Steam Locomotive Controls: The Backhead

Running a steam locomotive requires much more than knowing what part does what, but it’s a necessary first step. Learn what each control does on the backhead of the steam locomotive and why it’s important.

Up for inspection is an OIL fired 2-6-2, the RVRy’s #7. The layout of the controls is for the most part identical to how a full sized locomotive operates, and ALL the controls present on the full sized locos are displayed here.

To see a larger version of this photograph, go here: http://www.weatheringman.com/Backhead_Detail_.html

Okay, follow from “A to Z” to learn about each part:

A- Atomizer- atomizes fuel oil and sprays it into the firebox to ignite and keep the fire going

B- Blower- manages the draft of air flowing from the back of the boiler through the tubes and out the stack, helps complete combustion of the fuel by supplying oxygen.

C- Throttle Lever- Does the obvious.

D- Independant Brake Lever, which is used to apply brakes to the drivers and tender trucks to stop the locomotive

E- Train Brake Lever, if all the cars were equipped for airbrakes it would apply the brakes on all the cars behind the locomotive.

F- Firebox Door- used to access the firebox prior to steam up, a lever on the side manages the draft on the bottom of the firebox, inspection hole is used to manage the color of the fire, which tells you how complete your combustion is and how efficient you’re running your locomotive. Idealy it should be a bright golden orange.

G- – Gauge Glass Valve- Used to flush out gauge glass to measure how much water is in the boiler.

H- Water Check Valves- If the gauge glass is broken you can quickly check where your water level is by quickly turning the top or bottom valve for less than a second so you don’t scald your fingers.

I- Gauge Glass- Measures water level in the boiler to make sure you’re making steam, but also operating safely with enough water to prevent damage to the crown sheet. 1/4 or 1/2 the height of the glass is ideal.

J- Oil Firing Levers- Used to finely control the amount of oil being sent to the atomizer to be burnt as fuel.

K- Left side blowdown valve- used to blow crud out of the cylinders and the boiler to keep it from becoming a gunky mess.

L-Oil shutoff valve- the master on/off switch for the fuel.

M-Headlight toggle switches

N- Air Pump Lubricator- Keeps the Airpump lubricated and (hopefully) working smoothly.

O- Left Side Water Injector- Injects water from the tender into the boiler, performs same task as “S”

P- Steam Air Pump Lubricator Valve- For the most part it turns on a small supply of steam to turn the lubricator on and get the pump started.

Q- Shop Air Valve- To gain pressure more quickly, we hook the boiler up to an air compressor, turning on this valve and plugging in the air hose is all this is for.

R- Turret Valve & Main Steam Pressure Gauge- Measures the PSI (Poundsfor Square Inch) of steam pressure in the boiler and the turret valve controls the movement of all steam to te controls in the cab.

S- Right Side Water Injector- Injects water from the tender into the boiler, performs same task as “O”

T- Independant Brake Pressure Gauge- Tells you how many pounds of pressure you have in the airtanks that the steam air pump compressed for you to apply your airbrakes with.

U- Train Brake Pressure Gauge- Same as above, but for the entire train.

V- Right Side Blowdown Valve- Does the same thing as left side.

W- Cylinder Cock Lever- Drains sitting water out of cylinders, typically done before and as the locomotive begins to move, that’s why you always see jets of steam shoot out of the cylinders as a steamer pulls away from the station or a stop and not too long after it ceases as the engineer decides the water has been drained.

X- Reverser/Johnson Bar- Controls the valve gear which determines the direction in which the siderods, motion and drivers travel.

Y- Whistle Cord

Z- Fore and Aft sanding levers put sand on the rails in front or behind the drivers for traction.

I hope you learned something new, it’s a complex machine to operate but it’s quite a specticale.

Redwood Valley Meet 6/6/09

On Saturday 6/6/09, I and the webmaster were at the Redwood Valley Railway’s annual meet. There were 3 visiting locomotives, along with the usual roster operating. I spent most of my time on the vertical-boiler 1-Spot, which I also got to operate. There were two public trains operating, one of which was a doubleheader. I also had the task of moving tables and chairs from the shops to the roundhouse, all the major moves of the supplies were done with the 1-Spot shunting a flatcar around. When the wood that was brought with the 1-Spot to the railroad was getting low, we hooked the it up to a four-wheel wagon (known as jimmies on the RVRY) and went up to the shop, and with the help of several other people, the old rotten wood pile next to the shops was put to good use. After the wood was in the car, Jay (owner of the 1-Spot), asked who hadn’t ran it yet, and everbody but me had, so I had the chance to take the controls of the locomotive, and I ran it back and forth for a few laps.

This by far was a great day, and for me, a very memorable experience.

The 57th Redwood Valley Railway Meet- Friday

The morning began with the clearing of brush from the right-of-way in the morning and final preporations were made for the arrival of our fellow railroader’s camper trailers to arrive up at the shops. When I arrived at noon, we ate lunch and then gathered firewood for the vertical boilered one spot geared steam locomotive.

The One Spot arrived in a dualy ford pickup and was carefully unloaded from the back of the truck using specially built bridge rails. Fortunately it was loaded without a problem and was rolled directly onto the rails.

