Re: C&TSRR - Loco 484 Fireman Side

Fifty one years ago this year, I was swinging a scoop on that
very same engine.... I was 20 years old at the time and a smartass
kid, but I learned from some of the old timers...

It is interesting to watch these guys learn.....

Do they teach "pattern firing" at all these days, or do they just
let 'em shovel it in?

I remember I was taught (mostly by Pete Degani) to fire a 480 by firing the front corners left and right first, then lay one along each side, or two if it needed it, then heel the back corners. Let the draft level the fire. Maybe bounce one in the front center if it needed it, then put the scoop back on the shovel sheet and ride the left hand curves and watch the water until the stack cleared, then get down and put in another fire...Wasn't bad once you got the hang of it, and I enjoyed the work immensely. I didn't ever think of it as hard work.

I was also taught to "trim" the water feed to the injector with the squirt hose to a spray rather than a hard stream, then you could usually keep the injector running fairly steady on the grade, unless you had to stop for any length of time. If the engine was worked steadily, you could get the water feed set to just equal what was used and keep it where it belonged until nearing the top of the grade...Then you generally wanted a full glass so it wouldn't be too low when you tipped over the top and started down the other side...

What fun that all was!