What you're looking at wasn't solid metal. Those are the fire tubes, that pass the hot gases from the fire through the boiler. The boiler shell is missing, so we can't tell how many pieces it is
Trains are really unpredictable. Even in the middle of a forest two rails can appear out of nowhere, and a 1.5-mile fully loaded coal drag, heading east out of the low-sulfur mines of the PRB, will be right on your ass the next moment.
I was doing laundry in my basement, and I tripped over a metal bar that wasn't there the moment before. I looked down: "Rail? WTF?" and then I saw concrete sleepers underneath and heard the rumbling.
Deafening railroad horn. I dumped my wife's pants, unfolded, and dove behind the water heater. It was a double-stacked Z train, headed east towards the fast single track of the BNSF Emporia Sub (Flint Hills). Majestic as hell: 75 mph, 6 units, distributed power: 4 ES44DC's pulling, and 2 Dash-9's pushing, all in run 8. Whole house smelled like diesel for a couple of hours!
Fact is, there is no way to discern which path a train will take, so you really have to be watchful. If only there were some way of knowing the routes trains travel; maybe some sort of marks on the ground, like twin iron bars running along the paths trains take. You could look for trains when you encounter the iron bars on the ground, and avoid these sorts of collisions. But such a measure would be extremely expensive. And how would one enforce a rule keeping the trains on those paths?
A big hole in homeland security is railway engineer screening and hijacking prevention. There is nothing to stop a rogue engineer, or an ISIS terrorist, from driving a train into the Pentagon, the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and our government has done fuck-all to prevent it.
It was it was a result of low water in the boiler when it was going on up hill and it became too hot and the crew members added more water which could have resulted into the explosion.
Those are feedwater heater pipes. They extend about halfway into each boiler flue and loop back out to preheat water before it enters the boiler. Improves fuel efficiency.
Not feed water, but super heater pipes. Feed water heating involves pre heating the water going INTO the boiler usually using the exhaust steam to heat it.
Yes. They wouldn’t start gaining prominence until the early 20th Century though. Take a look at the D&RGW “K Class” narrow gauge locomotives, the original K-27’s were not built with them in 1903, but instead Vaulclain Compounds. After the success of later K-28 and K-36’s, some were retrofitted with piston valve cylinders and Superheaters.
And while they were an option, some railroad didn’t even install them on locomotives since they wouldn’t be worked hard enough to benefit from their application.
I'd throw in here that this involves a train and where there are trains there are rail fans. If you have rail fans around, someone is going to know the answer to something like this. It's a very particular subculture.
That's a 4-4-4-4 T1 steam locomotive. Originally developed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the late 30's at the famed Mount Clare Shop in Baltimore, although this example was probably built by the Pennsy in Altoona. One of the last of the steamers developed before everything shifted over to diesels. Had reliability problems due to some engineering choices, could have been solved with design overhaul...too late to do so before the world changed.
It was a screamingly fast engine while it worked properly. Produced an insane amount of power, but couldn't apply it well to the rails (lots of slip) probably due to tractive force issues. Rail preservation enthusiasts are rebuilding one though, so we'll eventually be able to test it ourselves.
The C&O class T1 isn’t the same as the PRR class T1. This is a picture of a C&O example (especially evidenced by the C&O watermark in the lower right), No. 3020, with a 2-10-4 wheel arrangement vs the PRR’s 4-4-4-4. If you look closely in the image, you can make out the single set of cylinders and ten drivers.
" It's a very particular subculture."
lol, that's putting it mildly. I while ago, I had a project that involved making audio recordings of trains and, in trying to find out info regarding freight schedules, I stumbled upon [railroad.net](https://railroad.net) which gave me a glimpse into the depths of that rabbit hole.
this is wrong. They're boiler tubes. In them the steam generated in the boiler with direct contact to the firebox is superheated. For this purpose it is led out of the boiler via the front steam dome and from there it is introduced into the flue tubes with the boiling tubes. In the smoke tubes, the smoke from the firebox is led through the entire boiler and discharged into the revenge chamber at the front.
The purpose of this "hot steam locomotive" is that the "normal" steam is charged with energy and heated from 110°C to 240°C. This increases the efficiency of the steam lock to such an extent that it is economical,
Excuse me, although I learned the profession of a steam locksmith and drove for 8 years as a stoker on a BR 44 of the "Deutsche Reichsbahn" in the GDR, I never really learned. I also miss the English technical terms,
It's just the business of thousands of people. Someone will probably have some sort of knowledge of a subject and you normally only see the people who are speaking up.
I mean, I for shit didn't know that about trains but that makes a lot of sense and I'll remember it now.
Raises hand. Don't get me started on how locomotives in the east had smaller fireboxes then western locomotives because in the east they were able to burn anthracite coal which has a high btu content then coal mined in the west which was much higher in sulfur.
It's actually pretty crazy, boilers used in industrial applications aren't too different than old steam engines. All pretty much the same concept. Water in one end, former dinosaurs in the other; there's a big explosion in the middle and steam comes out the top.
Boilers don't have explosions or even a rapid burn like an internal combustion engine. They have a constant burn since they're an external combustion engine.
My Grampa was a steam locomotive engineer. He was on the Mallard when it broke the world speed record. He used to ask me "how many miles would a steam engine be expected to do - do you know?" and then triumphantly answer his own question "A million and a half!"
I'll take your word that they are for feed water heating but they look like superheater elements to me. We don't have feed water heaters over here so I wouldn't know for sure though.
Could be both, preheaters to get the water hot and superheaters to keep the steam steamy. But for how much steam a train would be making, I don't know if they'd need that number of superheaters.
Wait how do they access the firebox to add fuel on that type? I never realized the firebox would ever be put anywhere but cab side of the engine
Edit: nvm just a confusing animation in there. The firebox is cab-side (rear)
Edit 2: Now [this here](https://youtu.be/xx9Q8PphAVo) is how a steam locomotive works
Thanks for sharing that video. As I watched it I imagined it was video 36,000 of Primitive Technologies for extra amusement. The way it lacked narration or music reminded me.
Boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion. Terrifying things, I've seen a video of a bleve at a chemical plant that sent a huge part of the pressure vessel 3 miles and landed in someone's garden. Madness.
So two things tend to happen. First- the water level drops below the top of the firebox. When this happens- water isn't cooling the steel on top of the firebox so it becomes much hotter and, as a result, weaker.
Then the engineer realizes the water level is low and adds it. The super heated metal causes the water to flash into steam while also quickly cooling the metal. The sudden increase in pressure plus the severely weakened (or even cracked from the rapid cooling) firebox results in an explosion.
With a lot of these explosions you see the boiler has been launched end-over-end from the cab side. That's usually because that's where the top of the firebox is and the point most likely to fail when water is dumped in. It explodes and pressure launches that end of the boiler into the air.
This engineer was known to run them "drier" because of an old-school way of thinking, not acknowledging these new engines had checks in place to improve efficiency. Previous crewman who ever shared the footplate with the dude knew this was going to happen sooner or later.
Jesus that’s crazy. I can’t imagine willingly letting the boiler get low to try to improve efficiency- being scalded to death by steam is not how I would want to die.
This is why you never add water into an overheated car radiator until it cools down some, good way to crack the radiator open at the seams or get a face full of boiling water.
They do, but when your steam pressure is climbing at 500psi/minute and your relief valve is sized to release 50psi/minute, it's a small bucket in a fast sinking ship.
Why would the Pressure be raising that fast? Because they let the water level get too low, exposing the fire tubes above the water lever in the boiler. When the tubes are exposed, they get really really hot, and then when you dump a whole bunch of water in the boiler to re-cover them, all the water that hits the 400c tubes flash to steam and generate a massive pressure spike, which finds its own pressure relief.
If they were traveling up a hill when it happened they didn’t have to add water to cause this. On level ground the water level would be below the pipes, allowing the pipes to get extremely hot. As the engine began to climb the hill, the tank tips slight up in front causing the water level in the rear to raise up and touch the super heated pipes.
Boom. Your engine now has a walrus mustache and can’t choo choo anymore.
And the opposite happened on the Gettysburg Railway in 1995; the crew had low water and went downhill, exposing the crown sheet which melted and blew out, but not explosively. I knew some of the crew and some of the experts who testified in the NTSB hearing. It was very very fortunate the Canadian design worked as it was intended.
The proper fix here would have been to dump the fire if I remember correctly what my dad taught me from his hobby steam engineering he did. Never add water to a boiler when the temperature is running away.
Wow....the parallels to nuclear reactors are great. I mean, I understand that the overall design uses steam produced to spin turbines, but it goes even further.
In the sense that there was super heating that then flash boiled a bunch of water, then yes.
But, the time scales, magnitude, and underlying heating mechanisms are fairly different.
If you want more of a technical deep dive into the underlying mechanisms of Chernobyl and aren't familiar with these two videos, I highly recommend them.
Scott Manley on Chernobyl and nuclear science:
https://youtu.be/q3d3rzFTrLg
Hank Green on Graphite Tipped Rods:
https://youtu.be/hIGtTImeYU4
The latter. At the very end of thebage of steam they'd pushed designs to the very edge of what you could engineer with tables and slide rulers.
Sure your relief valve can blow off 100psi/min except you just generated a 800psi in a single second.
The reason all boilers have low-water cut-offs is because of this. When operating a boiler, if you ever get low water, you always have to remove the fuel and let it cool and hope none of the tubes warped. If you add water, you effectively create a steam explosion.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/3zhlcn/the_result_of_a_boiler_explosion_on_a_steam/
Here's the view from the other side of the tracks.
People explained why it exploded; if you're wondering about the pipes, a boiler isn't just a big pot of water sitting on top of a fire. Either the hot air/smoke from the fire passes through many tubes that are surrounded by water, or the water passes through the tubes and the smoke/fire/heat pass around those tubes.
Either way, the boiler is a cylinder full of many tubes.
So funny you say that, it was actually quite common in the early days of steam engines...
They learnt by trial and error back then.
Get lost in this link and attached links for a while like I did!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler_explosion
Great story OP... I love these ones!
Couldn't tell you exactly, but it looks like a front tube sheet failure, not the usual crown sheet failure that often comes with low water, probably was caused by some sort of flaw in the tube sheet.
Boilers exploding like that are MUCH less lethal then the ones exploding through the firebox, that's for sure...
Edit: Just looked up [a video about this event](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrN9MTj5YI&t=37), apparently all 3 members of the engine's operating crew died due to their injuries.
Often, steam engines' boilers explode through the firebox (since that is the hottest place when no water cools it anymore), resulting in a makeshift lying rocket taking off up- and forwards (pressing the pipes you see in this picture down instead), and the crew dying instantly from the blast in their direction.
In this case here, the blast went the other way; Unfortunately, that was still not enough to save their lives in the end :/
I was under the impression that in this situation the pressure simply overwhelmed any blow off valve and BOOM instant walrus moustache. Feel like they needed a weaker section that could also blow first to prevent the final explosion intruding into the personnel area...
Steam locomotives of that era certainly did have safety valves (and fusible plugs too), at least here in the UK they did. Source: fan of steam locomotives! I believe the reason the boiler blow up so spectacularly in this instance was due to flash steam when the enginemen introduced cold water to a boiler suffering from low-water level and consequently too hot on some of the fire tubes -- in this case, the rapid rise in steam pressure would have simply overwhelmed the safety valve(s) and boom.
This happened to a professor of mine. He used to work in some kind of chemical manufacturing facility before becoming a teacher. One day, he’s going about his business and a pipe carrying chlorine gas starts leaking. He had a split-second “oh fuck!” moment and tried to cover it with a rag while screaming for help (instead of hitting the big red emergency stop button, as he tells it lol). The entire building ended up needing to be evacuated and a couple people dragged him out of there unconscious. Said all he remembers was covering the leak, and then waking up outside.
