Plants, Injectors, and Bearings

Did three things today. First, I put in more plants in the planter boxes that line the platform area. We're putting in Liriope (Lily Grass or Lily Turf) and Lilies, which will hopefully tolerate the shadiness under the redwoods. I'm getting pretty good at planting, especially in the hard-packed clay dirt in those planter boxes. The pickaxe is a useful tool for loosening up massive clumps of impacted clay soil. I think there's some more to do tomorrow.

The second thing I did was ride with Grant on the footplate of #4. The two injectors on the right-hand side of the cab were acting up, so it was my job to work the injector on the left-hand side.

So what does the injector do? As the engine uses up steam to push the train, work the whistle, etc., the water level in the boiler drops. The steam injector is used to top off the water in the boiler from the water in the tender. The injector's operation is sort of like an airbrush, in which steam (either from the boiler or from the cylinder exhaust) is forced through the body of the injector, into which water is also fed. The pressure of the steam picks up the tender water and forces it through into the boiler, the same way the high air pressure in an airbrush picks up paint on its way to the nozzle. Paul Pavlinovich has written an excellent article explaining steam injectors in more detail.

So, several times during the run I opened up the feedwater valve, and then the injector steam. This forces water through into the boiler, and the boiler's water level increases. On our locomotives the injectors are all "live steam", meaning the steam feed into the injector is directly out of the steam supply in the boiler. Since using the injector saps some of the steam pressure in the boiler, we only do it during periods when the locomotive isn't under heavy use.

The two biggest jobs that a locomotive fireman has are maintaining a proper water level in the boiler and making sure the fire in the firebox is an appropriate size and temperature for the needs of adequate steam production. It's all about water and fire. I'm not at the point where I'm firing the locomotive (which in our engines is primarily about regulating the feed of fuel oil into the fire, since we don't use coal), but I've got the basics of handling the steam injectors.

Finally, I helped Grant take apart, check, and repack the bearings on a passenger car truck. The trucks are the sets of wheels at each end of the car. They call them bogies in the UK (and that's the Wikipedia entry). We lifted the car end with jacks, and rolled the truck out. Propping up the truck, we removed some bolts that hold the journal box in place. The journal box holds a set of bearings within which the axle rotates. They wear down, and need to be cleaned and repacked regularly. Next time you see a train car, look on the outside of the wheel axles. Those squarish-looking parts are the journal boxes. So I got my hands all greasy on top of the dirt from the planting. A thoroughly satisfactory day.