Fire Risk

Fascinating!
Seems a logical idea.
You'd want to make the top fixing pretty good, if it failed you'd have sparks and hot-oil-covered ball-bearings raining down on you, which might be quite exciting.

I wonder what the downsides are. Obviously maintenance (as stated), but presumably some loss of efficiency as well.

I really hope someone is looking at that right now

 

Incomplete combustion will always occur in practice due to wear/incorrect operation etc in Solid and Non Solid Fuels leading to problems at the Chimney or Stack/Funnel be it smoke or still burning droplets of vapourised/solid fuel. (and also seen on Diesel Engines) Fluidised Bed burners would cut this risk down but I cannot remember any build on offer suitable for the larger turndown ratios and small outputs that a small Railway Boiler requires. They were for Power Station and Large Steam ships.
One risk I have not seen mentioned in converting Locomotives from coal to oil is the risk of blowback and firebox explosions when relighting after flame out. Dirty/worn burners leading to mounds of glowing carbon in the firebox or even pools of oil on the furnace floor was not uncommon. Unless the fireman was very conscientious in his purging and avoided simply trying to flash off to relight he was risking a very bad day at the office.

 

Re-issues with oil firing. With oil-fired main line steam heritage locos still operational in Germany (well I think so) there should still be good experience over there to learn from. Part of the cost and time of evaluating it and seeing if it could be a partial solution in the UK.

Bryan