Steam 101: 10 Levels of Steam Locomotive Understanding

[@mfbfreak]

19:40 the beautiful thing about rivets is that they contract while cooling off, pulling the two metal parts together even stronger, creating a pretty good seal between them.

[@michaelmurray7199]

Until you run into an iceberg that is.

[@michaelmurray7199]

At least until you run into an iceberg.

[@DonkenAndToivolaRR]

Level 11: Understanding why boilers can explode. The boiling point of water is a function of pressure. The more pressure, the higher the boiling point. Take the pressure away (i.e. through a rupture of the crown sheet of the fire box due to overheating the steel) and the boiling point of the heated water in the boiler falls quickly. Since the hot water contains lots of energy the water now becomes steam nearly instantly. Steam takes up 1.600 times more space than water and it now tries to rush through the rupture. But there was a lot of water in the boiler... that now has become a very lot of steam which can't all exit through the rupture and thus start to build up uncontrolled presssure. If the pressure then overcomes the structural strength of parts of the boiler it will blow them apart and away. There are examples of boiler barrels and smoke boxes thrown hundrets of meters/yards from the engine by boiler explosions. But flying metal isn't the only danger of a boiler explosion. If you're happen to stand close and don't get hit by metal you'll still have to deal with very hot steam all around.

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

No it doesn't. It's because they're big metal pants. Don't you know that steam is just photons that come from the nuclear reactor in the firmament? The earth is flat and water is an illusion. They're lying to you. There's no water in a locomotive because they're giant metal pants. The earth is ruled by an AI named Flat Stanley. Think about it. Have you ever seen a locomotive? Have you ever seen water? When you touch superheated steam you can see your bones so it's x-rays. Wake Up!

[@chetneedy2895]

Exactly, and many RR employees were scalded to death, and that brought about the Railway Labor Act passed by Congress to ensure safer working conditions for the workers

[@johnshackelford6965]

Historical railroad track VA steam valve frozen from heat. It wasn't the grade but the thing exploded.

[@The_Viscount]

In a naval context, letting cold sea water (or even warm sea water) into the engine room of a steam ship is very bad news. Cold water suddenly cooling a pipe of superheated steam in a ship containing a couple hudred horsepower worth of boilers (8 naval boilers in the case of the Iowa Class Battleship produce 212 KHP) shatters the pipe due to thermal expansion. So, imagine several Big Boys all blowing up inside a sealed engine compartment designed to be water tight and thus air tight. Hooray! You have a massive bomb!

[@TrapperAaron]

TLDR what ur trying to say is PV=nRT. Keep it simple.

[@FloridatedH2O]

It's funny that after years of being train OBSESSED as a kid, I never got past level 2 in understanding. Great video! More animations please. That one explaining the Johnson bar operation helped so much.

[@Ben31337l]

It's kinda the difference between being a train spotter and enthusiast. I feel that an enthusiast cares a lot more about the technical aspect of a locomotive, whereas a spotter likes to document the particular operations of a particular locomtovie.

[@andrewnorrie2731]

A quite thorough and easy to follow explanation. Hard to believe this is just over an hour long. The reviews throughout the video were a wonderful way to tie the presentation together. Thank you so much for this!

[@Ben31337l]

It's a shame how he never talked about draft & the blower.

[@c.ramdath.26]

Never did I think that 2 months go I'd be watching kAN play RO, and now be here, huge fan of the channel, and now learning more about steam locomotives

[@edde1715]

Same for me

[@mattg5852]

Me to

[@blainelintern3008]

Same

[@x1red564]

Same here

[@DeetDogg]

Yes absolutely this

[@Tristan_S346]

I’m literally learning so much just in the first 10 minutes 😂 thank you so much for putting this together!

[@nathanielnau1700]

There's a lot of interesting technology that went into a steam engine that isn't common to see nowadays but is still useful in certain applications. I would love to know how these systems truly work together to make a steam engine function on a deeper level

[@MegaSockenschuss]

Since I think about getting one every other year for over two decades now... Fiddling around with things is imho the best way to learn. If you're willing and able to spend 100-200 Dollar/Euro, you maybe should get a working (stationary) steam engine in model size. Or a mobile one if you spend more. Here in Germany the company "Wilesco" seems to be a "huge" manufacturer of these cool little machines.

[@Green4321]

@@MegaSockenschuss here in the U. S. each state has an office of boiler inspector. They are very very strick, especially if you bought a vintage locomotive. I'm not sure what the rules are for a stationary engine. I do know that larger office buildings that have a steam boiler are subject to an annual inspection.

[@MegaSockenschuss]

@@Green4321 *model size* is the key word. ^^ The affordable stationary ones from the mentioned company got 135 cm³ boilers. (8.2 cubic inch) I doubt these little things need an official inspection at all.

[@engineer6325]

YES. THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT! How long I've bemoaned there isn't too many "detailed" breakdowns of how steam locos work. And in such a way for those unfamiliar to easily understand. Most of the time it feels like gathering info about them was "piecemeal". Bits and pieces here and there....never a full course. Thank you for this! This was awesome!

[@tatwood93]

Yeah, I was at about a level 5 before watching this video but still learned things from lower levels

[@ItzDecster]

I'm a Guard for a local heritage railway here in Australia, it's interesting to see the mix of british and american terminology used here. I have quite a bit of knowledge about steam because of my many chats to our drivers, as I wish to drive steam one day.

[@disconer]

Its a Crosshead Arm, not a drop Link - silly Brits

[@louiscypher4186]

@@disconer Thomas Savery invented the steam engine, thus all British nomenclature for steam trains is correct.

[@ajknaup3530]

Language is fascinating! Would you care to share some of the differing terms between Brittish & Americanese?

[@leisureshoot]

This was one of the most under-produced, and unrefined videos I have ever watched. And it was fantastic!!! I really hope you will consider doing another!!! Train Brakes. Firing a loco. Toools in the engine shed for working on locos, including machine shop. Lubricating the steam loco. Running the locomotive - the things that you watch for as an eghineer (gauges, sounds, etc....), and how you react. Same for fireman.

