am ready.Gabe the engineer whistles off pulls the throttle out gently and with the helper shoving we start moving.The hill elevation runs from 1 1/4% to 2 %.The 3115 is rated at 1800 tons and the 2-8-2 Mike the same Our tonnage is 3600 tons and means the engines will be working all out. Gabe opens the throttle past the half way mark,cranks the reverse out of the corner two turns laying down sand all the time.After the train has gone about 10 car lengths I turn on the water pump, open the fire door to check the heel of coal at the rear. The blast of heat from the fire makes the skin on your face draw as if it were ready to burn,the draft pulling on your bib overalls.The hard working of the engine makes the draft at the rear trmendous.Closing the jets and rolling in more heel,then turning off the stoker close the fire door and start firing normally.I will probably replace the heel two or three times in the next 3 miles to the top of the hill.As I sit down Gabe is standing up pulling the throttle almost wide open,again hooking up the reverse. We have gone about 25 car lengths going into a right curve and the start of the 2% grade.Gabe is playing with the reverse fine tuning to the traction that he feels coming through frame and body of the engine.Suddenly the engine slips,Gabe grabs the throttle and closes it about two thirds,the engne quits slipping,Gabe gets the throttle out again and she holds the rail.Gabe plays the reverse just like walking a high wire.The stack noise is like a crack at every exhaust. The steam pressure is sitting on 248 lbs.just below the pops ,a look at the pyrometer and it's setting on 625 degrees and that tells me the fire and the 1/2 glass of water is just right.The pyrometer tells the team temp.after it comes out of the superheater.At a speed of 13-14 mph the top of the hill is soon reached and the helper cuts off and we are on our own.Our next stop is Bolivar andthe Erie R.R.We set off 9 loads for them.We couple onto the train pull down 2 miles to North Manchester and take water.We have only gone 15 miles from WAbash and now have 7 more miles of 3/4% to 2% grade and still have 2900 tons.The 2% is half way up the hill bit is only 25 cars lengths long and will work the engine to the max.This is why we took water, if we laid down on the hill and had to double to Silver Lake or Claypool we could run short of water.From North Manchester to the Warsaw water pug is a distance of 20 miles and by doubling and picking up at Claypool we probably would have to cut and run for water.If everything goes well after seting off 15-20 cars of coal at Claypool we have it made. I will stop here,but it was All in a Days Work LEW
A heel is a bank of coal in this case along along the back of the firebox at the door.If you have a side view of a firebox you will notice the arch above the fire.This causes most of te draft to come to the rear and out heating the arch brick in the process.where there are not any arch brick it is a direct draft and it will pull the coal from the grates when the engne is worked hard.What you are doing is making a thicker bed of fire at the rear to overcome this.With a hand fired Mike you had a heel all along the back and fired over the heel rebuilding as it burned out.This did not cut down on the heating surface the heel was burning and was against the sheets of the fire box. On the yard engines,0-8-0 some had flat bottomed firebox U-3 and U-2 and the U-60, U-61 had a sloping fire box.With the flat bottom you fired with a horseshoe shaped heel or bank level with the bottom of the door across the back and down both sides.With the slope you fired with a doughnut shaped bank or heel across the back down both sides and across the front The yard engines were fired this way to keep down the smoke.You would take the squirt hose and water down the fire the purpose being to make the fire to coke over on top and burn on the bottom creating very little smoke. LEW
Thanks LEW, I never realized that there was such an art to firing. I also didn't realize that different engines required different firing techniques, and then further differences depending on how each was being worked at the moment ... !
Thanks, LEW, that was great! I really enjoy stories of what it was like when the railroads were king and people worked hard. Most of those skills have become lost arts now. Was the 2-8-2 rated for the same tonnage as the Mohawk? I thought the Mohawk had a lot more grate area, bigger firebox and boiler and higher steam pressure? I will pull up that photo of 3115, from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath. Maybe our own LEW was firing when this was taken in 1956.
