On a hot summer Saturday afternoon, CNW 1385 gets ready to run around and pull the train back to North Freedom.
"The reciprocating steam locomotive was really an astounding animal--a horizontal firetube boiler with a raging furnace at one end and a pair of huge cylinders at the other, with slabs of steel rods transmitting power in rotary fashion to spoked driving wheels as tall as a man. And the wonder is that a pair of enginemen, hanging on for dear life in a metal box called a cab fastened on the blind end of the boiler, managed to fire and direct this monster down two rails, apparently oblivious to the fact that that just a thumbnail of flange prevented the whole bouncing, crashing, blasting mechanism from plunging down the nearest embankment...just add a show of cinders, the heat of hades, and deafening noise to complete the great experience."
The best seats on any train ride are in the cab. However, if you're the fireman you won't spend much time sitting on "the box". The fireman's main function is to supply steam. The fireman is also the engineer's eyes and ears on the left side of the cab. The fireman must make sure that there is always sufficient water in the boiler to cover the crown sheet. Otherwise, a boiler explosion will result. The following is my description of a typical day as a fireman at Mid-Continent Railway Museum:
I arrive just before 8 A.M. in North Freeedom, Wisconsin, after driving for an hour from home. I park my car (license #CNW 1385) under a grove of trees near the office. Looking down the track towards the engine house, I can see engine 1385 sitting on the main line next to the house. The 1385 is a ten wheeler built in 1907 by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, N.Y, for the Chicago and North Western Railway. It is a coal fired engine, equipped with superheaters, stephenson valve gear and piston vlaves. The 1385 was one of 275 R-1 class "ten wheeler" C&NW steam locomotives built. Today, only 3 R-1s remain in existance and the 1385 is the only remaining C&NW steam engine which actually is in operating condition. These engines originally handled main line passenger and freight trains at speeds up to 60 MPH. But as train weights increased, larger and more powerful steam engines were developed and the R-1s were relegated to branch line and yard service. The 1385 last ran on the C&NW roster in 1956, in Iron Mountain, MI. It was then used as a stationary boiler to thaw iron ore on the ore docks at Escanaba, MI. Mid-Continent bought the engine in 1961 for $2,400 (scrap value).
The engineer hasn't arrived yet and the museum grounds are quiet. The first train is a 10:30 A.M. so I have to get the engine steamed up and ready to go in the next two and a half hours. I'm lucky because the engine was run the day before and the regular weekday crew left her with a banked fire overnight. I won't have to start from scratch. If the engine were cold, I would have had to get here much earlier and start with a wood fire in the firebox.
The first thing that I do when I get on the engine is look at the water glass to see how much water is in the glass. Then I check to make sure that the water glass is in communiction with the boiler. I also check the tricocks, three valves on the backhead of the boiler which also indicate the level of water in the boiler. I compare the tricocks to the level shown in the water glass. I have to be careful when checking the tricocks, because they can give a misleading reading under some circumstances(of course, so can the water glass). This morning, I'm lucky because the crew the night before did a complete job of putting 1385 to bed. There is plenty of water in the boiler---I've got a half a glass, which means that there is a good amount of water in the boiler. My job will be a little easier.
Next I take a good look at the fire. Last night, after the final run, the fireman banked the fire and the smokestack was partially covered to prevent the bank from receiving a significant draft. The stack was covered, I remove the stack cover, so I'll have some draft and I won't fill the cab with ash and smoke. After I shake down the grates and get rid of the ashes, I'll be ready to start building up the fire. First. I spread out what's left of the banked fire from the night before. To Be Continued...
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