Last Updated on April 23, 2026
Locomotive Boiler Explosions by Christian H. Hewison (Hardcover, 2003).
A LOCOMOTIVE OR INDUSTRIAL BOILER CAN BE L THAT
•if a defect occurs under steam pressure. The results can vary from a jet of steam and boiling water escaping under pressure to a massive explosion, with effects like a bomb. Fortunately today, with modern material testing, proper maintenance and handling, and stringent examination, boiler explosions are rare indeed, but in the early days of railways if they were not common they occurred all too frequently. Even in the last two decades of steam on British Railways after the second world war there were several frightening incidents. C. H. Hewison, whose accident investigations as part of his work as a railway employment inspector in the Railway Inspectorate at the Ministry of Transport included boiler failures, made a particular study of the subject from the pioneering days of railways to the present. In this book he reviews many examples, their causes and steps taken to prevent a recurrence. It is a book of interest to all enthusiasts and required reading for those involved in steam locomotive restoration and operation.
This book was previously for sale at Margot’s Books. The shop is now closed — this post is kept as an archive record only.
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