Convention videos - Safe-Ending Flues (and more!)

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Fri Jul 11 15:42:49 EDT 2025


Matt,

As far as I am aware, the American Locomotive Company was the only
locomotive builder that had a furnace large enough to heat treat a welded
locomotive boiler. As I understand it, the Santa Fe also had a few engines
that were fitted with welded boilers, but used a non-locomotive builder to
fabricate them.



Yes, with the efficiency of a welded boiler at or very close to 100%
efficiency, thinner steel could be used for the same working pressure as
compared to a conventional riveted boiler. That lowered the cost for the
steel and the overall engine weight.



To my knowledge, C&O Kanawha #2789, and Santa Fe 4-8-4 #3768 are the only
welded boiler locomotives still with us from the steam era. Since then,
there have been multiple new welded locomotive boilers built ranging from
the new T-1 replica you mentioned, to the ex C&NW #1385, along with a good
number of smaller locomotive boilers.



The tubes near or at the bottom of a boiler are always the last ones to dry
off after the boiler is drained. That is because the tubes above them will
drip on them as they dry. Additionally, the bottom of the boiler courses
will also capture what drips off everything which creates a very damp
environment (especially at the bottom) until all the water evaporates. That
means they are much more likely to rust quicker than the ones above them.
If the railroad doesn’t do a good job of removing the built-up scale at the
bottom of the barrel during the boiler wash, the lower tubes won’t
completely dry which will cause a “premature death”.



I’m glad we cleared up what kind of “goo” was used for caulking in
fireboxes!



Rick Musser
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