| Fire Pan: This photo taken from the right
side looking back shows the right front corner of the fire pan.
The bottom of the fire pan is just above the top of the drive
shaft. The fire pan slides up inside the
firebox. The ash pans which hang down on each side of
the drive shaft of a coal burner have been eliminated.
A couple stiffening angles run the length of the pan on each side
of the drive shaft.
The burner nozzle is directly above the universal. The
louvers control the burner air supply.
The brown extension cord was being used for work lights and had
nothing to do with the burner. |
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| This shows the right rear corner of the fire pan
partially hidden behind the right rear boiler mount.. The only opening in the fire pan is at the front
as shown in the previous photo. |
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| Inside The Fire Box: This may be the most
interesting photo of the bunch. After seeing the
grates of the coal burner I was curious as to the inside of of an
oil burner firebox. This is the view from the firebox
door. Those are probably firebricks lining the fire
pan sides. The horizontal slit in the burner nozzle is
clearly visible. That is a plastic soft drink bottle near
the front. I don't know whether it was placed there to
help in the starting process or if the Heisler doubles as an incinerator. |
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| Firebox Door: The firebox door is a second
source of draft for the burner. The door is quite large to
provide the air passage from near the floor up and into the
firebox. The lever on the side probably controls louvers to
regulate the draft. |
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| This in the inside surface of the door. That
plate has holes to let the draft air pass while probably
preventing flames from shooting out the door. |
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| Burner controls: This photo shows two of the three
burner controls. The upper handle controls the inner shaft
of the column that links to the oil valve. The lower lever
controls the outer shaft that links to the draft louvers at the
front of the firebox. The third control is a valve
that controls atomizing compressed air (during startup) or steam
to the burner nozzle. The knob just in front of the upper
lever is probably for that valve. |
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| This shows the bottom end of the control column with
levers attached to both the inner and out columns. There is
a link leading to the front connected to each link.
The canister in the middle of the photo is connected to the oil
line. I suspect it contains a filter. |
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| This shows the left front corner of the fire
pan. The long lever near the middle is attached to the oil
valve. If you check the previous photos you can trace the
linkage back to that upper handle in the cab.
The lever on the right side of the photo connects to the lower
louver shaft. The linkage to this lever can be traced
on the previous photos back to the lower control handle in the
cab. |
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| This is the right front corner of the fire pan where
the two louver shafts are linked together. |
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| Lighting The Burner: I was standing on
the ground just outside the left cab door when they lit the
burner.
The first step was to connect compressed air and turn on the
biggggg compressor. Next, they soaked a couple rags with
something and threw them in the firebox. They then soaked another
rag, lit it and threw it in the firebox. The last step was
to open the oil valve and adjust the air.
Outside the door was a good position to take this photo and
also to keep one's hair from being singed. |
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| Closing the door ....... |
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| This shows the atomized oil stream exiting the
nozzle. There appears to be something burning on the floor
of the fire pan --- probably that plastic bottle.
After the burner was on for a few minutes the fire at the end
of the nozzle went out. The crew made a few adjustments and
it relit.
Oil was dripping from the nozzle onto the fire pan and dripping
onto the ground. That oil didn't catch fire. |
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| This photo taken from the right side gives a good
view of the atomized fuel spray. It looks very similar the
operation of the burner in my Shay ------- it even sounds similar
which is reassuring.
The oil feed is via the bottom of the nozzle and the air/steam
enters the forward side of the nozzle via the smaller pipe.
That is the blow down valve in the upper right corner of the
photo. |
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| Smoke: The oil burner seems to smoke
about as much as the coal burners. I noticed that the
locomotive threw off huge clouds of black smoke occasionally on the
scenic ride later in the day.
I can make the oil burner on my shay smoke without
difficulty. However, I always associated smoke with soot in
the tubes. Maybe that needs a bit more research.
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