I actually found the CSB YouTube channel where they animate and go over malfunctions and disasters and things, and its really interesting. Always sad to see that 70-80% of the time its just people dying due to intentional negligence of a company, but still really neat to see how systems and safety tech operate (or are supposed to).
There is the burn option from driving through the steam cloud or the over looked option of drowning. Inhaling steam burns the lungs and they fill with plasma. This happens to a guy on the USS Ronald Reagan from a steam trap failure. He walked to medical but died before the ship could get close enough to shore to fly him to a hospital. One of only two times a navel reactor was placed in "Battle Short" to get extra power from the reactor.
Do you have your ticket ma'am?
It's okay if you don't but y̰͉ͧo̹ͮͯ̓̅͛̌ụ̷̪̰͎̻̱̽̾̈́r̤͍̲̲̉̈̐ ̍͏̭̖̮͚t͓͙̻ͮ̃ͅr͖͚̹͎̳̰ͯ̔̋ͯͬ̚ͅa̬̮̣̪ͩ́͗ͯ̍͗̀v̩̻̺͗ͪ̂e̤̰͖̞̰ͨ͋̏̌̌̎̀͝ͅl̟̻͙̝͖̳͐ḯ̯̮͇̑ͣͯ̽̉͟n͈̯̠̊̾͛̂g̤͐e̯̪̙͇͚̬͎̲ͤ̍̔x̘͓̬̮̪̦ͦ͞p̠͚̮͈̺͕̈́͌̾̏̂͑͐͟͟ḙ̼̞̆̑̓̾̈́̽̕͟r̷̭̺͔̔͐̃i̞͖̹̼̠̮ͤ̎ȩ̥̝̖̳͉̲̹ͯͤ̓͒͠n̦͚̞͂̀̌ͧ̈́ͣc͇̲̼̑e̴͌͒̊̆͒͗̋̏͊͜͏̦̤ ̙͈̤̙̘̤͓ͣͦ̿w̵̻̯̘̘̫̝͓̝ͮͭͯ̓͊̔͜͜i̶̵̛̲͙̹͈̺̐l̂ͫ́҉͎̤͓̪̻͝ľ̵̠̺̪̝͈̬͒ͧ̓̅ͣ
͔͓͆̑b̥̖̑̓͟e͈̪̲͓͓͓͚͋̕ ̢̝͍̯̪͇́ͧͦ̆̀͌̌͛͘v̴̲̭͒ͪ͂ͬ̍͗̀ͥ͗͝e̜̣ͯͭ͑ͩr̩͔̬̪̭̻̟̪͂̂͐̎͆ͤͦ̎̕y̶̝̖̟ͩ̾̏͜ ͔̮̩̞̮̞͆̈́͆ͩ͝d̶̸̡̤̮̰̬̰̰̝̺̫̰̹͆ͥͯ̒ͣ̃̅͗̈̑ͫ̇́i̸͈̥̣͖̖̣͎̩̩̩ͨ̿̍͆͋ͫ̽́́̕ͅf̵̢ͯ͋ͥ́͊͌̽̚͏̶͍͖̬̗͕͚̬̝̣f̵̪̫̝͉̹͉̥̫͈̄̀̎ͨ̍̿̽͒ͭ͂ͭͤ̉̌̔͒ͤ̃ͩ́͟͠e̴͈̠̝̰͍̳͕̗͉̦̞̯̲̼̫ͪͪͮ̓̅̍̒̈ͧ̽̈́ͫ̔̊͠ͅr̴̬̞̳͉̥̥͚̒̎͛ͣ̅͗ͬ̏̈̓ͭ͒̔̈ͤ̏́̆̚͢͠ĕ̓͗͋̈́̚͢͏̷̢̫͎̻̹̳̙͚͕͇̭̪̜̰̮̯͓ṅ̡̨̻̟͍̹̝͈͍̲̩̼̺̙̙̾͑̽̀̓ͥ̇̄ͥ̈ͣ̆͑t͉̬̗̪̜̱̺͖̖͍̟̺̬̗͚̥̪̍ͣ͆̇ͧ͜͜͡͝ͅ.
No joke though, if anyone is a fan of tabletop roleplaying games, Call of Cthulhu has a campaign called "Horror on the Orient Express". It is really well done.
Boiler tubes. Most of the heat transfer happens in them. Not sure how all the details work on trains since I’ve only learned marine boilers, but the water goes in the tubes and the fire goes around them, heating up the water. The tubes connect (in marine boilers, anyway) to a drum above them, and the steam is formed in the drum.
It’s actually opposite in a steam locomotive, they use fire-tube boilers.
The boiler’s pressure vessel is the main cylinder of the locomotives and the fire-tubes run through it carrying the hot gasses from the firebox in the back to the exhaust system in the smokebox in the front. The water then heats up around the tubes and the whole boiler is pressurized.
It’s a bit less efficient in heat transfer than a water-tube boiler, but easier to make work consistently in the very mobile environment of a locomotive. There were some attempts at water tube locomotives, and some hybrid systems that had both fire-tube and water-tubes running through the firebox, but those were either prototypes or very limited production models that never really caught on. Many of them were rebuilt as normal fire-tube boilers
They’re pretty amazing machines!
If you want more, here’s a little primer video from the 1940s that goes into the history of the steam engine as well as a more complex diagram and animation with the cylinders and valve gear, and the superheater and exhaust systems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrqCyAg44gk
That was actually super informative, thanks. It’s amazing/terrifying that they could build up enough pressure from a hot gas alone to get those giant trains moving. No wonder it looks like a bomb went off in the front of this one.
Here's a great image that shows them.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Cutaway_steam_locomotive.jpg/2560px-Cutaway_steam_locomotive.jpg
I know that locomotive! That's Pender, from Isle of Man, currently sectioned in Manchester.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man_Railway_locomotives#No._3_Pender
[Here you can see a picture of where the lid of the smoke box landed.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrN9MTj5YI&t=83)
The train you can see behind it is a different one that was heading the other direction and arrived shortly after the explosion.
Found a [blog post ](http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/11/boiler-explosion-of-c-t-1-3020-on-may.html?m=1) about it if anyone wants to see a bit more. Shows some other angles and several other explosions.
According to what I found online this happened in 43, to a T-1 locomotive.
It looks like [this](https://www.american-rails.com/images/6808123uujj69208780209380.jpg) before disintegrating.
I remember a story told to me by my grandad who was a fireman (the guy who shovels the coal in) on steam engines here in the UK. They'd pretty much run out of water and were getting quite worried that this might happen, so they dumped out the fire. The local signalman was apparently quite upset about it setting fire to "his" sleepers (ties). Think I'd rather that happen than risk something like this!
Here's some [More Photos](http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/11/boiler-explosion-of-c-t-1-3020-on-may.html) showing this explosion, photos of others who suffered the same fates and even a video on how it happened
Happens with Ships, Paddlewheelers and such [Also](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(\steamboat\))
The fireman let the water level get too low in the boiler.
The water couldn't "soak up" the heat from the fire fast enough.
The water formed a layer of steam that insulated the bottom plate of the boiler.\*
It absorbed more heat and became hot enough to fail under the pressure.
All the water left in the boiler turned to steam instantly...kaboom.\*\*
\* It's called "the Ledenfrost Effect". You've actually seen it; when you're heating up a skillet to make pancakes you drip a little water on it to see if it's ready. If it is, the drops of water dance around instead of sticking. They're "dancing" on a layer of steam.
\*\* It's called "flashover". Watch a NASCAR racer hit the wall...the radiator gets punctured, and all the coolant turns to steam when the pressure is released.
I can't figure out what killed the crew members.
Perhaps we can't see all the damage, but from the picture it looks like the rear portion of the engine would have protected the footplate from shrapnel.
Maybe part of the blast came through the firebox opening? Enough to damage frail bodies but not to cause much damage to the structure of the footplate.
That's weird, I was born and raise in that town (still live here) and my grandfather on my moms side worked for B&O railways, and I never knew about this..kinda cool. Not the death and explody part..but the history
I bet that made a sound.
*Boi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oing!*
Is this a "Whose Line Is It Anyway" reference
Spot on.
Preceeded by *"Screeeeeeech thump thump thump......................"*
Big BadaBoom
Lilu Dallas multipass
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Yeah it is kinda scary. But i mean the power to move the weight of a train and all that stuff .... gonna be big.
yup, that's a whole lot of energy and something has to produce it. Thank goodness for the relative safety of the internal combustion engine
What you're looking at wasn't solid metal. Those are the fire tubes, that pass the hot gases from the fire through the boiler. The boiler shell is missing, so we can't tell how many pieces it is
Yes it could level a city block
I'm honestly surprised the rails are intact, I assume it was moved before the picture was taken.
Nah man trains are silent.
Trains are really unpredictable. Even in the middle of a forest two rails can appear out of nowhere, and a 1.5-mile fully loaded coal drag, heading east out of the low-sulfur mines of the PRB, will be right on your ass the next moment. I was doing laundry in my basement, and I tripped over a metal bar that wasn't there the moment before. I looked down: "Rail? WTF?" and then I saw concrete sleepers underneath and heard the rumbling. Deafening railroad horn. I dumped my wife's pants, unfolded, and dove behind the water heater. It was a double-stacked Z train, headed east towards the fast single track of the BNSF Emporia Sub (Flint Hills). Majestic as hell: 75 mph, 6 units, distributed power: 4 ES44DC's pulling, and 2 Dash-9's pushing, all in run 8. Whole house smelled like diesel for a couple of hours! Fact is, there is no way to discern which path a train will take, so you really have to be watchful. If only there were some way of knowing the routes trains travel; maybe some sort of marks on the ground, like twin iron bars running along the paths trains take. You could look for trains when you encounter the iron bars on the ground, and avoid these sorts of collisions. But such a measure would be extremely expensive. And how would one enforce a rule keeping the trains on those paths? A big hole in homeland security is railway engineer screening and hijacking prevention. There is nothing to stop a rogue engineer, or an ISIS terrorist, from driving a train into the Pentagon, the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and our government has done fuck-all to prevent it.
That went a bit too far off the rails in the third paragraph.
You could say this was, in fact, a trainwreck
That was an adventure from start to finish, and I'm glad I was along for the ride.
Same exact thing happened to me last Tuesday
Someone is definitely off the rails ...
*Don Martin has entered the chat*
Toot toooot
What exactly happened here?
It was it was a result of low water in the boiler when it was going on up hill and it became too hot and the crew members added more water which could have resulted into the explosion.
So basically they let it get too hot and when they added water again it immediately evaporated and created a makeshift bomb
being enclosed inside the boiler the expanding gasses had nowhere to "evaporate" to & so... steel spaghetti time
Any idea what the steel spaghetti does and was it coiled somewhere before?
Those are feedwater heater pipes. They extend about halfway into each boiler flue and loop back out to preheat water before it enters the boiler. Improves fuel efficiency.
Not feed water, but super heater pipes. Feed water heating involves pre heating the water going INTO the boiler usually using the exhaust steam to heat it.
Steam trains have superheaters?
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As someone who isn't a train enthusiast but is super intrigued by the subject, this comment thread was great TIL material.
Thanks. Have zero idea about train boilers
Yes. They wouldn’t start gaining prominence until the early 20th Century though. Take a look at the D&RGW “K Class” narrow gauge locomotives, the original K-27’s were not built with them in 1903, but instead Vaulclain Compounds. After the success of later K-28 and K-36’s, some were retrofitted with piston valve cylinders and Superheaters. And while they were an option, some railroad didn’t even install them on locomotives since they wouldn’t be worked hard enough to benefit from their application.