A NYC Mike and a Mohawk had about the same tractive effort at the 13-14 mph that LEW quoted, so the tonnage rating for operation "over that hill at that speed" would be the same. The L-4 would have a lot more TE (and horsepower) at higher speeds, and could take any train to a higher speed than a Mike, but the tonnage rating would have been set for the "ruling grade." Mohawk 3115 came through here (Erie) on its way to Lackawanna, NY for scrap. Official RR records indicate it was written off for scrap on 9/26/56...a real shame. LEW, I really enjoyed the above narrative...when can you write something for The Headlight, the official publication of the New York Central System Historical Society?
Tom, I think you have found a great contributor to the Headlight. What do you say, LEW? Most folks who are members of the NYCSHS would really enjoy reading of your experiences. I know I do. I might have a contribution as well, involving the rerouting of the Gulf Curve in Little Falls,NY and the Mohawk River too.
5432 you are correct.With the initial start the L-4 would outdo the H-5 but as soon as the wheels moved all was equal.this was due to wheel size 63"=72" cylinder and stroke 25"x32=26x30 and the steam pressure 180=250.When you equal all of this out it was almost the same at these speeds.Here is how the H-10 with 63" drivers and 200lbs.BP,L-3 with 69" drivers and 250lbs.BP and the L-4 with 72" drivers and 250lbs. BP handled tonnage trains over the hill.With the H-10 could go as slow as 10-12 mph and still make the hill With the L-3 14-16 and the L-4,15-17 mph and still make the hill.I know this is cutting it fine but this is how touchy it can get with max.tonnage.After the diesels came a train I was pulling took 26 min. to go 2 miles on this hill. LEW
LEW, The "overlap" of speeds quoted for the L-3 and the L-4's on the ruling grade with tonnage makes sense re the physics. I am sure that on some of your trips you used L-4's with some tire wear, which would make the driver diameter quite close to 69" of the L-3 class with new tires. I think that the L-3 and L-4's had 3" tires. I do not know the condemning limit but would suppose that 2" of tire wear would not be unusual. I was quite surprised that the H-10 would do so well, especially given its low factor of adhesion, which I thought would make this engine more slippery than an L-3 or L-4, especially at low speeds. Can you offer some comments re a comparison of an H-5 and an H-10? Although they are both Mikados, I guess my impression from the specs. is that is where the similarities ended...!
They had a wheel gauge that they could measure the flange wear and the shape and how much rail cup in the trede of the tire.I don't think the over lap of the speed was due to the tire size as much as one might be square on valve timing another might be off a little.Tonnage could have been a little different.It was a collection of many little things rather than any one thing.You will notice when going from an L-3 to an L-4 the only difference was the cylinder bore and 72" drivers.The 1/2" increase in the bore probably should have been an 1" to have equaled the L-3.The best engine for dragging in the L-3's was the 3005. The rods rattled and banged,the cab twisted and moved on the boiler and the dirt and cold air came between the cab and boiler but it pulled almost as good as an H-10. That was why they used a wide open throttle and used the reverse to adjust the traction.That is what I was refering to when they could feel it through the frame.An H-10 was slippery when worked close to the corner Concerning an H-5 and H-10.The H-5 was a lighter duty loco and did not have the stayng power that an H-10 had.With a stoker fired H-5 you could handle around 3000 tons on a 1% grade and with an H-10 3700- 3900 tons on a 1% grade.Of course the H-5 had injectors and the H-10 a water pump.There was more room in the cab and just a bigger engine. It was like going from an H-10 to an L-2.They all did their job well but they were newer and better models. LEW
One of my early jobs in the roundhouse, was to re-shape and sharpen the lathe tool bits that turned the new contour on engine drivers. Our pit lathe could handle drivers up to eight feet in diameter. The few times we had to shrink on new tires, it was a real job to get those turned down to the proper tread shape and hold gauge too. That was one of the best jobs, the worst job was assigned to be a "sooter" cleaning out the inside of the smoke box and flues, or as a "bucker" inside the boiler when we had to tighten or replace rivets! I still don't hear well!
I need help.I cannot post a topic. It tells me I need a letter or number in the topic.What are they talking about? LEW
LEW, when you select "topic" to start a new one, the first thing you see under your name is a box labeled "SUBJECT" and you must enter something in there or the software won't accept the new topic. Don't you love how friendly these machines are?? Please enter whatever subject you are submitting, and I for one wait impatiently to see it! Your commentary is always historic and great to read.
