dallashistory

A steam explosion is caused by the sudden failure of the container holding it, allowing the water under pressure inside to suddenly expand to steam. Water turning to steam expands 1600 times in volume -- so 2000 gallons of water instantly vaporises to 3 million gallons of steam! Such an event is called a "boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion" or BLEVE (pronounced “BLEV-ee”).

The process of hot pressurized water turning into steam can be seen on any car. It's the reason radiators have the warning "don't unscrew this cap while the engine is hot". If you ignore the warning, and unscrew the cap, the pressurized water inside will vaporize and steam up in your face.

With fire tube boilers, such as the ones found on most steam locomotives, the most common mode of failure is loss of the metal sheets surrounding the fire in the firebox. Usually, this was caused by allowing the water level to fall below the top of the firebox. With no water to carry away the heat, the metal sheets heat up until they finally melt, with disasterous and usually fatal consequences:









Texas has had it's share; one really bad one occured in Smithville, Texas in 1911:

http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRailro ... losion.htm

Many are documented in the book Scaled to Death by Steam.

But locomotives were not alone. One of the most disasterous boiler explosions ever took place aboard the side wheel paddle steamer Sultana. She was loaded with Union soldiers, just released from southern prisons, and was making her way up up north on the Mississippi River. One of her boilers sprung a leak, and was "repaired" in Vicksburg. At about 3 o'clock a.m. on April 27, 1865, and only seventeen hours after this photograph was taken, the repaired boiler exploded with tremendous violence, a few miles above Memphis, Tenn. Many persons were killed outright, and many more were thrown into the river and drowned; and the wrecked vessel took fire, and was entirely destroyed. Of the soldiers, 1,101 (including 19 officer) were killed, and the passengers and crew 137 were killed; the total number of lives lost being 1,238.



Buildings also had boiler explosions, sometimes with great loss of life:



But the most famous steam explosion in history did not involve a boiler at all. The 1986 explosion that destroyed reactor 4 at Chernobyl, was a steam BLEVE explosion. It was caused by forcing operation into an unstable area of the power envelope. The engineers were experimenting to see if the turbine self-generated enough power for a safe shutdown, rather than requiring outside power. It turns out that it didn't.

While boiler explosions were common in the early to mid 1800s; standard construction codes and a layer of laws have made such explosions a rarity. But they do happen on occasion; usually due to unsafe operation (i.e. Chernobyl) or improper maintenance.

One of the more famous explosions in recent history was of a large steam tractor at the fairgrounds in Medina, Ohio in on July 29, 2001. The steam tractor weighed 40 tons; the force of the explosion threw it up into a tree, at the same time a cloud of steam, bits of metal and oil blew 300 feet in every direction. An analysis of the accident later estimated the amount of energy released during the explosion at 90 psi. to be around 28,000,000’ lbs of force of which approximately 1,280,000’ lbs was used to lift the engine and the remaining was dissipated in the blast area around the engine. The two men standing on the tractor were killed; a policeman who was standing by the tractor issueing them a citation for driving on the road with metal wheels was seriously injured. Improper maintenance of the boiler, perhaps along with being distracted by the officer and allowing the water level to drop too low were the cause:

http://www.doli.state.mn.us/boilerohio.html

Another occured on the Gettysburg Railroad on June 16, 1995. The boiler did not "launch" (literally fly off the frames; another explosion in Texas sent the boiler flying through the roundhouse roof, over a set of power lines, and facing the opposite direction some distance away.) But the engineer and two fireman were seriously burned; improper maintenance was determined to be the cause of the explosion:

http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/1996/SIR9605.pdf

These last two accidents brought about a tightening of boiler inspections and code; something that was probably long needed.

The failure of a steam header aboard the S.S. Norway in 2003 killed 7 crewmembers and injured over a dozen others, and led to the vessel being taken out of service. A steam header is a pipe that collects the steam from the boiler, and goes to the steam turbine. The NTSB's findings was that deficient boiler operation, maintenance, and inspection practices of Norwegian Cruise Line, which allowed material deterioration and fatigue cracking to weaken the boiler. It is being scrapped as I type this:

http://www.maritimematters.com/norway.html

In 2005, 12 were killed in a Bangladesh factory collapse as a result of a boiler explosion:

http://english.people.com.cn/200504/12/ ... 80561.html

BELVEs have also occurred with natural gas. Several dramatic rail accidents involving tank cars occurred when one or tank cars, already exposed to a fire of kind, suddenly fails, causing a BELEV and possibily even sending the car tank shooting away like a bottle rocket. This one occured in Cairns, Queensland, Australia in 1987; one was killed and 24 injured:

http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/ssli ... ig12-6.jpg

The Crescent City LPG explosion, June 21, 1970. Sixty-six were hurt, and several buildings destroyed:

http://www.iprr.org/HazMatdocs/GEBMO/crescity.jpg

This is a photograph of the early stages of a BELVE; done on purpose. The white cloud is the interface between the released propane and the surrounding air.



