Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Before anyone asks, this was shot before we polished the boiler jacket.
Dispelling an incredibly pervasive American myth about steam engine feedwater apparatus, where claims continue to be made that engine driven feedwater pumps as fitted to railway locomotives were unreliable and could not work at high speeds. I decided to make this video using my engine after having this argument for about the eighth time with someone who claimed to be an authority in history. Of course, engine-driven feedwater pumps were and continue to be in use on every roller, traction engine, road locomotive and steam car on the road, very nearly every steam power plant on the water, most of the stationary power plants that have not been reduced in functionality by museums, etcetera. It just so happens that operational railway locomotives with these pumps fitted are rare at the present time.
The field of modern engineering has imploded due to many ills, but the field of historic engineering is arguably even worse as it is filled with myth and rumor and superstition. There are a lot of fakers out there, and a lot of people who have declared themselves experts using books and anecdotes or by acquiring degrees as their credentials. Do not listen to any of them, most of them have never turned a wrench. There is only one truth in Engineering. The machinery and apparatus will show you this truth if you let them and operate them correctly.
Before anyone asks, this was shot before we polished the boiler jacket.
Dispelling an incredibly pervasive American myth about steam engine feedwater apparatus, where claims continue to be made that engine driven feedwater pumps as fitted to railway locomotives were unreliable and could not work at high speeds. I decided to make this video using my engine after having this argument for about the eighth time with someone who claimed to be an authority in history. Of course, engine-driven feedwater pumps were and continue to be in use on every roller, traction engine, road locomotive and steam car on the road, very nearly every steam power plant on the water, most of the stationary power plants that have not been reduced in functionality by museums, etcetera. It just so happens that operational railway locomotives with these pumps fitted are rare at the present time.
The field of modern engineering has imploded due to many ills, but the field of historic engineering is arguably even worse as it is filled with myth and rumor and superstition. There are a lot of fakers out there, and a lot of people who have declared themselves experts using books and anecdotes or by acquiring degrees as their credentials. Do not listen to any of them, most of them have never turned a wrench. There is only one truth in Engineering. The machinery and apparatus will show you this truth if you let them and operate them correctly.
