It's a process. Members of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum's Engine House Crew fire up the dual, smoke-box-mounted air pumps on Baldwin Consolidation #81, as they finish up the complex ritual that is required to get one of these coal-fired beasts ready to work. It's a process, and even when the engine has been left hot overnight, it still takes a couple of hours of work from the time they arrive until the engine is ready to back out of the house and pin on to a train. First, they rake out the bank of coal and refresh the fire, then, there are a myriad of fittings to be greased and moving parts to be oiled. Then, as the pressure comes up, appliances will be turned on and those include the dynamo, which supplies electrical power for the lights, and the air pumps, which are being addressed here, which will provide air for the engine and train brakes. Shortly, these adjustments will be completed and the crew will be ready to move. The crew of Diesel Locomotive #109 had a much easier time this day. They hit the starter button, let her warm up for a couple of minutes, and they were out in the yard a long time ago. It's not difficult to understand why the railroads quickly retired the steam locomotives when diesels became readily available.
