Illinois Railway Museum Blog

How was the boiler tube loading done in the steam days? Did the railroads have a size challenged boilermaker's apprentice crawl into the boiler to guide the tubes or was there another way of doing it?

#1 chalres kronenwetter on 2012-12-16 18:23

Charles, Suspect it would have been done the way we did it. 1630 is actually pretty generously sized. Any grown man who is reasonably agile and not too broad in the hips or chest could do it. At 65 I fail on the agility test ! Some others like the Shay would be a good deal smaller. My direct knowledge is more of the UK than the US but I suspect it was much the same. Boys started at 13 and at that age you could be fitted into very small spaces that HSE would take a very dim view of these days!. Nigel

#1.1 Nigel Bennett on 2012-12-16 18:39

Are the tubes in the Shay the same size as in 1630 or are they different sizes and how many need to be replaced?

#2 Logan on 2012-12-17 19:28

Logan, The Shay tubes are the same diameter as 1630 but shorter. I think it has about 150 and all are currently out and will have to be refitted. Nigel

#2.1 Nigel Bennett on 2012-12-17 19:56

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