Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

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DianneB
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by DianneB »

Fender wrote:Sparks? What sparks? I don't see any sparks.
Whatthehell was burning, sawdust??!!
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Builder01
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Builder01 »

Pretty awesome! I assume that was coal?

David
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Fender
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Fender »

DianneB wrote:
Fender wrote:Sparks? What sparks? I don't see any sparks.
Whatthehell was burning, sawdust??!!
My guess is that they are burning slack (fine) coal, hand-fired. On a steep grade. And probably no spark arrester.
Dan Watson
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Pipescs
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Pipescs »

Fender, I don't think you are helping the argument for coal here. But luckily we can still burn it a Mid South.
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Pipescs
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Pipescs »

Looks awesome when it breaks traction though
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Fender
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Fender »

Pipescs wrote:Fender, I don't think you are helping the argument for coal here. But luckily we can still burn it a Mid South.
Just adding a little levity to a contentious subject. ;-)
Dan Watson
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Glenn Brooks
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Quite a video. What’s amazing is that every coal burner in the hobby puts out these spark showers, scaled down a bit, every minute they are in operation. We just don’t see it in the day time, but it’s always there. Quite a show after dark!
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Andrew Pugh
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Andrew Pugh »

I dunno...I only watched the first couple passes, and it looked to me like perhaps they were sanding the flues...
Mike Walsh
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Mike Walsh »

Glenn Brooks wrote:Quite a video. What’s amazing is that every coal burner in the hobby puts out these spark showers, scaled down a bit, every minute they are in operation. We just don’t see it in the day time, but it’s always there. Quite a show after dark!
You're right. Our smaller stuff puts out lots of sparks, especially at night.

We may be running miniature steam locomotives but the physics have not scaled down. An ember will burn for however long it will burn. However we are comparing a 1/8 scale locomotive to a full size locomotive. The distance an ember travels through the flue, and up the stack on a 1/8 scale locomotive is 1/8 that of the distance it'll travel on a full size locomotive. As such, the ember could easily be extinguished in the time it takes to reach the blast nozzle of a full size locomotive. Then you have spark arrestors, ash screens, etc.... on the full size locomotives, a lot of features that the smaller scales don't have.

I've heard folks say that they want to build a locomotive so they can take it to Train Mountain. Cool. I guess that means you're gonna build it to fire on propane or oil? "No... Coal!" Ah, so no TM for you....

I'll stick with my 1" and head up to St. Croix for a grand time!

-Mike
Mike Walsh
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Mike Walsh »

Mike Walsh wrote:
Glenn Brooks wrote:Quite a video. What’s amazing is that every coal burner in the hobby puts out these spark showers, scaled down a bit, every minute they are in operation. We just don’t see it in the day time, but it’s always there. Quite a show after dark!
You're right. Our smaller stuff puts out lots of sparks, which is especially visible at night.

We may be running miniature steam locomotives but the physics have not scaled down. An ember will burn for however long it will burn. However we are comparing a 1/8 scale locomotive to a full size locomotive. The distance an ember travels through the flue, and up the stack on a 1/8 scale locomotive is 1/8 that of the distance it'll travel on a full size locomotive. As such, the ember could easily be extinguished in the time it takes to reach the blast nozzle of a full size locomotive. Then you have spark arrestors, ash screens, etc.... on the full size locomotives, a lot of features that the smaller scales don't have.

I've heard folks say that they want to build a locomotive so they can take it to Train Mountain. Cool. I guess that means you're gonna build it to fire on propane or oil? "No... Coal!" Ah, so no TM for you....

I'll stick with my 1" and head up to St. Croix for a grand time!

-Mike
Mike Walsh
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by Mike Walsh »

Glenn Brooks wrote:Quite a video. What’s amazing is that every coal burner in the hobby puts out these spark showers, scaled down a bit, every minute they are in operation. We just don’t see it in the day time, but it’s always there. Quite a show after dark!
You're right. Our smaller stuff puts out lots of sparks, which is especially visible at night.

We may be running miniature steam locomotives but the physics have not scaled down. An ember will burn for however long it will burn. However we are comparing a 1/8 scale locomotive to a full size locomotive. The distance an ember travels through the flue, and up the stack on a 1/8 scale locomotive is 1/8 that of the distance it'll travel on a full size locomotive. As such, the ember could easily be extinguished in the time it takes to reach the blast nozzle of a full size locomotive. Then you have spark arrestors, ash screens, etc.... on the full size locomotives, a lot of features that the smaller scales don't have.

I've heard folks say that they want to build a locomotive so they can take it to Train Mountain. Cool. I guess that means you're gonna build it to fire on propane or oil? "No... Coal!" Ah, so no TM for you....

I'll stick with my 1" and head up to St. Croix for a grand time!

-Mike
jcbrock
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Re: Fire watch, solid fuel run at Train Mountain?

Post by jcbrock »

Mike Walsh wrote:
I'll stick with my 1" and head up to St. Croix for a grand time!
A couple points Mike. There has been at least one fall meet at St Croix where it was so dry we banned coal burners for that meet, so call before you come. One meet out of 90 or so though, so the odds are with you. Secondly, TM also does not allow oil burners, it is propane-only at this time.
John Brock
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