What color is the steam coming from the smokestack/chimney of a steam powered train? Black, white, or gray?
Steam Powered Trains
- Thread starter Calliopenjo
- Start date
The steam is pure water vapour, so it appears white. If the driver vents the steam to ease the pressure, it really shoots out and creates a tremendous hissing sound that is quite deafening at close quarters.
I'm going to disagree! A steam-powered train is powered by the high pressure of the steam. Steam is made by heating water. The heat for that process comes from burning wood or burning coal. Burning wood or coal creates dark dirty smoke. It is true that white steam comes out of a smokestack, but dirty grey/black smoke comes out too!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive#Headlights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive#Headlights
The smoke from the coal burnt in the furnace and the steam from the boiler don't merge. They are seperate systems. So you get pure white steam vented from the engine, and smoke will escape from a seperate chimney, usually located towards the rear of the engine compartment.
Steam comes out of the boiler. Steam also comes out of the smokestack, along with the coal/wood smoke. So I'm just saying that the stuff coming out of the smokestack isn't pure steam, and isn't just white.
I always thought it depended upon the fuel they were burning. If coal, the smoke would have a gray quality to it, if wood the smoke would be darker. I'm curious about the fuel being used in the first pic that waylander posted, 'cause it sure it white.
The smoke stack for most locomotives were located on the front end of the train, although there are exceptions. Steam would sometimes be vented through the same stack, although more frequently it would have a separate system. And steam would also escape from the cylinders that turned the wheels.
The smoke would be vented from the fire box, which covers the bottom layer of the locomotive. Over the fire box would be the piping for the steam. The fireman was responsible for assuring that the fuel for the fire was used appropriately.
Smoke color would vary from a light gray to a dark black, depending upon:
The Pennsylvania Railroad, among others, has a chart indicating smoke color. If you came into the yard with your smoke too dark, you could expect a meeting with the trainmaster. He would not be giving you a compliment. Too many meetings and you'd be finding a job you could do better.
Smoke was a big problem in urban environments. This is why the rail line from New Haven, CT to Washington, DC was electrified. Tunnels also could cause big problems.
By the way, the smoke from diesel locomotives also can change color.
Best of luck,
Jim Clark-Dawe
The smoke would be vented from the fire box, which covers the bottom layer of the locomotive. Over the fire box would be the piping for the steam. The fireman was responsible for assuring that the fuel for the fire was used appropriately.
Smoke color would vary from a light gray to a dark black, depending upon:
- experience of the fireman
- heat of the fire
- fuel type
- work load of the engine
- inappropriate spread of the fuel
- engineer's competence
- how long the fire had been burning
- efficiency of the design of the engine
The Pennsylvania Railroad, among others, has a chart indicating smoke color. If you came into the yard with your smoke too dark, you could expect a meeting with the trainmaster. He would not be giving you a compliment. Too many meetings and you'd be finding a job you could do better.
Smoke was a big problem in urban environments. This is why the rail line from New Haven, CT to Washington, DC was electrified. Tunnels also could cause big problems.
By the way, the smoke from diesel locomotives also can change color.
Best of luck,
Jim Clark-Dawe
I always thought it depended upon the fuel they were burning. If coal, the smoke would have a gray quality to it, if wood the smoke would be darker. I'm curious about the fuel being used in the first pic that waylander posted, 'cause it sure it white.
That's a modern locomotive with extensive pollution controls built in, as well as running under a very light load.
Best of luck,
Jim Clark-Dawe
You are mixing two things, smoke and steam. The smoke stack releases smoke. the color depends on what's burning. Black smoke for heavy oil to white smoke for hard coal.
Steam is occasionally released from the boiler to keep the pressure within safety levels. the steam is invisible but immediately turns to white water vaper.
Steam is occasionally released from the boiler to keep the pressure within safety levels. the steam is invisible but immediately turns to white water vaper.
I still recall the thrill back in the late 1940's/early 50's of just standing in awe beside rows of these enormous beasts waiting at London's King's Cross platforms before departing for the North.
Or standing back from the tracks while the Bournemouth Belle and other steam expresses thundered past on the twin fast lanes through New Malden station on the way to and from the South Coast.
Or standing back from the tracks while the Bournemouth Belle and other steam expresses thundered past on the twin fast lanes through New Malden station on the way to and from the South Coast.
I have the same sort of memories dating from the late 40s when my Boy Scout troop visited the local railroad station in my town. The train we went through wasn't in a museum setting, either. That puppy was a working engine.
johnnysannie
Banned
True steam train smoke is white; I love steam trains and have ridden several of the vintage lines that operate in various places around the US. On one excursion, the conductor gave a very informative talk and explained it all in great detail (which I won't because others have explained it) but he did say more than once that "Hollywood loves black smoke" and most often uses such to portray steam trains which is false.
I am the great-granddaughter of a railroad engineer whose sons all followed in his footsteps; my grandmother always said she would have if she had been a boy. One of my great uncles even taught me the rudimentary basics of driving a steam train when he was allowed to drive his last engine on a specially built "Short Line" into a permanent place in a park in my home city.
I am the great-granddaughter of a railroad engineer whose sons all followed in his footsteps; my grandmother always said she would have if she had been a boy. One of my great uncles even taught me the rudimentary basics of driving a steam train when he was allowed to drive his last engine on a specially built "Short Line" into a permanent place in a park in my home city.