There have been many and varied practices adopted by drivers and/or imposed by railway authorities, for “drifting” of locomotives – i.e. running at speed without power such as when descending a bank. On page 101 of his book “The Red Devil and Other Tales from the Age of Steam“, Wardale emphasise the complexity of the […]
An “economizer” is a supplementary water heater consisting of the front part of the boiler which is partitioned off from the rear section by a thin steel plate baffle, closely-fitted inside and around (but not rigidly attached to) the boiler barrel, tubes and flues. Thus, the pressure on both sides of the baffle is the […]
The temperature of feedwater entering the boiler should be as high as possible in order to maximize steam production and to minimize thermal stresses in the boiler structure Feedwater heating can be achieved in many ways. The “steam injectors” commonly used on First Generation locomotives provides a degree of preheating, however they only work at […]
Porta’s Water Treatment is an extension of the TIA system that was successfully used in France and the UK in the later days of steam. Porta’s water treatment is claimed to: stop all water-side corrosion; prevent scale formation, even when using the hardest of water; prevent deposition of sludges and thus the need for frequent […]