Re: oil vs coal firing *LINK* *PIC*

Shovelling oil is a whole lot harder than coal. This is Fred Vergenz demonstrating the fine art of oil firing.
But seriously, depending on your engine and oil, there is a tank heater to heat the oil and we also had what we called a "torpedo heater" under the cab which put live steam around the feed pipe to add additional heating if necessary. Once lit, you had three things to deal with: atomizer, oil firing valve and damper.
The damper is self explanatory and needs the least attention, only being changed when the amount of air admitted to the firebox must be adjusted. The main concerns are the oil firing valve, which controls the amount of fuel admitted to the burner, and the atomizer, which controls the amount of steam used to spray the oil into the firebox.
Oil firing is more mental (and a lot of oil firmen I know are certifiable) in that you must anticipate the engineer's opening and closing of the throttle so you can adjust you oil. You watch the stack to be sure you're not belching black and watch the fire from the cracks around the firedoor to looke for that bright white flame that means proper combustion. Black smoke not only wastes fuel but clogs the tubes with carbon. If you ever punched a couple hundred tubes from the firebox to clean this stuff out, you understand blacklung withough ever being in a mine. These deposits are why, periodically and generally when the engine is working fairly hard, you hold a bucket of sand up to the hole in the firedoor so the exhaust will suck up the sand and scour the tubes of the excess carbon.
The nice thing about oil is, the response is immediate, good or bad. And when you sit, you can hold a spot fire that doesn't pop the safties. Unfortunately, in my experience with Polson Lumber #2 at MidContinent, it is a whole lot hotter in the summer than a coal burner. But you stay a heck of a lot cleaner.
That's about it that's different.