I've seen sparks come out of 37's, 31's, 20's, 47's, 56's and I've even seen flames come out of a 40's exhausts, but I've never known any of them set fire to track sides. You have to remember that the sparks from diesel loco's are miniscule compared to those that can come from a steam loco's chimney or from out of the ashpan.

If you care to look at any of the "Then & Now" series of books it is immediately apparent why there are lineside fires. In steam days, lineside fires were an everyday occurrence, so much so that the grass was kept short and brush and trees never had chance to get established. Travel by train now involves passing down a green canyon with trees brushing the sides of the train, in current dry conditions, a recipe for fiery disaster.

It never ceases to amaze me how much the track side environment has changed since the end of steam.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

There are still a few places where the lineside vegetation is cut back, but its to help with the sighting of signals and to stop leaves getting onto the line rather than trying to avoid lineside fires these days.

Shame the sparks wont clear japanese knot weed.

On the jacobite services in fort william, we have a 'fire watch' team, they follow about 15 mins behind the train, if there are any fires they are big enough to spot but small enough to be put out with fire beaters.

Another story, on a light engine move and we spotted a lineside fire in the distance, driver pulls out camera and takes a few pics as he knew we would be blamed, when he showed them the pics it was found to have be the freight trains brakes in front of us......

Several years ago steam locos had appearances to Skegness but on one trip numerous lineside fires were started along the line round the Boston and Sleaford areas.
The lack of clearance of growth from the lineside contributed to the incidents which caused an uproar from the fire dept. In Lincolnshire most of the crews are part time retained persons which pushed up the payroll.

Maybe if spark arresters are now fitted another trial could be made but I do not hold my breath!

Michael

Spark arrestors have been fitted for quite a while now, and dispite what people may tell you, most sparks come out of the ash pan, not the chimney.