C&TS K-36 personalities

This is my take on the current state of the C&TS engines as far as firing qualities go. Others may disagree.

489 is still the best and easiest to fire. It will steam easily with a light fire.

487 has gotten better than it was years ago. When I started in 1978 it was the worst! For some reason, the Grande had replaced the original Hancock non-lifting injector on the fireman's side with a lifting injector like the 490s used. It was cantankerous and hard to get started, especially when you really needed it on the hill. We replaced it that summer with the Hancock off of the 483 and solved that problem. It was discovered that the splitter over the nozzle was different and not as effective. Richard Braden replaced it mid-season with a conventional one like the other engines had and that improved the steaming qualities of the engine considerably although it was still not as good as the others at the time. Not sure what all got tweaked since, but it steams very well these days. On par with the 484 as far as I am concerned.

484 is still the same as always and steams well.

We made some modifications on 488s front end appliances before the 2019 season (I think it was), and tightened up a bunch of leaky flues in the front end that were not sealed well during its 1492 day inspection. That, in my opinion, helped some with its appetite for coal but it still needs a heavier bank in the back and requires more attention to keep it up. It was hoped that it would reduce her propensity to set fires. It is my opinion that 488 is often over fired due to its reputation for using a lot of coal. It can be fired cleanly and with a fairly light fire but requires more careful attention to do so. I suspect that a bit of tweaking of the exhaust nozzle to SLIGHTLY reduce the draft might help. Since the C&TS is moving to oil firing conversions, the 488 should be the prime candidate for that.