My UP Northern 844 runs very well on propane. Over the years many people have asked me for information about my propane burner. I have collected here a lot of that information. Unfortunately it is more of a ‘collection’ of documents rather than an organized discussion of the subject – but, it’s a start.
Some background: My locomotive was originally built by Dennis Riches who lived near Seattle, Washington. I believe it was under construction from 1960 to 1969. The propane burner was designed by Lindsay McDonnell who was a member of the Burnaby Central Railway in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
You will notice that this burner design does not use the ‘rosebud’ style burners used by many today. I describe this burner style as a “Furnace” type of burner. I feel it generates more heat within a given area and is much quieter than the rosebud style burner.
Another adaptation of this style of burner is to use slots in the top of the burner tubes instead of holes. This would theoretically generate even more heat.
This is a link to the article Lindsay wrote for ModelTec magazine in June of 1989:
This is a link to a drawing Dennis Riches drew that shows the actual burner installed in my Northern:
This is a link to a document I wrote when I rebuilt the locomotive around 2000:
This is a link to a document containing various emails I have exchanged with people over the years. This contains more details, cautions, notes on pressures, etc.: