N&W in 1907 -- Servicing facilities

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
November 3, 1907

LOCOMOTIVE BOARDING HOUSES THE LATEST
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How They Feed the Big Engines That Haul the Freight and Passenger Trains
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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OLD WAY AND THE NEW
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    The little details that spell progress in the operation of a railroad are frequently the most interesting.  As an instance, take the "Locomotives' Boarding-house," as some of the men call the coal and sand chute near every roundhouse.  Twenty years ago it took big crews of men to supply the coal, sand and water--the sustenance of an engine.  Go over the Bluefield yard and you will notice that now two or three men do the work of "feeding" the engines before they go out, and do it in much less time than it used to take.
    When an engine is ready to go on a run it takes only a few minutes to "feed" it for the trip.  When it backs off the turntable to the coal chute switch it is ready for "dinner."  In a big elevator there are hoppers full of coal ready to fall into its tank the moment the hostler's assistant pulls a rope.  This coal is lifted from coal cars into the hoppers or chute by means of an elevator.  In the same place the sand drier has a chute that is filled with dried sand, used on the tracks when the engine's drivers slip.  While the coal is being dumped into the tank, the sand drier is filling the sand box, the sand shooting down through a long pipe.
    In this city and in a great many railroad yards the engines can be coaled, sanded and watered without moving the engine from one point.  The old-fashioned water tank has given place to standpipes that are stationed in convenient places.  An engine has scarcely to be moved to receive every supply needed for a long trip.  In the old days it had to go first to the coal yard to be coaled by men with shovels.  Then it hustled off to the sandhouse and men passed buckets of sand up to a man who stood on the boiler and poured it into the sandbox.  Then the engine went to the water tank.  Today it gets its full supply in one place in a few minutes.  It used to take hours to do the same work.
    These modern locomotive feeding devices are man-savers as well as savers of time.  In the old days the lives of strong men were shortened by the toll incident to getting engines ready for their runs.  With scoop shovels every pound of coal consumed by the locomotives had to be thrown from coal cars to tank and it was an everyday occurrence to have engines hurried to the coaling track for a fuel supply when it was then time for the engine to depart.  That meant that the coal heavers had to do the work of slaves to accomplish what the company expected of them.  Today mechanism saves the backs of thousands of men employed around railroad yards and roundhouses.  The "locomotive' boarding-house" is managed on the plan of a well-regulated dining room.
    The old-fashioned way of coaling engines was up to date indeed when compared with that still more remote system--wood burning.  Back in the days when locomotives were steamed with wood it was a common occurrence to stop the train out in the woods somewhere and train crew and passengers would begin carrying wood to the engine, filling the tank to its capacity.  It was a case of carry wood or walk, for the engines consumed so much fuel that it was impossible to make the tank large enough to carry enough for a long trip.  These wood carrying parties used to be jolly social functions in bright weather and everyone joined in the fun.  But when the chill winds blew or the rain was falling the poor train crew had to face the elements and do all the "toting" themselves.  It was a happy day for railroad men when the coal burner engine was invented and the raids on the forests ceased to be a factor in railroad life.
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Gordon Hamilton
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