Charles Weston's response to Alan (message #91123) is spot on. Black smoke was an indication the fireman was wasting company money in the form of unburned coal. In the "additional useless details department": my 1923 edition of Locomotive Catechism states: "Smokeless firing with soft coal is practicable but until firemen are severely punished or fined for producing smoke, they will be apt to leave the (firebox) door open, overload the grate and do other things which produce smoke". The book then goes on to describe in great detail "smokeless firing with soft coal."
More useless stuff (but being a geek I find it interesting); in 1923 at least, smokeless firing was considered impossible with oil. "Oil does not perfectly vaporize with the residuum causing smoke and soot; further, conditions change so often (that) perfect combustion cannot be maintained." The soot from oil fired locomotives would eventually coat flues reducing heat transfer enough to effect operation. The fireman would then turn on the blower (maximize the draft) and send a shovel full of sand into the firebox to "sand blast" the flues clean - what generally erupted from the stack was some serious black smoke, many times a vertical drumstick!! Of course poor firing meant more sand, and more sand meant shorter flue life; hastening a trip to the back shop... Poor firemen were not held in high regard by the workers in the locomotive shops. One other piece of flotsam and jetsam - many of the steam era photos you see have loads of black smoke because the photographer pre-arranged it with the crew. Even going so far as to have someone hold up a sign en route saying: "Make Smoke". Locomotive crews were probably friendlier "in the day", but some railroads and communities did institute fines for "excessive" smoke... Okay, enough, I'll kick it back to the toy train experts... <G> Jim Kindraka Plymouth, WI
