Hot Water posted:LLKJR posted:Did the PRR K4’s have stokers?
Not when designed and built, but the Federal Gov (ICC in those days), eventually passed a law that any and all steam locomotives over a certain firebox grate area were REQUIRED to have stokers. Thus, the PRR finally had to install stokers on all the K4s locomotives.
The ICC requirement for equipping steam locomotives with mechanical stokers was not based on the area of firebox grate (it sounds logical, but we're dealing with the ICC). The basis for whether a steam locomotive had to be equipped with a mechanical stokers was the weight on the drivers, which was stupid. The Pennsy class H8s/9s/10s 2-8-0's, E6s 4-4-2, and G5s 4-6-0 all had the same size firebox grate of ~54 sq. ft., yet only the 2-8-0's had to have mechanical stokers installed because they had the required weight on drivers. The other two wheel arrangements ran without mechanical stokers right to the end of steam.
Stuart
