dallashistory

Clyde Howard · by **Clyde Howard** on Mon May 05, 2008 4:48 pm

Handsome ship, sad end, but I suppose nothing lasts forever. Sadly, I foresee the same fate for SS United States. I will be really surprised if the refurbishment and return to service of the Big U happens.

survivingworldsteam · by **survivingworldsteam** on Fri May 09, 2008 3:30 pm

Norway is disappearing fast now, see bottom of:

http://www.midshipcentury.com/

Clyde Howard · by **Clyde Howard** on Fri May 09, 2008 5:44 pm

Sad fate, but there is no way to save them all and nothing is forever. Shipbreaking is heartbreaking to watch.

Bill Crane · by **Bill Crane** on Fri May 09, 2008 6:57 pm

For James or Cylde or another -

In one of the accidents described it is noted that the emergency whistle for low steam was heard to be blowing.

What did the manual say? What were the operators trained to do in a low water situation? Would they have tried to run past a populated area so as not to endanger by standers?

Clyde Howard · by **Clyde Howard** on Fri May 09, 2008 7:58 pm

Well, you don't (or didn't) have manuals for operation of steam locomotives. The engineers learned by being on the job, as a fireman, then an extra board engineer, and usually a lot of roundhouse talk with more experienced hands.

If you got a low water alarm, I understand the usual thing was to dump the fire, try to get the injectors and/or feed water pumps or both working and generally try to cut the train off and run for the nearest tank. Or cut the train off and unload or maybe just unload, since a boiler explosion won't usually result in trouble for the train unless it derails when everything goes into emergency.

Bill Crane · by **Bill Crane** on Fri May 09, 2008 9:12 pm

Thank you. This is really interesting.

I don't know the RR terms, but I take it you could "dump" the firbox contents on the right of way ? Also, is to "unload" to exhaust the boiler to the atmosphere? Or?

Were there water level indicators in addition to the low water alarm? If so were was the system redundant? Were the low water alarms ever subject to repeated malfunctions such that the operating crew might blow off a warning?

Did the operating crew keep a log that was a source of corrective maintenance? Were maintenance records reviewed after such a mishap?.

Clyde Howard · by **Clyde Howard** on Sat May 10, 2008 11:56 am

Responces interspersed in RED

Bill Crane wrote:Thank you. This is really interesting.

I don't know the RR terms, but I take it you could "dump" the firbox contents on the right of way ? Also, is to "unload" to exhaust the boiler to the atmosphere? Or?

In a coal burning locomotive, if faced with a low water situation, you are faced with an emergency and yes, you would dump the fire (the burning coal in the firebox) right there on the right of way, the roadbed. Accepting the risk of setting the ties on fire.

In this context, "unload" means jump off the engine so as to avoid death or injury when (or if) the boiler exploded.

Were there water level indicators in addition to the low water alarm? If so were was the system redundant? Were the low water alarms ever subject to repeated malfunctions such that the operating crew might blow off a warning?

The primary indicator of the amount of water in a boiler were what are known as "water glasses" or "sight glasses" - transparent tubes on the boiler back-head with silvered rear surfaces in which you could see the water level. Low water alarms were a fairly late development in steam locomotive practice and as far as I know, were (simply by virtue of their operation) not prone to give a false positive - but soimetiems they didn't work at all leading to a false sense of confidence.

Sight glasses aren't perfect though - read the report of teh boiler explosion on teh Gettysburg Railroad a few years ago, or the one on the SP 4-10-2 found in THREE BARRELS OF STEAM.

Did the operating crew keep a log that was a source of corrective maintenance? Were maintenance records reviewed after such a mishap?.

In the days of routine steam locomotive operation, engineers turned in (or rather prepared) a checklist of defects noted when the engine went in for service at the end of a day's work. This was (along with repairs or adjustments performed) kept in the roundhouse. A road failure or major accident would usually result in a review of such - and often enough considerable controversy between an operating crew and the mechanical force in the roundhouse. There is a short story by (IIRC) Harry Bedwell titled HOT ENGINE that gives a picture of some of that. In a collection of railroad stories edited by Phyllis Fenner IIRC, possible to be found in a library. I have a copy and can photocopy teh tale (it isn't long and send it to you if you wish - it is a picture of a different time, by someone who knew about it).

survivingworldsteam · by **survivingworldsteam** on Mon May 12, 2008 1:33 pm

Clyde Howard wrote:Well, you don't (or didn't) have manuals for operation of steam locomotives. The engineers learned by being on the job, as a fireman, then an extra board engineer, and usually a lot of roundhouse talk with more experienced hands.

If you got a low water alarm, I understand the usual thing was to dump the fire, try to get the injectors and/or feed water pumps or both working and generally try to cut the train off and run for the nearest tank. Or cut the train off and unload or maybe just unload, since a boiler explosion won't usually result in trouble for the train unless it derails when everything goes into emergency.

It sounded like the crew was struggling with the injectors when the train I mentioned (Hinton, WV on 6/5/52) passed by the tower with the low alarm whistle sounding.

