Mostly about my backyard chickens. (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....
Friday, February 3, 2017
Friday Night Steam
Tonight we learn about using coal and why the fireman was just as important as the engineer!
Good video, very instructive. I noticed a couple of things - but remember I have only been on a 1917 Baldwin narrow gauge steam locomotive. The engineer is on the opposite side. I guess the English always drive on the wrong side, car or locomotive. :) Also the firebox doors were quite different. On the Baldwin they were closed except when loading coal and were foot operated. Like in the bottom picture of this post.
I noticed the fireman did not seem to be wearing gloves, I bet he had some major calluses. Any thoughts that the fireman needed only a strong back were dispelled by the video. For the fireman, a major life changer was the mechanical stoker.
Thank goodness my Navy days were long after the coal firing days!
And note, for the folks driving plug in electric cars, on average about a third of the their electricity comes from, wait for it, yep, coal.
Good video, very instructive. I noticed a couple of things - but remember I have only been on a 1917 Baldwin narrow gauge steam locomotive. The engineer is on the opposite side. I guess the English always drive on the wrong side, car or locomotive. :) Also the firebox doors were quite different. On the Baldwin they were closed except when loading coal and were foot operated. Like in the bottom picture of this post.
ReplyDeleteI know! Looked at several other English videos and the engineer is on the other side, too!
DeleteI noticed the fireman did not seem to be wearing gloves, I bet he had some major calluses.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts that the fireman needed only a strong back were dispelled by the video.
For the fireman, a major life changer was the mechanical stoker.
Thank goodness my Navy days were long after the coal firing days!
And note, for the folks driving plug in electric cars, on average about a third of the their electricity comes from, wait for it, yep, coal.
Hard to imagine our battleships were powered by coal and steam at one time. It must have been the worst job on the ship stoking those furnaces.
Delete