It's a dark rainy day in November of 1939 as 4-8-4, #1800 leads Train #1, the Scenic Limited, out of Canon City, Colorado.
A question for someone knowledgable of D&RGW big steam- The stack looks quite unique. Is it two side by side? A single? I wonder what one of these sounded like? Boxcab E50
Or could it be a weird feed water heater in front of the stack? The exhaust seems to be coming from behind it or maybe it is just one blast from an opening on the fireman's side? Normally on a non-articulated locomotive the two cylinder exhausts were aimed at the same stack opening so that they would create a more continuos venturi action to pull gasses from the smokebox and create a draft through the flues. I know some articulated engines had two stacks, one in front of the other.
It must be a feed water heater. In this shot you can make out the rim of a single stack behind whatever that protuberance is. Solida, Colorado 1939.
It is a feedwater heater, and I'm not sure what brand, Coffin, I think. Most of thiers were inside the smokebox, but they ( or some other manufacturer) had a version that was a horizontal ugly thing just like that in the photo.
If there is a better example of D&RGW big steam at work, I don't know where it could be: (Yesteryear Depot pics) D&RGW 2-8-8-2 #3558 at work, and awaiting a call to duty:
The 1800-1804 D&RGW 4-8-4 locomotives used an ELESCO coil type feedwater-heater. That is the device infront of the smoke stack. They had a single stack. Nice looking photos!
Paul, don't think I've ever seen one down there before. The Canadian roads and NYC liked to mount them crosswise above, in front of or in the smokebox.
If you look at the photo of the 1703 just a few psots above, you'll see the water heater just below the smokebox between the cylinders. http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/RG1703.JPG That's from the Rio Grande Standard Gage Steam book, by D.J. Heimburger
fitz: The Rio Grande mounted the Elesco 'bundles' on the decks of both their 1700 4-8-4 and 1400 2-10-2's between the cylinder heads. The Elescos on the 1600 series 3-cylinder 4-8-2's were mounted on top of the smokebox right in front of the stack. On their 3600 2-8-8-2 and 3700 4-6-6-4 locos, the elesco was mounted forward of the top of the smokebox, in what is called an 'eyebrow'. Santa Fe was another railroad known for 'deck' mounting their Elesco bundles between the cylinders, also. Tom :tb-biggrin:
TWhite, yes, I have learned a lot more about those feedwater heaters since 2005 when this thread was last active. Elesco made a few more versions than those I was familiar with. I was wrong about the Coffin call. Thanks for the information. :tb-biggrin:
Just what would an Elesco feedwater heater looklike, by itself? What does a feedwater heater do, anyways?
A feedwater heater has several parts, a cold water pump, a hot water pump, and the part of the heater that is either inside or partially inside the smokebox. Then all the plumbing among all the parts. I can't remember the terminology for the two types, one which is in contact with exhaust steam and the other which is not in direct contact but heated by exhaust steam. On New York Central engines which had Elesco Type A heaters, the cold water pump was ahead of the loco trailing truck, down low, and the hot water heater was above the fireman's side cylinder. The heater itself was mounted partway within the smokebox. Earlier ones had the heater outside the smokebox above it. The purpose was to provide heated water to the boiler, just as an injector did. Locomotives needed two sources of heated water to the boiler, and most later steamers had a feedwater heater and injector. Early ones had two injectors. There are many different brands of feedwater heaters, Elesco, Coffin, Worthington, and they had different models. I have a lot more info if you are interested. Tired of typing right now. :tb-biggrin:
