In a message dated 2/4/2007 9:20:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, Edward.Montgomery_@_fcps.edu writes: I was watching "Lackawanna Steam - Volume II" this afternoon and saw an interesting thing that I never asked about. There are a couple of shots at the Elmira yard and also on the Dansville & Mount Morris where steam is being prepped for service. The engineer is running a long rod into the firebox from the ashpan area. What exactly is going on here? It does not look like easy work and it appears to be precise in nature. I don't know that much about steam so can you help me out? The engineer or fireman is probably using a long rod type hoe or a piece of or pipe with a hose connected to an air line to push or blow the ash in the ash pan into the center of the pan where the dump door is located to dump the ashes. When I was a member of a couple of the steam crews on the Reading T-1 back in the 1970,s. We had 2 -3 inch water lines from the tender hooked into the ash pan which we would use to flood the ash pan, there by putting out any still burning pieces of coal in the ashes. We would then pull open the ash pan door on the bottom and create one giant flood of ash and water all over the tracks. The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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