On Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:07:42 +0100, Peter Masson wrote:

"Andy Breen" wrote

Reading this prompts another thought, regarding the development of
locomotives in the earlies. I've not seen it listed before, but surely
one of the major advantages of a separate firebox (as adopted by
Stephenson's works from Rocket onwards, though not by some other
builders until much later [1]) is that it would allow the fire to be
dumped reasonably easily (as above), whereas with a flue-type grate the
whole fire would have to be raked out through the back of the box
across the footplate. Not idea, if the feed-pump has packed in, you're
miles from help and the water level is dropping...

It also depends on the crew knowing what to look for, and what to do if
something goes wrong.
http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/
current_investigations_register/110703_Kirklees.cfm

Whist the fusible plug did its job, the delay by the crew in dumping the
fire may well have caused damage to the boiler.


I'm pretty sure the (main-line) use of flue-type fireboxes went out
before fusible plugs were introduced (the only case of the two
coming together on main-line locomotives that I can think of is that batch
of L&Y 0-8-0s which had the corrugated marine-type "fireboxes"). They
didn't last long like that.

--
Andy Breen, not speaking on behalf of Aberystwyth University "The
internet, that wonderful tool for bringing us into contact with things
that make us wish we could scrub our brains out with dental
floss.." (Charlie Stross)