Brian...
It's been 41 years since I swung a scoop so my memory is probably getting a little clouded by time now......A No. 4 scoop was the size we used as anything bigger wouldn't go thru the firedoor. We always carried our own scoop with us (and water bag!) and if there was one already on the engine, we stashed it up over the boilerhead as a "spare". It was possible to "lose" a scoop due to the extreme draft thru the firedoor when the engine was worked at full throttle and the johnson bar down in the corner, and of course if that happened you were really screwed. I was fortunate and never had that happen, but I was warned about it early on and the warning stuck. The draft would pretty much pull the coal right off the scoop anyway so it was a matter of twisting it just right as you put it thru the firedoor to get it to go where you wanted. I was taught to carry a pretty good "heel" in the fire in the back corners and in front of the door ring, and fire along the sidesheets, letting the draft pull the fire level. I seem to remember I used about six to nine full scoops to a fire on the 490's. The 480's took about four to six scoops to cover 'em good, and the 470's could be kept hot with four to six half or 3/4 scoops to a fire, usually. Big lumps out of the coal gates got busted up just enough to get 'em in the door ring, and then they went to the back corners. We were taught to fire on the right-hand curves where the hogger could see ahead, and then ride the seat on the left-hand curves where he couldn't. After you learned the road a bit this was pretty easy to do. After putting in a fire, you could ride until the stack cleared and then you had to get down and hit it again. This technique would keep the steam right up against the pops if you worked the injector right and got the water valve set properly. Starting out at the bottom of the steep pulls like eastward out of Chama, or at Hermosa on the SV branch, or northbound out of Farmington, with the boiler full to the top of the glass, and the injector off, you put in a good fire and then had about one chance to get the water on and set before you had to hit it again. If you did this right it was pretty much a piece of cake afterward as long as you didn't have to stop for anything. If the injector "broke" and you had to start over again it could get a bit dicey as that is when you could lose water or steam or both....and if that happened, you had a pissed off hogger, had to stop and blow her hot, and maybe pull a drawbar getting started again...so it was in everybody's best interest to do it right the first time.
Boy.... them were the days...I enjoyed it all to the fullest. I was sad when I got laid off as a result of the '64 Arbitration Award deal...I didn't know it at the time, but I could have gone back to Durango later that spring, and hired right back on firing, but I went to work as a switchman for the WPRR out in California instead (Stockton, then over to 25th St San Francisco on the "other end" of the barge run across the Bay)and finished earning my way thru college there....I was sure pissed when I found out about Durango later, but it was too late then.....
So, enjoy your work, young feller, while you can!
