I am curious to know if anyone has been crazy enough to model a steam engine explosion. What method did you use? How did it look? I had this crazy idea for one of those b-man 4-8-4 northerns that destroy themselves, using a CO2 cartridge.. Just a crazy thought at the moment....... Sent from my Commando
And that's not even a bad one. The ten coupled engines book by Robert Church talks about how an SP class 4-10-2 was estimated to have released about 1 million horsepower of energy when the boiler exploded.
WOW!!! Talk about an idea for a Sci-Fi movie!! Wonder if that was from an actual low water event,or a failure of the front sheet or backhead..I'm kinda thinking the front of the boiler blew out through the smokebox.. A D&H Challenger blew up near here once.A steam loco boiler is only attached at the cylinders to allow for expansion.It was low on water,the entire boiler blew off the frame.Since it was only attached at the front,it somersaulted hundreds of feet off the ground,and landed hundreds of yards away.The crew was,of course,killed instantly.Luckily,the boiler landed on the tracks,and helped stop the train.
Looks like the front flue sheet went away for some reason. For certain the pressure release took things forward. I wonder if there is an accident report available somewhere. I've never seen anyone, in any scale, model a boiler failure. I've seen steamers in scrap yard scenes, boilers intact.
If you look closely at that pic,the flues are what's just hanging out of the front like a tongue,the superheaters are the tubes that are all over the place..
Boiler explosions are not pretty and usually kill the crew. New York Central Hudson 5450 experienced one at Canastota, NY back in the 1940s. There was nothing left on the frame and running gear. The entire boiler was a long way down the road. The most amazing thing was the engine was rebuilt and ran again.
One of the milder ones I have seen photos of. On several the force was such that building adjacent to the loco suffered considerable damage and the only thing identifiable of the loco was the drivers and cylinders.. I believe the worst one that occurred was when the loco was directly adjacent to a passing passenger train and the injuries and causalities were in the hundreds. The NP was reported to have suffered one with one of the Challengers. The same loco had suffered several derailments and been repaired before the failure. My candidate to do one would also be one of the old Bmann locos with the old prone to cracking white gears. Some thin foil that could be blackened and some thin styrene tube or brass tube that can be blackened would do well. Set the remains, say of a 2-6-2 on a flatcar with cribbing, and the running gear on another flat, on a weed overgrown track behind the shop.
Hmm... I am thinking of actually 'blowing one up' to see what happens. And then go from there. I have given my b man 484 to my brother. He said ha par a surprise for me this thanksgiving. I have a feeling, thats what my surprise is. I tried to dispose of it once. Time to do it the right way..... ha ha ha Sent from my Commando
The SP boiler explosions (from a crown sheet failure) that I've seen pictures of usually only left a set of wheels on the tracks. Boiler landing zone was usually reported to be up to 1/4 mile away. There used to be a book of train wrecks and boiler explosions out...it might have been Train Wrecks by Robert Reed (but I'm not sure). Here's some examples: This was a cab forward. Parts estimated to weigh between 14000 and 16000lbs were blown 324ft diagonally forward and 288ft to right of the track.
Jeff, that book sounds familiar. I seem to remember a book that had an SP loco (I think it was a 2-10-2 or something similar) that had suffered an explosion when the fireman let the water in the boiler get too low. Like what has been previously mentioned, the frame was all that was left with the boiler being flung far away.
Explosions do not scale down well. The plastic boiler shell on a model would not rip apart anything like a full size steel boiler. Even a brass model would not disintegrate the same way.
It was common for big locomotives to have problems cresting hills.The fireman needed to maintain a certain water level in the boiler to make sufficient steam going up a hill,too high,no power.As the locomotive crested the hill,and the water sloshed forward,the water level at the back over the crown sheet would rapidly go down.If the fireman started putting water in too late,he'd get behind it,and the crown sheet would get uncovered.The fire would be at it's hottest at that point,uncovered Crown Sheet...boom..
Now don't get STUPID and start destroying stuff with CO2/firecrackers/etc. You blow PLASTIC stuff up, the plastic will fracture and small pieces will fly like shrapnel. Hate to hear of somebody lose an eye because of doing something like this. The explosive/shrapnel reason is the same reason you DO NOT use PVC pipe for compressed air lines. Too much pressure or a weak piece of PVC, BOOM!!!! A room filled with plastic shrapnel.
I don't know. I have seen a bunch of dioramas from the armor modeling I have done that have modeled explosions that ripped metal very well. It seems that most used heat to soften the plastic and then it rips and peels like you might see with a boiler failure.
My approach would not to use any explosion like from a firecracker. Rather I would start with a Dremel and a sanding drum or grinding stone. A high percentage of those failures occurred in the backhead of the boiler and I would thin the plastic by grinding or sanding very thin the rear section of the loco and cab sides, not worrying if in a few places I went clear through. Next with an application of heat, say a hot water bath and a few starter cuts here and there it should be relatively easy to tear the plastic outward. A few little pieces of crumpled thin brass sheet crumpled up and chemically blackened along with some thin brass rod, also chemically blackened, should completed the effect. The brass rod can also be beaten with a hammer and kinked and bent outward. The cab could be separated from the boiler or partially detached and also beaten up. I still would mount both boiler and running gear on two separate flats with some extra debris stacked on there with them and park them out behind the round house or engine house awaiting scrapping or rebuild. And some were rebuilt depending on level of damage rather than scrapped. I wouldn't tie up the mainline unless that is the modeling goal and then if done I would have a shoe fly built around the area and slow orders in effect for that section of track. I would also have a little damage to the tender front and park it on the same track with the flats. I would also apply some liberal rust coating to the damaged area suggesting a brighter rust for a more recent event and a dull darker rust for much later if the remains are stored while management figures out what to do with the mess. I think this would be a much better control over the outcome rather than the unknown effects of a small pyrotechnic.
Hmm... All very interesting so far! I don't actually plan on using the plastic shell. I will use certain parts, the domes, the cab, maybe the smoke box door. The boiler would be made out of strips of aluminum and lightly glued with ca. Then a well placed device to set it off. I am just having fun here. And some new ideas for those old clunks metal and plastic. I honestly think it can be done though.. Perhaps on a dead end branch line. Or with the shoe fly idea. Sent from my Commando
The other visual effects would be the addition of a big hook, 200 to 250 tonner, or a pair of 120 tonners on either end getting ready to lift the debris, and the track gang to restore the track once the junk is cleaned up. Would make a nice diorama with a double track main, one track blocked by the debris, the other being used to shuttle traffic past the site, and a temporary track laid by the track gang to accommodate the wreck train. The size of the steamer would dictate the crane size or sizes if two used.
