MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



The Origin of Fires on 



Railroad Right of Way 



J. J. Hubbell, of Manistee, Before Annual 

 Convention of Michigan Forestry Asso- 

 ciation at Battle Creek. 



Put in the form of a question, nine men out 

 of ten would answer promptly, "by sparks 

 from a locomotive." So well grounded is this 

 opinion that probably no one but a railroad 

 claim agent would attempt to refute it. No 

 doubt, you all have at some time, especially 

 at night, observed sparks issuing from the 

 stack of a locomotive. You have also observed 

 that fires frequently spring up along the right 

 of way, but it is doubtful if any one of yon 

 ever was able to trace the spark from the 

 stack to the point of origin of tire. This con- 

 nection is assumed, and so strong is the as- 

 sumption, that even the law is based upon it. 

 If the locomotive has passed by and the fire 

 sprang up and damage is done, the railroad 

 company is made liable, and without further 

 proof or facts. But the law further provides 

 that if the locomotives are properly equipped 

 with spark arrestors and ash pans with closed 

 end doors, then the railroad company is not 

 liable, the assumption being that the locomo- 

 tive did not set the fire, that is, no spark 

 arrestors or proper ash pans "guilty." With 

 net spark arrestors and ash pans with closed 

 end doors then "not guilty," and that regard- 

 less of the facts. But unfortunately the law 

 does not say what shall constitute safe and 

 proper equipment in this respect. The rail- 

 road company must prove to the satisfaction 

 of the jury that the locomotives are properly 

 and safely equipped in that respect. Each 

 jury may have a standard of its own, and I 

 think that the most of you can forecast the 

 result when the claimant is a private individ- 

 ual, and the defendant a railroad corporation. 

 But let us assume that we have an intelli- 

 gent and impartial jury. What facts can be 

 placed before them as to the proper equip- 

 ment for the prevention of fires. Modern 

 locomotives are provided with an extension 

 front or smoke box. This is an iron or steel 

 cylinder the same size as the barrel of the 

 locomotive boiler and extending in front it 

 five or six feet. Into this chamber the smoke 

 and fine cinders are drawn and discharged 

 through the flues of the boiler. On top of the 

 extension front is located the smoke stack, a 

 small short and insignificant affair, and the 

 draft is created by the exhaust of the steam 

 into the base of the stack, the exhaust being 

 periodical though the draft is correspondingly 

 pulsatory, that is, when locomotive is work- 

 ing hard the draft will be very strong, almost 

 lifting the fire from the grates and taking a 

 considerable quantity of small cinders through 

 the flues with the smoke, and if there was 

 nothing to prevent they would be thrown out 

 through the stack, but there is placed in the 

 extension front, between the lower part where 

 the cinders are discharged, and the upper part 

 where the stack is situated, a wire net or screen 

 intended to prevent as much as possible the 

 hot cinders from being discharged by way of 

 the stack. 



Railroads Are Experimenting. 

 There has been much discussion and experi- 

 menting by superintendents of motive power 

 as to what size of wire and mesh the screen 

 should be, but I think it is now conceded 

 that the wire should be not smaller than 

 No. 10 gauge and three meshes to the inch. 

 I have here blue prints showing the arrange- 

 ment of screens or netting in locomotive 

 smoke boxes, also full size drawing of the 

 netting. Here is also a sample of the netting. 

 Netting for this purpose must be very strong 

 to stand the strain of the exhaust draft and 

 not be quickly destroyed by the sulphur fumes 

 of the burning coal, and must be sufficiently 

 open so as not to clog up and obstruct the 

 draft. This netting looks coarse, but you 



must consider that the diameters of three wires 

 cover four-tenths of an inch, which leaves 

 only four-tenths to be divided into three 

 spaces, or two-tenths qf an inch for each 

 mesh. You will notice that when I attempt 

 to pass a common lead pencil through it that 

 only the points show on the other side, and 

 that no cinder larger than a graJn of wheat 

 will pass through it. 



Furthermore, you must understand that this 

 netting is placed at an angle of about forty- 

 five degrees, so that cinders striking it at 

 that angle are usually knocked back into the 

 front end, even though they are small enough 

 to pass through the mesh. For this reason 

 but very few of the small, hot cinders direct 

 from the fire box pass the netting and are 

 discharged alive. Afterwards, however, when 

 the locomotive is in heavy exhaust, in start- 

 ing up or upon a. grade, the dead cinders 

 are frequently and repeatedly drawn up and 

 dashed against the screen again and again, 

 and many are broken up and finally pass 

 through, so that a large proportion of the 

 cinders discharged are really dead nm-s. Sit- 

 ting in the front car of a train, you will hear 

 them rattling clown upon the roof. You may 

 Bee them falling in the water in the ditches 

 In-side the' track. If yon stand upon tin- 

 right of way they will pelt you in the face, 

 but they are not red In it, as you may have 

 supposed. Here is a sample of these small 

 cinders taken from the right of way. They 

 are small particles of burnt coal, and con- 

 tain no more combustible matter. They may 

 have been thrown out hot. but they will not 

 continue to burn. On leaving the stack they 

 are drenched with steam, and as soon as they 

 come in contact with the cold air arc quickly 

 cooled. Here is a sample taken from an ex- 

 tension front, where they accumulate in con- 

 siderable quantities and are discharged 

 through the cinder chute in the bottom of 

 the extension front at cinder pit in yard at 

 end of division run. I' have often watched 

 the discharge from smoke stacks at night, 

 when the sparks, if alive, arc visible, and have 

 observed that locomotives equipped with net- 

 ting as fine as this throw out but few sparks, 

 and they very seldom remain visible for a 

 distance of over five or at the most ten feet 

 from the top of the stack. 



