Re: Coal

Something similar happened to me on the D&S in the early '80's. If I recall, there was some sort of labor problem at the King Coal mine in Hesperus where we normally got our coal, which resulted in a temporary interuption in the supply. To keep things moving, management obtained some coal from eastern Colorado, possibly around Trinidad. The stuff looked real good--all evenly sized in nice golf ball to baseball sized lumps, with little or no slack. And it seemed to burn OK, but obviously had a smaller BTU content than the King coal, as it required more coal to accomplish the same work. On my first day of working with the new coal, I had decided I was going to try firing small amounts very frequently as opposed to heavier firing with longer intervals between firing. My hope was to create less smoke (indicating more efficient combustion), keep the steam pressure rock-steady, and end up in Silverton with a nice even fire bed. During the trip up, I don't think I ever sat down, though I did have to look out the left side frequently on left curves. I was able to hold the steam pressure fairly constant, and the smoke intensity was reduced somewhat. When we got to Silverton, the fire looked good. In fact, the young brakeman came up into the cab and I said, "Look in there, Sean. That's a textbook fire." I had a nice bank in the back, and the bed tapered smoothly and evenly toward the front. When we got the train turned around and broke for lunch, I went back in the coaches to eat with the rest of the crew, thinking the fire was all set. Normally, with the King coal, the engine could sit for an hour without worrying about tending the water or fire, and then would require only turning on the blower, stirring a little and adding some new coal and you'd be ready to go. After a leisurely lunch, I sauntered back to the engine to begin getting the fire ready for the return trip. The water was OK and the steam pressure was about 165. When I opened the fire door to check the fire, I just about had a miocardial infarction. There were maybe three glowing embers, each no bigger than a postcard. The rest of the bed was cold and gray. I opened the blower steam, which had the effect of dropping the steam pressure, but little else. I looked out to the right of the engine where there was a horse corral, hoping to see some scraps of wood that I might throw in there to get something going, but there was none. So, I hand-picked some samller lumps of coal and carefully placed them over the few glowing embers. Slowly, ever so slowly, the fire began to come back to life, and by time the engineer had completed the brake test, the steam pressure was beginning to rise and there was enough fire to keep the air pump running strong enough to hold main reservoir pressure. Luckily, it's all down grade drifting out of Silverton. With a fire like that, I'd have been sunk if we had to do any pulling.
A year or two later, the railroad again had to get a temporary alternate supply of coal. This time, one of the train crews was not so lucky and they ran out of steam at Needleton enroute to Silverton and had to stop for some time to clean the fire and rebuild steam pressure. Embarassing for the crew, but most of the passengers got a kick out of it. It might have even gotten a mention in the Durango Herald. I don't remember, but the incident seemed to cause quite a stir around the railroad yard.