[@Hyce777]

Train brakes came out yesterday! Check the channel :). That's a great list for more videos - thanks!

[@szelag]

As a (mechanical) engineer I love this stuff. Absolutely amazing to me how all these systems were designed and built a century or more ago and still work.

[@09JDCTrainMan]

As a steam lover, this was fantastic! Extra knowledge and understanding obtained, thanks, and very well put!

[@rucarnuts13]

Fantastic video! Without a doubt, the best breakdown of a steam locomotive I’ve ever seen. I had a very poor, very general idea as to how they worked, which was gained by watching documentaries by the History and Discovery channels - which I now realize were incredibly poorly-researched by people who are far from qualified to talk about them! What a terrifying prospect, once you really think about it… Makes you wonder many people have an entry-level live steam engine, like a Wilesco or Accucraft engine, with History/Discovery channel-level knowledge and understanding of how they actually operate.

[@Hyce777]

Cheers :) and yeah, hopefully not too many... thankfully those aren't too harmful if things go wrong :)

[@rucarnuts13]

@@Hyce777 Very true! It would certainly be interesting to see the statistics, but I doubt there are any regarding live steamers.

[@matt47110815]

There is A LOT of stuff wrong on the History Channel, especially when it comes to the older content they had about Military Tech and Tactics.

[@rucarnuts13]

@@matt47110815 I knew a lot of their more current stuff was junk, but I never realized it went further back than that. The railroading documentaries they did wwwaaaayyy back, between 1995-2000 when they were just getting started, are also evidently pretty poor. Seems they were never good to begin with. :S

[@rucarnuts13]

@barnabyjoy Anthony Dawson is fantastic, I love his content. And I agree wholeheartedly, a lot of the railroading stuff on KZbin, and even network TV, is very poor. Will definitely support Hyce’s content as it’s rare to get this kind of quality of content anywhere.

[@cmrs521]

thanks to your vids and railroads online ive started rediscovering my childhood love of trains. and this video has helped me finally answer some of the questions ive had.. of course it makes me ask some more as well... but thats always a good thing

[@Hyce777]

Ask away!

[@richardcrane1262]

Fantastic presentation from a natural teacher! Don't claim to have it all down yet, but very impressed by the ease with which you give a introduction to the many constituents of the power production, distribution and control subsystems.

[@Hyce777]

Cheers Richard!

[@dominikpotulski576]

Hi, a level 2.4 here! That's a really interesting video and i would love to see more like this. I am exited for your upcoming videos! Thanks to you I am now a level 1.9 :)

[@Griz1231]

It was really nice having someone explain that the superheater dries the steam rather than claiming it raises the pressure. The level 10 explanation was pretty good, but there are reasons not to run with the throttle full open relating to wear on the valve gear. If the Johnson bar is set too close to the center the ports on the valve gear are in a partially open position longer resulting in more steam erosion of the ports. The higher the steam pressure to the valve gears the greater the wear as well. On the other end, running with the throttle set too low results in hammering the connecting pipes. The old-timers learned the art of finding where the balance between the two was.

[@Hyce777]

Absolutely, good addition. I should have stated moreso that I was talking about max tonnage on a hill, most other times you find the balance for precisely the reason you stated. Cheers :)

[@billybcgn25]

@@Hyce777, not being an expert on locomotives, but wouldn't it be that max open on the Jonson bar provides maximum torque, to get started, and once up to speed, that much torque isn't needed; instead, more horsepower is needed to keep the speed up on level ground?

[@DJLrunie]

@@billybcgn25 the torque only depends on the piston pressure. There will be a pressure drop over the valve but that pressure drop depends on the flow (amount of steam going through the valve in a given time) in combination with how far open the valve is. When the piston is stationary or moving slowly you have little to no flow and thus no pressure drop. Moving the valve does not change the torque as long as the piston still gets fully filled in time. (slight nuance, during the filling of the piston you don't have maximum force so the average torque will be different if the filling takes longer or shorter) To keep the same torque you would actually need to open up the Johnson bar when going at higher speeds because the flow, and thus the pressure drop over the valves, is higher. Opening up the Johnson bar will reduce the pressure drop and increase the torque.

[@ΣτελιοςΠεππας]

@@billybcgn25 Small correction torque and horsepower are not different things. Horsepower is literally torque×RPM.

[@coast2coast00]

@@ΣτελιοςΠεππας Torque is rotational force, and power is force over time, adding in the time factor does change the meaning enough in this sense to not use them interchangeably.

[@ashipcrafter2440]

I have fun watching your videos hyce you give a lot of good information. Iv learned a lot of steam locomotive stuff from you and my dad who fired the soo line 2719 when he worked for The Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad. Keep up the great video's Hyce.

[@chriscapezza3264]

I'm waiting for Hyce to start blowing everyone's mind discussing dissimilar coefficients of linear expansion and how that could make a choo-choo go boom

[@arthurkinch1804]

Excellent job Hyce. This video helped provide a refresher on Steam locomotive knowledge. Personally, my knowledge level is a mixture of 9 stages, where I know what the components are and where they are located, but at the same time did not know the interconnectedness.

[@rocketeer8719]

The fact that I’m learning this much from one video speaks to the quality of your videos and knowledge, I look forward to all the nerdy stuff you’ll talk about in the future

[@Ben31337l]

He has earned my subscription!

[@CrippleX89]

What started out as watching kAN's first RRO video ended up being a true new hobby. Got myself a little Märklin H0 layout to play around with and it turned out someone in the family has a Märklin Big Boy, what a master piece to marvel at! I also started to visit some railroad museums to check out the real deal, I just found out that there's a little heritage industrial peat railway near where I live where they run some old little diesels. Awesome stuff and very interesting. I really dig the RRO videos you, kAN and Dapper make and the more informative videos like this. Thanks!

[@silvoweiss347]

Great video you got here. I finally understand how steam pistons really work. I would love to see similar video focusing on brakes. Especially of how main brakes work since understanding that would be useful not only for steam trains bot basically for all types of trains since most of them use similar system.

