INSIDE THE STEAM CAR

摘要

Boilers Twelve stainless-steel boilers are arranged in sets of four, linked by piping. Compressed-air-powered hydraulics inject water (from external tanks at start-up and onboard tanks at high speed) into the boilers' nearly two miles of burning-hot steel piping, which ranges in diameter from 2 to 22 millimeters. The boilers heat the water in three stages: first to 158°F, then to 482°, vaporizing it into wet steam, and finally to 752°, superheating it into dry steam. The boilers-lined with ceramic and silica-cloth insulation to prevent the heat from melting everything-also pressurize the steam to 40 times ambient air pressure.