Although a lot of Wyoming has bad water the route of this ill fated train has
good water for 100 miles or more both east and west of Ranchester. However, no
doubt that the said locomotive did operate in less than perfect water territory
at times. As for the cause of the explosion, my speculation is that the train
had just come down the 10 mile Parkman hill (1.25% grade) and thus the boiler
water was at the front, low end of the boiler, uncovering the top of the
firebox. The explosion location 1.5 miles east of Ranchester would be the first
location the grade changed from downhill to slightly uphill to go over a small
hump (now the east CTC switch of Ranchester siding). That caused the boiler
water to rush from the front of the boiler to the rear of the boiler where it
flowed over the dry, hot, firebox and flash boiled. I don't know about the
general age of crews in that era but when I came to work as engineer at
Sheridan in the mid-1970s I was 25 years old. During the coal boom it was not
uncommon for the entire 4 man crew to have a TOTAL seniority of only 1.5 to 2
years.
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