What Happened to the Crew of This Train? | Last Moments

This decades old picture remains intensely creepy but the reality was much worse than even the grim image suggests.

"A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety valve, corrosion of critical parts of the boiler, or low water level. Corrosion along the edges of lap joints was a common cause of early boiler explosions.
The second kind is a fuel/air explosion in the furnace, which would more properly be termed a firebox explosion. Firebox explosions in solid-fuel-fired boilers are rare, but firebox explosions in gas or oil-fired boilers are still a potential hazard."

More on Wikipedia:

[Qxir]

This event occurred in 1948, not 1943 as I state in the video. Sorry for the mistake.

Merch: teespring.com/stores/qxir

[matthewbrantner]

for anyone unaware, it was actually steam that blew the lid off the core in chernobyl in a similar fashion. the forces behind pressurized steam or air is nothing to downplay.

[williamgraves]

I’m a retired stationary steam engineer. That’s the best explanation of how a boiler works I’ve heard. Very easy for the average person to understand.

Edit: Thanks for all the likes. God Bless y’all.

[bradbrown]

My late Dad Donald was a boiler tender on oil tankers right after WW2. He first served on the USS Tolevana then went to the USS Manity. He had many story's. It got really tricky in heavy rough seas as the water would slosh around the boiler. The fire had to be adjusted when the water left the view window cause the boiler would go red hot fast. Then when the water sloshed back on the overheated boiler plate a steam explosion was possible. Between wars he had a mostly smooth 3 year tour. But exposed to a constant snow of asbestos did him no favors. Rough sea made it bad. Testing the big deck guns above the boiler room shook clouds of asbestos from everything. By 60 he was haveing serious lung scarring breathing trouble. They removed hardened parts of his lungs to give the better parts room to breath around 65. He passed at 70 after long diminishing lungs, oxygen support and hospitalizations. He looked more like 95. Asbestos is terrible stuff. 3 years service, up to his marriage in 1950 was what did him in years later in 1999. R.I.P. Dad.

[perfumegoose]

As a boiler technician in the Us Navy for 6 years, you know full well what could happen. I knew several who were killed by steam leaks. The Iwo Jima comes to mind

[kathyhavelka]

Here’s a story - the first ever boiler explosion in America was a locomotives named “Best Friend of Charleston.” In 1831, the fireman was annoyed at a whistling noise coming from the boiler, so he tied down the value that was giving off steam (some records also say he was sitting on it to make it stop). Now, what valve was it that was leaking? None other than the safety valve meant specifically to release excess pressure. So, he ties it down and goes on his duty only for the entire boiler to explode, killing him and only him. Obviously, the public was horrified at the idea they could be killed in such a gruesome way. So what does the railroad do? Throw a single wagon of cotton between the engine and passenger, that’ll save them from the explosion and the burning coals and the… oh wait no it won’t.

[Pete-tqin]

My late father was an engineer in the Royal Navy. One day he walked through an invisible jet of high pressure superheated steam that was escaping from a tiny fracture in a pipe. His ankle passed through the jet and as it did so, his flesh was sliced down to the bone. He spent a few months in hospital recovering and for the rest of his life he walked with a limp.

Superheated steam is insanely dangerous.

[jackx]

To put that power in perspective; on 17th November, 1943, the boiler of a freight locomotive exploded near Honeybourne, Worcestershire, England. The chimney (smoke stack) was a thick-walled iron casting, about 20-24" in diameter, and about 48" long. It was found about *three-quarters of a mile* from the wreck. And, bear in mind, the likelihood is that rather than travelling horizontally away from the blast, its initial path was more likely to have been steeply upwards; if so, how high it went is anyone's guess.
The loco was an S-160 Class 2-8-0, engine + tender weight 276, 500 lbs (125.4 tonnes), far smaller than the 2-10-4 C & O T1, which weighed 981, 000 lbs (445 tonnes).

The S-160 was designed by the USA Transportation Corps, and shipped over by the hundred to England, for onward shipping to Europe after D-Day. The official enquiry found that the cause was low water in the boiler, and suggested that the crew had been mislead by a valve on the water gauge glass sticking when it was only partly open, so the fireman thought it was in fact fully open (as it is in normal working). British engines invariably used a simple on/off stop valve, which turns through 90 degrees from fully shut to wide open, so giving the crew a clear visual indication of the valve's position - but the S-160 had multi-turn ball valves, which appear the same whether open or closed. After close inspection, it was found that the valve in question had a slightly bent spindle (not due to damage in the explosion), which jammed the valve from further movement when only partly open.

