Water stops

Tue Oct 30 22:52:24 EDT 2018

I am very familiar with the use of water spouts to fill not only steam 
loco tenders but also tank cars.  I worked four summers (1952 - 1955) as 
a laborer in the shops in Durham, NC (3 summers) and in Winston-Salem, 
NC (1 summer).  Several times daily I would have to climb up onto the 
top of a tender tank, open the funnel lid, pull the spout down against 
the counterweight tending to pull the spout upward, generally stand or 
sit on the spout to keep it down, reach up and pull on the rope to open 
the valve which admitted water into the spout, and try to judge when to 
shut off the tremendous flow of water to avoid overflowing the tank.  In 
addition, I worked June and July of 1954 as a laborer on the N&W's weed 
spray train covering the entire N&W east of Williamson, WV (the ability 
to see that part of the railroad up close was why I sought that job).  
Our train had four tank cars for water (plus two chemical tank cars, the 
spray car and a bunk car).  During those two months I filled the four 
tank cars from many different water tanks (see the attached photo of one 
on the Shenandoah Division as best as I can remember the location).  I 
am  confident that the operators of today's weed control trains wish 
that they had as great a selection of high-flow-rate water sources as we 
did when water tanks were all over the railroad.

I don't remember how long it might have taken to fill an almost empty 
tender, but it didn't take long when you consider the diameter of the 
spout and that the spout was completely filled with rushing water.  By 
the way, there was no need for a lock on the water tank valve.  The 
thief/vandal could never reach the valve rope while standing on the ground.

Gordon Hamilton

On 10/30/2018 5:49 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> Mike,
>
> Me too, that is why I originally asked the question. Remember, after 
> coming to a complete stop, the brakeman would have to turn the valve 
> (? terminology) on the car immediately behind the locomotive to keep 
> air in the line; then the locomotive would uncouple from the train and 
> move into place at the water plug.  The brakeman would have to climb 
> up on the tender and open the water fill hatch; then position the 
> water spout over the tender.  I'm not certain about the mechanism to 
> operate the water spout, but I presume there was some type of lock so 
> no vandals or ambitious railfans could discharge water improperly.  
> The spouts were of large diameter so I imagine the water discharged at 
> a fast rate, perhaps only taking a few minutes to reach capacity; then 
> the entire process was reversed from securing the discharge pipe, 
> closing the water hatch and climbing down from the tender.  I would 
> imagine a similar procedure was followed for coal loading.  The 
> locomotive then needed to back to the train and couple up, with the 
> air hoses connected, etc.
>
> Since most sound decoders today have a water fill routine available, I 
> have been programming this into my steam loco decoders (there is no 
> coal fill that I am aware of); I also use the ash dump feature for 
> locos returning the roundhouse and before going on the turntable.  All 
> interesting operational aspects.
>
> Jim Brewer
>
> On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 5:04 PM NW Mailing List 
> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org <mailto: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/
>         ________________________________________
>         NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org <mailto:NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org>
>         To change your subscription go to
>         http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
>         Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
>         http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
>     ________________________________________
>     NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org <mailto:NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org>
>     To change your subscription go to
>     http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
>     Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
>     http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
>
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20181030/2fdc05b7/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: WeedSprayTrain001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 48413 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20181030/2fdc05b7/attachment-0001.jpg>