How to Light Up a Steam Locomotive - 15F 3094 South Africa

Ever wanted to light up a steam locomotive? To turn that cold lump of steel into a living, breathing steam-belching monster? Well here is your 20-minute guide! Thanks to Friends of the Rail and our patient subject Class 15F No. 3094, you can now see how it is done.

[@trevorserfontein8399]

G! I'm a retired coach technician and l didn't realise that it's such a drawn out procedure tto get the loco up and running!😁🤝

[@steamfreak]

Yes it's certainly a lengthy process! Back in steam days they would be left in steam for a week or more so it wasn't such an issue, but there were plenty of firelighters working at the depots.

[@IckAck03]

5:10 the circle of life. So beautiful

[@steamfreak]

Ahaha yes indeed!

[@kkhagerty6315]

The 15F is such a beautiful locomotive, probably my favourite

[@steamfreak]

Yeah they really are a beautiful machine.

[@rudycarlson8245]

@@steamfreak do you know if there’s any update on steam locomotive named red devil?

[@DaveyJonesLockerwithJazzy]

Fantastic footage, thank you so much guys. From around the world, we're living the dream watching these engines come alive, bringing fun, joy and nostalgia to everyone, young and old, there on the train, in the countryside or here on you tube, watching from afar.

[@steamfreak]

Thank you very much!

[@steamfreak]

No, sadly it's still standing out of service in Cape Town

[@donovannelson-esch1199]

Lovely and informative. Thank you.

[@steamfreak]

Thanks! It's great seeing that cold steel come to life!

[@ollieduncan5646]

I am only 13 but in charge of steaming up big miniature locos

[@steamfreak]

+Ollie Duncan cool! I love the miniatures too!

[@mitchellrigney5013]

Your so lucky to do something that cool I would kill to be on the footplate of even a miniature locomotive

[@Isochest]

Good for you. Still experience that will hold you in good stead for the future

I am a bit of a noob regarding steam locos, so I was hoping you could answer a question. How do they get water from the tender to the boiler without the steam injectors?

[@steamfreak]

The boiler is usually left with enough water in it to light up the next time. If not, water needs to be added via a hose through the dome cover or other fitting.

@@steamfreak thanks!

[@robperez7774]

Good job guys!

[@steamfreak]

Thanks!

[@6___________99_____________64]

Nicely done. Looks quite complicated too.

[@steamfreak]

It's not too complex - once you go through the routine a few times it becomes pretty easy.

[@peterjhillier7659]

Many Thanks for your reply, Nathan has such a lovely dry sense of Humour, a great Character, did you manage to do any other Videos featuring him? I think the South African Locomotives are beautiful. I remember my Father telling me of his Train Journeys around the Cape in the 1940's. Thanks once again for your lovely Videos.

[@steamfreak]

I do actually have a caboose cooking video featuring Nathan - I will have to edit that and upload it!

[@peterjhillier7659]

steamfreak3450 - Steam trains around the world Many Thanks for your Reply, do you know what Nathan is up these Days, still messing with Steam Engines. If you see him tell him that my Wife thought he had quite twinkle in his Eye! I'll out for your Video. Great Videos of great Engines!

[@Isochest]

20 minutes? That's good. I always thought it took 40-45 minutes to bring a kettle to traffic haulage?

[@steamfreak]

We usually allowed 8 hours

[@royscreen61]

Very interesting thank you

[@steamfreak]

Thanks!

[@stephensmith799]

Brilliant locomotive design... ahead of British locomotives of the same vintage. Lays an ‘upside down’ fire. (Burn from the top downwards). I think this was SAR practice. Good practice for reducing smoke. Also makes more efficient use of fuel. Much better to see someone who knows what they are doing instead of a ‘celebrity’ screwing things up.

[@steamfreak]

Thanks! I had many great times lighting up these locos, and firing them as well,

[@stephensmith799]

Not everybody ‘gets’ the steam locomotive. (I don’t know why.). But there is no point trying to explain it to those who don’t feel it already. This is a fantastic video presented brilliantly. 15Fs were so well designed with everything to make life for firemen and drivers as straightforward as possible. I just don’t understand why with the exception of steam builders in the export business (eg North British and Bayer-Peacock) British Chief Mechanical Engineers were years behind SAR.

[@sirbarongaming2138]

@@stephensmith799 Might have something to do with South Africa being littered with mountain ranges I dunno

[@stephensmith799]

@@sirbarongaming2138 Yes. Had to be ‘Cape Gauge’ and very powerful. But why better engineered than British locomotives of the same period? I mean Swindon was still building inside cylinder, inside gear pannier tanks in the 1950s!

[@kylehill3643]

(opens smokebox and starts banging the dirt loose)

[@steamfreak]

Haha, yep just after saying "don't use a hammer..."

