Re: Water glass? Site glass?

No BS on my part, just my observation based on my scant experience as an Engineer for the past six years. The try cocks that I have experienced were located on the Engineers side of the backhead. Evenly spaced vertically and horizontal so the uppermost ones don't spray on the lower ones. The accuracy you get depends on the number of cocks (or valves if you prefer). Two try cocks give you two levels to check in the boiler. Three or more give you more accuracy.

Starting with the bottom most cock, if you get water, then you are probably safe, for the moment anyway. Moving upward the Engineer can then determine the relative level of the water.

Water glasses or gauges have a pipe out of the top connecting to the boiler at a level higher than the highest level of the glass, and a boiler connection at the bottom, lower than the lowest level in the glass. In the glass itself, one can easily see the water, which is darker, and steam which is clear. Glasses have an internal bright metal backing making it easy to read at a glance.

Blowing down frequently is essential. One should not go on duty and assume they have been blown down. Even if they have, they could have gotten debris in them between shifts. Blow them down your self, and often. At each station is good (it is only 5 miles between our depots), or more often if the reading between the two is different. Blow them down quickly so the gaskets don't overheat and fail. If one of the gaskets does fail, or the blowdown will not clear a blockage, then shut down the gauge and blow the other more frequently just to make sure you are getting a good reading. JMO

dan