By my limited experience, I'd say Russ489 is right on all counts -
I've never fired a coal burner; by the time the C&TS engineer & fireman programs came along I no longer had the endurance. I have fired the F&W's wood-burning 10-ton Porter, The Sespe, a few times - once with a load of "firewood" that was so green we had to stop while going west (slightly downhill) to build up steam, and barely made it back up to the yard with only 15 to 20 pounds pressure on the gauge. I hostled steam quite a bit during my five months with the Freedom Train, but only fired out on the road twice. The first time was #4449 for an hour or so on the Colton to Indio leg of the trip, with Al Phillips looking over my shoulder and double-checking my every move. The second time, on #610 out of Austin - her first night with the AFT - was quite a bit different.
Doyle was running and Andy Adams firing; Dick Jensen, who had been in charge of #610's restoration, was also on board, and I was getting a cab ride as my reward for five months volunteer duty on the engine maintenance team. Dick had hardly gotten any sleep for several days, and soon fell asleep on the tender. Between his lively social life and long hours getting the engine ready, Andy was also pretty much exhausted; he supervised me firing for an hour or so and then he too fell asleep on the tender - leaving a totally novice fireman to keep things together at about 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning! Two things saved me, and kept our train more-or-less on schedule - #610, with her HUGE firebox and thermic siphons, was a very free steamer. Even more important, Doyle was VERY supportive. He could easily have sucked the fire up the stack - or filled the cab with smoke - just by suddenly yanking the throttle open or closed. Instead, he adjusted the throttle as gradually as conditions allowed, always gave me a heads-up when a change was coming, and helped in every way he could. By 7:30 or 8:00 I too was exhausted, and talked fellow volunteer Bob Slover into taking over during a service stop near College Station.
- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender
