Reply #14: Read what happened when an AT&SF 2-6-2 let go in 1951...

[BiggJawn]

This was a 272,400 pound engine sitting in the roundhouse that got too low on water, reulting in a crownsheet failure.


The force of the explosion tore the boiler from the frame and hurled it through the roof of the enginehouse and forward. The boiler in its flight cleared power lines 32 feet above the ground and 95 feet forward and alighted in reversed position on its right side and back head, striking the ground 119 feet forward of the point of the explosion and making a depression 4 feet in depth and 12 feet in diameter.

Sixty-one rivets in the connection seam at the smokebox, 5 machine fit bolts in each of the expansion pads at front corners of the mud ring and 12 machine fit bolts in the furnace bearer sheet at the back end of the firebox were sheared. Both steam pipes broke at the flanges to the superheater header and the left steam pipe broke at the bottom end. The superheater header broke through the neck at the boiler flanged joint connection and the header, with the superheater units attached, was hurled from the boiler and came to rest on the floor of the enginehouse beside the tender right gangway step. The draft pan was blown down on the frame and trailing truck axle, pulling the studs from the mud ring. The cab was blown through the roof of the enginehouse and demolished, the greater part of its wreckage coming to rest in the turntable pit 144 feet to the rear of the point of the explosion.

The left locomotive frame was broken between the trailing truck and No. 3 pedestal; through the top rail between Nos. 2 and 3 pedestals and through the rear of No. 2 pedestal, loosening the binder and thus separating the frame in three sections. The right locomotive frame was broken between the trailing truck and No. 3 pedestal; over No. 2 driving box, the binder, shoe and wedge of which were blown into the pit, also separating the frame in three sections.

The right guide yoke outside swing brace was bent, the inside swing brace broken, and the bracket pulled from the boiler, shearing seven 1-inch studs. The left guide yoke inside and outside swing braces broke at the bottom ends. The bracket was separated from the boiler, shearing seven 1-inch studs, when the boiler struck the ground.

The front end door hinges were broken and the buckled door was blown from under the lugs. The front end door ring was blown open; 40 3/4-inch bolts sheared, but the Okadee hinges held. Various parts and appurtenances blown from the locomotive were scattered within a radius of 581 feet from the point of the explosion.