Then the fun (at least for me) began. I had a chance to spend most of the day operating the #2, a Gasoline-Hydraulic locomotive. We headed to to barn 1 to switch out the cars needed for the two revenue trains that will operate on Saturday and Sunday. We also collected a bunch of four-wheel two-axle “jimmies” that are typically used for MOW service for the tiny #18, an 0-4-0 locomotive, to haul around during the weekend.

As the day turned to afternoon, more people began to show up and help with our operations. While moving the coal gon full of chairs, we discovered a mouse in the gondola, as we unloaded more and more chairs the little guy shot around the gon frantically. We picked up his mouse nest and placed it in the brush. Next, we had to try to grab the mouse! We had four people herding it around the gondola, and eventually one of our youngest members grabbed ahold of it, but it broke loose and flew out of his hands and flew past me onto the ground.

We set up for a nice sit-down meal as the sun began to set, and afterwards Myself and a young volunteer took the gasoline-hydraulic locomotive out for a night ride! He handled the first run with professional skill, and I took the second train out, with a smooth ride had by all. Both times we stopped at the other end of the railroad, which has an incredible view of berkeley, richmond, and marin county in the distance. The second ride saw the moon rising just above the locomotive and I snapped the shot below.

After the second run, I deposited the riding car at Euke siding and took the flatcar, boxcar and locomotive up to the shop spur, where I spent the night inside the boxcar with my sleeping bag on the cool summer night.

The gasoline-hydraulic number two site on Euke siding (known for a grove of eucyluptus trees that once stood there 35 years ago before they were removed for fire danger reasons and replaced with Redwood trees, which are living quite healthfully.)

RVRY #2 sits in the pocket track at Army Camp.

The one spot is being unloaded from the pickup truck, slowly and carefully!

A visiting railroader arrives with his 15″ gauge speeder.

Piloting the two around the railroad on the first night ride.

The view from “snake rock” looking at Richmond and Marin County in the distance.

In Depth: Redwood Valley Railway’s #2

The #2 is pictured on the bridge just railroad east of Army camp.

The #2 is our only internal combustion engined locomotive on the property. It’s powered by an old, rare Hercules 30hp Gasoline engine, and is powered by a hydraulic drive. It’s cooled with an old Samson radiator. Because it was rebuilt many times in it’s life, not offical blueprints or plans exist for this locomotive.

It’s a very useful little locomotive, and can pull the entire worktrain of 9-10 cars around the railroad, although it does have to double the grade out of the workshed to get all the cars up to the mainline.

IT was recently rebuilt from the frame up in late 2008. The 70 year old hercules engine has been rebuilt, cleaned and runs great. The cab finally has gauges galore and the locomotive has been equipped with airbrakes. (Air pressure is gauged in the brass gauge) To control the locomotive you must raise the throttle to build up hydraulic pressure, then move forward after engaging the reverser and using the hyrdaulic lever as the official throttle, you roll off in your chosen direction. It is incapable of pulling revenue trains due to it’s lack of tractive effort, which is in a way an unoffical “safety assurance” that we won’t get lazy and disappoint our customers with anything less than steam powered passenger service.

The suspension is fully functional and it works well as a track inspection locomotive, being able to feel out the kinks and bumps on it’s 0-4-0 chassis, it’s only a rough ride if the trackwork isn’t perfect.
As you might guess the tender is absolutely necessary for hauling around the engineer and work crew. Inside the tender, tools and extra work items are stored for the convience of the work crew. In a pinch you can haul 6 people on the tender and locomotive. When it was first constructed from available parts over 45 years ago, the engineer sat on an apple crate behind the locomotive on a small flatcar. The Juniper has been rebuilt numerous times, each time taking on a completely different cosmetic appearance. It used to be dark forest green many years ago (in the apple crate era). They also experimented with eliminating the flatcar tender entirely by squeezing the engineer in the cramped, oily cab. “That got old really fast” one employee remarked. Since then the tender has carried the engineer and crew while the cab interior slowly filled with levers and gauges.

Like all other locomotives on the Redwood Valley railroad, it’s named for a native plant in the coast range of California. The #2 carries the name “Juniper” of which it only very recently was bestowed the honor of having it’s dulux gold and name exquisitely handpainted by the offical artist and CEO of the railroad. It’s never looked better. For you Gn15 or On30 modelers out there, this would make an excellent kitbash. Come visit the Redwood Valley in the hills above Berkeley and Oakland, Ca in Tilden Regional Park to see it up close.

The fabled #1- Vertical Boilered Geared Locomotive, A full sized Kitbash

A fully functional kit bashing project, using REAL steam locomotive parts, and a Stanley Steam Automobile engine, mounted vertically (as opposed to being bathed in an oil pan in the car) this wood-fired locomotive is as down and dirty simple as a steam locomotive can get, and the “One Spot” as it’s called is the working classroom that has taught dozens of people how to operate a steam locomotive. As of Saturday afternoon, Included amongst those hallowed few is our fledgling fireman, Scott, another member of the Hillcret and Watoke, and Yours truly, the Author of Interacting With Miniature Railroading.

