Coal Stokers

[ROC]

I was talking to a retired railroad engineer that was a fireman on a steam locamotive for seven years before he became an engineer that ran the main line between Detriot and Chicago.He tried explaining how the stoker worked on the big road engines.The whole deal is run by steam.There was an auger that dumped coal onto a plate that had six grooves in it.The grooves were situated at differint angles they each had their own lever which you pulled to shoot steam out of it that would throw the coal on to the grates.Each lever would throw the coal in a different direction to where the fire needed it.You just aimed for the dark spots that were not burning and kept the sides banked up on the huge firebox.The part I didn't quite understand was the air intake.He said that was controled by the exhaust stroke of the engine and that you could change the timing of the engine for different draft.If you started pulling hard up a grade it would lift the coal off the grates 8 to 10 inches each stroke and you had to be carfull not to pull the fire out of it.The coal burns so bright it's bad for your eyes to look at.The yard engines were not so easy you had to hand stoke those.He also said the bigger the diameter the wheels on the engine the faster and the smaller the wheel it had more power.
To get water to the engine on the main line there would be a water trough between the rails that went for about a mile.When the engine got over it they would lower a scoop and it shot the water up to the engine.In the winter time they had to make sure there wasn't any bums riding on the first three cars because the spray from the water would soak them and they would freeze to death.

[dabeitz]

Here's a site that mentions a bit more about mechanical stokers.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove ... t_169.html

And here's another that describes several different versions.
http://www.sdrm.org/faqs/boilers/page120.html

And here's a link with pictures of one example.
http://einhornpress.com/stoker.aspx