USING SOFT COALS

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 111, 7 April 1930, Page 6

USING SOFT COALS

PROMISING RAILWAY EXPERIMENT. THIRTY ENGINES TO BE • EQUIPPED. (By Telegraph.—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, April 5. The Railway Department lias greatly increased its consumption of New Zealand coal during recent years and lias been constantly conducting experiments with the view to overcoming certain disabilities with the use of semi-bitu-minous coals so that further extensions can be made of tho policy of utilising the local product. Some recent developments in this direction were spoken of hopefully by Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Railways, in an interview with tho ’“Standard” correspondent. Trials have been made under traffic conditions with the standard type of main line locomotive, using what is known in the United States as the “rosebud” type of grate instead of the familiar firebars. The grate is composed of a series of castiron slabs, closely perforated, the holes being half an inch in diameter at the to]) and 7-Bths of an inch at the bottom, this variation being of advantage in making the casting. It has been found that the plate typo of grate will enable an efficient thin fire to be maintained under traffic conditions and it is a thin fire which is needed for w.j best utilisation of the semi-bituminous coals of the Waikato and the South Island. There is less tendency for the fire to become blocked by clinker, and in practice it has been found that an engine can run gbout 100 miles without the necessity for cleaning the fire. . “The experiment is not yet regarded as final,” added the Minister, “but it is sufficiently encouraging to warrant equipping thirty locomotives with plate grates. Fifteen will be run in the South Island and fifteen in the North Island. The original equipment has been carefully watched under working conditions for six months. The department is also trying in conjunction with the plate grates a steam spray introduced above the fire door which, in conjunction with the baffle plates, appears to be more effective as a spark arrester than the devices hitherto in use.”