This fantastic locomotive was built by the steam nuts at the Glennwood South Park & Pacific located “somewhere” in the Santa Cruz Mountains back in the 1970’s.

This is Jay, The Engineer who helped build the #1 way back when, he taught me (not in the picture) how to run the #1.

The #1 is a 15″ gauge locomotive with more history in it’s parts alone than most full-sized locomotives.

It Includes:

-The Reversing Lever is the oil firing valve from a SP Cabforward Mallet

-The Gong is from a Key System Street Car (*Might be from San Francisco& San Jose Motor car too)

-  The Throttle Lever is from a Climax Geared Locomotive.

-The Brake lever is from a Short line steam locomotive.

-The Whistle is from a Norwegian Railways Steamer. It’s the best sounding whistle on the railroad!

-The Boiler is from an industrial plant in Colorado

-The Oil lubricator is from a DRGW steam locomotive.

The Labeled Backhead of the #1

1. Steam driven hammer for the bell gong

2. Oil lubricators for the gong

3. Stanley Automobile (Steam) engine 

4. Throttle lever from Climax locomotive

5. Reverser is actually oil feed lever from SP cab-forward mallet, AC class.

6. Water check valve

7. Brake lever (steam driven, not air pressure)

8.  Water level glass

9. Blower

10. Steam Pressure gauge (pop-valve set at 150 psi)

11. Whole pipe assembly of water injection system, small lever is water injector, non-visible red valve is water supply injector.

12. Clean-out plug for boiler

13. Small supply of wood stowed in wood pile, built as part of water tank

14. Fully-operational handbrake system.

15. Hole for water tank. (A cushy leather seat fits like a cork atop the hole.

16. Water tank drain valve.

17. Gong from SF&SJ electric interurban, shrouded in steam.

18. “pop” Safety Valve, set at 150 psi.

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This closeup of the Stanley Steam Automobile Engine shows it’s unique vertical mounting, and the scratchbuilt drain cocks built out of the copper tubing you see snaking out of the cylinders. This locomotive is designed like a horizontal two cylinder Hiesler, but instead of a drive-shaft connecting the wheels, it’s directly geared to the axle of the first wheel, and is chain driven to power all four wheels of this 0-4-0T.

The black box in front of the engine is for the Sand supply.

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This beautifully functional 15″ gauge, 5″ scale, vertical boilered masterpiece is reflective of California’s rich logging history, and somewhat representative of their down and dirty designs they implemented to drag logs out of the woods. This locomotive is also able to be hooked up to a steam-driven sawmill, specially designed with the #1 so it can cut its own wood supply!

The Dining Car

Our very ornate dining car, with a full-service buffet built right in, seating is either in a nearby structure, or on the sides of the car if you’re a diehard.

(Actually this is the “Lunch Buffet Special” that transports the food from the Shops atop the hill to Barn #2 below for the Annual meet.) The buffet table is made from a couple of “Jimmies”, four wheeled ballast hopper/gondolas, seen below.

What prototypes are the Redwood Valley’s cars based?

All types of revenue cars owned by the RVRY are shown here. The “high cars” are built in the style of Narrow gauge livestock cars, but modified for a more open ride, and much easier to access.

 Gondolas are based on DRGW Narrow gauge prototypes (1902 AC&F prototypes)

 Boxcar is based on a C&S narrow gauge prototype, comperable model of this car in On3 is here: http://www.sanjuancarco.com/120_c&strussrodboxcar.html

Our Caboose is a scale reproduction of a DRGW narrow gauge prototype.

 http://www.sanjuancarco.com/107_drgwrgsshortcaboose.html 

Although our Maintenence of Way cars are specifically designed to do the jobs they were intended for that may or may not mean that they follow Narrow Gauge practices.  

15″ Gauge 5″ Scale Ride-on Speeder.

The Redwood Valley Railway has had some colorful rail vehicles grace our mainline, but this is the masterpiece of non-locomotive self-propulsion. This little speeder is a 5″ scale replica of a typical railroad speeder, used by track crews to “speed” out to a work site, or for a Section foreman to inspect his alocated portion of track on a railroad. Real speeders have been retired on many railroads due to their inflexibility, because they always have to be on the rails or stored in a special manner. Hy-Railer pickup trucks have replaced speeders on modern railroads across the country. This particular speeder is 100% scratchbuilt from various aluminium, steel, and special cast pieces. It is privately owned and only seen at our annual meets, usually held on the second weekend in June.

This speeder is powered by an improbably tiny gasoline engine.

All the controls are nearly identical to a real speeders array of levers. Check out the tiny muffler and rear marker light!

The Glow of the Firebox.

Redwood Valley Railway’s #2

The #2 is our only internal combustion engined vehicle on the property. It’s powered by an old, rare Hercules “Samson” Gasoline engine, and is powered by a hydraulic drive. It’s a very useful little locomotive, and can pull the entire worktrain of 9-10 cars around the railroad. I enjoy the privelidge of operating the #2 on workdays when the line is closed for maintenence.