Boiler falling on it's side?

[Clayton Fourie]

Hi all.

I have a question regarding the procedures that takes place when something like what happened to 15F 3117 on Sunday 20 June 2010.

When you have a relatively full boiler, steam is on the mark and the fire is good, suddenly the locomotive ends up on her side.

Now you have essential parts of the boiler that were previously covered by water, now possibly not covered in water ( i.e. firebox stays? ), a fire bed that has been disturbed and laying on the side of the firebox, and the loco is still generating steam to an extent.

Would a person kill the fire with water ( which will cause rapid cooling of the boiler and extra strain ) to prevent further damage and what would be the best way to stop generating steam, because now the boiler may have a slight crack in it ( due to its falling ) and any more pressure may cause it to rupture.

Or does a person vacate the locomotive and area around it, hoping and praying that nothing goes wrong while waiting for the boiler to cool down?

What did the fireman and driver do on Sunday to safeguard the loco from further damage?

I await your answer in anticipation.

Kind Regards

Clayton Fourie

[John Ashworth]

Thanks, Clayton, and welcome to the forum.

I can tell you what the footplate crew did on Sunday. First of all, the fire was not too hot, as we were right at the end of the trip. The fireman had put a big fire on at Rayton so he wouldn't need to add much coal during the trip from Rayton to Cullinan to avoid sparks which could start a lineside veldt fire at this time of year, and that fire was cooling a bit by the time we derailed.

When the loco overturned, the clack box was fractured, so immediately steam began to escape from the boiler, reducing the risk of a boiler explosion. The footplate crew attempted to operate the injectors, and with the fitter who happened to be riding on the loco on that leg of the journey they opened another cock on top of the boiler which is usually used to put water into a cold boiler, thus allowing more steam to escape.

There wasn't much they could do about the fire. When our boiler inspector went into the firebox 3 days later he still found glowing coals. However his initial visual inspection of the firebox showed no obvious damage. The boiler is still to be examined.

[Clayton Fourie]

Thanks John for that answer.

I guess when fireman/drivers are doing their theory classes, you may not hear the following statement...

" Ok boys, today we are going to learn what to do when a fully steamed locomotive falls on it's side." :-)

With my limited knowledge of steam locomotive operations, I always seem to think the worst of a situation like that, but clearly you have well qualified competent drivers and fireman on your team - Well done to them for their effort!!

I think in that situation, you guys were very lucky in some cases ie: being near the end of the trip, and so on, however I still cringe when seeing the photos. I really hope for FOTR that the boiler sustained no major damage, and am sure 3117 will be spick and span soon again.

Kind Regards

Clayton

[John Ashworth]

Thanks, Clayton. What they do tell us is to operate both injectors, but of course that's not always possible in practice. The fireman's side injector was crushed underneath the loco and due to the angle of the tender there probably wasn't much water going in on the driver's side injector, although it was operating.

[Steve Appleton]

Indeed. Also due to the rapidy diminshing boiler pressure as the steam escaped, it would have pretty soon become impossible for the injectors to have worked anyway. The pressure release would also have reduced the chances of any distortion of the firebox too. I understand that the fire fell to the lower, left side of the firebox where the firebox wall and its stays would still have remained covered with water and that would most likely have prevented any local overheating and stay damage in that area.

[Brendon Anderson]

With the clack box being broken off and the rapid loss of steam, a large proportion of the water in the boiler would have flashed into steam and escaped out of the broken clack box.

I sincerely hope no major damage has been caused, but I think some revitting of the firebox stays might be needed, especially on the left hand side where the fire would have fallen. Chances are the inner firebox would have experienced overheating to some extent.

[Christopher King]

I witnessed an accident to a class twelve at Bellville on the day the new staion was cut over. The Loca came from the marshalling taydr on the way mutal yard.. Pilot working was in force between Bellville and Kuilsriver so no signals were operating. The loco went thropugh the Catpoints and nosed over down the embankment. The only concernt of the driver, and he was quite vocal about it, w3as that the fusible plug had ropped and he said he had never dropped a plug and it would ruin his career!. Later the Pilotman was blamed for the derailment but the instructions he receievd were incorrect. Quite an Interesting sunday afternoon. I really feel for the drivers when there is a mishap like that!