Firing a steam loco

[jonny777]

I found this Youtube video which is quite informative.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74JaLw3u3-c

 

 

I'm not sure that those guidelines are followed by all today's preserved railways.

[D854_Tiger]

Most preserved lines are speed limited to 25 mph so I'm not sure how applicable those draughting techniques would be with the firebox door at that sort of speed.

 

The other day I came a cross a picture of a Hall class at Snow Hill station, a Plymouth based engine that had worked in all the way.

 

It got me wondering how they kept the fire in good condition, over that kind of distance, I had thought the build up of clinker became an issue much over a hundred miles.

 

On the East Coast main line you read how stops at Grantham and York were used as an opportunity to change locomotives on the class 1 expresses then you read how some were non-stop London to Edinburgh.

 

So why the locomotive change on some trains but seemingly not others.

[LMS2968]

Much, as has already been said, depended on the coal, particularly its ash content and inclination to clinker. Coal for passenger workings was generally of a better quality than that for goods. The design of the grate was also influential as the resultant clinker and ash was more of a problem on small grates. You might burn just as much coal on a small grate as a large one in moving the same train the same distance in the same time, but the waste products would be concentrated over the smaller grate area, and so be thicker and offer greater restriction on air flow through the grate. This was the advantage of the wide firebox, although it need a pair of carrying wheels below it. The LNER and LMS pacific ran 400 mile trips on a daily basis. A 4-6-0 would struggle over that mileage, but, coal permitting, 300 miles was certainly possible.

[The Stationmaster]

Most preserved lines are speed limited to 25 mph so I'm not sure how applicable those draughting techniques would be with the firebox door at that sort of speed.

 

The other day I came a cross a picture of a Hall class at Snow Hill station, a Plymouth based engine that had worked in all the way.

 

It got me wondering how they kept the fire in good condition, over that kind of distance, I had thought the build up of clinker became an issue much over a hundred miles.

 

On the East Coast main line you read how stops at Grantham and York were used as an opportunity to change locomotives on the class 1 expresses then you read how some were non-stop London to Edinburgh.

 

So why the locomotive change on some trains but seemingly not others

 

I get the impression that many of the ECML intermediate loco changes were for wider reasons that those caused by the engines themselves.  Through working from London to Newcastle was certainly feasible but required crew relief enroute in order to wrk effectively.