The end result:

James,

Very instructive

and well presented.

Makes my occasional little construction boo-boos look tame.

Thanks.

Best,
adam

Thanks, Adam.

Somehow, I forgot the steam explosion that happened in New York City just last year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_Y ... _explosion

Very interesting, George. I knew about the Gettysburg RR boiler explosion, but had never actually seen the full report. Several lessons there, aren't there? Wonder if everybody who needs to learn them - has...

I guess you know about the San Antonio Roundhouse explosion (on EsPee) in (IIRC) 1915. Wrecked the roundhouse, damaged buildings for several blocks around and was generally an exhibition of just how much energy is contained in a locomotive boiler. The account I have seen is in Reed's TRAIN WRECKS. My copy is hiding so I can't reference the event more closely.

I was referred to some dramatic photographs on the web of a boiler explosion by a Denver & Rio Grande 4-6-6-4 on 10/19/1952. This locomotive is very similiar to the Union Pacific "Challenger"; one of which (#3985) is still ran on its business trains by the Union Pacific:

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/challenger/up.shtml

http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/excurs/up3985.shtml

Notice that these locomotives have two sets of driving wheels. The first set of driving wheels, along with the four leading wheels and cylinders all mounted on a common frame, are connected to the rest of the locomotive with a pin joint. That allows the front engine to swing around curves; a slide joint under the boiler transmitts the weight of the boiler to the front engine.

This shot shows the boiler after the explosion:

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00011101

As in many boiler explosions where the firebox fails first, the boiler was "launched" off the frame and sent flying in the air, to land some distance away. It is sitting upside down; the firebox (where the coal is burned on a set of grates) is facing upwards on the right; the solid mount where the boiler was bolted to the rear steam engine is in the middle; and the pipes that carried the steam to the front and rear sets of cylinders and back to the smokebox are on the left. Note what is left of the various joints in pipes that allowed the smokebox to swing outwards while the engine was turning without breaking anything.

Another view of what was left of the boiler. This shot was taken from the cab end of the boiler; what is left of the controls is facing the camera. As was usually the case, it killed everyone on board:

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00011102

The rear drivers (steam engine) and tender at the point where they were left after the explosion:

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00011103

Apparently the force of the explosion and the locomotive coming apart broke the pin joint for the front engine; leaving it to roll a short distance forward:

http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00011104

I read about one such accident where the boiler was flung forward and landed on the tracks ahead; the rest of the locomotive and train continued rolling and crashed into it.

And here is an online accident report about another boiler explosion involving another large locomotive like this that occured in Hinton, WV on 6/5/52. The locomotive involved was a 2-6-6-6; meaning it had six wheels in the back holding up it's massive boiler, two pairs of drivers with six wheels, and two leading wheels in the front. The force of the explosion caused "the track rails at point of explosion were indented by the trailing truck wheels and the two rear pairs of driving wheels and the westbound track was moved approximately 5-1/4. feet to the left. "!

The boiler landed on it's front end 440 feet ahead, then bounced and landed on it's back end 639 feet away, facing backwards. The cab was blown 133 feet to rear and 58 feet to right of the point of explosion where it fell at the water edge of New River. Grates, grate bars, throttle lever, and other parts were scattered for distances up to approximately 772 feet from point of accident, some falling in New River, Many appurtenances were badly damaged and some parts could not be located. All on board -- the engineer, fireman, and brakeman -- were killed; an operator at control tower it passed just before the explosion heard the low water warning whistle blowing as it went by; since all of the witnesses died, we don't know exactly what was going it.

The locomotive did have trouble with it's boiler feedpump in the past, and the crew appeared to be trying to start the injectors as they went by. In both cases and some other incidents from near the end of steam, the crew may have had little experience with steam locomotives, and the equipment may not have been up to par.

http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.ne ... se&rn=4156

Wish I could scan anmd post the pictures of a boiler explosion incident on an SP 4-10-2 that appears in THREE BARRELS OF STEAM. It is impressive what that one did when the firebox (low water) failed.

Clyde Howard wrote:Wish I could scan anmd post the pictures of a boiler explosion incident on an SP 4-10-2 that appears in THREE BARRELS OF STEAM. It is impressive what that one did when the firebox (low water) failed.

Someone had posted pages 85-98 from that same book; which produced the links I shared above. The explosion not only killed the crew in the cab of the steam locomotive, but two of the three crewmen in the cab of the diesel locomotive ahead of it that was assisting at the time.

The amazing thing is that the locomotive involved was repaired with a new boiler, and put back into service.