[@Hyce777]

Certainly! The most advanced steam engines used the same kind of brakes most of the diesels use(d) so it will definitely be applicable.

[@silvoweiss347]

@@Hyce777 Looking forward to the video

[@joeclaymore]

Nice presentation. I’ve run a Mikado once but never have I had such a complete breakdown of the workings of a steam locomotive before. Well done!

[@disconer]

Consolidations and Mikados, the prettiest of the lot ( with exception to Jupiter ), that would be a dream to drive.

[@I-LOG]

Great video, I learned a lot! Love the look of those big counterweights(?) on the wheels of the K-37, can't wait for that fat caterpillar to travel down the rails in RRO!

[@Hyce777]

They are indeed counterweights!

[@LeifTheHead]

Yes, those counterweights are countering the weight of all the rods. Else the shifting of those up, down, forward and back would rock the engine a lot. It's one of those things I found missing being noted in the video.

[@Hyce777]

@@LeifTheHead If I explained literally everything about each piece we would've been here for a week :P expect shorter deep-dives on specific things for items like that.

[@LeifTheHead]

@@Hyce777 are you telling me that wasn't the plan? :D

[@lambtonold-schoolminibiker4552]

That whole "off topic" part was great. I know about the old races, but not so much of the behind the scenes stories. Good stuff

[@blockstacker5614]

Would be cool to have more in depth explanation of feed-water injectors and compressors

[@Ben31337l]

I would love more detail about fuels and how they influence locomtovie design, ie: how potent the coal is, how large the firebox would need to be in order to heat a said amount of water and specific Horsepower of a boiler, pistons etc to give a certain amount of power. I already know a little bit about hard and soft water and how scaling is a problem within boilers but I wonder about locomotive design in principle.

[@CaptainKrimson]

I knew some basics about steam locomotives, thanks to your video I know a lot more! You are a good teacher!

[@erumaaro6060]

Probably the most in-depth video on steamers on YT.👍 I knew most of the stuff from lvl 1-5, 7, 8 and 10. One day I wanted to know how a steam locomotive goes into reverse, or how on earth they manage to put water into a pressurized boiler and down the rabbit hole I went. 10/10 will do it again.

[@LMR78]

Very good video and very informative. Loving all the content!

[@CyarSkirata]

This is great. I've been planning to design a few fictional locomotives, and now I can learn the mechanical specifics of what I need to include.

[@Ben31337l]

I would love to work with someone to design fictional traction!

[@Christian_S1]

This is really helpful! I volunteer with a Southern 2-8-0 in Illinois and this is very helpful. I’ll definitely come back to this for future reference!

[@Just_Sara]

This was the video I needed. First, I saw The General six months ago, and it blew my mind. Second, about a month ago I was the only adult with no kids OR a man with me at a historical train museum, alone and squealing like a fangirl over machinery, and now here I am! I've been really wanting to understand what on earth I was looking at, so thank you SO much for this video!

[@MonsierMadeleine]

Such a wonderful vomit of info. I have always loved steam and this is a wonderful basic overview of how things work. Keep it up!!

[@billyrueckert5113]

Thank you SO MUCH for this education! This helps me understand to higher levels as we finish restoring the locomotive at our organization, and also with the narrations and answers I provide to passengers.

[@aricjohnson3639]

Outstanding. Great video, thanks Redeye

[@datguymiller]

The steam engine is an engine HM YESS THE FLOOR HERE IS MADE OUT OF FLOOR

[@Hyce777]

A lot of people call the whole thing the "engine" when it's just the engine piece of it... :) hahahaha

[@atshinkansen7439]

It always bugs me whenever people call a locomotive an “engine car”!

[@AkashKumar-md6tr]

When i started studying this, it was verryy difficult, i wasn't able to get easy explanation, There is so much to it that it overwhelmed me. I wish I came upon this video before. It is such a great and simple guide. Your explanation was nice

[@kleetus92]

Excellent video Hyce! So a possible analogy for 'hooking up' or notching back the johnson bar can be somewhat equated to the throttle in a car today. To get moving you typically have to give the car more gas to overcome the stopped inertia of the vehicle, and as you pick up speed you actually let off of the gas pedal because the initial amount of power needed isn't required so you're either going to take off super quick or spin the tires, you will obviously burn less fuel at part throttle as you would with your foot mashed to the floor pan. You'd also use first gear and not 4th to start out. A steam engine isn't quite that simple as you're not controlling an explosion in a cylinder, but rather a compressed, active gas. I say active because it's not just like compressed air at some pressure, you actually have a thermal component of energy tied into that as well. Without getting into really ugly thermodynamics, just understand that hot compressed steam has way more power than just compressed air. Ok, so what practically is going on? At stopped the engineer needs to have fine control of the volume flow of energy from the boiler to the pistons. Because you're trying to acceleration literally thousands of tons, through a contact patch between all the driving wheels and the rail that's maybe the size of a dime, you have to be very careful how you apply that power. At low speed it is easier to just control the flow and use the whole stroke of the valve gear to have that fine control It does waste steam because you have way more energy there than you need, but it's easier to control. Once you get everything broke loose, and rolling in a more or less steady state (let's assume level track for sake of discussion) you're now at the point in the car where you'd start letting off from the gas pedal. But in a steam engine remember that you're real goal is controlling total energy usage... so while throttle is letting the energy get to the pistons, the johnson bar is what determines how efficiently that energy is getting used... Now that you're moving kinda steady state, you can move from full admission (valve open the entire piston stroke) to less admission (moving the bar more towards center and less piston stroke). This is where the thermodynamics part kicks in, such that instead of just flooding the piston with 200 PSI of ridiculously hot steam, you can maybe fill that piston volume with 75% but let the heat transfer it's energy to the motion to do work. Kinda like also going to 2nd gear. I'll call this out separately because this isn't going to be accurate, but for the sake of discussion, you'll get the point, At full admission you push in 100% cylinder volume at say 600 degrees Fahrenheit. When the piston reaches the end of the stroke, that 100% volume of steam has to get out and up the stack, it might leave the cylinder at 550 degrees... but you have a boatload of volume to get out, so that when steam hits the piston to reverse travel on the other side, it can actually move the piston back. There comes a point in speed, where at full gear the valve ports simply aren't big enough to get the steam out of there fast enough to allow the piston to go the other way with the train load and not trying to force the waste steam out too... So, by cutting the Johnson bar back, you might only put in 75% volume at 600 degrees, but now at the end of the stroke, the steam leaving might only be 400 degrees... and... you have 25% less steam volume to shove out to make the piston go the other way.... The more cutoff you use, the less steam goes in, so that might be 50% volume at 600F but now it leaves at 300F ... and so on. And again, you'd use another higher gear, and another and so on. There comes a balance point where once you match flow rate of energy from the boiler to the energy required to keep the train moving at whatever speed you want. You can loosely also equate this to using a higher gear in a car... you start in first, then second and finally end up in 4th or whatever.. You'd never be able to start in 4th, but you couldn't run 70 MPH in 1st gear either. And that gets back to the efficiency point as well... buy using progressively less cutoff as you go, you consume less steam and therefore less fuel to boil the water to make steam. If you tried to run the steam engine at full speed at full gear, bar all the way forward, 2 things will happen, you'll run out of steam, and you won't even get going that fast because of the back pressure issues you'll have in the cylinders and valve chest... Oh and the fireman will probably try to beat you to death with the coal shovel because no human (or probably even mechanical stoker) would be able to supply enough coal and water to match the consumption rate. And as a final note, if you were to come to an uphill portion, just like in a car, at some point you're going to need more power to overcome the grade... same is true here. You probably can't open the throttle any more, or it may already be open all the way, so instead you'll start slowly moving the bar back forward again adding a little more admission, or like downshifting in a car. It's a balancing act. That's a lot to absorb, but that's probably the most simple mechanical analogy I can come up with to further explain what's going on.

