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It used to be the universal custom, that, when an engine arrived from a trip, the fire was drawn, and the engine put into the round-house for ten or twelve hours before another run was undertaken. During this period of inaction, the boiler partly cooled down. When the engine was wanted again, a new fire was started in time to raise steam. The system of long runs, introduced on many roads, has changed this; and engines are now generally kept hot, unless they have to be cooled down for washing out, or repairs. When an engine comes in off a trip, the fire is cleaned from clinker and dead cinders, and the clean fire banked. It is found that this plan keeps the temperature of the boiler more uniform than is possible with the cooling-down practice, and that the fire-box sheets are not so liable to crack, or the tubes to become leaky.

Where it is still the habit to draw the fire at the end of each trip, a supply of good wood is kept on hand for raising steam. To raise steam from a cold boiler, some theorists recommend the starting of a fire mild enough to raise the temperature about twenty degrees an hour. The exigencies of railroad service prevent this slow method from being practicable, and the ordinary practice is to raise steam as promptly as possible when it is wanted.