The Criteria of Steam Engineer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones

Usually a steam engineer is either in marine engineering or power station. I was in marine engineering British Merchant Navy. You either went in as a cadet to a shipping company or as a time served tradesman. You than progress through your board of trade exams to second and then to chief engineer. If you take the university approach you will have to do a degree of some sort either a marine or mechanical engineers degree. You might still be able to get there via the technician route through an institution of engineers. Try accessing a shipping company directly.

as a time served tradesman.

...........and that had to be in a heavy engineering industry, e.g. mining

Steam in Marine Engineering, is a thing of the past, unless you you are on nuclear powered vessels, you only have auxiliary boilers now, and most of those are package type boilers.

Boiler attendants, however are still required, and engineers are required to know the basics of boilers, boiler mountings, feedwater control, safety, etc, the main thrust is on the large slow r.p.m. two stroke diesel engines and of course all the ancillary equipment.

It would therefore seem to me that BELLray's interest would be in power stations and I am not sure, but I THINK that they conduct there own training courses.

For any engineering it's: Math, Math, and Math.

O.K., KiowattO, you are probably near the mark there, but I don't know about you, but I reckon that I would not have used 10% of the maths that I had to learn.

A large percentage of the maths is tied up with design engineering and it is my feeling that at some stage during an engineering degree the maths should be divided between those who wish to be design engineers and those who wish to be maintenance engineers.

It is said that math is a logical subject and therefore one who can master math, is logical and clear thinking, and therefore will be excellent in fault finding. I personally, tend to disagree with this thought.

Then there is another thought that those old engineers responsible for setting the syllabii for engineering courses say "We had to do it, why shouldn't everyone else wishing to to do engineering do it" I tend to believe this to be more the case when you look back in previous years gone by. One would hope that this is not true,but alas, I think it is.

My thoughts here are in Marine Engineering, having worked and taught in this area most of my working life.

Years ago you got a steam ticket after a number of years working in an environment in which steam boilers where in use, Marine engineering or power station. I worked in the marine industry and I hold a first class Engineers cert. steam, this was acquired after years of study, and a government examination, that allowed me to operate steam boilers in a power station, which I did for 20 yrs. That has now all changed, and the only steam ships, steam turbines, I know of now are the ships carrying natural gas, running off the north west coast of Australia to Japan. Steam auxiliaries I think are now a thing of the past. If there is a department in your home town or near by city, I would check to see if there is a machinery department that may be able to advise you. A boiler may still be in use in some factories, large office buildings and hospitals.

Regards JD.

Merchant marines. They still use steam on natural gas ships, the boilers use part of the cargo for fuel. It is still a course at some universities.

LNG ships can also be large 2 stroke diesel...........run on gas and 10%-20% diesel or bunkers for lubrication, dual fuel engines, diesel electric and gas turbine.

Diesel engines are far more efficient and have improved combustion gas outlets except for NOX's. I think you will find that that this will be the demise of the steam ships.

By the way I have nothing against steam, I have both steam and diesel tickets.

I met a 20year old about 8 years ago who was studing to be a steam engineer for the merchant marines and that was what he told me when I asked about steam on ships.

Hi, BELLray!

As far as I know, there are two main methods of arriving at being a steam engineer. The first and probably easiest route is via civil engineering to first class boiler technician ticket. Your work will end up in a boiler plant creating steam for various HVAC applications. The work is pleasant, not too difficult, and pays well.

The second route is via engineering --either mechanical where you can specialize in your master's degree, or marine, where you can work toward a first-class ticket. The advantage of the second route is that you will graduate in an engineering field, where the information you will learn involves a living and interesting discipline.

Since marine engineers must spend time at sea to produce various studies on ship construction and operation, you may opt to specialize in both diesel and marine motive systems, and graduate with a "combined" ticket.

You also graduate as a marine officer and an engineer steeped in physics, math, engineering thermodynamics, naval architecture, mechanics and systems engineering whose field encompasses related aspects of mechanical, structural, electrical, electronic, refrigeration, design, metallurgy, and a myriad of other areas of engineering knowledge...all surrounding and focused upon the human/aquatic interface.

Marine engineers work in dozens of fields. They run ships, both as captains and shipboard engineers. In some countries they are required to take emergency medical technician courses and act as the ship's e.m.t. They can participate in engineering groups and/or work independently in a host of related areas: design, test, and innovate ships and yachts from stem to stern, hydro and nuclear power stations, water towers and liquid and steam valves and transport, irrigation, HVAC, cooling towers, pneumatic and hydraulic systems and valves, heat exchangers, bridge piers, dams, shore protection, maritime law, aquariums, underwater and outer-space housing, survival clothing, drilling rigs, large diesel installations, steam engines and turbines; more often than not in collaboration with other engineering specialists in all kinds of exciting fields...and they still get to study steam engineering and obtain a qualification in it if they wish.

The work varies from being quite pleasant to very unpleasant, not too difficult to mind-shredding, and pays extremely well (mainly on board the ships where there are no days off and the overtime and holiday pay are astronomical when one considers the salaries are very handsome to begin with) to fairly normal for other kinds of engineering work. A side note here is that the food on board ships is amazingly good, and that all officers have porters assigned to their cabins who clean up, make the bed, do the laundry and shoe polishing, mend and repair etc. On cruise ships, the officers have a better chance, generally, to meet and mix with the passengers during their time off than the rest of the crew. But time off in port is very rare, since when the ship berths, the engines can be shut down and all systems undergo regular maintenance or fuelling or both.

Although I look back at my schooling fondly and am still in touch with the 13 members of my class that graduated out of the original 23 who started, Marine Engineering studies were a huge slog. Thousands of formulae to memorize, mind-challenging studies and examinations to write, thousands of hours crammed into a brief four years (three years in some places!) including two stints of 4 months at sea each, doing shipboard Naval Architecture and Marine Power Systems studies combined with taking a regular watch. You could tell where the Marine Engineers lived in town if you walked down the streets at 0300h seven nights a week, because the lights in their windows were blazing as every poor stiff was studying his butt into the chair.

I have a combined ticket too, but I left the sea at 4th class qualified for every variety of cargo vessel, worked as a Naval Architect for a while, and eventually ended up my salaried working career as vice president of engineering in a company that manufactures air pollution abatement devices for ic and ec engines. It was great fun, challenging and interesting work both engineeringly and administratively.

Bottom line? Successful steam engineers, whether they come up through the hawse pipe (i.e. get a job as an apprentice engineer on a ship and study correspondence courses in addition to working aboard) or graduate from college, are a product of long hard study and application of the seat to the chair. Exactly the same as any other kind of engineer. The studies continue long after graduation if you wish to advance in the field.

Obtain a syllabus from your local school of marine engineering. It will be the same no matter where in the world you get it (generally) because Marine Engineering is regulated by an international treaty that guarantees every graduate from every Marine Studies Institution will have the same general engineering knowledge and capabilities. It's an international and portable profession.

Mark

"specialize in both diesel and marine motive systems, and graduate with a "combined" ticket"

Should read "both diesel and steam motive systems"

Mark

Hi Mark,

"both diesel and steam motive systems"

As pointed out previously, sea time on steam ships ain't going to be easy. This is because of the limited number of steam ships (LNG/LPG), and they only sign on WELL qualified engineers and crews.They are virtually specialised crews.

To further your desire to have a deeper understanding of steam engineering, please see the following links:

http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-engineering-tutorials.asp

http://www.spiraxsarco.com/resources/steam-book.asp

Good luck!

The industry needs more steam engineers as I am finding it to be a dying art in the United States.