A steam loco is, in all but name, a self-propelling bomb - and crews forget that at their peril. A point which was ruthlessly pounded into me when I worked as a fireman on steam locos.

[obscurity]

Never researched how steam locomotives function until now. The simplicity of design of these old machines is fascinating.

[StaxRail]

I'm currently an apprentice steam loco engineer, and not gonna lie, that was probably the best explanation of a loco boiler- simple for all to understand but not skipping detail!

[baller]

Just the pipes sticking out like that is just.. creepy, and gives me chills

[invisibleman]

Steam locomotives may be old fashioned technology but they're insanely powerful, and when human error comes into play, that power can be devastating. In 1994 a British steam locomotive called 'Blue Peter' was hauling a special train from Edinburgh to York, but it only got as far as Durham north of York. The inexperienced crew filled the boiler too full and after leaving Durham station the engine slipped and the wheelspin carried water into the cylinders, jammed the steam valve open, and the engine thrashed itself into a wheel spin of 140 miles per hour, causing the side rods to tear off and the cylinders to explode. When the driver tried to wind back the forward-reverse gear it span round and injured him with a broken finger at the least. The track practically melted and had to be replaced, and it took 18 months and hundreds of thousands of pounds to repair the damage. Those who work on steam locomotives today refer to them as "bombs on wheels".

[rixretros]

As a lad in the mid 1950s, I remember seeing a loco that had suffered the same fate, only the backhead had blown out. I was mightily impressed by the damage I could see from closeup track side but I imagine the cab interior would have been hell on earth for a split second.
I still have the image of that wrecked engine in my mind.

[charlesholcombe]

The “Chillicothe Steam Explosion” is so obscure, yet so iconic. Was blown away when I saw this in my YouTube feed. I love your content

[pfadiva]

When I saw that image, I knew what happened to the crew. They died horribly. Steam is not tamed willingly, it must be tended very carefully. Great video.

[LetustheDragon]

Used to work at a park with an old steam engine and if the train didn't go in time, they'd shut the whole thing down, blow out the steam, and start over. Guests would complain at me and I would answer "Sorry for the inconvenience." While my brain is going "You have no clue what a BLEVE is, do you, and I rather keep my skin than have it boiled off..."

[DM-klem]

This picture is especially horrifying when you compare it to the picture of the undamaged version. More than half of the train was blown away by the explosion.

[b.w.]

The “power” in these steam systems is outrageous - we kind-of assume these older technologies must be weaker, but it’s not so. These harness huge forces and are generally safe. But when they fail, they do so catastrophically.

[alexsiemers]

I’d never seen the actual insides of a steam locomotive despite my childhood fascination with them, so just seeing all those pipes sticking out of it seemed like an eldritch horror crawling out of the locomotive

[Erny_Module]

Many years ago, I worked on preserved steam locomotives in the UK, eventually getting to the level of Fireman - the guy who's responsible for the fire, water and steam levels on the engine. Always a balancing act to keep a good fire, good pressure and water levels, but I had the best teacher and a good friend who showed me all the tricks - Driver Keith. The trickiest part was often the injectors - the way you get water into the boiler, overcoming the pressure with nothing more than the steam pressure from the boiler. They used a very clever series of cones to accelerate the steam, collect the water and force it into the boiler. Some could be.... temperamental, and it was always a relief when they 'caught' and the water level would increase. If the injectors stopped working you were in serious trouble! The boilers of the engines I worked on had 'boiler plugs', made from a metal with a lower melting point than the steel of the boiler casing, so they would fail first, release the pressure and stop a catastrophic explosion if ever the water level got too low, exposing the 'crown' of the boiler/firebox.
There's also the safety valve, which was set to lift at a certain pressure above the normal operating pressure - with GWR boilers that was usual 250lbs/sq inch. Boilers had to be tested and would receive a certificate before they could be used on an engine.... I saw one being tested where the safety valve got stuck and wouldn't lift, and the pressure put the needle against the stop on the gauge, and carried on rising! Some brave soul (not me!) volunteered to climb onto the boiler and prize it open with a large nail, which worked with an ear-splitting roar and a plume of steam shooting hundreds of feet into the air!
Happy days!