Considering the date (1949, 1950, somethig like that without getting the book down to be sure), the repair is a surprise. It also explains, or at least offers evidence, of how rugged the running gear of a steam locomotive was.

Boiler Explodes On UW-Whitewater Campus

http://www.channel3000.com/news/15900300/detail.html

The explosion took place at about 12:15 p.m. in the building, which is located near North Prairie Street and Esker Dining Hall. The power plant is on the north end of the Whitewater campus. The force of the explosion blew out windows in the building.

There were seven workers in the building. One worker received minor injuries that are not life-threatening, the university said.

Very interesting thread. Thanks to you, James, for all of the information and links you provided. Thanks also to you others that have also posted information here.

My dad worked for the T&P/MoPac for 45 years, with many of those years as the Chief Traveling Freight Claim Agent and the last 15 years as Asst. Freight Claim Mgr. for MoPac. He therefore traveled many, many rail miles and a lot of those were on steam engine driven trains. I suppose he was fortunate to not have to experience first-hand the explosions, wrecks and derailments that he subsequently had to travel to.

I recall as a young boy that we would leave from Union Station in Dallas late at night and travel all the way to Galveston, arriving after dawn. The round trips were always made during the Summer and at night, as the cars were not air conditioned and the windows were open to create a breeze. ..........Good memories!

Fred

Hmmm - wonder what train you were riding, Fred? Only late night departure from Dallas to Galveston I know of in the '40s (you were a child in the '40s weren't you?) was the T&NO/EsPee Owl (No.18) that left Dallas at 11:30M (though it is a train that terminates at Houston instead of Galveston in the source I have). There is a Santa Fe train out of Fort Worth at 10:45 PM with a Galveston arrival at 09:50 AM.

Fact of the matter is that boiler explosions were pretty rare in the 20th century. NOT unknown, but rare enough that few people ever rode a train on which one occurred. And most of the events were on freights rather than passenger trains (not surprising - most trains were freight trans). Beyond that, a boiler explosion didn't generally result in a derailment, so what happened (when it happened) was the engine blew up and the train stopped with the brakes in emergency - and the passengers were stranded on the line until substitute power arrived.

James.... very interesting post on this steam phenomenon. I had heard of it but never understood the details.

When I started reading, I thought about an event that I just read about yesterday... the Sultana. It was on a thread about Civil War history on a gun related forum. Then I saw you had posted pictures of the Sultana.

Here is part of what one of the members posted about his relative and the Sultana. The end of the story has an amazing human interest "coincidence".

Here's his story:

My Great Great Grandpa was a Union Soldier in the 1st Tennessee Calvary Co. E. He was captured by the Confederate Army at the battle in Athens, AL on September the 11th 1864. When the war was over he was put aboard the steamship, Sultana, in Vicksburg, MS. The boat was over loaded with approx. 1700 Union Soldiers plus 700 other passengers on their way home up the Mississippi River. The ship was only designed to carry 376 passengers but due to some underhanded dealing for money the Quarter Master managed to put over 2,400 passengers on the ship.

On the night of April 27, 1865, approx. 10 miles upstream from Memphis, TN, after some shoddy patch work repairs that were made to the boiler the day before, the boiler blew and that sent the 2,400 passengers into the cold waters of the over flowing Mississippi River fighting for their lives. My GG Grandpa was one of the few survivors that managed to get a hold of a piece of lumber from the ship and paddled his way to the shore.

The Sultan Disaster remains to this day the largest American maritime disaster of all time. Estimates of deaths range as high as 1900 most agree that the total was some where around 1,800.

One of the strangest things for me about this happened when I took my Mom, who was not kin to my GG Grandpa Miller since he was on my Dad's side of the family, to the annual meeting of the relatives of the Soldiers that were aboard the Sultan that takes place every year.

They have a monument that was dedicated in the memory of these soldiers there at the church. My Mom was reading the names on the monument and at the bottom of the marble monument there is a note that says this monument was donated by Grey Eagle Marble Company, Knoxville, TN in 1912.

My Mom couldn't believe it since her Grandfather on her side of our family was the Superintendent of Grey Eagle Marble Company in 1912 the very year the monument was donated.

So my Grandpa on the other side of the family was the one that donated the stone. I thought that was very strange that I would have ties to this monument from both sides of the family that had never met back at that time.

One more example of just how small the world is, sometimes.

Clyde, I don't recall what rail line we used to take between Dallas and Galveston. It was in the late 1940s and the "Owl" name is familiar. We boarded at Union Station, Dallas, and got off at the train station in Galveston; reversing that on the return trip. .......I suppose the "Owl" may have terminated in Houston and some of the cars switched to the RR going from there to Galveston.