[@Christian_S1]

This is an outstanding explanation!

[@Tigerskunk]

@Bill Chisholm I have a Digitrax system and I just find it so much easier to connect it to a pc or a laptop and run JMRI. JMRI is free and on a NCE Powercab there is a NCE USB interface 5240223 that you can buy that connects as a controller and allows you to program using an easier to understand named settings. And it allows you to save those settings for the locomotives, stationary decoders and signaling decoders. I use JMRI to help speed match engines with different brands of decoder. I have a mix of BLI, Athearn, and Kato. With dcc from factory and with added decoders later. And on my Digitrax loconet, it also controls the signals, while running on a Raspberry Pi 3b.

[@ryandavis5475]

You provided a very concise and complete explanation of a complicated and complex system in a way that can be followed. I doubt I will retain much ,but now I have something to remember, and it helps with your start from dead cold vid.

[@kc4cvh]

The basic principles of the steam locomotive are so simple, a child of seven or eight could understand it. The details are so many and so inscrutable, they filled the careers of graduate engineers for the better part of a century. The problems, such as dynamic augment and the want for a condenser, were so intractable that they were never overcome.

[@Hyce777]

Brilliantly and succinctly put.

[@Psychli]

This is a great video, I've always been a big fan of trains, but didn't understand them at all! This answered a lot of questions that I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for the answers.

[@LittleRedToyota]

Nice explaination. I have some experience with woodburning locomotives, they're not really that different from coal burning ones. Our locomotives are coalburners, but they've been run on wood in times where there has been coalshortage (WW1 e.g.). One of our locomotives (UHB No 2. Urskog) has been rebuilt from coal/woodburner to oilburner and later from oilburner to biomass-briquette burner and is now considered a "green" steam engine.

[@H.pylori]

To us novices just beginning to learn the intricacies of how the steam locomotive works, this is a master class. I will never look at a "train" the same way again. Thank you! Thumbs up. Now, on to watch more. Already subbed.

[@carlycrawford2713]

I'm not exactly sure how I would fit on the scale. I like steam locamotives but I'm not extremely well versed. However I am a huge naval history buff so the engineering behind coal and oil fired boilers I've got down to a T

[@Hyce777]

But remember these are fire tube boilers, not water tube boilers... always slightly different. :)

[@carlycrawford2713]

@@Hyce777 there were early ships that used fire tube boilers. Like some of the wooden hulled paddle boats from when steam power was first used on naval vessels

[@Bearthedancingman]

Fantastic video! I learned so much! It's interesting how different locomotive engines are compared to stationary steam engines or steam cars. I'm more familiar with steam cars so learning the amazing engineering used on steam locomotives is fascinating. I have enough steam knowledge to appreciate the way they are doing things and to recognize just how very different the design principles are compared to steam cars.

[@michgeeson278]

Thanks for the in depth video, its interesting to note the terminology is like for like to the UK but here it is firmly the Regulator and Reverser, and personally never come across a siphoned firebox that seems like it'd help with efficiency but does it make the water level jump in the gauge glass? and yeah ima look forward to a similar video on contolls and breaking as this was really good.

[@Hyce777]

It does make the water level jump! There's a short on my channel of 491's glasses doing just that.

[@Hyce777]

@Alfred Wedmore oh wow. That's kinda crazy!

[@MrDibbsey]

​​@Alfred Wedmore it's a job we're still trained for, all locomotives on my railway carry 2 sets of spares. As they are replaced every washout anyway its rare they actually blow but its still something we need to know how to do.

[@rockywood4958]

Thank you so much for this. I’ve always understood the principles of steam power but never knew about specific systems. Awesome to get to nerd out.

[@elijahgreenberg2634]

Yes, please do an in-depth video on air brakes. I have been struggling to find a good, detailed video.

[@davidrayner9832]

Engineer of 40 years here. You'll be sorry you asked.

[@railmastergaming]

thank you SO MUCH for making this video! its been very helpful because im building a steam locomotive in one of my games, and a few parts i couldnt quite pin point. now im more familiar with a wider range of parts.

[@Hyce777]

What game? Would love to hear about it.