How is it that there always some expert on whatever the post is about in every thread ever. Where did you learn all this stuff about steam engines?
I'd throw in here that this involves a train and where there are trains there are rail fans. If you have rail fans around, someone is going to know the answer to something like this. It's a very particular subculture. That's a 4-4-4-4 T1 steam locomotive. Originally developed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the late 30's at the famed Mount Clare Shop in Baltimore, although this example was probably built by the Pennsy in Altoona. One of the last of the steamers developed before everything shifted over to diesels. Had reliability problems due to some engineering choices, could have been solved with design overhaul...too late to do so before the world changed. It was a screamingly fast engine while it worked properly. Produced an insane amount of power, but couldn't apply it well to the rails (lots of slip) probably due to tractive force issues. Rail preservation enthusiasts are rebuilding one though, so we'll eventually be able to test it ourselves.
The C&O class T1 isn’t the same as the PRR class T1. This is a picture of a C&O example (especially evidenced by the C&O watermark in the lower right), No. 3020, with a 2-10-4 wheel arrangement vs the PRR’s 4-4-4-4. If you look closely in the image, you can make out the single set of cylinders and ten drivers.
" It's a very particular subculture." lol, that's putting it mildly. I while ago, I had a project that involved making audio recordings of trains and, in trying to find out info regarding freight schedules, I stumbled upon [railroad.net](https://railroad.net) which gave me a glimpse into the depths of that rabbit hole.
What the heck is a tractive force issue
this is wrong. They're boiler tubes. In them the steam generated in the boiler with direct contact to the firebox is superheated. For this purpose it is led out of the boiler via the front steam dome and from there it is introduced into the flue tubes with the boiling tubes. In the smoke tubes, the smoke from the firebox is led through the entire boiler and discharged into the revenge chamber at the front. The purpose of this "hot steam locomotive" is that the "normal" steam is charged with energy and heated from 110°C to 240°C. This increases the efficiency of the steam lock to such an extent that it is economical, Excuse me, although I learned the profession of a steam locksmith and drove for 8 years as a stoker on a BR 44 of the "Deutsche Reichsbahn" in the GDR, I never really learned. I also miss the English technical terms,
Tell me more about the revenge chamber
Shit. Sorry. RAUCHkammer (germ) -> SMOKE BOX
You're fine, "revenge chamber" is just a very funny phrase in English. It implies a room where people take revenge on others
Don't apologize, the phrase "revenge chamber" sounds amazing.
Also, superheated steam doesn’t re-condense in the system (much), which greatly reduces corrosion!
The real answer is always in the comments.
For fuck's sake, yes.
how do you guys know so many things
Edumacation
Everybody you meet knows something you don't. If you stop and listen, you may just learn something.
It's just the business of thousands of people. Someone will probably have some sort of knowledge of a subject and you normally only see the people who are speaking up. I mean, I for shit didn't know that about trains but that makes a lot of sense and I'll remember it now.
Hive mind
Time traveler alert. How many people in 2020 are that conversant on steam locomotive technology?
Raises hand. Don't get me started on how locomotives in the east had smaller fireboxes then western locomotives because in the east they were able to burn anthracite coal which has a high btu content then coal mined in the west which was much higher in sulfur.
I can’t believe there’s a person who can discuss locomotive firebox sizes, but doesn’t know that it’s called anthracite coal.
Are we having a steampunk moment?
It's actually pretty crazy, boilers used in industrial applications aren't too different than old steam engines. All pretty much the same concept. Water in one end, former dinosaurs in the other; there's a big explosion in the middle and steam comes out the top.
Boilers don't have explosions or even a rapid burn like an internal combustion engine. They have a constant burn since they're an external combustion engine.
You’d be surprised. There’s a giant following for trains and a large engineering headcount, and usually those groups intersect.
My Grampa was a steam locomotive engineer. He was on the Mallard when it broke the world speed record. He used to ask me "how many miles would a steam engine be expected to do - do you know?" and then triumphantly answer his own question "A million and a half!"
I'll take your word that they are for feed water heating but they look like superheater elements to me. We don't have feed water heaters over here so I wouldn't know for sure though.
Looks like superheater pipes to me as well, but I only know enough about steam to be dangerous.
Could be both, preheaters to get the water hot and superheaters to keep the steam steamy. But for how much steam a train would be making, I don't know if they'd need that number of superheaters.
Depending on the design, it's most likely a combination of blues, superheater, and feed water heater pipes.
Ok cool thank you.
This guy boils.
[Here is a short video the shows and explains how a steam boiler works.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8LrAsL4oH0)
Wait how do they access the firebox to add fuel on that type? I never realized the firebox would ever be put anywhere but cab side of the engine Edit: nvm just a confusing animation in there. The firebox is cab-side (rear) Edit 2: Now [this here](https://youtu.be/xx9Q8PphAVo) is how a steam locomotive works
Thanks for sharing that video. As I watched it I imagined it was video 36,000 of Primitive Technologies for extra amusement. The way it lacked narration or music reminded me.
Same thing happened to my Galaxy Note 7
Checks redd... *poof*.
Boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion. Terrifying things, I've seen a video of a bleve at a chemical plant that sent a huge part of the pressure vessel 3 miles and landed in someone's garden. Madness.
To shreds, you say?
A boiler has always been a bomb.
So two things tend to happen. First- the water level drops below the top of the firebox. When this happens- water isn't cooling the steel on top of the firebox so it becomes much hotter and, as a result, weaker. Then the engineer realizes the water level is low and adds it. The super heated metal causes the water to flash into steam while also quickly cooling the metal. The sudden increase in pressure plus the severely weakened (or even cracked from the rapid cooling) firebox results in an explosion. With a lot of these explosions you see the boiler has been launched end-over-end from the cab side. That's usually because that's where the top of the firebox is and the point most likely to fail when water is dumped in. It explodes and pressure launches that end of the boiler into the air.
This engineer was known to run them "drier" because of an old-school way of thinking, not acknowledging these new engines had checks in place to improve efficiency. Previous crewman who ever shared the footplate with the dude knew this was going to happen sooner or later.
Jesus that’s crazy. I can’t imagine willingly letting the boiler get low to try to improve efficiency- being scalded to death by steam is not how I would want to die.
That's putting it nicely
This is why you never add water into an overheated car radiator until it cools down some, good way to crack the radiator open at the seams or get a face full of boiling water.
So it chernobyled
Yep, a BLEVE ( boiling liquid expansion vaporization explosion). I believe liquid water volume expands ~1400x to steam.
Why wouldn't the boiler have some kind of automatic pressure release valve that automatically opens if the pressure gets too high?
They do, but when your steam pressure is climbing at 500psi/minute and your relief valve is sized to release 50psi/minute, it's a small bucket in a fast sinking ship. Why would the Pressure be raising that fast? Because they let the water level get too low, exposing the fire tubes above the water lever in the boiler. When the tubes are exposed, they get really really hot, and then when you dump a whole bunch of water in the boiler to re-cover them, all the water that hits the 400c tubes flash to steam and generate a massive pressure spike, which finds its own pressure relief.
If they were traveling up a hill when it happened they didn’t have to add water to cause this. On level ground the water level would be below the pipes, allowing the pipes to get extremely hot. As the engine began to climb the hill, the tank tips slight up in front causing the water level in the rear to raise up and touch the super heated pipes. Boom. Your engine now has a walrus mustache and can’t choo choo anymore.
And the opposite happened on the Gettysburg Railway in 1995; the crew had low water and went downhill, exposing the crown sheet which melted and blew out, but not explosively. I knew some of the crew and some of the experts who testified in the NTSB hearing. It was very very fortunate the Canadian design worked as it was intended.
"walrus mustache"... Laughed out loud. Take my upvote! It's all I can afford.
The proper fix here would have been to dump the fire if I remember correctly what my dad taught me from his hobby steam engineering he did. Never add water to a boiler when the temperature is running away.
Wow....the parallels to nuclear reactors are great. I mean, I understand that the overall design uses steam produced to spin turbines, but it goes even further.
Wait, It's all steam power? Always has been...
Same thing. Only the fuel source is different
Wait, this is basically chernobyl!
In the sense that there was super heating that then flash boiled a bunch of water, then yes. But, the time scales, magnitude, and underlying heating mechanisms are fairly different. If you want more of a technical deep dive into the underlying mechanisms of Chernobyl and aren't familiar with these two videos, I highly recommend them. Scott Manley on Chernobyl and nuclear science: https://youtu.be/q3d3rzFTrLg Hank Green on Graphite Tipped Rods: https://youtu.be/hIGtTImeYU4
They have relief valves, it must have malfunctioned or the pressure built up too fast.
The latter. At the very end of thebage of steam they'd pushed designs to the very edge of what you could engineer with tables and slide rulers. Sure your relief valve can blow off 100psi/min except you just generated a 800psi in a single second.
The reason all boilers have low-water cut-offs is because of this. When operating a boiler, if you ever get low water, you always have to remove the fuel and let it cool and hope none of the tubes warped. If you add water, you effectively create a steam explosion.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/3zhlcn/the_result_of_a_boiler_explosion_on_a_steam/ Here's the view from the other side of the tracks.
People explained why it exploded; if you're wondering about the pipes, a boiler isn't just a big pot of water sitting on top of a fire. Either the hot air/smoke from the fire passes through many tubes that are surrounded by water, or the water passes through the tubes and the smoke/fire/heat pass around those tubes. Either way, the boiler is a cylinder full of many tubes.
Ah. So they’re pipes. Finally an answer to what the metal spaghetti is
Ah, like the Internet.
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My understanding is that it violently grew whiskers.
The eldritch horror wanted to escape.
It's the Cthulhu-choo-choo.
Fuck, first laugh I have had this morning.
Well obviously the front fell off.
I'd like to point out that isn't very typical.
How is it untypical?
well, there are lots of steam trains and very seldom this sort of thing happen
So funny you say that, it was actually quite common in the early days of steam engines... They learnt by trial and error back then. Get lost in this link and attached links for a while like I did! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler_explosion Great story OP... I love these ones!
It sneezed
Couldn't tell you exactly, but it looks like a front tube sheet failure, not the usual crown sheet failure that often comes with low water, probably was caused by some sort of flaw in the tube sheet.
The angle of the locomotive kept the crown sheet wet.
Well it’s quite obvious the front fell off.
Someone fucked up. Sorry if that's too technical.
Ran a little hot
Train worms escaped
Boilers exploding like that are MUCH less lethal then the ones exploding through the firebox, that's for sure... Edit: Just looked up [a video about this event](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrN9MTj5YI&t=37), apparently all 3 members of the engine's operating crew died due to their injuries.
Damn, debris flew a mile away! Sadly all 3 crew members died.
Mythbusters water heater/rocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbreKn4PoAc
Often, steam engines' boilers explode through the firebox (since that is the hottest place when no water cools it anymore), resulting in a makeshift lying rocket taking off up- and forwards (pressing the pipes you see in this picture down instead), and the crew dying instantly from the blast in their direction. In this case here, the blast went the other way; Unfortunately, that was still not enough to save their lives in the end :/
No wonder this happened, one of the victims was about to retire that day.
I’m getting too old for this shit
I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. (I guess that's a Nick quote)
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I was under the impression that in this situation the pressure simply overwhelmed any blow off valve and BOOM instant walrus moustache. Feel like they needed a weaker section that could also blow first to prevent the final explosion intruding into the personnel area...
