The oil is taken on the tender from the service tank through a crane similar to water cranes. At terminals these cranes are frequently some distance apart but at fuel stations on the road the water and oil cranes are usually so located that water and oil may be taken at the same time, resulting in a minimum consump tion of time for taking fuel and water. There is always danger of explosion resulting from igniting the gases coming from the oil and hence precaution is essential in oil handling. Proper sign boards are placed wherever necessary. Some places are simply marked "Danger—keep lighted torches or lanterns_ away," at other places more elaborate signs which give reasons for pre caution are evident. To lessen this danger to a certain minimum, the flash point is specified in purchasing oil. The oil must also be free from dirt and water that would cause poor combustion.
The amount of atomizer required is an item that requires judgment. One locomotive requires little steam, another more to properly atomize the oil. In connection with some recent tests, a pressure gauge was placed in the atomizer line next to the burner on two freight locomotives, the one carrying 200 pounds, the other 225 pounds boiler pressure. The atomizer steam is supplied by a g.-inch pipe line, the steam being regulated by means of a 3A-inch globe valve. The average pressure at the burner for dif ferent_valve openings was as shown in Table 19.
These locomotives had Booth burners with standard h-inch steam atomizer opening." The Southern Pacific Railway has a large number of oil burning locomotives in service on its lines. The Southern Pacific uses the Von Boden-Ingalls burners shown in fig. 66. In front of the oil outlet is placed a corrugated lip, which retains any drippings from the burner, and is said to assist in atomizing the oil. The burner is placed in the front end of the fire-pan. Ad mission of air takes place through a number of horizontal tubes, placed under the burner, and these tubes can be covered by an external damper operated from the cab. The Von Boden-Ingalls burner is so arranged that oil may be-taken in either at the top or bottom of the oil chamber, as is the more convenient. The • opening not in use is closed by a plug.
Fig. 67 shows the arrangement of oil-burning locomotive equipment as used by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It was formerly their practice to place the burner in the rear end of the furnace and burn the oil under a brick arch. In service, however, when the engine was being heavily worked, the draft frequently lifted the flame over the arch, thus causing incomplete combustion and an excessive amount of smoke. The horizontal draft ar rangement with burner placed in the front end of the furnace has been found in practice to give very much better results.
Mr. Charles E. Kern is authority for the following state ment : "The 80,000,000 barrels of fuel oil now used annually on the steam railroads of the country is reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission as,20,000,000 tons of coal and is equiva lent to one-seventh, speaking roughly, of the entire fuel require ments of the railroads of the United States. This estimate is made upon the basis of statistics for the first six months of 1919. During these six months the steam railroad freight service used 35,302,800 tons of coal or equivalent in fuel oil. The passenger service used 14,770,000 tons, switching service 10,187,000 tong, mixed special service 1,001,000 tons and stationary plants 8,200, 000 tons. Double these figures and we have a total of about 140,000,000 tons of coal or its equivalent in fuel oil, and of the entire amount 20,000,000 tons was, in fact 80,000,000 barrels; of fuel oil. Thirty-six of the great steam railroad systems of the United States use in whole or in part fuel oil. The Central Western Division consumes annually about 21,500,000 barrels of fuel oil. This division includes the Santa Fe, Chicago, Burlington Quincy, Northwestern & Pacific, Los Angeles, Salt Lake, Rock Island, Colorado Southern, Fort Worth & Denver City, Southern Pacific and the Arizona Eastern. The Northwestern region con sumes about 6,250,000 barrels of oil as follows : Chicago & Northwestern, 1,000,000 barrels; Chicago, klilwaukee & St. Paul, 1,250,000 .barrels ; Great Northern, 1,900,000 barrels; Southern Pacific„ 1,300,000 barrels ; the Spokane, Portland & Seattle, 750, 000 barrels ; and the Northern Pacific, 275,000 barrels. The New York Central normally uses approximately 4,000,000 barrels of fuel oil annually and the Delaware & Hudson about 1,800,000 bar rels. The Long Island road uses fuel oil. The Florida East Coast requires about 1,000,000 barrels ; the Wichita Falls & Northwestern requires about 1,250,000 barrels ; the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, 1,250,000 barrels; Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, 7,000,000 barrels; the Galveston Wharf, 250,000 barrels; Trinity & Brazos Valley, 900,000 barrels; Morgan's Louisiana & Texas, 6,000,000 barrels ; Houston, Belt Terminal, 750,000 barrels ; Texas & Pacific, 10,000,000 barrels ; Gulf Coast Lines, 5,000,000 barrels ; St. Louis Southwestern, 5,000 barrels; Kansas City Southern, 1,000,000 barrels; International & Great Northern, 1,500,000 barrels; 'Fort Worth Belt Line, 50,000 barrels; St. Louis & San Francisco, 900,000 barrels ; Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway of Texas, 3,000,000 barrels, and the Gulf, Colo rado & Santa Fe, 80,000 barrels."