Finally got around to uploading some home video my dad took of 4-8-2 SLSF 1522 during one of its last trips when it came through St. Louis, MO. The video is about an hour long. Hope you guys like it. Frisco1522 [video=youtube;HWnLuz1wb14][/video]
Fuel for SLSF 1522. This is probably a good question for Don Wirth. What was the source for fuel for the 4-8-2 SLSF 1522 when it was running the excursions? Was the same kind of oil available for the excursions as was available back when the engine was in company service in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s? Thanks, Tom G.
We started out burning Bunker C, which we had delivered by Kiesel Fuel, but it started to get a little hard to get so we ended up using No. 6. Number 6 was not as heavy but still needed heating to flow. They delivered to us on the road and at home. I think a time or two we used Frontier Oil which is what Steve Lee used on the UP engines. His mix was a little closer to a No. 5. The lower the number, the bigger pain to fire as there wasn't as much heat in it. We got some stuff from Keisel one time that was No. 6, but looked like slimy green sewage, but burned hotter than hell.
Interesting stuff, and a question I would have never thought to ask. Is it correct that Bunker C was the "soup du jour" in the steam days of Frisco oil burners? I read somewhere, probably Frisco Power, about the oil burners having a sandbox at the front of the tender where the fireman would occasionally toss in a shovel full of sand to scour out any oil residue. Is this anything that you and the 1522 crew incorporated, Don? It sounds like the slimy green stuff perhaps was not No. 6 oil? Whatever it was, it sounds like it worked splendidly. It brings to mind when my grandfather told me years ago about a DC-3 crash at takeoff, perhaps at Lambert Field in St. Louis. Someone mistakenly filled her up with Jet A. I suspect I am muddling the details. Best Regards,
Bunker C was indeed the fuel of choice in steam days for oil burners. The procedure for sanding the flues was to get the engine working really well and feed sand into the firebox with a small scoop. The exhaust draft would pull it in and it would scour the soot from the inside of the flues. We usually did this after the engine had been sitting all night or has been on display with a spot fire. A lot of times if we left before light, it would be quite a show with sparks, etc. We would do this until it stopped putting out a lot of soot.
Very interesting. the slimy green sewage you refer to that burns hotter than hell sounds very much like Oklahoma sweet crude oil. It is green and light with anywhere between a 29 and 34 gravity and it truly burns hotter than hell. It is just as volatile as gasoline but has staying power to burn for a long time.
Note the green color of the oil in the tank. It is sweet crude. It is the purest grade of oil in the world, it burns hot and is not contaminated with sulfur and carbon dioxide. I often wondered if it was used as fuel for locomotives since it was plentiful and locally available along the Frisco in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.
Great stuff - thanks Don and Paul. It is great to hear little details like this about the steam locomotives. It convinces me that I was born about 40 years later than I should have been born. Best Regards,
Burning oil was interesting. If the fire would drag on the floor a little bit, eventually you would get a buildup of a clinker like material which would then disperse the flame. Sometimes you would get a Statue of Liberty in there. At the end of the day, we would take the slash bar and break it up and get it out of there. That sweet crude looks like that stuff we got the one load of. It did burn HOT.
Well said! It is OK to leave out the pesky details of 2 major wars, the Depression, infectious diseases, etc.
In some respects, I am not convinced we have it any better now. More comfortable, more electronics but no safer.
I just uploaded video on YouTube from our 1996 trip to Topeka Railroad Days in Topeka, KS. It was shot by several of us on the trip. Mike Del Vecchio who was editor of Railfan And Railroad at that time, Tom Kelcec who came along with us, me and others. This is the version without the captions, since I had trouble with that version. We went north on the old Burlington Route to Hannibal, MO and then turned left at Mark and went across state to Kansas City, MO and Topeka, KS. While there, we did a round trip fan trip to Emporia, KS on the ATSF. We returned via Ft. Scott, KS, Springfield, MO to St. Louis, MO. The in cab footage was shot out of the old Burlington yards in North St. Louis. Bill Webster firing, me running and Chuck Salter was our pilot engineer. This was a fun trip. The video is in three parts and is on my YouTube channel. Enjoy.