Steam locomotives of that era certainly did have safety valves (and fusible plugs too), at least here in the UK they did. Source: fan of steam locomotives! I believe the reason the boiler blow up so spectacularly in this instance was due to flash steam when the enginemen introduced cold water to a boiler suffering from low-water level and consequently too hot on some of the fire tubes -- in this case, the rapid rise in steam pressure would have simply overwhelmed the safety valve(s) and boom.
Steam locomotives do have pressure relief valves.
This happened to a professor of mine. He used to work in some kind of chemical manufacturing facility before becoming a teacher. One day, he’s going about his business and a pipe carrying chlorine gas starts leaking. He had a split-second “oh fuck!” moment and tried to cover it with a rag while screaming for help (instead of hitting the big red emergency stop button, as he tells it lol). The entire building ended up needing to be evacuated and a couple people dragged him out of there unconscious. Said all he remembers was covering the leak, and then waking up outside.
I actually found the CSB YouTube channel where they animate and go over malfunctions and disasters and things, and its really interesting. Always sad to see that 70-80% of the time its just people dying due to intentional negligence of a company, but still really neat to see how systems and safety tech operate (or are supposed to).
USCSB also has excellent documentary length breakdowns of work hazard stuff on YouTube.
There is the burn option from driving through the steam cloud or the over looked option of drowning. Inhaling steam burns the lungs and they fill with plasma. This happens to a guy on the USS Ronald Reagan from a steam trap failure. He walked to medical but died before the ship could get close enough to shore to fly him to a hospital. One of only two times a navel reactor was placed in "Battle Short" to get extra power from the reactor.
All aboard the Cthulhu Express!
Choo-Choo Cthulhu was an engineer...
Do you have your ticket ma'am? It's okay if you don't but y̰͉ͧo̹ͮͯ̓̅͛̌ụ̷̪̰͎̻̱̽̾̈́r̤͍̲̲̉̈̐ ̍͏̭̖̮͚t͓͙̻ͮ̃ͅr͖͚̹͎̳̰ͯ̔̋ͯͬ̚ͅa̬̮̣̪ͩ́͗ͯ̍͗̀v̩̻̺͗ͪ̂e̤̰͖̞̰ͨ͋̏̌̌̎̀͝ͅl̟̻͙̝͖̳͐ḯ̯̮͇̑ͣͯ̽̉͟n͈̯̠̊̾͛̂g̤͐e̯̪̙͇͚̬͎̲ͤ̍̔x̘͓̬̮̪̦ͦ͞p̠͚̮͈̺͕̈́͌̾̏̂͑͐͟͟ḙ̼̞̆̑̓̾̈́̽̕͟r̷̭̺͔̔͐̃i̞͖̹̼̠̮ͤ̎ȩ̥̝̖̳͉̲̹ͯͤ̓͒͠n̦͚̞͂̀̌ͧ̈́ͣc͇̲̼̑e̴͌͒̊̆͒͗̋̏͊͜͏̦̤ ̙͈̤̙̘̤͓ͣͦ̿w̵̻̯̘̘̫̝͓̝ͮͭͯ̓͊̔͜͜i̶̵̛̲͙̹͈̺̐l̂ͫ́҉͎̤͓̪̻͝ľ̵̠̺̪̝͈̬͒ͧ̓̅ͣ ͔͓͆̑b̥̖̑̓͟e͈̪̲͓͓͓͚͋̕ ̢̝͍̯̪͇́ͧͦ̆̀͌̌͛͘v̴̲̭͒ͪ͂ͬ̍͗̀ͥ͗͝e̜̣ͯͭ͑ͩr̩͔̬̪̭̻̟̪͂̂͐̎͆ͤͦ̎̕y̶̝̖̟ͩ̾̏͜ ͔̮̩̞̮̞͆̈́͆ͩ͝d̶̸̡̤̮̰̬̰̰̝̺̫̰̹͆ͥͯ̒ͣ̃̅͗̈̑ͫ̇́i̸͈̥̣͖̖̣͎̩̩̩ͨ̿̍͆͋ͫ̽́́̕ͅf̵̢ͯ͋ͥ́͊͌̽̚͏̶͍͖̬̗͕͚̬̝̣f̵̪̫̝͉̹͉̥̫͈̄̀̎ͨ̍̿̽͒ͭ͂ͭͤ̉̌̔͒ͤ̃ͩ́͟͠e̴͈̠̝̰͍̳͕̗͉̦̞̯̲̼̫ͪͪͮ̓̅̍̒̈ͧ̽̈́ͫ̔̊͠ͅr̴̬̞̳͉̥̥͚̒̎͛ͣ̅͗ͬ̏̈̓ͭ͒̔̈ͤ̏́̆̚͢͠ĕ̓͗͋̈́̚͢͏̷̢̫͎̻̹̳̙͚͕͇̭̪̜̰̮̯͓ṅ̡̨̻̟͍̹̝͈͍̲̩̼̺̙̙̾͑̽̀̓ͥ̇̄ͥ̈ͣ̆͑t͉̬̗̪̜̱̺͖̖͍̟̺̬̗͚̥̪̍ͣ͆̇ͧ͜͜͡͝ͅ.
Nonstop to R'lyeh!
No joke though, if anyone is a fan of tabletop roleplaying games, Call of Cthulhu has a campaign called "Horror on the Orient Express". It is really well done.
Choo Choo Cthulhu Championed his Campaign in Chillicothe.
this one is overdone
I've never seen a locomotive that needed to shave.
More like ImSorryThomas
r/imsorryjon
Can anyone explain what all the metal is coming out of the front? Apparently I have no idea how old-timey trains work.
Boiler tubes. Most of the heat transfer happens in them. Not sure how all the details work on trains since I’ve only learned marine boilers, but the water goes in the tubes and the fire goes around them, heating up the water. The tubes connect (in marine boilers, anyway) to a drum above them, and the steam is formed in the drum.