I was probably only 5-7 years old during the few years we made that trip, but I can still recall the breeze blowing through the darkened passenger car as people tried to sleep. We all had pillows but the sounds of the train through the open windows made it difficult to sleep. ...Pleasant memories, though.

Fred

I'll see, just out of curiosity, what i can turn up about an over-night train Dallas-Galveston. I ahve a contact who has a number of Official Guides and I'll ask him to check for one in the late 1940s and if he has one, see what it says.

Thing about the Owl is that my data on it is from a book called NIGHT TRAINS which is a sort of snap-shot of Pullman trains c.mid-1950s. And there were a lot of changes in the years from the late-1940s to mid-1950s. And then came the deluge of train-offs that culminated in AMTRAK in 1971.

Southern Pacific
Owl, Train 17 - 18, 1911-1958 (Houston to Dallas)

http://www.dallasrailwaymuseum.com/dallashistory.html

Thanks for the information, Peter.

The "Owl" was the night train we rode.

Interesting read on the RR history of Dallas.

Fred

Fred... as you know, my father had free passenger passes for the T&P as an employee. We'd take the train to Louisiana to see my grandmother and grandfather. (My grandfather worked his whole life for the T&P as well.)

A couple times we even road the Pullman to New Orleans to see my uncle.

There was one conductor that would announce every stop like this.... "Grand Saline, Grand Saline.... don't forget you baggage, bundles and babies". He was a hoot. I always thought it was neat to see the different designs that each of the conductors had for their unique ticket punch.


I imagine you could tell some T&P conductor and train stories as well.

Sometimes we'd ride the Katy to see my other grandmother in Temple, TX. There was a little station that we boarded near Knox Street and Abbott Ave. Seeing that location today, it's strange to think that there was a train station there... not too long ago.

That "little station" was the Katy Highland PArk Station, and it was a very neat little station indeed. Burt Blanton, in his book 300,000 Miles By Rail has soem pictures and discusses its last days and demolition. If you'd like, I'll photocopy the relevant pages and send them to you, Mike.

You left a few heralds off - Cotton Belt, Frisco, Santa Fe, at least. I think that pretty well covers the folks who served Dallas.

Thinking of Katy, while Waco has none of its train stations left, Temple has both the Santa Fe and Katy stations still intact. The Santa Fe station is still in use, too (both as an AMTRAK station and museum).

And I'll never forget the rickety old Fort Worth and Denver train which went to Denver from Dallas. The car to Denver was on another train to Ft Worth them switched to the Denver train so you got to feel and see all the switching. The old cars windows were so dirty they were almost opaque. This was in the mid to late 50s. Another interesting thing is the car was segreated until it left Texas. The Smoker section of the car was labeled "colored".

WayneP.... I remember quite well the segregated waiting rooms at Union Terminal in Dallas.

As for technology, it was interesting to see the huge slabs of ice that were loaded at the station to the underside of the passenger cars, the rush of air created by the trains movement would pass over the ice and give some cooling to the passengers in the cars.

The toilets were always interesting as well.... The flush mechanism just opened a trap at the bottom of the bowl... When you held the 'step on' flush peddle down, you could see the railway ties passing by.... NO FLUSHING AT THE STATION!

We've come a long way baby!

"That "little station" was the Katy Highland PArk Station"

and many folks from that part of town would commute into downtown Dallas from that station and then back out again in the evening.

MikeM wrote "We've come a long way baby!"

Have we?

Now we sit on the tarmac in an airplane for hours waiting.
The air conditioning is not working right.
The rest rooms are closed.
You have to stay in your seat.

And consider this - in 1938 you could post a letter at Grand Central Station mid-afternoon (to be SURE it caught the Century), in the box for the Century. It would be delivered to a business in downtown Chicago in the next morning's regular delivery to a high degree of probability. And a letter dropped in the box prior to the afternoon pick-up (remember the days of regular mail delivered twice a day M-F and just once on Saturday?) could be counted on to be delivered in New York the next morning. For 3 cents an ounce. by surface mail using trains...

So - letter posted to Chicago in NYC Monday PM; answer back in NYC Wednesday AM.

And f you just HAD to be sure - it looks like Special Delivery was a dime to 15 cents in those days from a look at my stamp album. And Special Delivery meant just taht. Special handling in the post office and delivery by special run instead of the regular route man. Including on Sunday. When an SD letter got to the post office it was handled and delivered that day, urgent priority. Think that happens today, even with the iniquitously priced overnight, next day service? Not from the USPS, it doesn't...

Norwegian Cruise Line pleads guilty in the boiler (steam drum) explosion aboard the S.S. Norway in 2003:

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsN ... 502?rpc=44

Cutting continues on the Norway itself at Alang; scroll down to the bottom of this page for the latest picture:

http://www.maritimematters.com/norway.html