Fred T Wrote:
> I seem to recall something about one operator on
> the loop who insisted on rapid fire-ups. If he's
> still there, I fear the results.
I think you're referring to an "anonymous" email, which was posted over at the
Face the State website. The email message
"Subject: Re: Railstar Out" Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 was attached to
Face the State's June 6, 2007 article
State Train Plagued By Mismanagement, Waste, Derailments.
Here are two excerpts from that "anonymous" email:
>As for poor little #9, what ever Marlin did or did not do was
> exacerbated by the piss poor maintenance and operating procedures put
> forth by Railstar's Operations Manager. It was put into service well
> before it was broken in and all of its issues resolved. Once #12
> broke its axle, any pretense of trying to break #9 in and get it
> running right was thrown out the window. #9 would spit grease
> fittings off its side rods and they would not be replaced for weeks
> (until the next time Steve Butler was coming to town), It ran for
> quite awhile with no lubrication to the tops of the crossheads,
> piston or Valve rods (drip oilers that were supposed to be put on
> before it ran again were not installed for weeks). As may be
> expected, the crosshead shoes wore to the point that they have a
> distinct up and down motion to go with the back and forth and the
> piston rings suffered horribly. The first set of rings lasted most of
> the season, the second lasted less than two weeks.
and
> Morning hostling was also interesting, on more than one occasion I
> witnessed the operations manager get a late start on the process and
> run #9 from 100 psi to 180 psi in less than 15 minutes. Certainly
> seems to go against the procedure outlined in GLRR Inc.'s rulebook,
> but as Railstar has no rulebook or operating procedures, I guess it
> technically was not a violation. I am sure that #9 felt violated
> however.
>
> Other factors that may or may not have played a role in #9's demise
> include Mr. Flemmer's practice of dumping between 5 and 10 gallons
> of sand into the firebox per day (I have witnessed him go through an
> entire 5 gallon bucket in one run) and his other fun and games of
> leaving the locomotive unattended with both injectors running (end
> result an overfull boiler and the pressure dropped to 110 or 120)
> followed by a never ending series of blowdowns and a super hot fire
> to try and rectify the situation (both #9 and 12 received this
> treatment multiple times, just that I saw).
>
> His favorite stunt was reserved just for #9 and consisted of shutting
> off the locomotive's fire so that he could blow steam back into the
> oiltank.(don't ask me what he thought he was accomplishing) This was
> usually done at the bottom of the hill while the engineer was oiling
> around, just gotta love the thought of the single stage compressor
> going crazy trying to pump up the train, sucking all of that cold air
> through the hot flues with no fire going! (#9's compressor exhaust is
> still in the smokebox, under the stack like most coal burners, it
> routinely would suck out a spot fire as well).
Again, the link to that "anonymous" email is:
"Subject: Re: Railstar Out" Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007
The full email is five pages and one paragraph long.
--
Chris Webster
[
www.speakeasy.org]
