banking the fire

B

bendorsey

Bridge-n-trestle builder
Hi Ya'll:

Some time ago I asked the question "how do you start the fire in a cold-iron steam locomotive". Got lots of interesting and well thought out replies - many from actual steam locomotive engineers. So heres a related one:

The why is obvious but what exactly is done to "bank the fire" for the night?

Ben
 
I believe all the coals are raked, and piled up against the sides of the firebox, away from the center...another prototype steam fan may know better.
 
If the fire has been banked, it will lay up away from the center of the grate, (as Cascade has said) It will also have a fresh layer of coal on top, and the funnel should be covered to prevent a backdraft. That much I've found by searching around...I ain't THAT old!
 
Hi Ben

Depends on which 'Banking the Fire' you are refering to.

One method we used to keep some fire while the loco was standing for a lengthy time, was to bank a heap of coal up at the rear of the firebox under the door. Then wet the top of it which helped seal the heat in and slow the burning of coal.

The other 'banking' is refering to a firing method where the firebox has a slope down toward the front and by keeping a bank of coal at the rear, the vibrating action of the loco would drag coal down into the fire.

Some locos had flat fireboxes and one needed to throw the coal all over the box. Whereas if it had a sloping firebox you only had to throw coal down the front occasionally and make sure the bank was kept up. Made it a bit easier to fire them.

Dennis
 
DeRiCo said:
One method we used to keep some fire while the loco was standing for a lengthy time, was to bank a heap of coal up at the rear of the firebox under the door. Then wet the top of it which helped seal the heat in and slow the burning of coal.
Click to expand...

I saw reference to a solution of some type that was supposed to be applied to the coals, not just water, but something added. Are you familiar with this?
 
burntruss said:
How about some kerosene-soaked rags? :D​
Click to expand...

I think that would ignite prematurely right as you shoved it in the firebox door.

The EBT RR in western Pa starts firing their locos in the wee hours of the morning, or even the previous day, and I belive they use wood scraps and RR ties to get a completely cold steamer firebox going, and add coal till the firebox coals get really glowing by 3:00am. The roundhouse hostler rakes and banks the coals till they get optimum heat and steam for the morning excursion crew. Some railfans arrive in the wee hours of the morning just to watch the operation of firing steam locomotives.:cool:It stinks real good at the EBT...Don't you just love the smell of burning coal and diesel exhaust on a brisk Autumn morning ?

A real sectacle is watching a loco shop electrical load test a diesel locomotive on a cold winters day, plumes of white diesel smoke 100 ft high as they put the loco through all the notchs in Run 1 through Run 8 !
 
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From the original cold-iron thread it can take a day or two to get a dead loco compltly fired up. Thats a lot of iron to heat and a long way to heat it to so for those remembering thier high school physics class you can guess how many kilo-calories (heck - mega-calories) of heat it takes to get half a million pounds of iron up to temp. Furthermore it had to be done slowly for thermal expansion condiderations (too fast = cracked seams perhaps).

Banking on the other hand was for preserving the heated loco in a condition that wouldn't take long to get back up to speed but at the same time not waste fuel.

Ben
 
Speaking from a forge point of view, which is similar in principle, banking was done by adding a great deal of extra fuel to the fire after raking the coals around. Letting them cool somewhat, but not go completely out, you would then shovel them up along the back of the forge in a kind of "bank." Then over top this you would add enough coal or fuel so you couldn't see any bright coals. This would cause the inner coals to smoulder, since they couldn't get any air. You could, conceivably, keep a fire going for days by doing this.
 
I'm just learning how to fire a steamer at TVRM. We use banks in multiple different ways. When we're running we bank the fire behind the doors to keep the fir out of our faces. We can also break that bank into the fire for instant fire, if we run low. We use the Southern, or horseshoe, bank, in which the open end of the horseshoe faces the smoke box. The coal is piled around the edge of the firebox. When it's time to finish for the day, we over exaggerate the bank, fill water to the top of the glass, cap the stack. turn off the blower, and close up the cab. We don't dump the fire much, it's easier on the engine.


@ bendorsey- 1 kilo calorie is equal to one Nutritional calorie
 
I meant to say, when we're running we bank the coal behind the firebox doors to keep the fire out of our faces.:cool:

@ Euphod- not it it's trackside and we're going 20.:p

@ ZapperJet- more like 'far', 'fir' sounds a bit Midwestern to me.
 
Another method used in big cities was an insulated steam line from a powerhouse with connecting hoses to keep the water hot and the steam pressure up between runs, even with the fire cold they could be ready to run in minutes.

24492835.jpg
 
bendorsey said:
Furthermore it had to be done slowly for thermal expansion condiderations . . .
Click to expand...

I once heard that when Southern Pacific 4-8-4 #4449 is being 'warmed up', the building pressure from the steam causes the boiler by three inches.

Also, when Union Pacific is getting their steam locomotives ready, they speed up the process by putting pre-heated steam into the boiler from an outside source.
 
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