Last issue, I discussed the concern expressed by many of us over
the title of Morris Snow’s planned presentation, ‘Potential
for Disaster – Historic Boilers,’ to the National Board of
Boiler & Pressure Vessel Inspectors’ 73rd general meeting.
I had yet to read the text of Snow’s speech, but since then the
Board has posted it on its website and it’s been passed around
some foundation.
Snow, who is chairman of the Board’s historic boiler
committee, discussed in his presentation an article from the
October 1985 issue of The National Board Bulletin about a
steam traction boiler explosion that took place in 1984, resulting
in the loss of two lives. What Snow evidently did not know,
however, is that the episode he was citing had already been
discredited almost 20 years ago.
A reprint of the October 1985 Bulletin article ran in
the March/April 1986 Iron-Men Album. At that time, the
editors of IMA failed to recognize that the reported 1984
explosion was actually the July 17, 1971, explosion of a Case
traction engine in Mitchell, S.D. Two people were injured in the
1971 explosion; there were no deaths. The Bulletin article
blamed the explosion on corroded stays.
After the article appeared, the steam community roundly
chastised IMA’s editors for failing to connect the
dots and tie the Bulletin article to the 1971 Corn Palace
explosion. Subsequently, the May/June 1986 IMA carried
three pages devoted to readers’ comments on the
Bulletin reprint. Richard Jagger, responding as director
of inspections for the National Board, responded as well, saying:
‘Our face is red! We were obviously given misleading
information and carelessly accepted it at face value.’
The 1971 explosion was not without cause. Arnold Janssen, owner
of the Case, was paraphrased in the May/June 1986 IMA
saying the Case’s crown sheet was thin and should have been
replaced. He was also quoted, saying, ‘The safety valve was
welded – it was that way when I got the engine.’ Clearly, the
engine should not have been operating under those conditions, a
reality we respect today more than ever.
Now more than ever, we respect our role and responsibility as
members of the steam community to work toward a common goal: The
safe and continued operation of our historic engines.
I seriously doubt Morris Snow would have included his reference
to the original Bulletin article had he known its history,
and I don’t think he’s working to put an end to the safe
operation of our equipment.
What bothers me the most, however, is that the Board clearly
failed internally to correct its knowledge of the explosion,
thereby enabling further reference to a historic steam boiler
explosion that never occurred as reported.
Richard Backus
Editor
rbackus@ogdenpubs.com
