It's more than burning coal.

September 13, 2014 11:36 AM

1944 Locomotive firing course. Traffic demands during World War II taxed American railroads to their capacity. Orders for new steam locomotives kept the builders busy. Along with the need for more locomotives came the need for men trained to operate them. Responding to this situation, the Education Department of the State of New York, through its State University system and the Bureau of Industrial and Technical Education, published a Suggested Unit Course in Locomotive Firing. The course was prepared by curriculum writers at Seneca Vocational High School in Buffalo, and was issued from Albany in 1944.
posted by pjern (7 comments total)

Great stuff, thanks.

The locomotive they use as their example would seem to be a ALCO 4-8-2 "Mohawk".

(And I'm not even all THAT big a trainspotter -- but (...back when America still built stuff...) my uncle AND my father-in-law worked at ALCO's Schenectady works, my grandfather worked briefly for NY Cental; so some of this stuff seems to be in my blood....)
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 12:44 PM on September 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Thank-you. This will be a nice modern counterpoint to my Lindsay reprint of Modern Locomotive Construction (1892), the EMD F59-PH Operator's Manual, and of course my mint copy of the Book of Rules for the New York, New Haven and Hartford RR.

Not that I'm obsessed with trains or anything.
posted by Artful Codger at 1:30 PM on September 13, 2014 [3 favorites]

Casey Jones

Casey Jones
posted by bukvich at 2:12 PM on September 13, 2014

Fire up 611!

"611 has moved to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC for a complete restoration, thanks to support from Norfolk Southern and many donors worldwide. Her fans are invited to visit the NCTM and watch the progress! Once completed, 611 will return to its home here at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and begin pulling excursions in Spring 2015."
posted by jjj606 at 5:00 PM on September 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm always interested in other people's jobs, especially now (almost) defunct jobs like this. This is extremely interesting.
posted by sfred at 8:18 PM on September 13, 2014

Apparently pjern has a little personal experience in this area, as cited previously.
posted by TedW at 10:06 AM on September 14, 2014

I just learned more about automatic stokers than I never knew I didn't know.
posted by mikelieman at 5:06 AM on September 15, 2014