[@peterjhillier7659]

Was the Instructor Nathan, I think I saw a great Video of him cooking Boerewos on David Shephards old 15F at Germiston?

[@steamfreak]

🙂 Yes indeed. He loved being in front of the camera!

[@Train_Tok_Man]

Is it okay if I can post a clip of this video to TikTok? I will give you credit.

[@steamfreak]

Sure. Can you link the original video or the channel also please?

[@Woody615]

Interesting that you lay the coal in, place wood on top of it, and then light it. In the video about how to fire up the Denver & Rio Grande engine 491, titled "How To Fire Up A Steam Locomotive", they light a wood fire first, and then once it's going strong, then they shovel on the coal. I presume it's just a difference in style.

[@steamfreak]

+Woody615 yes, whatever works really! We find that the wood fire on top of the coal bed gets the coal layer burning, which helps once the wood fire gets going, and more coal is added.

[@Woody615]

Thanks. Once it gets going, it doesn't really matter how it was lit. GREAT video by the way. Today, we (society) have no concept or understanding of the complexities of mechanical processes. No computer buttons to push, just valves to turn and levers to push and pull.

[@OnixMarket]

Love this video! What camera did you use?

[@steamfreak]

+Conor Militz that was a while ago, so probably a Sony TRV22 mini-DV camera. Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@Mnrr6131]

17:44 when James Coffey said “arriving on misty clouds” he didn’t mean literally

[@steamfreak]

Those mornings of misty clouds were amazing!

[@Boog___]

Is this the loco from the episode of the spark KZbin channel where they move this to Glasgow from South Africa

[@steamfreak]

This loco is the same type, but this is no. 3094. It was 3007 that went to Glasgow.

[@barryphillips7327]

All of this was one of the big down falls a steam locomotive, a lot of maintenance, where as a diesel locomotive is basically start and go assuming it is fueled and ready to go. A coal burning steam engine needed two people to operate it, the driver and a fireman to shovel in the coal. Twice the wages to pay as opposed to the diesel. Very dirty job, everything ends being black, so a lot washing to try and keep clothes clean.

[@steamfreak]

Yep very true. But I still love the dirty old steam trains!

[@stephensmith799]

All true, but SAR steam was so good and coal so plentiful, it was hard to make a case for diesel power. Many ex steam crew swear to this day that steam locomotives could pull more, were cheaper to run, cost less to build and were easier to repair and maintain. The problem was as you say preparation and disposal time.

[@hawkeye-vv4kb]

A few questions: 1. What was the water consumption on these iron horses? It seems to me that it must have been quite high because in some videos topping up at the Orange river was needed to complete a journey from example Bloemfontein to De Aar (final destination Cape Town) 2. All steam engines were powered by burning coal and converting water to steam. Nowadays it seems to me a possible trend is to convert to gas as an energy source to produce steam, or do they still stay with coal when restoration is done? I would like coal but gas could be an environmental alternative and coal is no longer as freely available as in the past when these beauties were in action.

[@steamfreak]

+hawkeye0248 it's a difficult question, as it depends on size of loco, the load, gradients, how the loco is being driven... Orange River was the main water stop for all trains between Kimberley and De Aar. I've noted that many drivers will take water where possible rather than where needed as it's better to have water than not! Never seen a gas burner, no reason why it wouldn't work.

[@trajan231]

@@steamfreak We have oil burners still running in New Zealand.

[@trajan231]

The 25C Class was designed for water retention

[@stephensmith799]

There’s research going on in New Zealand with a water tube boiler fired with wood. It gets to working pressure very quickly as it has a much smaller volume of water to heat. Check out the Mackwell Steam Locomotive Company; a carbon neutral future for steam

[@eliotreader8220]

the ash pan looks like it could do with a clean out?

[@steamfreak]

Yeah the fireman would probably do that the next morning

[@Emslaender_Jung]

where is that

[@steamfreak]

derneuschooer that is in Pretoria, South Africa

[@Emslaender_Jung]

steamfreak3450 - Steam trains around the world ah ok thank you. i thought France or so

[@oregonrailfan7046]

@@Emslaender_Jung wow you clearly have never seen what French trains look like or just France in general that looks nothing like France idiot

[@George040270]

And, you are doing this at night because?

[@steamfreak]

+George Pierson we had a train the following day, so we would normally light up on the Friday night if the train was on a Saturday. For Sunday trains we would light up during the day on Saturday. A firelighter would attend the loco overnight in either case.

[@necrome9746]

And of course it just looks so much better. :)

[@Mnrr6131]

@@necrome9746 true. Seeing a steam engine alive at night makes me feel like it’s 1937(With the 20th Century Limited piercing the night with the sound and speed)