However, turning on the injectors or pumps when the top of the firebox (crown sheet) was exposed was the worst thing one could do, and would result in a BELVE (steam explosion)!!!!

Here is a cutaway of a steam locomotive. The firebox is on the left hand with the fire burning; the smokebox on the right:

Notice how normally, the firebox is buried in the water (blue in the cutaway.) The water carries away the heat from the fire, and prevents the metal from getting too hot.

Imagine you let the water get too low. The top of the firebox no longer has water on it to carry away the heat of the fire. So the metal begins glowing red hot, and begins to soften (melt). Now, some locomotives (mainly those built for Canadian railways) and steam tractors have a fusible plug screwed into the crown sheet. When this state is reached, the soft metal (lead?) in the fusible plug melts and falls out; allowing steam to escape into the firebox and putting the fire out. This is what happened at Gettysburg; it prevented the boiler from launching (more in a second); but sent a cloud of steam and cinders into the cab from the firebox door, injuring the crew.

When you turn the injectors/pumps on, and water reaches the red hot crownsheet, it is immediately turned the steam. The pressure increases quickly, way faster than the safety valves can handle. The crown sheet, already weak from overheating; gives way under the increasing pressure. The outrushing steam and the drop in steam pressure causes the remaining water in the boiler to convert to steam as well; a BELVE is under way.

The sudden and extreme rush of steam through the torn firebox breaks the connections between the firebox end of the boiler and frame, lifting the back end of the boiler upwards. The smokebox of the boiler also recieves a massive blast of steam through the fire tubes that connect the firebox to the smokebox; that and the lifting of the back end of the boiler wrecks the smokebox end as well. Free of the frame; the boiler is then flung foward or launched; flying several feet in the air before landing at a point some distance away. The cab is totally wrecked by the launching of the boiler; and anyone inside is killed immediately.

The proper response to a low water condition is either drop the fire as Clyde said, or smother it with either sand or water. By the way, the steam tractor in the Ohio incident had a fusible plug in it; but it was in such bad condition that it did not give way; allowing the entire tractor (40 tons) to be launched into a tree and come crashing down again; killing the two men on board and seriously burning the policeman that was issueing them a ticket at the time and may have distracted them. There were other things about the tractor that were not right; it probably should not have been running that day at all.

All boilers should have two means of checking the water level, either a pair of water glasses or a water glass and trycocks (a set of valves mounted vertically on the back of the boiler, you would open them to see which ones admitted a stream of water, and which ones steam; the water level was between the last one to emit water and the first one to emit steam.) All boilers should also have two means of adding water; with smaller boilers this was usually either a pair of injectors or an injector and a pump. All of this had to be kept in working order; let your water glasses or trycocks get clogged with scale, your water start foaming from too much mineral content in the boiler water, and your injectors/pumps get cranky, and you were asking for trouble.

Bill Crane · by **Bill Crane** on Mon May 12, 2008 9:09 pm

Thanks again to both of you. Let me check my library before asking for xerox, etc.

Steam powered road vehicles such as Doble, Stanley and White used a different type boiler, right?

But not steam powered farm equipment?

survivingworldsteam · by **survivingworldsteam** on Tue May 13, 2008 9:19 am

Bill Crane wrote:Steam powered road vehicles such as Doble, Stanley and White used a different type boiler, right?

But not steam powered farm equipment?

Correct, most farm tractors and steam rollers used a smaller version of the same boiler used on steam locomotives. They are called fire tube boilers because the fire goes through the boiler tubes from the firebox to the smokebox. A tube shape can withstand pressure on the inside much greater than pressure on the outside; since the steam is outside the tubes in a fire tube boiler, the steam pressure is limited to about 500 psi.

Many stationary boilers and marine boilers are water tube boilers. A water tube boiler is basically a box, with a pressure vessel called a steam drum at the top of the box and one more pressure vessels called mud drums at the bottom of the box. The two sets of drums are connected by a series of small tubes called water tubes, they make up the walls of the boiler. As water circulates through the tubes, it is converted to steam; the steam is extracted in from the steam drum. Here is a simplified view:

Because the water is on the inside of the tube; a water tube boiler can withstand much higher pressures; 1200psi and greater. They are also safer; overheating or letting a water tube run dry will result in lots of leaks in the water tubes rather than an explosion. They are more vulerable to fire side explosions; such as the recent one on the UW-Whitewater Campus.

Doble, Stanley and White I believe all used flash boilers. They are like a water tube boiler; but there are no drums. The water enters the water tubes as a liquid, and exit as a vapor; the vapor is not extracted by a steam drum. They have the advantage of being able to raise steam fast, and since they contain less water, they are less liable to explode. However, since they don't have a big drum of water on hand to quickly convert to steam, they can't take load swings very quickly.

There is a utility version of the flash boiler called a once-through boiler. It operates on basically the same principle, but is a little more complicated. They also have massive boiler feedpumps that force water into the boiler at a very high pressure; the steam then converts into a gas without going through a phase change. Without getting into thermodynamics; just take my word for it when I say they operate will above the triple point on the curve and into the critical region; so they are also known as supercritical boilers. They are operate at steam pressures of 3,000 psi and higher; they are very efficient, but like flash boilers they don't like to moved around; so they are usually operated at full load as part of the base supply of electricity.