Ash Pans Not to Blame. 



If you are riding on a train and see the 

 sparks streaming back past the car windows, 

 or, in fact, lighting on the right of way one 

 hundred feet or more from the stack, you 

 may rest assured that the netting is either 

 too coarse or has holes in it. But do not 

 mistake cinders which you may hear on the 

 roof or see fall into the water for live coals. 

 Xow let us look briefly at the ash pan. Here 

 is a blue print drawing of one, if you wish 

 to examine it. The ash pan is placed under- 

 neath the fire box to catch ashes, coals or 

 cinders that fall through the grates. It is 

 made of iron, and should be provided with 

 doors or dampers at both ends so that when 

 they are closed it becomes a tight box, from 

 which no coals or fire can escape. The end 

 doors can be opened so as to clean out the 

 pan, which is usually done at the cinder pit 

 in yard, or at an annointcd place where the 

 section men can take care of the contents. If 

 any coals should fall from the pan. they drop 

 between the rails, on the ballast, where there 

 is nothing to catch fire, and it is seldom that 

 they are blown out from between the rails 

 b}- the wind. I think I need say but little 

 more about the ash pan: if poorly constructed 

 and carelessly used, it is dangerous, but if 

 well made and properly used is reasonably 

 safe. You can travel for miles along a rail- 

 road track and very seldom find a fresh coal, 

 nnd if the section men had to depend upon 

 live coals from the ash pan to light their 

 pines they would seldom enjoy a smoke. 



During the past summer, during a time of 

 drouth, a farmer complained to the state fire 

 warden that a certain railroad was running 

 its locomotives without spark arresters and 



setting fires along its line. He probably had 

 in mind the old wood-burning locomotives 

 of thirty years ago, whose stacks were crowned 

 by a large line gauze netting. The fire warden 

 had a deputy go and examine the locomotives,, 

 and as front end after end was opened and 

 netting examined, also ash pans inspected, the 

 deputy became enthusiastic as to the care and 

 expense taken, and said to the superintendent 

 of motive power that he considered it impos- 

 sible for locomotives so equipped to set fires. 

 I am not so certain that locomotives never 

 set lires, but after careful investigation I am 

 satisfied that a large proportion of the fires 

 which originate upon railroad rights of way 

 spring from some other source than the loco- 

 motive. 



Leaves and Grass Most Dangerous. 



What is there along a railroad right of way 

 that is so apt to catch fire and burn? Through- 

 nut the northern part of the state, in the 

 timber district, when roads are first con- 

 structed, there is often considerable brush and 

 bigs left lying along the route. On account 

 if the season of the year, or because this 

 material is green or wet, it is difficult to 

 burn it. and it is usually left until a more 

 convenient time. If left until a time of drouth, 

 it is dangerous; but this is only a temporary 

 condition and soon passes away. But there 

 are nther conditions which are perpetual. Aut- 

 umn leaves often gather in considerable quan- 

 tities in .the ditches and beside fences. They 

 usually fall too late in the fall to burn that 

 i ; . but in the early spring they add to 

 the material for fires. The old ties taken 

 from the roadbed are also a troublesome lot 

 of rubbish to dispose of except by burning, 

 which is usually done by the section men 

 after they get dry, and the safety in so doing 

 depends entirely upon the care and discretion 

 used in their disposal. 



lint the most common and troublesome 

 source of fire along a railroad right of way 

 is the June grass. Rights of way are not 

 pastured, and the early grass grows quickly, 

 and by early summer and dry weather is dead 

 and dry as tinder. It is in this grass that 

 tires most frequently spring up and that are 

 usually charged to sparks from the locomotive. 

 Section men know that sooner or later the 

 most of their right of way will burn over, 

 and the sooner the safer and less danger of 

 spreading. It is not customary for railroad 

 officials to instruct the section men to set 

 fire to this grass on account of the supposed 

 increased liability: but if the grass gets afire 

 the section men usually let it run, stopping 

 it at right of way limits to prevent it from 

 spreading to adjoining property. Yet it is 

 often noticed that some considerable portion 

 of the dry June grass does not burn, even 

 in a season of long drouth. Go with me to 

 one of these strips of unburnt grass. Look 

 carefully among the roots and you will find 

 a large number of the small cinders thrown 

 from the stacks of locomotives. A square 

 rod of this grass no doubt receives daily hun- 

 dreds of these bits of cinders direct from the 

 stacks, and yet it is not set on fire. To all 

 appearances you could open a keg of gun- 

 oowdcr and let these little particles fall into 

 it b} r the score without danger of an explosion. 

 If yon were to scratch a match, and after 

 lighting your pipe throw it down, it is not 

 likely you would have to repeat the perform- 

 ance before you would have the grass all 

 ablaze, and this brings me to the other side 

 of the question. 



Smokers Set Most of the Fires. 



Right-of-wav fires are constantly springing 

 up in a dry time, and if they are not set by 

 locomotives, how do they originate? I at- 

 tribute many of these fires, as well as those 

 which start in our forests, to the handy little 

 match and the smoking habit of our people. 

 Sit with me in the rear seat of a smoking 

 car on a hot. dry day almost every window 

 will be raised, and almost every man and boy 

 smoking. Notice what is done with the little 



