Fuel size

[USS ALASKA]

The below is a photo originally posted by @tmh10 on this thread;

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/atlanta-georgia-railroad-yards.83468/#post-634258

@AndyHall has an enlargement of the Loco and tender further down the thread.

What caught my eye was the length of the wood in the tender. Is it a distorted view or are some of the pieces of wood 3 feet long or more? Loco fire boxes were deep enough to handle that long a log? For some reason I thought they would be shorter...

Thanks for the help,
USS ALASKA

 

[AndyHall]

I think the 3-foot timber would be all right. I gather that the fireboxes tended to be not only long, but deep, too.

 

[jgoodguy]

Looks like this fire box is 6 feet or so long.

 

[ikesdad]

Those switch points don't look kosher.

 

[rebelatsea]

Those switch points don't look kosher.

the one at the bottom right does look odd, is there a copy of this photo without the black ink scrawl? I cant make out the details of the switch mechanism.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Thank you gents - guess this would cut down (pun intended) on the time spent sawing...

USS ALASKA

 

[DaveBrt]

John White, A History of the American Locomotive, 1830-1880, records locomotive Talisman, built 1857 by the New Jersey Machine Co. He takes from Weissenborn's American Engineering, 1857 many dimensions, including the following:

Length of fire box 4 ft 5 in (proof, he says that it was a wood burner)
Length of fire box for bituminous coal-burner, to produce the same quantity of steam, 5 ft 9 in
Length of fire box for anthracite coal-burner, 6 ft, with the addition of a combustion chamber, projecting some 24 in into the barrel of the boiler
One cord of wood (dry pine) to run 60 miles
Tender was of 2,000 gallon capacity

The locomotive was a typical Paterson wagon top of the mid-1850's.