[@railmastergaming]

@@Hyce777 Oh, im building it in stormworks on steam. im not making a "real" locomotive its a custom build. shes a 4-8-4 Northern type, with green cylinder covers and boiler jacket. i can send you some pictures if you want? ive done some XML file modding for a few parts here and their lol

[@XDHwilks]

I took a look at an R class steam locomotive cab yesterday and was blown away by the amount of valves and gauges. I knew there were alot but actually being in the cab and seeing all of them in person is incredible. I also met a dog named Hudson in the cab. How he withstood the heat of the firebox I'm not sure.

[@Hyce777]

That's awesome! Yeah it's always crazy to see the bigger engines that have so many gauges and valves. Lol. My narrow gauge stuff feels like so much less!

[@nickmiller9024]

Love the 101 videos! Great video

[@andrewreynolds4949]

Very cool, I learned a lot. Most of my more detailed knowledge is in the boiler area, the valves and cylinders. You gave a lot of fascinating info on some of the other things I knew a lot less about. Thanks!

[@Ben31337l]

For me, it was more overall knowledge, but I do wonder about what influences a locomtovie's core design aspects (grate size, boiler size and cylinder side).

[@andrewreynolds4949]

@@Ben31337l Speaking as an enthusiast, It's usually weight limits on the infrastructure like bridges, needed power, and what speeds they are expected to run at. With speed the larger the wheel diameter the faster the effective running speed of the locomotive, but the less efficient the power is at pulling heavy loads. This is especially noticeable on lines with heavy grades. A good example of this is the GWR Hall and Grange classes in Great Britain, where the Grange class had smaller drivers and was used for heavier freight service than the Hall class. The boiler size is often dictated by weight limits, although it can be limited by other factors like cost to run and maintain. Grate size usually increases with the boiler size, simply because of limitations on ability to heat the boiler water effectively. Cylinder size and boiler size are also closely connected, because while the cylinders are responsible for putting out the power of the locomotive, there are limits on it set by the boiler's steam evaporation rate. If a locomotive needs lots of power for extended lengths of running, it will be more prone to running out of steam than one in less strenuous conditions and will have a slightly smaller limit on its cylinder sizes compared to its boiler. All of this put together helps explain why steam locomotive designs varied so widely. I'm not really an expert so this might not be the best explanation, but I hope it helps.

[@Ben31337l]

@@andrewreynolds4949 "Grate size usually increases with the boiler size, simply because of limitations on ability to heat the boiler water effectively." This is related to the typical calorific value of the fuel that you expect to burn. The calorific value of the fuel, grate size and boiler size are all interconnected from my standpoint. The entire thing is constrained by the MAM (maximum Authorised mass) for a given vehicle length. But given that, the cylinder size and maximum permitted boiler PSI normally determines the maximum HP that the locomotive is able to generate at any one time, whether it is able to put it down is another point entirely. When it comes to weight limits, you can usually get away with a narrower, longer boiler (Smaller radius boiler) spread the weight out over more axles like the LSWR Adams radial tank did. "Cylinder size and boiler size are also closely connected, because while the cylinders are responsible for putting out the power of the locomotive, there are limits on it set by the boiler's steam evaporation rate." I actually feel like this is a false equivellence really, because at a certain wheel RPM at full cutoff, you are going to reach the boiler's maximum HP at a certain RPM regardless of the size of the cylinder. At which point, the boiler will inevitabily run out of steam and the locomtovie reaches an equibrium until an external factor changes. Depending on how large the ratio of the boiler overall volume & PSI compared to the cylinder and the RPM of the driving wheels given the cutoff is wide open, dictates how soon you will run out of steam. And the above is not guarranteed as situations do change, as pressure decreases so does the overall HP of the locomotive menaing that it uses steam less, hence the equibrium.

[@andrewreynolds4949]

@@Ben31337l Yes, I was trying to offer a somewhat simple explanation

[@Ben31337l]

@@andrewreynolds4949 Well, I tend to go all out if you haven't noticed. Eventually though. (Some vehicles are faster than others), you get to the materials themselves, the properties they have and, honestly, that's how far the rabbithole goes.

[@CMDRSweeper]

Hate to say it Hyce... But you have superseeded Railroads Online and this is your BEST video so far. And I have only one thing to say..: MORE! While the game is interesting, you have access to a Fort Knox of gems that would be equally interesting to see and know of. I am a bit ashamed to say it, but I was level 1.5 understanding of steam locomotives when I started this video. What I do know is a bit of pressurization from aircraft and I am a bit intrigued that they are predecessors to a lot of things that are done in aircraft such as the domes / bulkheads not being flat to prevent blowouts. (Rear bulkhead on a 747 or passenger airliner is quite evident and would intrigue you I bet)

[@rouxipanda1053]

Im somebody that loves steam trains, i also draw a lot, and understanding how a steam locomotive works is actually helping to draw them (well of course depends on the model, my drawings are mostly based on french locomotives cuz im french lol) but im glad i decided to watch this video, very helpful !

[@rouxipanda1053]

Thinking about this video before going to sleep, and it reminded me that in one of our museum we actually have a steam engine cut in half to show how it works ! The model is a prototype Baltic Nord 3.1102 and you can quite see everything you explained in the video!

[@MK.5198]

I was least familiar with the frame and how all that works. Nice to have a good visual explanation for how everything is connected, and transfers force between the axles depending on track conditions.

[@LukeLovesTrains-Mr.RailYard]

Very helpful to a lot of people. Please do more educational videos about locomotives in the future.

[@thomaszaccone3960]

This is awesome. It really explains everything well. I am. 75 and remember steam engines still running in the early 1950s. Much more interesting than diesels.

[@patchrat1]

I find your videos very informative I appreciate your knowledge and passion

[@_darquan]

Thanks, man. Thanks to you I went over level 4.

[@bluescrew3124]

Great video! Thoroughly enjoyed!

