Water stops

[NW Mailing List]

Mike

It could vary widely due to the capacity of the tender, how low the water level was, and how fast the water could come out of the spout of the water tank itself.

Most engineers and firemen would keep a close eye on water level in the tank, and some would stop at every location for water they could. Others would often skip a water stop and make a run for the final terminal, sometimes virtually running out of water while the engine was being serviced, some suffered more fatal consequences open other roads that I am aware of.

Also remember that N&W added auxiliary tenders (or canteens) about 1952 to help eliminate water stops and improve schedules.

I quickly checked a few Radford Division timetables and found nothing specifically addressing disconnecting the train on a water stop, except in the case of freezing weather and between Oct 1 and March 1 that basically says when water stop is made the head brakeman should cut the air at the first car and blow out condensation in the train line. I don’t have time to copy the exact rule, but it indicates to me that disconnecting from the train was not required, but in the situation, that could be done.

Most experienced engineers had acquired an skill level to be able to stop their train in exact locations, passenger trains would be easier to handle than a heavy coal train. I saw this while riding 1218 out of Williamson with Frank Collins, heavy 25 plus car excursion train, he got a red board ahead. It was a hot summer day, Frank said to watch this, we were like 20 cars out, and he spotted the cab of 1218 exactly in the shade of a bridge.

Best
Ken

> On Oct 30, 2018, at 1:55 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> I'm curious as to how long on average was a coal and water stop for a mainline locomotive? 15 minutes?
> 
> Mike Weeks
> Seattle
> 
> On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 9:59 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>> wrote:
> Jim,
> One of Bud Swearer's recordings is of a train stopping at Villamont for water and I don't think that they uncoupled from the train.
> 
> Jimmy Lisle
> 
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
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