Things noticed

[NW Mailing List]

After sending the note below, I re-read the full article (titled “Improving Our Mallet Locomotives” November, 1927), which said that air pumps were moved from the smokebox front to the sides at the same time as the addition of the feedwater heater (clearance restrictions were the reason for the front mounted pumps - difficulty in maintaining the front end was the driver behind wanting to move them). 

But that raises a question about my answer to Jimmy’s missing FWH observation. Why, in 1929, were the pumps relocated yet no Worthington BL has been added? My assumption is that the work was accomplished at separate times - or some Y3s never got a heater?

Below is another snippet explaining what had to me modified on the Y3s to allow mounting the air pumps and feedwater heater. Details for Mike Rector’s spreadsheet. 

After a careful study of the problem, it was found that by locating an air reservoir on the tender to serve in place of one it was necessary to remove from the locomotive, by pushing the steam and other piping further down under the side of the boiler and re-designing the valve gear reach rod arrangement, with the addition of an auxiliary valve gear reverse shaft, that space could be found, not only for the air pumps on one side but also on the other side for the feedwater heater which it was desired to apply.

Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio

Sent from my mobile

On Feb 13, 2024, at 1:54 PM, Matt Goodman <mgoodman312 at icloud.com> wrote:

Jimmy, that back cover photo is striking, but I didn’t notice the missing feedwater heater. 

The photo was made relatively early, in November, 1929. The Y3’s and Y3a’s were delivered without heaters, and the first two retrofitted were at the end of 1927, according the N&W magazine. That article said that there had been authorization to add feedwater heaters to ten of the Y3’s and Y3a’s. I guess the locomotive in the photo hadn’t has it’s turn yet.

Here’s some relevant text from the November, 1927 article:

The arrangement (referring to feedwater heaters on the new Y3b’s (Y4’s) - MG), so far, is proving entirely satisfactory, and authority has been granted to make the changes to some of our Y-3 and Y-za Locomotives. To date, two locomotives have been changed at the Roanoke Shops and work on the others is now under way at the Portsmouth Shops.

I give the Motive Power Department authors of these articles a lot of credit. There’s a good amount of in-depth discussion of the what’s and why’s of feedwater heaters in that article.

Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio, US 

> On Feb 13, 2024, at 9:37 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
>     When observing photos, do you ever happen to have some detail that just jumps out at you and slaps you in the face before anything else? Take a look at the photo of the Y3 on the back of the latest ARROW. Did you notice that the engine has no feedwater heater?
> 
> Jimmy Lisle
> 
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