Yeah, that ought to work!

[webenda]

OK, but where's the fuel - the resource; that is, the tender? Once coupled to the engine, he'd have a place to stand plus a reservoir of coal or wood immediate to the engine from which to draw fuel to burn. From where is he drawing the fuel to burn? I quick-watched the clip and did not see a source for whatever he is burning in the firebox. What is he burning?
daMurph

Not all steam locomotives pulled their coal/oil/wood and water behind them in a tender. Some locomotives carried fuel and water on the locomotive. The locomotive in the video is an 0-4-0T or 0-4-0 Tank engine. There is a coal gate in the back of the coal bunker that lets coal spill out into the cab.

[chuck]

If you fast forward to about 4:20-4:25 you can see the "stoker" sitting on top of the tank with his coal pile and a hammer. Her breaks up the football sized chunks into something smaller and pushes the coal into a feed tube down to the "fireman" who actually feeds the boiler. If the fireman is short, he can stand on the platform and use the slightly oversized beach shovel to feed the boiler. The guys on the front are literally "brakeman". They throw the switches on the numerous switch backs to climb the mountain and they bounce up and down on the "hand" brakes to keep the train's speed under control and/or applying sand to the rails by hand for traction.

The rail line/trip was feature on an episode of Extreme Machines titled "Monster Trains". There were six segments. Darjeeling Hill Railway, the Rovos rails South African trip to Victoria Falls, Eureka running on the Durango and Silverton line in Colorado, Ross Rowland's C&) 614, a CP rail unit drag with GE ACC head end power over the Rockies, and a visit to the Crewe Heritage center in the UK with Pete Waterman. Great video!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Wayne (loved the labels !) and Chuck, Thank you, both. I had no idea such an arrangement existed. Very interesting to learn.

Doesn't seem like the Coal Bunker would have held much coal, so I suppose they didn't use that locomotive for long trips, huh.
Murph

[webenda]

Doesn't seem like the Coal Bunker would have held much coal, so I suppose they didn't use that locomotive for long trips, huh.
Murph

The locomotive was designed to make the trip from Siliguri to Darjeeling, a distance of 50 miles.
The coal bunker holds 1,764 lbs of coal. The locomotive burns 39 lbs of coal per mile. Maybe it can make it on one coal load.

Water is a bigger problem than coal. The saddle tank for water holds 480 gallons. The locomotive uses 45 gallons per mile. That gives a range of 10.6 miles. It cannot make the distance without at least 5 water stops. There are 11 stops between end points. I suspect they stop for water at every stop.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Interesting, indeed. Thanks, Wayne.
Murph

[rogruth]

The loco at the start of the clip seemed to be a one man operation.
Then the loco was changed to one with a driver and fireman.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

The loco at the start of the clip seemed to be a one man operation.
Then the loco was changed to one with a driver and fireman.

The whole thing , somehow, seemed painful, unnecessarily cumbersome and complicated and crowded. I mean, it's not as though they did not have other railroads throughout the world to learn and copy from. Yet, given a possible paucity of resources and funds that may have been available to them, they seem to have concocted a contraption that, at least, works and gets a job done.

Perhaps I'm being too cynical and/or occidental in my viewpoint?

[Roy]

Read all about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_Himalayan_Railway

[webenda]

The loco at the start of the clip seemed to be a one man operation.
Then the loco was changed to one with a driver and fireman.

The whole thing , somehow, seemed painful, unnecessarily cumbersome and complicated and crowded. I mean, it's not as though they did not have other railroads throughout the world to learn and copy from. Yet, given a possible paucity of resources and funds that may have been available to them, they seem to have concocted a contraption that, at least, works and gets a job done.

Perhaps I'm being too cynical and/or occidental in my viewpoint?

1. What I presented is for tourists. The real trains are diesel powered and very efficient.
2. It was state of the art in 1879 and they did pattern it after successful mountain climbing railroads of the time.
3. It still does exceedingly well at what railways have never been very good at--climbing mountains!
4. After 139 years in operation, it still serves the same purpose as it did in 1879, moving tea to market.

[webenda]

The loco at the start of the clip seemed to be a one man operation.
Then the loco was changed to one with a driver and fireman.

I think the man who fired the engine at the beginning moved the train to the coaling area by himself. The train seemed to gain more crew members as it went along. By the time it came back downhill there were five. Chuck explained what their jobs are.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback, guys. Wayne, I appreciated the additional information, and Roy, that link provided a picture that gave a sense of the proportions of that train, featured alongside a fruit market in a street. I find it always enjoyable (not being foolish enough to "despise wisdom and instruction)" to learn about places and things I will likely never see in person.
P.S. I guess that guy sitting atop the coal doesn't mind being out in the rain, even when there's a good storm. The steam locomotives I've seen have the cab roof extended far enough toward the trailing tender that the man providing the coal to the firebox is under its cover, at least a pretty good bit. (I'd include a photo of what I'm talking about but can't any further. But we can see the locomotive-to-tender sheltering roof arrangement on p. 76, Apr.11, on the "Waiting for the Train" topic.)

[webenda]

Cab view inside DR120-338-9

Looks like a steering wheel.

[chuck]

Looks like a steering wheel.

Could be. Maybe he can take it off road (er track)

More likely a notch/throttle control.

[robert.]

I saw a few locomotives on display in Vienna. One had a cab inside almost identical to that. My best interpretation of our guides answer was. It is a voltage increaser. I got a little lost with his next few statements. I think he was saying there are several transformers onboard. Each click of the wheel would up the voltage to a speed control (throttle) Photobucket has my photo of this held hostage. If i can get to them i'll post one

[chuck]

Yes, its is a device for setting power to the traction motors. In European locomotives there can be more than 8 "notches".