The above image is part of a tour a supercritical power plant; namely Zimmer Power Plant. Zimmer was originally going to be built as a nuclear plant; but bad management and construction practices resulted in an unfinished plant and daily interest charges of $500,000 after spending $1.6 billion. It was converted later to a coal fired plant with a capacity of 1300 Megawatts (that is big!):

http://www.tallgeorge.com/Zimmer.htm

Clyde Howard · by **Clyde Howard** on Tue May 13, 2008 11:58 am

I think it depends to some extent on the date as to what sort of boilers steam cars used - AFAIK, all the Dobles used flash boilers, while I am not sure that the earliest Whites and Stanleys did, but I'm sure that Stanley at some point went 100% to flash boilers.

There is apparently a new (at least to me) proposal for steam-powered devices described in the latest issue of Popular Science that looks interesting. Looks to ahve a variant of the flash boiler and some sort of rotary engine, all tied together in a drum-shaped mount. Initially, per article, to be fielded in a lawn-mower. Supposed to be much quieter and all that than a regular IC-engined one without the baggage that comes with electric items. If it actually appears on the market, i could probably be tempted onto acquiring one.

survivingworldsteam · by **survivingworldsteam** on Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:28 pm

S.S. Norway (ex. S.S. France) continues to disappear fast; may be gone by the end of summer:

http://www.midshipcentury.com/

She was just recently joined by the S.S. Topaz, ex Peace Boat, Empress of Britian. Another death to note in the steamboat/ship database. :cry:

On a lighter note; the 747 first entered service in 1970 (Pan Am Jan 70, British Airways April 70 and Air France June 70). The first year or so they flew half empty - thus this famous Giles cartoon:

The airlines got their act together in 1971; conversely, the S.S. France and other liners began their downhill slide, and the owners of the France put a two-page ad in the NY Times in 1972.

survivingworldsteam · by **survivingworldsteam** on Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:43 pm

This one sounds like another furnance explosion, rather than a steam (BELEV) explosion. They were struggling to light off the burner, when the firebox filled with gas, and exploded.

Boiler explosion near Supreme Court injures 3

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2 ... lodes.html

Last Updated: Monday, October 19, 2009 | 4:16 PM ET

Three workers were injured, one seriously, when a boiler exploded at a heating plant near the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa Monday.

Paramedics at the scene said one man has second-degree burns to 50 per cent of his body and a severe head laceration. He is reported in serious condition in hospital.

Another man has first-degree burns and is in stable condition while the third has minor injuries, paramedics said.

Firefighters evacuated 27 people from the heating plant, which supplies heat to buildings on Parliament Hill.

They said it wasn't yet clear when people could return to work in the building because the explosion was so strong it cracked one wall. They are also worried about the presence of asbestos.

"We see exterior damage to the building," said Kim Ayotte, chief of special operations for the Ottawa Fire Service. "There is damage to the facia, explosive damage to the vent louvres."

A hazardous materials team has been brought in to make sure no toxic substances were released by the blast.

survivingworldsteam · by **survivingworldsteam** on Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:44 pm

Man dies after Ottawa steam plant explosion

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2 ... death.html

Last Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | 4:59 PM ET

A 51-year-old man has died of injuries sustained in a boiler explosion at a plant that heats the Parliament Buildings.

A hazmat team from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal entered the heating plant to monitor its air quality a day after an explosion there. (Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC)
The man had suffered second-degree burns to 60 per cent of his body, paramedics said at the time of the explosion.

Police confirmed the death Tuesday, a day after the noon-hour explosion at the century-old heating plant behind the Supreme Court of Canada. The man's identity has not been released.

Another man received first-degree burns in the blast while a third had minor injuries. Most of the other 20 or so employees at the plant were not hurt.

The Cliff Street plant supplied heat via underground pipes to 52 buildings in Ottawa's core, along Wellington and Sparks streets and as far away as the Byward Market and the headquarters of the Department of National Defence on Colonel By Drive.

On Tuesday, a mask-wearing hazmat team from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal entered the building to monitor its air quality as grim-faced plant employees stood outside.

The building has been declared structurally sound. However, concerns remained about the effect of the explosion on asbestos wrapped around the pipes inside. Wayne Romaine, spokesman for the fire marshal's office, said crews will also be checking levels of carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide.

The Technical Standards and Safety Authority, the Ontario agency that licences boilers, was also on the scene investigating Tuesday.

Investigators said they hope the power to the plant will be turned back on at some point so they can download data from the plant's computers.

As of noon, Public Works and Government Services Canada had not yet commented on the incident.

On Tuesday, the plant was offline and heat was being supplied to the affected buildings from a plant at the Government Printing Bureau in Gatineau.

In a memo to Parliament Hill staff, a senior official at the House of Commons said the explosion's impact on employees working in the buildings would likely be minimal, as outdoor temperatures remain mild. A high of 14 C was predicted Tuesday by CBC climatologist Ian Black.

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