SOME EFFECTS OF INJUDICIOUS BOILER-FEEDING.
Meanwhile, with an engine operated in this fashion, the train will probably stand for fifteen minutes, till sufficient steam is raised to proceed with.
The fact that newly injected water does not immediately rise in temperature to the heat indicated by the pressure-gauge, can also be tested by filling up a boiler with an injector while the engine is at rest on a side-track. Working an injector causes greater circulation than feeding with a pump, and the water goes into the boiler at a higher temperature. For this reason the injector is superior to the pump as a feeding-medium. But, if the engineer pulls out directly after filling up the boiler with an injector, the steam will go down a few pounds, no matter how good a fire may be on the grates.
On level roads, the pump or injector should be set to supply the needs of the boiler; and a skillful engineer can regulate this so well, that the foot-cock has seldom to be moved. The best results in getting trains over the road, and in preserving boilers, are obtained in this way. The runner who adopts the intermittent system of feeding is always in trouble, or, as the boys say, “he is always nowhere.”