Re: Question for 315's Firemen....

Randy...

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions...

If she has a "feather in her cap" you are doing all right.

Engineer Pete Degani taught me how to fire a 480 some 45 years ago...
He was an older head, a small man, but had the rep of being one of the better firemen on the road at the time.

I'd made my student trips on the 490's over Cumbres...they had a firebox that was big and wide...and seemed to be able to burn as much as you could shovel in, and steamed OK because of or in spite of it.
I didn't learn much in those first trips.

Came the day for my first pay trip over the hill to Chama...I Was called to fire the helper (484), which at that time had a reputation for being a bit harder to fire than some of the other 480's. I was worried about keeping her hot, but managed OK until we started up out of Antonito.

I soon was losing ground and the technique of just baling in the coal wasn't working very well. Pete got down and helped me get things back and I still remember what he said:

"Fire her on the sides, one up front on each side, then one farther back on each side (4 scoops) then hook a scoopful into the back corners about every other fire or so". "Let the draft pull the coal off the scoop, twist it in the direction you want and let the draft level the fire". "If you get a big lump, bust it enough to go into the firedoor and put it back in one of the corners...I'll bust it up from there."

"Watch the stack...If you cover the fire well, the stack will "black up"
then you can ride the left curves, watch the tracks like you are supposed to and keep an eye on the injector until the stack clears ...then it is time to get after her again". "Don't get the fire too heavy and don't rake green coal under or you'll get clinkers". "If you fire it right, you won't need the rake."

He was a good hoghead too and knew how to run his engine so it didn't tear up the fire.

What he told me worked.....worked so well in fact that I used the same technique on the 470's when I got over to Durango on the Silverton branch...( I never got to make a "student trip" there...I was called for the run and either had to make it or suffer the embarrassment of having to stop and blow her hot.....Didn't happen.)

I soon found I could keep the old 476 right up against the pops with four to six scoops to a fire in the same pattern as I was taught for the 480's. I just used a little less "per scoop".

Pete was a good man! Knowing "how" to do it right made the job more enjoyable instead of just hard work most of the time.....and I DID enjoy it!