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In my experience lineside fires are sometimes ignited by burning embers from the ashpan landing by the lineside. A steam loco travelling at speed has an ability to fling embers at some distance from the track, I once spent a day dealing with this problem on a Welsh Narrow gauge line which was almost perfectly flat and speeds did not exceed 10mph. Farmers burning off gorse/dead vegetation in Spring has often been a cause of fires, Spring is usually considered to be the start of the Bush/Wildfire season in Australasia and New South Wales. Perhaps a case for a Gangers Trolley with firefighting equipment following steam hauled trains through a section as they do on the Cumbres and Toltec in the United States, but difficult to apply on account of Irish or UK because of signalling practice/regulation. On the subject of steam trains I found a 2018 trip on a diesel hauled Sea Breeze to and from Wexford in the RPSI Craven set something of an endurance test, while I really enjoyed a WT hauled trip from Connolly to Longford and back using the same coaches in 2005 really enjoyable. Ironically I found driving to Wexford and taking photos of the Sea Breeze in the Vale of Avoca, Enniscorthy and Ferrycarrig on two occasions during the 90s much more enjoyable and relaxing than taking the train. Interesting family seemed to enjoy and appeared to consider 6+ hour journeys travelling on the Silverton and Cumbres and Toltec as a relaxing day out rather than an endurance trip possibly low speed and vintage cars contrasted nicely with our experiences of travelling by train in Ireland and the UK. -
131 used to have a mesh over the damper to stop sparks from falling out. I assume it was removed at some point -
I believe several preserved locos have had a master mechanics pattern spark arrestor and baffles fitted within the smokebox, without affecting the external appearance or hurting its steaming. Certainly the Vale of Rheidol tanks and britomart have one fitted, specifically to allow use on drier days. Not sure what/if the current arrangements are, but perhaps worth investigating? -
Conditions are also quite different since the age of steam when embankment fires were quite common. Those fires served to curtail line side vegetation and accordingly did not present a serious concern. But since then that vegetation has become quite dense in places with lots of accumulated deadwood so not an ideal environment for running steam locos. No doubt this will be an issue in the choice of routes going forward.
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