[@HenrikLaurell]

Thank you so much for this! Please do more of these if you find other stuff to explain. Much appreciated /Henrik

[@daledennis8332]

Hi, I loved your video, lots of great detail and good explanations overall. One comment about your discussion of the injector: In practice (and I work with model live steam, but it works on the same principles) when operating an injector, you open the water source first, then apply the steam (or some injectors have a single valve that does both simultaneously). Opening the steam passage first will heat up the injector, which prevents it from functioning. Also, the the injector overcomes the boiler pressure because the latent energy of the steam is absorbed by the water as the steam forces the water through the injector cones. Using both forward and inverted venturi cones, the speed of the fluid is accelerated while the water absorbs the heat energy of the steam, then is decelerated, which converts the speed momentum into pressure, allowing the injector to overcome the boiler pressure. In the injectors I am familiar with, the overflow is not closed; rather, the steam being applied causes the water to be forced through the injector and to the boiler, hence the overflow stops. There is a valve in the injector that closes off the overflow path, but this is part of the injector's operational function. The operator only has to regulate the water flow so that the steam is able to pick up the amount of water being provided. Too little water and steam escapes through the overflow; too much water and the water is forced by the steam out the overflow. It is a rather delicate balance.

[@danmaardeze]

Awesome video. I was at level 3 with my knowledge but it was very interesting to learn about the stuff behind it. Especially the explanation about throttle vs johnson bar made me go "aah so that's how that works" And with this you have persuaded me, or excited me is a better word, to see if I can be a volunteer at the railway museum here. Ofcourse with what I know now I'll be driving their locomotives within my first week 😏

[@Hyce777]

That's awesome! Get involved. Though if you do, be humble ;) if you walk in saying you're going to run the locomotive within a week you probably won't. Actually experiencing these things is the way to really learn this stuff for real!

[@danmaardeze]

@@Hyce777 No, don't worry. I was just acting casual there. I'd say no if they would let me run anything like the 491 that soon, I'd probably break something too. I am not expecting to be handling that kind of equipment soon, if at all. I want to learn more about this kind of machinery and also do my part in the process. And I wanted to thank you and all the other creators of Railroads Online for creating such an amazing game. As I said before, it really sparked my interest for steam engines and steam technology in general. Keep up the good work!

[@12e3pi]

Liked returning again and again to the 'parsed' levels, we're learning a holistic semi-organic system here, of many different forces and limiting constraints. Another vid I would like to see, would follow this vid's levels, but would describe addressing the forces on pieces w/ necessary respective mass and weight. Viewing steam loco's with 1st level understanding is ..heck, they look 'heavy'.. and what an awesome design/break-through/manufacturing -evolution to make all this!

[@mrtrusty101]

Wow, amazing, and really interesting indeed, thank you for explaining it to us. I run boilers at work, natural gas fired, mechanical draft positive pressure (electric fan), we have 3 10kw, 32 bar, and 1 hot water boilers. I work at a milk factory.

[@scottwarwick7514]

Currently restoring a South African Railways Class 15A 5-8-2 No. 1970 'Milly' steam locomotive in my home city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was built by Beyer, Peacock and Company and delivered to South Africa in 1921. We’re rebuilding it from scratch, so it’s going to take a while, but very rewarding.

[@FinalLugiaGuardian]

1:12-1:18 You underestimate us level zero folks Hyce. Level Zero knowledge: It's a Locomotive... It goes "choo choo."

[@ajaxengineco]

Notes on L5 - Edward Bury, a British Locomotive Engineer in the 1830s/40s, made his fireboxes in a D-shape with a hemispherical top, sheathed in copper for the aesthetic. Because they were this shape they could stay up by their own geometry just like the boiler barrel, you didn't need any firebox stays. George and Robert Stephenson said that was unsafe and that it would blow up - but not one Bury firebox ever collapsed. Stephenson engines with square-plan fireboxes collapsed disastrously with alarming regularity. Two Bury engines survive - GS&WR No.36, a 2-2-2 in Ireland, and Furness No.3, 'Coppernob' an 0-4-0.

[@Hyce777]

oh weird. Never heard of that style of firebox. Cheers!

[@darrelljones5960]

Thanks for this info. you learn something new every day.

[@shawnr761]

#491 is a great gal, she does a wonderful job pulling the polar express at the Colorado RailRoad Museum

[@edde1715]

Nice video and good explanation. Failed at level 4 , but leaning something every day!

[@Hyce777]

What had you fail at level 4? Anything I can help explain?

[@edde1715]

I didn't know about how the superheater works, but after seeing your explanation, i understand it now.

[@manga12]

on the riviting aspect, most of the engines espcially from the 1920's on at large locomotive builders were squeeze riveted with a giant bull riveters, or what were called gap riveters that would press the rivets with usually 50 to 150 psi of hydrolic pressure after the boiler courses were bolted togather to hold it to pick it up with an overhead crane and brought over the gap riveter and a rivet stuck in its place and squeezed with more pressure then any human can give and its timed so it makes some degree of control and allowed to fully fill the joint, also not all stay bolts are drilled all the way though some only go 3/4ths but the purpose is the same, if it leaks in a hydrostatic it needs replaced and is torched out and a new one threaded in ran over with an air hammer and seal welded to thermicaly bond the bolt to the sheets of the firebox, also seams around things are calked meaning they use a blunt chisel to butt the metal of the two surfaces togather to seal it which I dont thing you adressed.

[@Hyce777]

All true, and yes, all things I did not address! I didn't know the piece about the gap riveter. That is cool!

