What is a superheater and does 1522 have one?
A superheater is a device used to increase the power of steam locomotives. Locomotives boil water to make steam, but once out of the boiler, the steam wants to condense back to water. Since the temperature of the water and steam are relatively close to the point at which it boiled, this condensation is a very real problem. As this ‘saturated’ steam expands in the cylinder, it will condense and limit the amount of power the locomotive can produce. Superheaters were invented to raise the temperature of the steam to prevent the condensation and to give the steam more energy. The superheater is a unit downstream of the throttle. As the throttle opens and steam comes out of the boiler, the superheater routes it through pipes which thread back through the boiler flue pipes. The hot exhaust gasses in the flue pipes transfer even more heat to this steam and raise its temperature even higher – giving it extra energy and preventing condensation. The 1522 has a Type A superheater.
