Re: 1472 calendar

Quote
FRA 49 CFR Parts 209 and 230
1. Service Days
This new inspection scheme is
underpinned by the concept of a
‘‘service day’’—defined as ‘‘any day the
locomotive has steam pressure above
atmospheric pressure and a fire in the
firebox.’’ Because good operating
practice requires that a steam
locomotive boiler be slowly heated
before use and slowly cooled after use
to avoid the damage rapid heating and
cooling can inflict on the boiler, a
locomotive that runs on weekends may
accrue as many as three service days for
each day of actual ‘‘use.’’ For example,
a steam locomotive could have fire in
the firebox and pressure above
atmospheric pressure for an entire day
before it actually runs, for the entire day
that it runs, and while it cools down
after it runs. Under this scenario, the
locomotive would accrue three service
days although only in actual ‘‘use’’ for
one day. Some operators were
concerned that adopting this service day
concept could create an incentive for
operators to ‘‘dump’’ their fires at the
end of a day operating the steam
locomotive in order to avoid incurring
an extra service day. The task force was
of the opinion, however, that the
financial cost (in terms of stress and
damage to the locomotive boilers from
such behavior) to operators who did so
dump their fires would likely outweigh
any inspection time period benefits they
might gain from such dumping. The task
force also expressed the belief that, with
proper damping and draft restriction,
fire can be removed from the firebox
(and a service day preserved) with no
adverse affects for the boiler, and that
this practice can, in fact, be easier on
the boiler than banking the fire.