Re: Sumpter Valley Ry. #19 Through the Lens Of Otto Perry

That wood is sawmill slabs. It is the edges with bark sawed off of the logs in order to square up the log into rectangular form. We got a pile of sawmill slabs a least once when I was regularly firing the WH Eccles #3. The slabs have a lot of pitch and are virtually nuclear wood. The SVRy mikes all came with regular hinged fire doors, but were upgraded to air powered butterfly doors in the 1920's. Also, SVRy normally had the coal spaces in the tenders filled with coal, so on the hard pulls or if the wood was wet, the fireman could use enough coal to keep on schedule. Since the wood slabs were free and the coal had to be purchased, I imagine the company did not appreciate the consumption of coal any more than was necessary.