The sections below, published in 1952, look at the coal-powered steam locomotive as it reached the practical limits of its design in Canada and the US. Locomotives usually had what one could call a 'traditional company range' (enshrined in collective agreements with labour) ... limited by the coal its tender could carry. It is interesting to learn that ashpan capacity was another factor which affected range - when certain types and grades of coal (eg. cheap bituminous) were used.
It is probably hard for most people today to imagine how filthy the world of steam locomotives was - from all the dust and impurities in its burning 'rock-form petroleum' and from all the externally applied or bearing-exuded lubricants necessary to keep all the heavy duty reciprocating and spinning metal parts from seizing up. One would not wear one's best white shorts when working as a fireman, coal tower operator, or ashpitman. Rolly Martin worked in two of these jobs during the steam era.While diesel fuel is not particularly clean when burned, it is kept within a usually-sealed system and propelled along to detonation by mechanical or electrical fuel pumps. Today, vehicle bearings are carefully sealed away from the road dirt.
Following the text below I have included diagrams and advertisements for mechanical stokers from the 1950 Locomotive Cyclopedia.
