NYC_George
Well-Known Member
In the past passenger trains were heated by steam. In the steam engine era only a whisper of steam was allowed to be diverted back to the train. In the diesel era, diesel engines came with a steam generator onboard. The steam generator and it's water supply were housed near the back of the engine. The water supply tank stood upright and on a cold day held enough water for about a four hour trip. In Example, the trip from Brewster to Grand Central was 1 hr 50 mins. The round trip for the engine with the wait time at Grand Central was about 5 Hours. When you returned to Brewster you were out of water. The engine was fueled and steam generator water was added. That's the reason the fueling pad had two high pressure large hoses as part of the serving element. Most of the time you had two engines and only one of the generators was working. That's the way it was. Other times you had two engines and no steam generators working. If this happened the conductor would call on the radio and ask where's the heat. I have 1500 passengers all complaining it's cold. If you were a fireman you go back and maybe with a piece of wood block the steam generator's relay's closed hoping that would do the trick. If not then you would explain to the engineer it's no use it won't run. Some times he would say unloosen the sight glass, turn on the fuel and throw a fusee in there. I would reply " I'm not throwing any fusee in a boiler full of fuel, I'll run the train you go do it. The passengers will just have to freeze".
E7's and E8's had two steam generators and two water supplies onboard. One day in the summer the 20 Century Limited passed by with a small bit of steam trailing from the last car. I said to the engineer what's the deal with the steam. He replied it for the hot water in the rest rooms.
NYC_George
E7's and E8's had two steam generators and two water supplies onboard. One day in the summer the 20 Century Limited passed by with a small bit of steam trailing from the last car. I said to the engineer what's the deal with the steam. He replied it for the hot water in the rest rooms.
NYC_George
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