Where's That Owners Manual?

Of course young folks are being trained!

The steam locomotive is a beautiful example of form following function. When you're around it enough, you start to see the logic of the mechanics. You can trace piping to see where it goes and what it does. Sure, there are some things in the photo above that I'm not familiar with, but I suspect if I was around it enough, I could figure out what stuff does.

electroliner, here's a link to a page on twelve coupled steam locomotives (including the UP 9000) which has more information about the locomotive in photo you posted.  Its an Austrian class 97 2-12-2T rack and adhesion locomotive, which were the largest of their type in the world.

Twelve-coupled Locomotives

Stuart

It looks as though it's a condenser locomotive too. 

Stuart

I didn't think anyone would be interested in the specifics but I was wrong apparently. In response to a younger generation being trained, what form does that take? I know that the squaring of the drive takes far more talent than normally is assumed, and I doubt on my best day I could figure it out by absorption or otherwise due to my brain cells withering away... It seems like as much of an art as a science. I wonder aloud just how many qualified steam mechanics there are either of the shade tree variety or formally trained by a background in some engineering discipline...?

As a rapidly aging baby boomer, I am simply glad that there are a growing number of operating steam engines to continue an interest in the tradition however it is passed on.

There are many books still around from the "steam days" such as the ICS training & education books, which were used as part of the Machinist Apprenticeship Programs. A real   "union card carrying" Machinist should have any problems learning about steam locomotive running gear. There is still a VERY active Boilermaker craft/union, and any High Pressure Vessel Certified Welder/Boilermaker, shouldn't have much problem learning about steam locomotive boiler either. It all just takes the desire and interest to learn.  

Steam Locomotives are fire-in-tube style boilers, which are very commonly used as power and small scale generation boilers in industry.

"OK Guys keep it simple."  Famous last words.  Thanks for 

posting an incredible photo.

Billy C

Wow!  That is quite a photo.  All I know is, instruction manual or not, I would not reach in there to repair/service anything until I knew it was completely shut down and "turned off"!

OK, what is rack and adhesion?

A "rack railroad" has a rack between the rails and the gear driven by a center mounted cylinder powers the locomotive. An adhesion railroad has no rack between the rails, and is powered by the adhesion of the drive wheels to the rail head. Thus a "rack and adhesion" railroad uses both methods for powering the train.

thanks hot water.

Same as it has always been done: the more experienced heads pass on their knowledge to the younger folks.

In addition, as Hot Water mentioned, you can still get the old textbooks that show very clearly pretty much everything you may want to know about steam engines and their operation. I myself have collected about 50 or these ancient texts, some going back to the 1890s, and I add to it whenever I can. The ICS courses are classics and I refer to them often.