Get all out of the coal you can, and save all you get.  Learn the little points that half the engineers never think of.

WOOD

You will find wood quite different in some respects, but the good points you have learned will be useful now.  Fire quick and often, but unlike coal, you must keep your fire box full.  Place your wood as loosely as possible.  I mean by this, place in all directions to allow the draft to pass freely through it.  Keep adding a couple sticks as fast as there is room for it; don’t disturb the under sticks.  Use short wood and fire close to the door.  When firing with wood I would advise you to keep your screen down.  There is much more danger of setting fire with wood than with coal.

If you are in a dangerous place, owing to the wind and the surroundings, don’t hesitate to state your fears to the man for whom you are threshing.  He is not supposed to know the danger as well as you, and if, after your advice, he says go ahead, you have placed the responsibility on him; but even after you have done this, it sometimes shows a good head to refuse to fire with wood, especially when you are required to fire with old rails, which is a common fuel in a timbered country.  While they make a hot fire in a firebox, they sometimes start a hot one outside of it.  It is part of your business to be as careful as you can.  What I mean is take reasonable precaution, in looking after the screen in stack.  If it burns out get a new one.  With reasonable diligence and care, you will never set anything on fire, while on the other hand, a careless engineer may do quite a lot of damage.

There is fire about an engine, and you are provided with the proper appliances to control it.  See that you do it.

WHY GRATES BURN OUT

Grates burn through carelessness.  You may as well make up your mind to this at the start.  You never saw grate bars burn out with a clean ash box.  They can only be burned by allowing the ashes to accumulate under them till they exclude the air when the bars at once become red hot.  The first thing, they do is to warp, and if the ashes are not removed at once, the grate bar will burn off.  Carelessness is neglecting something which is a part of your business, and as part of it is to keep your ash box clean, it certainly is carelessness if you neglect it.  Your coal may melt and run down on the bars, but if the cold air can get to the grates, the only damage this will do is to form a clinker on the top of grates, and shut off your draught.  When you find that you have this kind of coal you will want to look after these clinkers.

Now if you should have good success in keeping steam, keep improving on what you know, and if you run on 1000 pounds of coal today, try and do it with 900 tomorrow.  That is the kind of stuff a good fireman is made of.