Steam Locomotive Terminals Operations

[tompm]

No, Charlie it is not. I am not actively working on the steam locomotive terminal, however, most of the parts are still on the layout. I jumped to a couple of other areas I could make quick progress on for the time being. I needed to see how Union station and the city would fit into the layout and how much room there is for the terminal. At some point I will be getting back to the terminal.

[Charlie B]

I got a great reply from my friend His reply is in the message below. I have known Michael for 30 years and he has worked on many mainline steam locomotives and has had the good fortune to have been taught by the finest people involved with steam. He currently is the head of maintenance at the Heber Valley.  I copied this from a message and if there are formatting errors they are mine, not Mikes. 
Charlie

[Charlie B]

Charlie, the answer is - it depends.

Are you building a terminal for a short line, is it an intermediate servicing, or is this a large mainline servicing terminal? How large of a terminal typically dictates how many tracks are needed and how the flow of motive power flows through servicing.
there is not any set hardline of how the servicing order proceeds. But typically, the first act is dumping ash. The sand coal and water are usually all basically in the same general location. But the exact arrangement goes back a bit to how busy and big or small the whole facility is.
If I had to put it a sequence order - 1. Dump ash. 2. Wash / rinsing of the running gear. 3. Grease / lubrication. 4. Coal & Sand. 5. Water.

Then the locomotive is ready to be set out on the ready track or be put into the shop.


       

Michael
I don’t have a scanner at home, but here is layout of large terminal for handling steam.

Michael
This next image shows the layout arrangement of the PRR at East Altoona
   

Michael
Here’s one on IC
       

You can in looking at those various layouts, the size of the facility various with how many locomotives need to be cycled through.


A study of the drawings will also reveal the sequence order of how each railroad chose to approach the servicing aspects.

[tompm]

Thanks Charlie and tell Michael thanks. There is a great deal of information and it is going to take some time to digest. I need to finish a few things with the city area before I move back to the terminal.

[dave1905]

The Operations Special Interest Group (OpSig) had a presentation last week on engine servicing. Here is a link to it on You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvm4dRfxUT0