Re: How are the ash pans on coal burning locomotive emptied?

Chris Walker Wrote:
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> Did you drill those holes one at a time Kelly?
I didn’t drill any of them, but I expect that the person who did used a magnetic drill press to drill them one at a time.

Sharrod Wrote:
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> Our Danish engines have similar vertical sides,
> but no bottom dump. We have to rake the ash out
> through the dampers, from the pit.

I believe that the 1893 safety legislation mandated ashpans that could be cleaned without the need for the cleaner to work between the rails. At the time, the reaction from the railroads was about government overreach and how that unfunded mandate was going to result in the bankruptcy of all of the railroads in the US.