Mechanical stokers: When did these become prevalent, just before the diesel era, or long before that? Some railroads had
them, some didn't, old locos were hand fired, newer ones not? Some railroads had only stoker engines, some had none, or....what? With stoker engines, the role of the fireman changed, for the better for him. One of the Great Western's sugar beet factory switching tank engines had a large funnel-like container that rose up behind the cab and looked like it was a gravity feed for coal for the loco. I thnk their fleet of these NE of Denver had only one man crews, the one-armed-
paper-hanger, doing all jobs at once. As a diesel thought, I ASSUME the diesels that operated in that kind of industrial setting, just switching a plant, and not out on the main, could escape the two man crew rule that spawned the 44 tonner, or did 80 ton or whatever diesels in plant yards also have to carry a two man crew?
