Eliminating 95 % Plus of cinder emissions from K36 engines

K36 engines emit a substantial amount of cinders that can be a major problem in drought conditions. The smokeboxes are designed to eject all cinders that pass thru the flues. Eliminating cinder emissions is relatively simple - accumulate the cinders in the smoke box, and shovel or vacuum out the cinders after each run. This is standard practice in Europe. The K36 engines have a hinged smoke box front (not the smoke box door) that would be easy to open for cleanout with some minor modifications - replace the bolt closures with a small number of hinge bolts, and install a durable seal surface or gasket. Of course the cinder ejection equipment would have to be removed from the smoke box to allow the cinders to accumulate.

The hinged smoke box front on the 480s would make an easy-to-open smoke box front simple



In Europe steam engines have large smoke box doors that are very easy to open



After each run there would probably be a ton or more of cinders in the smoke box that would have to be shoveled out or vacuumed out with with an industrial vacuum system. These cinders would of course not be setting fires or land in the eyes of passengers.



The smoke box front closures could be designed with very little visual impact

This cinder solution would be more difficult if applied to the K28s or K37s, but would be simple on a K36