Re: #40 Steam-up at the Colorado Railroad Museum

I worked at Lakeside for a while and that is how they ran them. When they came into the depot they shook the grades, piled the firebox with coal and turned on both injectors. The blower was turned on full. At night you could see a red cone of flame coming of of the stack.
After the boiler was filled, the grates were shaken again and more coal added. Once they got up to 120 pounds they went.
The engineers had a lot of problems keeping pressure up on the road and we had several stalls. On some of the stalls they were at 30 to 40 pounds.
The 18 started with five cars. Then one was dropped then another. It is down for crown sheet and tube repair.
I was supposed to be taught how to run these engines but my regular job got in the way so I had to quit.
The 17 had stinky throttle problems when I left. The diesel was down for multiple repairs. I got to run the diesel but a lot of the time I just loaded the passengers and swept the depot of popcorn and trash. I also spent a lot of time with the Autoskooters (bumper cars).
The Occasional Rose at Tiny Town and is run in the corner. It burns propane at 3.5 pounds so there is little problem keeping the steam up. The level of water in the gauge doesn't change much. The engineer adds water about three times around the loop. This 4-6-2 carries 120 pounds but doesn't drop below 100.