A. Yes; the fireman’s oil valve should be opened just wide enough to permit a sufficient amount of oil to be fed to produce a good fire, but not wide enough to waste oil or produce a volume of black smoke.

17.  Q. How can you judge whether the combustion is good or bad, so the valve may be regulated accordingly?

A. By the color of the fire in the fire-box.  When it is a dull red color, the temperature is below 1,000 degrees and combustion is incomplete, dense black smoke will issue from the stack.  If it is a bright red, the temperature will be about 1,800 degrees and combustion very good, and no black smoke will appear from the stack.

18.  Q. How should the flues be cleaned from soot when running, and about how often is this necessary?

A. By placing a small quantity of sand in an elbow shaped funnel or horn, and by inserting same in an opening provided in fire door while engine is working hard, allowing the exhaust to draw the sand through the flues, thus cutting soot and gum from them in its passage and discharging it from the stack.  It is necessary that the flues be cleaned of soot on leaving terminals or sidings where the engine has been at rest for any length of time, and also as often as found necessary to aid the engine in steaming.  This depends to a great extent upon the degree of perfection with which combustion is obtained.  Attention should also be given flues just prior to entering points where engine is to be put in roundhouse or otherwise detained in order to leave the flues clean, as this will aid in putting engine under steam with little delay where the blower alone is to be relied on for draft.

19.  Q. Is the injudicious use of the blower particularly injurious on an oil burning locomotive?

A. Yes; the injudicious use of a blower is injurious to any boiler.  The cold air drawn through the fire-box is hard on the sheets and flues and will cause them to leak.

20.  Q. Is the blower more injurious when a light smoke is emitting from the stack or when a dense black smoke is emitting?

A. It is most injurious when a light smoke is emitting.

21.  Q. In drifting down long grades should the fire be shut off or burned lightly?  Why?

A. The fire should be burned lightly and not permitted to get low enough to allow the fire-box to lose its temperature, as this will contract the flues and cause them to leak.

22.  Q. How should the fire be handled when switching?

A. The fire must be regulated to meet the requirements of the work the engine is performing on each move and to protect against any possibility of the fire being drawn out by the exhaust.

23.  Q. Would not some fuel be wasted in this way?

A. Not necessarily.  A waste of fuel can be avoided by close attention on the part of the fireman when switching as well as when running.

24.  Q. How should the fire be handled when leaving stations?