As promised, I located the four photographs I had of the mess when 4-6-0 SLSF 1104 blew up. The boiler explosion occurred on the Rolla Subdivision at Valley Park, MO. And no, I did not take them! This shows the tremendous power that is released when a boiler lets go.
My word. This is enough to make any boiler underwriter lose sleep. I am amazed by how the smokebox and boiler plowed into the ground as if it were a javelin. Thanks for sharing, Don. Best Regards,
Don, Thank you for sharing. No one knows the true power of steam's capabilities. This goes to show the brutality of it goes array. It does give great detail of the locomotive up close of what is left. I am sorry for the loss of the family member to the member on the board who originally inquired. If there is one solace, it is that the man died doing what he loved and was proud of. Thanks again for the shots Don. Manny
WOW. It probably went end-over-end a few times before it came to a rest. Guessing 1000 gallons of superheated water at 310 degrees produced about 1.7 million square feet of steam being released at 30,000 psi. in a fraction of a second at the crown sheet. Ripped the boiler and smokebox from the chassis. Darren
Don, Looking in the third photograph that you provided, is that a hinged cap for the smoke stack that I see?
Looks like an Alco builder plate on the boiler, what is left of it. Mildly unique in the respect that Frisco was primarily a Baldwin customer, at least to my understanding. Thanks for taking the time to find and post these. Pat Moreland, Union, MO
Don, Holy Jesus, thank you for the pictures, it really does put it in perspective. Thank you for sharing, I can not believe the clarity and detail of almost 90 year old pictures. Awesome thank you. But I have to know how you acquired them. Was this incident significant to you or someone you know? They resemble insurance adjustor photographs If so, that gives me hope more information can be had. Manny, I did not know him, neither did my father, but thank you for the condolence.
Robert, Don Wirth's father was a locomotive engineer on the Frisco's Eastern Division, and probably at the time this happened. Don has lots of photographs from various sources.
Don, Great photographs, the damage is just staggering. The other interesting thing to me though is looking at the bystanders noising around the wreckage. In the second photograph you can see people standing, including what looks like a child's legs inside what is left of the boiler. You do that today and they would probably put you into railroad jail and throw away the key! Brad
This engine was used in suburban service and had the stack cover hinged. On oil burners, you can cap the stack and kill the fire for a while. We used to fill the boiler on the 4-8-2 SLSF 1522 with the injectors until it was above the top of the glass with the pressure at 210, then shut the fire down and cap the stack. She would maintain enough pressure to relight the next day. One time we went 30 hours before relighting and still had 80 psi, more than enough to heat the oil and light off. The 10 wheeler SLSF 1104 was an oil burner and I am wondering why it was fired up unless it was for the morning run. Notice that it also blew the smokebox front completely off. If memory serves, I got these photographs from the Chief Special Agent at Lindenwood Yard years ago who said he was one of the kids in the picture.
You would not believe some stories I have heard. Stories I found bizarre, until I just read that. In your honest opinion, do you think this was deliberate?
I was able to locate this clipping at the house last night which does not shed anything new other than the date noted is April 30, 1933. Jeff
No, I do not think it was deliberate. Why would someone commit murder or suicide by boiler explosion?
I know nothing of steam engines but murder does not seem plausible to me, not with only one dead body Suicide however, obviously it would appear as a freak tragic accident and insurance would pay. I agree there are far easier ways to end it and I do not think suicide was in the equation. I have to think that the railroad would not put the average idiot in that position. He knew what could happen in this situation, and a protocol for dealing with it. Why he did not will forever be a mystery. In my honest opinion, he thought he saw more water then there was and kaboom the end. I am proud of him. He went out doing what he loved, and proud of what did. He was one of the few that had a job, when the majority of the country did not.
Why would murder or suicide come into this discussion? Unless there is an accident report that has not been shared yet but says that, why ask such a speculative question?
Loss of life is always very sad and my sympathies go to the Keener family, albeit retroactively. The death and calamity resulted from a chain of preventable events. The first of these was letting the water go too low in the boiler and the second was injecting cold water onto the hot, dry surfaces. It left me wondering what the right steps would have been. The obvious first step would be to perform frequent checking to prevent the water from falling too low. What would be the proper procedure to protect life and the locomotive if the water was found to be too low in the boiler? Did the Frisco have procedures in place to address this? Steps for a standing locomotive, as 1104 at Valley Park, would be simpler than for one pulling a train on the road. It seems to me one could fix the situation for the standing locomotive by killing the fire, slowly releasing the pressure from somewhere, cylinder cocks maybe, and allowing for slow cooling. Would this still leave the locomotive permanently damaged, though? Obviously, such a remedy was not available to a rolling train on a busy railroad. Moreover, in the era before radios, there would be no way to alert anyone of the problem, ask for advice and prepare the railroad for the interruption. The crew was stuck. Their one option would be to kill the fire and keep rolling to use up the steam. Previous threads indicate this is not too hard with an oil-burner, but I bet it would hopeless on a coal burner. George Nelson
