Water column

Water column could be found at a station on the main or at a yard.  Swing mechanism would be whatever was needed to get water to the loco/tender.

 

if you put 

 

water column railroad

 

into a google search and hit images you will see a lot of variations on locations and mechanisms.

They would be in yards and on the main line and coaling facilities.  Some would swing and others would be pull downs.  It just depends...

 

Lionel J

All the water columns I saw on the GTW were at rest with the spout to the side (parallel to the track). Fireman would hook the spout and swing it over the tank hatch, put his foot on the thing and pull the valve. Seems like most of the major stations had columns near one end of the platforms. All of the coal towers had water sources, either columns or tanks. Some of the big roads had water troughs on the main line allowing the train to take on water without stopping.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

 

Neil

Don't forget to have some sort of water tower/tank within sight of the water column. THAT quantity of water needed to fill a steam locomotive tender, didn't just "come out of the ground".

Very good topic with important details.

 

So how did the "water troughs" function on the fly? Has anyone modeled one?

IIRC, a water trough would be 2-3,000' long, and the tender would have a water scoop that would be lowered while passing over the trough, and lifted(hopefully) before the end of the trough. The scoop would lead into a pipe that would be high enough in the tender tank, that the water would not drain back out.

 

  I believe that the minimum speed for taking water on the fly was about 30-40mph to have enough force to get the water all the way up the pipe.

 

Doug

This is the famous water scoop.

is just a bath between the rails.

Pans's were used on a number of main lines but New York Central may have been the only line that they enjoyed any real success.  PRR tried them out as did the B&O.  The latter two had a lot of trouble with effectively scooping the water on the fly.  They either didn't get enough or had issues with the force of the water doing damage to the tender tank, ripping off the scoop, the scoop tearing up ties/roadbed, etc.  If you really needed water that bad and you didn't want to stop, build a bigger tender or do what the UP did and have an auxiliary water tender in tow behind the fuel tender.

Very true. The NYC really perfected the practice of taking water "on the fly" from track pans, at speeds above 80MPH. However, the whole concept was NOT to completely fill the tender, but to get enough water to provide a good reserve, plus get to the next track pan. The NYC PT class "centipede" tenders made taking water at very high speeds possible.

Wow I didn't think I get this great of response. Now I know where I can place it on my layout . Here is another question I have the mth water column and bought it used and don't have box or instructions . I looked on line and it says it can expand to be taller how can I do this. Am I missing a piece to do this.

Water troughs were used quite successfully in England. Here's a link to some film of the laying of the troughs, together with film of them being used and how they refill afterwards.   Laying the Troughs - Water Troughs (1950/b&w/silent)

I guess I am gonna have to SEE one of these modeled realistically here in our three

(center) rail world...( and next?...a working one?)  Two rail model shouldn't be

that difficult...

I am sure this is not exactly what you were looking for, but this is in the Pa State Railroad Museum:

 

 

You can see a piece of the trough on the left (on the cement), and the scoop under the tender is hanging down on the right.

Ok here is a picture of where I placed my water column

I din't see the water tank to supply the water column.

Still have to buy my water tank

Now that Atlas O has purchased the line of "Cornerstone Buildings" from Walthers, get one of the nice big standing water tank/tower kits when they come out. It is all plastic, easy to build and looks fantastic when painted silver or black and weathered.

This picture about tells it all and this C&O Water Column is the one MTH modeled......

Note the water column can be placed between tracks also.........

 

 

Between the tracks was very common, as one column could serve either track, stored parallel to the rails, then swung eeither direction to serve a locomotive on either track. the difficulty in convincingly modeling a column between tracks is getting the track spacing so that the lowered column spout is roughly centered on each track. Doesn't have to be PERFECT, but should be at least plausibly close.

 

Doug

C&O 2740 taking water at the same water column as pictured in my previous post, but stopped in position on the adjacent track.  Picture taken from a different position.

Note in the extreme left side of picture in the distance, there is another water column for another track.