Modern Technology

[chevin]

Did steam locos have seperate pipes to feed steam and sand(dry) just in front of the driving wheels or were they combined?

 

Molten ice! Would that be water?

 

Some steam engines had sand dispensers in front of and behind the driving wheels; the heat kept the sand dry and it ran freely. The way a lever was operated determined where the sand went. However, sand was used sparingly - sand and machinery are not good friends. I guess that if ice is frozen water, then molten ice must be water. I think that Vagabond might have been setting a little trap for the unwary there. He knows that not everyone twigs that as quickly as you did!

Edited December 28, 2009 by chevin

[chesters1]

Did steam locos have seperate pipes to feed steam and sand(dry) just in front of the driving wheels or were they combined?

 

Molten ice! Would that be water?

 

wouldn't it be steam ,water is hot ice

[chevin]

wouldn't it be steam ,water is hot ice

 

You have a 50-50 chance of being right or wrong there mate!

[Vagabond]

Did steam locos have seperate pipes to feed steam and sand(dry) just in front of the driving wheels or were they combined?

 

Could not reply sooner as we were in transit (not by steam but by all-leather Qantas airline) and have just got home. Chevin has partially answered it already, but the answer is both yes and no.

 

In the early days dry sand was fed just in front of the wheels - by hand in the case of the Darjeeling railway (if you see a film of it, look for the two sand-wallahs perched on the buffer beam) - a bit labour-intensive.

 

In the case of most early locos dry sand was held in sand boxes and gravity-fed down tubes controlled by a simple valve operated from the footplate. No steam involved

 

Later on, various uses were made of steam - the Gresham and Craven system used a small steam ejector near the driving wheels, to which steam was piped (down a steam pipe controlled from the cab) to create a vacuum and draw dry sand down the sandpipe. So steam and sand were seperate until delivery.

 

Another system used in deserts (have only read about this, not seen one) arranged for wet sand to be piped to the wheels, because dry sand got blown away - steam and sand were combined in some way. (Dunno the precise details)

 

Still another system used compressed air (which in turn was generated by steam pump) to apply the sand.

 

Chevin is quite right about the need for sparing use of sand - excessive use of the sanding gear was regarded as bad practice. Starting a heavy load without slipping is a test of good enginemanship. One of my favorite driving turns was shunting the loco yard on a wet day - moving strings of heavy "dead" locos about using a little B4 0-4-0 dock tank. A good chance to show off (by not slipping, nor using sand) to the gallery.

 

Molten ice! Would that be water?

 

LOL Yep - if I had said MELTING ice you might have sussed ! Think about how slippery a slushy mixture of ice and water is.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Vagabond

[Vagabond]

water is hot ice

 

 

I thought hot ice would be something like a cherry-and-chilli ice cream

 

.......or perhaps the name of a female pop group ?

[chevin]

I thought hot ice would be something like a cherry-and-chilli ice cream

 

.......or perhaps the name of a female pop group ?

 

 

Perhaps even an oxymoron?

[Vagabond]

Perhaps even an oxymoron?

 

 

Well, if its a pop group, some sort of moron anyway.