Cause of boiler explosions

Mon Aug 3 09:08:21 EDT 2015

Begging your pardon if I may, the faulty injector didn't CAUSE the
explosion, but yes, it was a reason behind it. The reason was the crew's
not following proper procedures when they obviously couldn't get water into
the boiler. If that ever happens, and those who have ever operated or been
party to an operating steam boiler know -- get the hell out of Dodge.
That's what the tri-cocks are for, that's what the water glass is for.
Those safety devices TELL YOU where your water level is or isn't.

I recall reading Ed King's report many years ago that when the crown sheet
let loose on the N&W Y6 #2153 in 1955, the pressure was "only" 125 PSI, not
the regular operating pressure of 250 PSI or whatever that engine was set
up for. That one didn't launch because the pressure was that low and
couldn't blow out the connections beneath the firebox for a start.

For those who do NOT understand a few things about pressure and physics, as
an example, when a boiler lets loose from something like 150 PSI, the
instantaneous expansion factor of that steam from the closed vessel into
the unclosed atmosphere is a momentary 1560 times the size that it was
inside that closed vessel until it fills the necessary size outside the
boiler. Just think about that number for a moment and imagine the size
differential for just one little cubic inch and then multiply that times
1560.

Then for all you sport fans who say "oh boy, I'd like a cab ride in my
favorite 300 PSI engine today" (namely the 611), just 5 feet away from you
is that boiler, only it is 300 PSI. Yes, that is why there are safety
factors and low water alarms, etc., but just think about that for a moment.
The well-documented descriptions of what occurred near Hinton, WV with the
C&O Allegheny #1642 I think it was in June 1953 give some idea of the force
involved as that boiler launched, literally, into the air and then landed
over 100 yards away from its' starting point.

Ed King wrote up a great description a number of years ago for Trains
Magazine about what happens in the fractions of a second when a boiler lets
loose. A great read if you haven't seen it recently and well-worth reading
again to get an idea of how much boom there is in one these things we read
about and often adore so much.

So do you still want to be in the cab of a ready to roll steam locomotive?
Now you may better understand why the FIRST thing a crewman does when
entering cab of a locomotive is: check the water level: PERIOD.

Bob Cohen

Granddad (W.R. Bloyd) retrieved a brass boiler washout plug from the
wreckage of the 800 and had one of the machinists at Victoria lathe-turn it
into
a paperweight for him, which sits on my desk today. There's a picture of it
 on the Virginian Yahoo site under "Virginian artifacts'. He said he had to
have  a piece of it, since a week prior to the explosion, he had reported
the same  injector problem that had caused it.

Greg Harrod
==================================================

In a message dated 08/02/2015 6:39:11 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Ed,

I was hanging out at JK, perhaps a  decade after you were there, and Mr.
Weatherly told me the same story. He also  drove to the site of the blow-up
after getting off duty that morning. The  sights he saw that morning would
raise the hair on the necks of  the hardiest of men.

A true tragedy of the rails.

Jeff Sanders

____________________________________
 From: NW Mailing List  <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: NW Mailing List  <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2015  7:56 AM
Subject: Re: Question about  Virginian Class AE operations following Clarks
Gap  electrification

The late Clyde Weatherly was working  at JK Tower that morning and handed
up 800?s orders, caught by the head  brakeman.  Clyde told me that the
engineer had his head down as if  already asleep.  The fireman was a brand
new man
who fired it on the  westbound trip and tried to lay off the eastbound; he
didn?t think he could  handle it, but there was nobody to relieve him.

EdKing

From: _NW Mailing List via  NW-Mailing-List_
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Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:17 PM
To: _nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)
Cc: _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)
Subject: Re: Question about Virginian Class AE operations  following Clarks
Gap electrification

Following is from the ICC Report regarding
the April 1, 1941 boiler explosion of AE
Eng 800 at Stewartsville.  Keep in mind that
the information is only one example.

"The train consisted of 150 cars of coal and
caboose, the weight of the train was 13,479 tons.
That weight is an estimate.  In the era before
weigh-in-motion scales, loads were weighed just
before dumping. Clerks used an arbitrary tare
weight (24 tons usually. but 22 tons on the
Southern) and computed the loaded weight based
on the number of 50 ton cars and the number
of "battleship" gons to calculate the estimated
tonnage.
Extra 800 East departed Roanoke at 4:10 a.m.
the AE exploded at about 5:20 a.m. --  12.7
miles in 1 hour 10 minutes. Typical ?
                          Harry Bundy
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