Re: Narrow Gauge Mystery Location #102

Dave Peterson Wrote:
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> The Shay's fire was so hot it actually got the
> smokebox and stack to glow!
> [attachment 35487 P1050510.JPG]
> My digital camera is a little more sensitive to
> purple in low light. To the eye it looked red...

That reminds me of the former West Side #3 Heisler at Roaring Camp. That short barreled boiler would suck its fire into the smokebox when working up the hill to Bear Mountain. When you ran her on the evening trains, the flame would appear at the stack and then the smokebox would start to glow from the top down. By time you got to the top the whole thing was bright red, you could almost read by the light it put out. Someone said the smokebox would get translucent and you could see the petticoat pipe hanging inside. I never saw that though. I do know that the heat off that smokebox was intense. You could feel it radiating when you walked around the engine at Bear Mountain. It was hotter out there than in the cab. I once left a hunk of cotton waste on the blower pipe next to the smokebox. It actually caught fire. We had to stop and retrieve it before we burned the world down.