Re: [CBQ] boiler explosion record Jan 1911 WY?

["Eric Harmon" <scrimshander1@gmail.com>]

With the 10 mile +/- downgrade on Parkman Hill to Ranchester, running at maybe 15-20 mph (as I understand it) wouldn't that have given engineer & fireman at least 30 minutes during which they could have checked the sight glass for water level in the boiler?   Does this indicate a sort of perfect storm of events that may have included the water leak noted in the local news, a scaled-up, plugged, or otherwise inaccurate sight glass reading, in addition to the downgrade- level- slight upgrade (as noted by Winton)  causing water to slosh back over the red-hot, weakened crown sheet?   Am I thinking of this correctly?

Thanks again to all of you, and best regards for a happy Thanksgiving!

Eric

On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 9:16 AM Louis Zadnichek via Groups.Io <LZadnichek=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

November 27, 2019

Winton - Your perspective from having been a Lines West locomotive engineer always makes for interesting posts. I enjoy reading each and every one of them.  Thanks for reaching out to Eric and helping him locate the spot near Ranchester, WY, where his great uncle was blown to Glory in the boiler explosion.

Since you ran on the Black Hills line, I'm attaching an image of CB&Q Class D-4-A 2-8-0 type No. 3112 and Class K-5 4-6-0 type No. 800 "giving it all they had" double heading an excursion train in May 1910.  The exact location on the Black Hills line is not identified, but you probably ran trains over it in later years.

In the image, if you look closely. you'll see that there's a steam boiler in the front of the baggage car. Someone in the car department had put a whistle on the car. The boiler would've been piped to an adjacent small turbo generator for electricity to illuminate the cars with. There's also a brave trainman riding 3112's foot board.

Winton, Eric and everyone on this always amazing List, Best Thanksgiving Wishes to you and family on this blessed Holiday weekend - Louis

Louis Zadnichek II

Fairhope, AL     

In a message dated 11/26/2019 10:41:26 PM Central Standard Time, runextra@gmail.com writes:

Louis Zadnichek, thanks for the pic of the 3116 at Englewood SD. Englewood is about MP 98 on the Edgemont-Deadwood line through the Black Hills. I was engineer on that line for a while in 1975. Alas, I had 4 BN SD9's not a 2-8-0. However the Black Hills Central tourist outfit was running steam then and since it used BN crews I got called off the Alliance engineer's extraboard to run that.
Going down one of the 3% grades in a snow storm with about 36 loaded cars was the only time in my 41 year career that I came close to losing a train! Could've ended up dead like Eric's uncle but I regained control and it all ended well. Learned some valuable lessons that night.
I hated to see the BN abandon that scenic CB&Q line.

Winton

_._,_._,_

---

Groups.io Links:

You receive all messages sent to this group.

View/Reply Online (#58469) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic

Your Subscription | Contact Group Owner | Unsubscribe [archives@nauer.org]

_._,_._,_