[@manga12]

@@Hyce777 oh yes they had those since at least the early 1900's though I dont think the pennsy shops in fort wayne had one even though it was the altoona of the west for trains west of pitsburg, it looks like a giant u shaped c clamp or piano tuneing fork, some might have been air powered but the large boiler ones were hydrolic usually steam or water over hydralic to provide the force, they were also used in bridge and ship building when they were still riveting the plates till welding improved but I know the big three builders did, lima, alco, and baldwin as well as the altoona shops, the beachgrove shops, and the baltimore and ohio main base at the mount clare works in baltimore as well as their company head quarters, and I know I saw something in an old railway age mag on google read that talked about the brewster ohio shops for the wheeling and lake erie having one as well as its own flanging press for the firebox and locomotive parts, flanging presses were basicly 4 post forming presses, or sectional flangers like a mccabe or incremental bender that would bend the metal around a die in tigher fashion then could a 4 post, they could also be used as upsetters or like a press break as, they were basicly three pistons on it looking kikd of like a singer frame steam hammer, you had the part that held the die for the metal shape, and another vertical that would press the metal down over it and a horizontal ram that would finish the bend and iron it out usually around 50-250 tons of force they would put out, a maccabe used a toggle plate that would run off air that would slowly bend the metal around the die progressively, like flue plates or back heads for example, had a arm that looked like a rachet as the piston would push the toggle forward, like this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpPScq2Me92ge6M with gary bensman running it and some guys at the mid continent museume

[@burlingtoniowarailfanhomeo8368]

As a real fan who has been in the capital of locomotive this is helpful for me to learn stuff I didn't already know about the locomotives also I can't remember if Denver Rio grande is narrow gauge or standard where I'm from we have a narrow gauge 1 mile loop about 30 minutes away from me I volunteer there and it is my outlet for most of my railfanning and working as a railroad engineered dreams

[@Hyce777]

Very cool! The D&RG(W) was both standard gauge and narrow gauge.

[@leostask]

Thanks! Now I have a basic understanding of steam trains!👍

[@jimyeetast9335]

Thankyou hyce, 😊 love u bro!!

[@randywise5241]

That was very interesting and informative. You should be a teacher. Looks like I had about a 5th level knowledge on the locomotive. Until now. Very complex machines. The inventers were geniuses. So much to learn so much to do. Thanks. 👍👍👍

[@worldcomicsreview354]

I saw some guys driving a "model" traction engine at a show, once. It was tiny but, because of the power of steam, still carried two adults. They put it into reverse and it was like instant reverse, going straight from forwards to backwards.

[@frayziedaisy]

i would be as interested in automatic brakes as i am into this im learning so much till i watch you and i just got deep into steam trains since railroads online released i had it on the 2nd day xD

[@monsterenergyman1000]

Thank you sir I've always liked trains steam trains are my favorite this was very informative and makes me enjoy them that much more. I enjoy railroads online it has rapidly increased to one of my favorite games maybe even my top favorite:). I can't wait to see what y'all do with the game I'm excited to see the spline update when it becomes available.

[@MegaLokopo]

You are going to have so much watch time per view on this video, watching each part 2 or 3 times to understand it fully. Lol, keep up the good work.

[@buckduane1991]

UP 844 on average goes through 20-25 gallons of used diesel-oil every mile when going 75 mph with a loaded passenger train and modern diesel behind it set to notch 2 or 3 when running between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado. In the day, they used Bunker C oil (which was very thick) whereas today it’s typically used engine oil from diesel engines (locomotives, tractors, semi-trucks, Ford pickups, etc) which is a bit thinner. They use a 12’ dipstick at the front of the tender to check the level.

[@ValentineC137]

"On alot of engines, like the K-36's, they love it in the back!" ~Mark "Train Lover" "Hyce" Huber

[@Hyce777]

I can confirm that I have "given it" to a K-36 "in the back" :P

[@prassmancreations3168]

My brain need's a release valve after all of that lol. Thank you for this.

[@PikaPetey]

damn this guy knows his trains. I love learning about these construction techniques.

[@feynthefallen]

Ok, if that is 101, I don't know what 102 is gonna look like. Steam locomotive time travel basics? How to attach the flux capacitor? How to get enough power with a coal-driven boiler?

[@chetneedy2895]

Back in the steam days the track had to be almost in perfect shape because the locomotives were so top heavy they would turn over rather easily, hence the RR's stationed a 4 man track gang every 8 miles, and they were to protect those assigned 8 miles. If the train crew felt a (bad) spot they would throw of a msg written on a piece of paper attached to a fusee (flare) to alert the track gang, and of course it would be fixed immediately. Electric diesels, just the opposite, all the weight was on the bottom of locomotive so consequently the RR's eliminated a lot of maintenance gangs. When the steam locomotive reached 79 mph the brakes would set up and force the engine to stop wprking and stop

[@seanlonedriver]

I would love for you to do a video on automatic brakes, That would be awesome to hear you explain it. As a Former minor railroader Conductor/ locomotive engineer here, learning automatic brakes will mess with your mind, it did for me for a little bit, but its basically backwards of what you think it should work. Thats how I saw it, but absolutely crucial to understand in order to handle a train, especially during switching. I've experienced a couple of oh shit moments but was able to control it safely in time. Our whole yard was at a grade. it was only .36% most of the time with a couple of spots of 1%( looks and felt) no real idea. But as an engineer, Going east in the yard was up hill, going west was down hill. two sides of the yard, you had to handle the train completely different while switching. and brakes are your friend or your worst enemy depending on your understanding of handling a train, because to much set your going to stop, and you'll have to recharge, then continue the move. And its all about tonage! also how many engines are you running/ have operating the move. Though I only delt with Intermodel cars, Spines and well cars. but handling 9000 tons of international freight well cars with one locomotive going up hill is not fun. especially when you needed to stop and then the slack pulls you backwards downhill for a second. I Wish I could have had a chance to handle manafest cars more but we did build 16k trains though, usually 2x2x2 dp'd

[@Hyce777]

That's some serious business railroading! And yeah, all your points are right. Cheers!

[@smeagolplaysgames4517]

I knew 1-4 and 7-10 sooo.... level 7 technically? Lol great video!

[@NotABushFan1]

On the oil firebox, before you had enough steam to do its thing to the oil, did they compress air? I played with boilers at a hospital there in Denver years ago, so we used air until we had steam. I friend who played with trains there said one can to a stop and the water moved forward away from the firebox and when it came back, seconds later, parts of the locomotive were found blocks ways. You need to keep water covering the firebox all of the time. Thanks for a great video.

