Re: What did 493 reveal??

493 performed well and precisely as expected as far as tonnage capacity. On par with the K-36 class. As expected it needed some debugging and fine tuning of the oil firing equipment and setup. After that was done it fires well overall and steams very well. The firemen have no trouble keeping up with steam and water usage. The harder you work it, the better it steams.

The reactions of the crews to firing oil range all over the map. One comment that was made to me was; "I wish somebody would have introduced me to this years ago." Others are not at all thrilled about the change. Most of us really prefer coal but understand and accept the necessity of the changes being made and will adapt along with the railroad and make the best of it. The engineers like 493. The way the controls are laid out, particularly the throttle, make it comfortable to run. It seems to be no more or less slippery than the other engines.

The vast majority of the passengers don't know the difference, and don't care.

It did prove, once again, that the K-37 class is not as limber as the other classes of Ks. She helpfully pointed out a few spots where the track alignment or track structure were not ideal, which have been corrected. (To be fair, we are running these engines around tighter curves than they were designed for.)

Strictly speaking about fuel costs, oil is the more expensive fuel. In practice, the operation of the oil burners does not require a night watchman full time since the fire is killed at the end of the day. However, someone still has to be there several hours ahead of the call time for the locomotive to light the fire and bring it back up to pressure. Along with the normal boiler and firebox maintenance an additional expense is maintenance of the brickwork in the firebox.

One very important fact is that for the first time in the known history of the railroad we have, so far, not had a single line side fire ignition this operating season. In that regard, 493 has done exactly what it needed to do.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2020 06:12PM by Russ489.