Re: Smoking Up the East End with Steve & Fred ... NOT!!

Hey, Russ, at the CRRM we have neighbors. Some pretty close neighbors. Apparaently at least one neighbor likes to call the county health department when our smoke ruins his/her barbecue (or the laundry, or whatever). So we try to be considerate neighbors and not smoke up the whole Clear Creek valley. BTW, I am surprised the phone didn't ring off the hook when we were using the Big Boy whistles.

In any event, smoke on the C&TS or the D&S ain't quite the same thing as it is at the CRRM (OK, I admit that the D&S has grumpy neighbors in Durango too). At the museum, almost as soon as you are on the throttle you are off the throttle. That makes firing coal a pain in the posterior. Thank God for the Hesperus coal, as it burns pretty clean.

Oil is better because you can get on and off the fire almost instantaneously, but for some reason it seems harder for people to master the art of oil firing. A lot of guys seem to struggle with the balance between oil feed, atomzier, and blower--all the while operating the injector too and trying to anticipate the firebrick heating up and cooling down so you aren't popping the safeties all of the time. A lot of things to juggle all at once. I'd be lost in the cab of a coal burner, but I seem to have a knack for oil firing. Maybe it helps to be Irish?

Mike