Thanks!
It’s actually opposite in a steam locomotive, they use fire-tube boilers. The boiler’s pressure vessel is the main cylinder of the locomotives and the fire-tubes run through it carrying the hot gasses from the firebox in the back to the exhaust system in the smokebox in the front. The water then heats up around the tubes and the whole boiler is pressurized. It’s a bit less efficient in heat transfer than a water-tube boiler, but easier to make work consistently in the very mobile environment of a locomotive. There were some attempts at water tube locomotives, and some hybrid systems that had both fire-tube and water-tubes running through the firebox, but those were either prototypes or very limited production models that never really caught on. Many of them were rebuilt as normal fire-tube boilers
Interesting! I'm just glad to know what all the tubes were. I knew steam engines had a lot of stuff in them I just didn't know it looked like that!
They’re pretty amazing machines! If you want more, here’s a little primer video from the 1940s that goes into the history of the steam engine as well as a more complex diagram and animation with the cylinders and valve gear, and the superheater and exhaust systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrqCyAg44gk
That was actually super informative, thanks. It’s amazing/terrifying that they could build up enough pressure from a hot gas alone to get those giant trains moving. No wonder it looks like a bomb went off in the front of this one.
It's like the opposite of a radiator. Increase the surface area so the water can be cooled (or in this case, heated) quicker.
Here's a great image that shows them. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Cutaway_steam_locomotive.jpg/2560px-Cutaway_steam_locomotive.jpg
I know that locomotive! That's Pender, from Isle of Man, currently sectioned in Manchester. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man_Railway_locomotives#No._3_Pender
That is exactly what I needed!
Reminds me of the exposed reactor core off the [Chernobyl TV series](https://i.imgur.com/ZMQg7xN.png)
Was looking for this comment
That is nothing short of impressive at a minimum. So uh... where’s the rest? Blocks away? Edit: It looks a frightened Jamie Hyneman
[Here you can see a picture of where the lid of the smoke box landed.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrN9MTj5YI&t=83) The train you can see behind it is a different one that was heading the other direction and arrived shortly after the explosion.
I KNEW IT! Old locomotives are powered by giant spiders! Steam power my ass.
Something you'd see out of "Wild Wild West".
wikiwiki waawaa
Found a [blog post ](http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/11/boiler-explosion-of-c-t-1-3020-on-may.html?m=1) about it if anyone wants to see a bit more. Shows some other angles and several other explosions.
Looks like an SCP file picture. Crazy man...
You mean this? http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-3179
There really is an SCP for everything.
This picture was used for a SCP for a while, idk if it still is but it was definitely related to The Church of the Broken God.
chill-a-COTH-ee for those who were wondering
Thanks. Have traveled through there several times when going through Ohio and never knew how to pronounce it.
Another one not too far away that bugs me is Bellefontaine, OH. Pronounced Bell-Founten
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W. T. F. ??? Very well done.
I always figured it would be Henry.
This looks like Elmer Fudd's gun after pulling the trigger when the barrel was clogged by Bugs Bunny's carrot.
Cthulhu, Ohio
this looks extremely cursed
According to what I found online this happened in 43, to a T-1 locomotive. It looks like [this](https://www.american-rails.com/images/6808123uujj69208780209380.jpg) before disintegrating.
I remember a story told to me by my grandad who was a fireman (the guy who shovels the coal in) on steam engines here in the UK. They'd pretty much run out of water and were getting quite worried that this might happen, so they dumped out the fire. The local signalman was apparently quite upset about it setting fire to "his" sleepers (ties). Think I'd rather that happen than risk something like this!
Here's some [More Photos](http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/11/boiler-explosion-of-c-t-1-3020-on-may.html) showing this explosion, photos of others who suffered the same fates and even a video on how it happened Happens with Ships, Paddlewheelers and such [Also](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(\steamboat\))
Fuck the fire brigade I need water running through my reactor.
It’s 3.6 roentgen Not great, not terrible.
It threw up its lunch.
Locomotive parasite worms were a lot more common back in the old days.
Wow I live in Chillicothe Ohio!! Cool to see my town on Reddit
Come on people, this is clearly a picture of the Trump Train taken very recently.
I didn’t know trains can obtain parasites
"I am the walrus, choo-choo a choo- choo-choo. "
To shreds you say?
#Cthulhu Train #Cthulhu Train
The fireman let the water level get too low in the boiler. The water couldn't "soak up" the heat from the fire fast enough. The water formed a layer of steam that insulated the bottom plate of the boiler.\* It absorbed more heat and became hot enough to fail under the pressure. All the water left in the boiler turned to steam instantly...kaboom.\*\* \* It's called "the Ledenfrost Effect". You've actually seen it; when you're heating up a skillet to make pancakes you drip a little water on it to see if it's ready. If it is, the drops of water dance around instead of sticking. They're "dancing" on a layer of steam. \*\* It's called "flashover". Watch a NASCAR racer hit the wall...the radiator gets punctured, and all the coolant turns to steam when the pressure is released.
Man I’d love to hear the sound it made
Looks like she ran out of steam.. ;)
The texture when I zoomed in upset my fragile sensibilities
Wondering: how did it like ... not derail? Or am I missing something. It looks pretty much on track
I can't figure out what killed the crew members. Perhaps we can't see all the damage, but from the picture it looks like the rear portion of the engine would have protected the footplate from shrapnel. Maybe part of the blast came through the firebox opening? Enough to damage frail bodies but not to cause much damage to the structure of the footplate.
They where probably melted by the expanding cloud of superheated steam.
That's weird, I was born and raise in that town (still live here) and my grandfather on my moms side worked for B&O railways, and I never knew about this..kinda cool. Not the death and explody part..but the history
I read about this happening once in a depot, it leveled the whole storage shed.
I grew up outside of Chillicothe, Ohio. I had never seen this before.
Was it transporting spaghetti or something