Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-06-09

fireman had to begin pitching it into
his fireb1x before the train left Somcr-
Vile. and this Understanding process
had to be repeated perhaps twelve or
fifteen times before the train left the
shoe city. With coke. he simply builds
a large, solid fire at the outset. ana
lets il burn unrcpleniShed until just as
the train is sliding on its gathered
Roadway into the Lynn station. The
difference is that in order to keep tn"
fire at it's hottest with coal. the fuel
has to be used n little At a time and
spread in n thin layer, that il may
burn quickly: while the coke fire gives
a great heat and lasts much longer.
1t is ordinarily rcplcnishcd Will" the
train is nearing Il stnppingpla be
cause that coke ignites rather more
slowly than coal. and has to be used
in greater bulk: SO that if the fircboX
is filled after the engineer shuts off
steam. the new fuel has time to ignite
while the train is standing in tho
station. OF course this is not always
possible on the long runs for some of
the Portland expresses do not stop be
tween Portsmouth and Biddcford il
distance of thirty or forty miles, and
perhaps the coke fire will have to be
replcnishcd there eight or ten times.
In recoking while under speed. how
ever, the fireman usually tries to
spread his fuel over half the fire at a
time. leaving the other half in full
vigor. This ignites the new coke more
quickly. and tends to save falling off
i'm ba a.. i,,s ~
of the fire
Probably the Boston 6, Maine has
had more experience with coke than
any other railroad in the country. for
since il was enabled to get the new fuel
III large quantities from the big works
at Everett il has adopted ii for prac-
tically all its local passenger trains out
of Boston, Worcester and Springfield.
as well as for it's Portland express
trains, and successful use was made
possible largely through the expert
mcnts Of the roads superintendent Of
motive power, Henry Bartlett. 1t was
thoughta at first that the intense heat Of
a coke fire would burn out the cast
iron CRATES under the fire boxes. But
Mr.. Bartlett experimental with the
coke on shifting engines in the yard
and found that all difficulty in combuS-
ton could he avoided by making the
air-spaces in the CRATES a little larger,
and that in order to keep the CRATES
from burning ont il was only necessary
to turn some of the exhaust steam from
the pumps down through 4 special pipe
50 that it would exhaust against the
under side of the CRATE bars. Now the
coke is being used regularly on 175 out
Of the 15 locomotives in service on the
road. and is thought by the road to be
great success. With the six hundred
tons day now being used the road
finds that under its present contract
the first cost Of the coke is less than
coal Though this was not true when
the fuel was first triedO it burns clean
er, and the combustion is more com
plete: and the dust, which always
made travelling behind a fast lOcomO-
tive unpleasant to people in the cars,
is eliminated. AS Mr.. Bartlett says,
with the coke for fuel. open obScrva-
ton cars could be run behind the en-
CINE and the passengers would have no
annoyance whatever from cinderS. Up
to the present time. the smoke and Gin
ders have been one Of the greatest
draw backs to travel on observation
cars But there is another economical
feature.
One of the most important results
coming from the use of coke is the do
ing away with the danger from fire
from cinders. This, as is well known,
is a constant menace to property along
the line Of a cOal-burning railroad.
The damages paid by railroads to los
ers by fire. as well as their own losses
in the destruction of buildings and
bridges. aggregate n large sum in the
course of a year over the whole coun-
try. With the Introduction Of coke
there can be no fire from cinders.
There is 4 little drawback in the
handling of the coke for five tons of
coke take up as much room as eight
tons of coal. But this has been met
easily by APPLYING an iron rack to the
tender so that the coke may be rea ped
up higher; and in this way enough is
carried to run the engine as far as a
tenderload of coal would run it. But
in general the success Of this expert