[@Hyce777]

Yup, compressed air to get it rolling. Shop air is helpful :)

[@The_Viscount]

So, as a naval historian, it's fascinating comparing the boiler setup on a locomotive to that in various ship types. The era I'm most familiar with is the 1890s to the 1950s. Of course, one of the biggest steam power revolutions was the transition from fire tube boilers (like you describe in level 2) to water tube boilers. This is second only to the development of the steam turbine as far as most naval historians are concerned. Now, in a ship, you are dealing with something far more analogous to the internal combustion engine for triple and multiple expansion steam engines than a locomotive. I mean, you're still transitioning linear motion to rotational motion, but you're dealing with multiple pistons on a single crank shaft. Additionally, a ship has the space to allow the same steam to be recycled multiple times before being exhausted. In a multiple expansion engine, the steam is let into the first piston, exhausted into the second larger piston to extract more energy, and then into a third or even fourth. Ships are big enough to allow this, but a train is far more limited. Of course, turbines are even more efficient for high revolutions, but are very large. Experiments were done for rail turbines, but, to the best of my understanding, weren't common. You mentioned that steam is dead largely due to maintenance. While true for rail, this is false in naval and electrical. The thing that killed steam wasn't just maintenance, but fuel efficiency, and power to weight ratios. In naval applications, both military and civilian, there still exist steam ships with incredibly high tech power plants. The biggest difference (besides construction and control) is the fuel. At this point, we're beyond wood, coal and even oil boilers. The fuel of choice for a naval steam engine is uranium. Nuclear reactors are the modern children of the steam engine. You still have a turbine using super heated steam, but the boiler is fueled by nuclear heat. This higher fuel efficiency comes at the cost of size (until recently, anyway), and trains are very limited in how big they can get. In terms of power and fuel efficiency, nuclear is as good as it gets. There was even a proposal for a nuclear steam locomotive (might be a Baldwin pitch). Fortunately, someone realized the terror that would result from a mobile, nuclear reactor hurtling off the rails and the project was never funded. On ships, on the other hand, you already have a mobile building. As the ocean is a big place, there's less concern about catastrophic failures. And yes, it's still a concern, but water is a very effective insulator for radiation, so a ship that sinks with a nuclear reactor is entombed in a large insulator limiting environmental impact.

[@Hyce777]

Great comment, great to hear from someone on the naval/power side of things. We did have some amount of compound locomotives back in the day (high pressure / low pressure). And yeah, the maintenance thing is mostly a railroad issue because of the nature of the beast. If turbines were more successful in rail applications perhaps we'd still have them but they weren't really.

[@The_Viscount]

@@Hyce777 Glad to contribute! Just discovering your channel and enjoying it. If you're interested, Drachinifel is a naval history youtuber who has a couple good videos on naval boiler and engine tech if you want to cross reference. In the end, diesel electrical is just smaller and lighter at the scales required compared to piston steam. Ships benefit from the square cube law where doubling the size triples your volume, so turbines are feasible (and nuclear fuel). Today, we can miniaturize a steam turbine to similar size as a diesel engine, but I don't know enough about engines to say if the benefits would financially outweigh the costs. It would be interesting to see a design for a computer controlled, oil or natural gas fired turbine locomotive.

[@timestarproduction5102]

Great video I learned even more about steam locomotives then I knew before watching. I'm working on building a Consolidation type locomotive in 7-1/2 gauge scale. I have a small video that briefly talks my progress and plains for it.

[@nathanielnau1700]

Aries useful to do a lot of things semis have air not only for the brakes and the horn but to help them shift into gear and out of gear. The air can also run windshield wipers. Air on a semi truck there's a few extra other things but not a lot

[@davidmexicotte9862]

This is a great video! thanks I was level 2 an hour ago...;)

[@leehansen4750]

Steam locomotives were the 747's of the last century! I wonder, did the engineers go through a check list before moving the engine? I tow a 5th wheel camper and when I first started towing I deviced a check list and I never had a problem like, no brakes, door left open inside, low tire pressure, burned our running lights, safety cable not connected hitch not locked before moving erc.. You get the idea!

[@Hyce777]

Yup! We do a visual inspection each fire up, hammer inspections to make sure nothing's worked loose, oil around, and do a set and release brake test before we go anywhere.

[@walteralter9061]

Excellent video brimming with explanatory power. Seems like this is all about Archimedes and leverage. The ancient Greeks had a sort of toy steam engine but never added the levers to make it do work. 2500 years later, Leonard Carnot's heat engine put the two together. I wonder why that step took so long?

[@Hyce777]

Machining precision, if I had to wager.

[@walteralter9061]

@@Hyce777 Enter Da Vinci, the Florentine Renaissance and perspective rendering; skyrocketed by Gutenberg's printing press that basically democratized knowledge and broke the stranglehold on human smarts dominated by various priesthoods, guilds, Mandarins, Brahmins, etc. Technology seems to be inherently democratizing, breaking top down control hierarchies and giving everyone access to cognitive tools formerly monopolized. Add a bit of mine shaft piston pump technology for removing water and mine cart rails and you wind up with the Canonball Express, lol.

[@erikziak1249]

I kept forwarding most of the video (not really new to me, but it was nice to be reminded of certain details), I wonder if I missed the part where you mentioned how water level indicators work, as maintaining the correct water level is very important. And how water level indicators cope with driving uphill or downhill, or accelerating and braking, which causes the water to slosh around the tank. Broken water level indicators are a hazard. Especially if both are broken. Such an engine is a rolling bomb waiting to explode.

[@Hyce777]

We didn't really talk about sight glasses or trycocks in this video. Can't cover it all, and I wanted to get a good selection of the "lesser known" stuff. Maybe for an add-on video down the road.

[@bw_gaming300]

About to start again I need to retain the information

[@CarlMarx]

I am now more steam nerd than I was 1 hour and 2 minutes ago.

[@wallywray5357]

Very informative

[@tomasvargas5981]

I just want to said, Thank you!, been a 78 very old, always want to know about steam engines been electrician, all my life, I appreciate your enthusiasm, for this locomotives, I'm the son of a steam locomotive, engineer in the early 1900 in Mexico, as I said I'm the ninth of ten kid not much time to learn, come to the US in the late sixty's all way's work work, now retired, and with the internet and thanks to your channel in KZbin I kind of have an idea of what my dad did back than. thank you again like you videos and your personality to present them god bless you..🛤🛤