Coke or Coal?

[nickf]

Did the Beyer Peacock locomotives used by the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways burn coke? And if they did, did they change over to coal, as all the other railways did? The advantage of coke is that it lets off less smoke than coal, a big plus for Sub Surface lines; but its fumes are more toxic. And as coke was more expensive than coal I'm guessing that would have been a big incentive to change.

[tubeprune]

May 28, 2012 6:22:17 GMT nickf said:

Did the Beyer Peacock locomotives used by the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways burn coke? And if they did, did they change over to coal, as all the other railways did? The advantage of coke is that it lets off less smoke than coal, a big plus for Sub Surface lines; but its fumes are more toxic. And as coke was more expensive than coal I'm guessing that would have been a big incentive to change.

The Midland Railway was at the forefront of the experiments to get coal to "consume its own smoke" as the regulations of the day required. The man behind them, Charles Markham, read a paper to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in early 1860 describing the progress to the final solution, the deflector plate, the brick arch and the blower. Versions of these and other systems had been tried by various engineers before but the Midland experiments proved to be the best combination and they were gradually adopted by all railways thereafter.

I have seen no evidence that the Met's 4-4-0 locomotives ever burnt coke. I am sure they would have been designed for coal from the outset.

[nickf]

Thanks for that, tubeprune. I knew about Beattie's work in designing fireboxes suitable for burning coal on the LSWR, but in my swinish ignorance did not know about Markham!

[phillw48]

The Metropolitan burnt coke to begin with but went over to coal very soon after opening because of the cost of coke. I am not sure whether the A class locos ever used coke.

[nickf]

I've just stumbled across an article by Brian Reed about The Met Tanks. It is a photocopy so I don't know where it comes from, but on page 230 it says:
"For the first six years the fuel was coke from good Durham coal, but though producing less smoke than coal it produced more inconvenient fumes; and as had been recognised by Robert Stephenson in 1829, when a coke fire got down it was no easy matter to get it up again, and this was just what the Met engines had to do. Thus about 1870 the fuel was changed to South Wales semi-anthracite. In later years coal consumption on the Met and District services averaged 30-34 lb./mile."

[tubeprune]

May 28, 2012 14:14:55 GMT nickf said:

I've just stumbled across an article by Brian Reed about The Met Tanks. It is a photocopy so I don't know where it comes from, but on page 230 it says:
"For the first six years the fuel was coke from good Durham coal, but though producing less smoke than coal it produced more inconvenient fumes; and as had been recognised by Robert Stephenson in 1829, when a coke fire got down it was no easy matter to get it up again, and this was just what the Met engines had to do. Thus about 1870 the fuel was changed to South Wales semi-anthracite. In later years coal consumption on the Met and District services averaged 30-34 lb./mile."

Thanks for that. I don't have a copy of the Brian Reed article on Met tanks. Wasn't it part of the Loco Profiles series?

[nickf]

Could well be - unfortunately the photocopies give no clue as to where it came from. If you like, PM me and I'll scan the article and send it to you.

[Deleted]

I suspect "best" Welsh steam coal from the likes of Lewis Merthyr colliery in the Rhondda would have been used , relatively smokeless , fast burning , and low ash. Used by the Royal Navy.

Pure anthracite never used in the UK - though the NYC elevated lines burnt best Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen anthracite in preference to American Pennsylvania anthracite as it was almost pure carbon , smokeless and ideal for the small bunkers on the Forney locomotives.

[nickf]

More information found in London's Metropolitan Railway by Alan A. Jackson. Page 118 "During 1869 the Metropolitan changed from coke to 'smokeless' Welsh coal, primarily to improve locomotive steaming capacity on the increasingly heavier trains.Footnote: The Railway Gazette, 10 January 1913 'The Jubilee of the Metropolitan Railway'.
Page 120 "It was learned that during the 19 daily traffic hours there were 528 passenger and 14 freight trains passing in both directions between Edgware Road and Kings Cross. Each was hauled by a locomotive with an hourly appetite for 3cwt (152.3 kg) of Powell Duffryn Welsh Smokeless Coal from the Aberdare Valley and 359 gallons (1,591.087 litres) of water