Some one on the NYC forum at another location, mentioned this forum. They said somebody has info on these water pans. Please hook me up with them Jim.
Jim, Welcome to Trainboard. The track pan discussion is over on the New York Central section, under "Streamlined Hudsons". There isn't anything on locations there, but I will go and start stirring things up for you.
I'm probably not the person, but I can tell you this: The Steam lcomotive (with train ) would be moving up the tracks at a fairly good rate of speed, someone in the cab would let the water scoop-pan, down from the bottom of the tender (and exteded partially under the engine)into this long pan about the inner with between the rails (about 3' deep I think, and some over a mile in length) and the movement of the train would force the water up the scoop-pan into the tender. These didn't last long, because the diesels were taking over rapidly. well,this is my 2 cents worth. I HOPE THIS HELPS!! -Pat
The Pennsylvania Railroad used track pans to replenish the water supply on passenger locomotives for around three quarters of a century. I hope I last that long! The "scoop" was mounted about halfway between the tender trucks and was connected to a duct that ran to the top of the tender deck. In some cases, a semi-circular extension of this could be seen on the tender deck. The pan was only about six inches deep, as lowering a scoop into water any deeper would break it off. Track pans lasted into the middle fifties in New Jersey. PRR passenger trains could operate between Pittsburgh and Chicago with only a stop for coal at Crestline, Ohio. NYC relied so heavily on track pans that its tenders held a greater proportion of coal to water than other railroads.
Jim, someone has resurrected the trackpan discussion over on another NYC site. One of the latest posts there has a list of all the NYC track pan locations. http://www.railroad.net/forums/nyc
Track Pans (we called them troughs) were widely used on the main lines here in England. I believe that trains needed to be travelling at least 60mph to pick up water effectively. Alongside a trough was not a good place for a photographer to stand
I had saved this photo for another purpose, and being a young sprite of 39 years, I can't be sure, but if I can run on this sentence a little further, I think these gentlemen are cleaning one of those pans (breathe).
Ed, it sure looks like it. Do you know where, what railroad, and when it was taken? The caps kind of put it in the 30's I would guess. Fitz
Hey Fitz, thanks for stirring!!! Especially like the photo of the men cleaning the pan. Any body else have any pics or books etc on the pans? JIM
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by fitz: Ed, it sure looks like it. Do you know where, what railroad, and when it was taken? The caps kind of put it in the 30's I would guess. Fitz <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Sorry I don't have a clue as to the details of the photo. I got it from a clip art service (Corbis.com).
The water pans (track tanks in 1870's) was first used by the PRR back in the 1870's. Metal troughs about a quarter of a mile long and 6 to 7 inches deep. Live steam was piped in at certain intervals to keep the water from freezing in the winter. The PRR had many of them. I even modeled the track pans on my layout some years back. They got undone for something better? Picture of pans in Radnor, Pa. and passenger steam picking up water on the fly (45-50 mph). ..Eddie [ 22 February 2001: Message edited by: eddelozier ] [ 22 February 2001: Message edited by: eddelozier ]
Great photos! Historical societies are great assets. I hope someone is keeping an archive for our grandkids...
I don't have any details, but I understand that the tenders had many ports to relieve the pressure of the incoming water. I remember seeing a photo of an NYC centipede tender that had its tank top ballooned out because some of the ports had clogged and the tank reached full capacity at 80+ mph. Hank
Yeah Hank, I remember seeing that and there was another wher the top of a tender had split the rivets and bent up from the pressure. It may have been after that when speed was reduced to 50mph during pickup. There was a curved section added inside at the end of the spout to direct the incoming water downward, with many baffles to reduce pressure also. This curve shows above the tender top in some photos.
WATASH - now that you mention it, I do remember seeing that "hump" on the tenders behind the S-1 Niagaras at Harmon, NY. Also on the tenders hooked to the various J Class Hudsons assigned to the long-haul runs to Chicago, St Louis, etc. To anyone who remembers the "parking lot" above the east side of the Engine Terminal at Harmon, NY .... wasn't that a wonderful place for a teenager to waste the entire day? Especially if his Mother was as big a Train Nut as he was! Pity we didn't have video cams back then, that was some action!! Then those doggone Lightning Stripes began to appear ...... Later, Hank
Those pictures are wonderful! If I remember the ATSF had watering troughs like that out in New Mexico, Arizona and California in the Desert areas between oasis (watering holes)
