Re: Boiler Pressure

A number of examples of locomotives were built with what were in essence fire tube boilers with water tube fireboxes in an attempt to get around the mechanical limitations of staybolts ( an example is BLW No. 60000 ). A lot of these developed cracks and leaks in the generating tubes however. I think this was in part because welding technology which was in its infancy at the time wasn't suitable for the application yet or at least RRs didn't think so. Also, the extremely high vibration environment of railroad applications also prevented a lot of technology which was proven in marine and stationary applications from being used on locomotives. This combined with high maintenance costs are largely what the failure of the steam turbine electrics in the late 40s and early 50s is attributed to.
Regards,
Trevor Hartford